Marketing is critical to a business, it’s long-term success and growth. It drives business growth through a myriad of techniques and requires expert knowledge to deliver great results.
Many small business owners set out doing their own marketing, then at the point they no longer have the time, they may ask an admin person in the business to ‘do a bit of marketing’ or sometimes, look at the youngest in the office and assume they’ll know all about ‘digital marketing’ and ask them to do their online marketing.
So, understanding what professional marketing brings to a business is crucial. So, let’s look at why marketing is such a critical element in your business and then why you should hire an expert to help you.
Why marketing is crucial to your business
It gets you in front of prospective clients – the aim of marketing is to get you in front of prospective clients for you to then sell your services / products. Marketing is the thing that will give you the opportunity to meet new prospective clients.
Helps you to sell more to clients – Sustaining a business, means not only signing new business but getting more business out of current clients. Using marketing content to educate clients about new services or additional bolt on services is highly effective.
Builds and sustains identity & reputation – building brand awareness and brand consistency is important for both clients and potential clients to have trust in you and for you to build credibility. Your marketing messages need to be consistent, clear, and concise so that people understand who you are, what you do and what you stand for in the marketplace.
Builds competitive advantage – marketing can help you to differentiate you from your competitors and truly give you competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Engages with clients – marketing is not only great for getting you in front of prospective clients, but also for engaging with current clients. Keeping clients talking and interacting with you and your brand in between meetings or sales is vital.
Informs and educates – educating your clients and target audiences can showcase your expertise, give people a better understanding of topics, your services and how they can help with the challenges your clients face.
Provides an even playing field – now with so many digital channels, marketing can level the competitive playing field. Social media and websites now allow smaller companies to engage with their audiences on a very personal level, which is much harder for larger corporates.
Widens your reach – marketing can allow you to reach much bigger and wider audiences than you could through sales teams or through individuals in the business.
Benefits of using a marketing consultant
If you need marketing advice, want to get started with marketing strategy or to find a marketing growth strategy, then a consultant may be right for you. Below are some of the benefits a marketing consultant can offer.
Saves you money - Marketing consultants can save you the cost of employing a full-time employee and give you access to senior level, highly skilled marketing skills that would cost you much more to bring in house.
Higher level of knowledge & experience - Hiring a freelance marketing consultant can bring specialist knowledge, a wealth of experience, extra resource, and an objective point of view to your business. Being able to tap into senior level resource on a more flexible basis gives many businesses who don’t have budget for full time resource, access to a higher level of knowledge.
It’s more flexible - A marketing consultant is an asset to leverage as little or as much as needed, to get you where you need to go. They can give you short, medium, or long-term marketing advice, support, and services without long term commitment. You can hire a consultant on an hourly rate, day rate, project rate or retainer, giving you the ultimate flexibility.
Easier to manage - An independent consultant will have no hidden agenda, won’t be involved in day-to-day politics of the business, and will have a desire to support your business and marketing goals. You’ll spend less time on people management with no performance reviews, training etc to have to undertake.
A fresh perspective - A marketing consultant will provide you with a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ on your marketing, something that when you work in a business or own the business, you just can’t do.
Reasons to hire a marketing consultant
Short-term – to provide cover for your marketing team due to absence, recruitment gaps or t
to provide an extra pair of hands for large marketing projects such as a new website or brand project.
Medium-term – to help you formulate better plans, better consistency, and truly understand your business to enable them to drive lead generation and brand awareness.
Long-term – to give long-term strategic advice that is in line with your business plan and strategy, to act as a board level person to drive longer term initiatives, support decision making and provide strategic focus.
Do I need a specialist?
There are many people who specialise in only one part of marketing (i.e. social media, content etc.), however, tackling your marketing in this ad hoc, piece by piece way can mean inconsistency, a lack of strategic direction and a distorted brand and message.
By hiring a senior level marketing consultancy that has expertise across all marketing disciplines will help you to plan and create marketing that works across you whole business and whole audience.
Consultant vs employee
Hiring a consultant gives you ultimate flexibility. There is no minimum commitment, whereas hiring an employee is likely to be for a longer period. With a consultant you can easily test the water on smaller projects before committing to more. However, this isn’t to say you should treat a consultant as easily ‘disposable’! Hiring someone over a longer period will give you benefits as they will get to know you and your business and be able to deliver better results over a longer period.
Whilst consultants may well be more expensive than an employee from a day-to-day perspective, you will have none of the associated HR/training costs etc that you get with an employee and the contract will be more flexible for potentially times where you may need to cut budget.
Consultants will take up less time than an employee as there is no professional development reviews or appraisals, training, or attendance at staff meetings etc, so every hour of a consultant’s time will be focused on getting the job done. Most consultants only require a light touch approach to see how work is progressing, compared to management and leadership of a full-time employee.
Conclusion
Taking the step to hire a marketing consultant can be simple. Many like myself offer entry-level access to their expertise or the ability to work on short-term small projects. As a marketing consultant, I’m aware of the value I need to add to justify my fees and want to build long term relationships with people, so I’m happy to take on short term projects, prove my value and then work longer term with a business.
To take the leap into self-employment, most consultants will have amassed a myriad of expertise and skills and must be great at what they do to survive as a consultant. I’ve amassed 25 years of experience before launching into consultancy and now look to work with businesses that may not want to yet commit to a full-time marketing director, but really would like that level of advice for their business. Be aware - not all consultants are created equal! Look for someone with proven, long term experience and Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) qualifications as well.
So, why hire a marketing consultant? In conclusion, it will save you time, give you flexibility, access to senior level marketing support, impartiality, a fresh perspective and could save you money.