How to Select a Digital Marketing Consultant for Small Businesses
To position your business for sustainable growth, combat competitors, and stay relevant with your target audience, your business needs a digital marketing consultant with a strong business acumen and expertise across multiple marketing programs. An experienced marketing consultant will bring a new perspective to your marketing programs whether they are working well, need an overhaul, or have plateaued.
By learning where to scale up for successful campaigns, where to cut wasteful marketing spend, or how to adapt stagnant campaigns, a small business internet marketing consultant can help you identify and navigate these decisions while saving you time and steering you away from costly mistakes.
The right small business digital marketing consultant for your brand will be able to look under the hood of your marketing programs, analyze all of the data from your campaigns, and provide you with recommendations for improvements–all while centered on your main business goals and overall marketing strategy.
They will lead you to where to uncover new opportunities to raise your profile in your marketplace, attract new potential customers, and better convert more leads.
- They will help you optimize your existing campaigns and drive more actions, and when necessary, propose new campaigns to further expand your marketing message to your target audience.
- They will show you how to get the most out of your marketing platforms and tools to ensure every dollar of your marketing budget is well spent and contributing to your business’s bottom line.
- They will be able to put forward new strategies and solutions to achieve your business goals and provide you with more insight into your competitors.
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The Difference Between a Good Marketing Consultant and a Bad One
What makes a good marketing consulting company different from one that has a bad fit for your business? Ask yourself these questions.
- Do they specialize in the problems that your business faces? For example, a digital marketing consultant who specifically works with small businesses will be better positioned and specialize in the challenges faced by small business owners.
- Are they offering you more of the same without a new outlook? If something is not working in your marketing campaigns, trying the same thing over and over again without testing new elements or trying new approaches will only lead to the same unsatisfactory results.
- Do they have the technical prowess to guide execution on their recommendations? A successful marketing campaign takes more than great ideas. It takes expert implementation and optimization.
- What do you get for your budget? Are you working with a specialized team who delivers actionable, data-backed insights that make a real difference in your business’s bottom line?
When you put them to the test, how do their actions and communications match up? What are their goals in serving your business? Are they only after your marketing dollars? Or do they provide additional value that drives your business forward?
Go ahead and test Solutions for Growth: Our mission is to strengthen your business and help you grow your sales using our expertise and the best marketing tools that fit your unique business goals. We will work as your growth marketing agency partner, with a dedicated team committed to serving you with the same exceptional support we’ve been providing to other small business owners like you for more than 10 years.
Expert Tip:
One of the most time consuming aspects of a successful marketing strategy for small business owners is in determining which marketing programs to put in place and how to combine them into an integrated marketing plan. This is where a small business online marketing consultant can be especially helpful!
In addition to providing a fresh perspective, they also bring experience across a variety of marketing tools and can guide you on selecting which ones fit your objectives. You’ll not only avoid decision fatigue, you’ll get valuable time back in your day and a stronger marketing plan.
To get an idea of how we advise our marketing consulting clients, just take a look at this guide we put on typical small business growth goals and the benefits of different marketing campaigns.
Signs of a Poor Fit Between Your Business and Your Marketing Consultant
Not having the right digital marketing consultant in place can negatively impact your business in terms of missed opportunities, lost time, and cost. If the points below apply to your business and your current marketing consultant, you may want to contact them about changing things up or it may be time to look for a new small business digital marketing consultant.
- You don’t feel heard or recognized.
- The cost of the marketing consultant doesn’t stay within your budget.
- Their recommendations do not align with your business goals.
- You are not sure what you’re getting for the cost of their consulting services.
How to Evaluate a Small Business Internet Marketing Consultant
Use these 4 points and top questions to better determine how a digital marketing consultant fits the needs and goals of your business.
Communication:
- How well do they communicate?
- How clearly do they present actionable, data driven information that helps you make better business decisions?
- Is their reporting clear and helpful?
Expertise and Experience:
- Do they have multiple certifications or awards for their expertise in the marketing and advertising tools important for your business?
- Do they have partner status with major platforms, such as being a Google Ads partner agency, Shopify partner, or Constant Contact email marketing partner?
- Do they work with a variety of small businesses across many industries or specialize in just one type of business?
- Do they have an in-house team and resources to execute the recommendations they will give you? Or will they only provide you with recommendations and leave it up to you to figure out how to implement them?
- Does their experience span a wide range of marketing tools and programs or can they only speak to just one aspect of your businesses marketing strategy?
Follow Through:
- What is their online reputation and reviews score?
- Do they have a history of following through and working hard to provide their best level of service to clients?
- If you were already working with a small business online marketing consultant, have they been consistent in providing you support and responsive to your needs?
- Have you received the deliverables you were promised?
Alignment with Your Business Goals:
- How has their support matched up with your business goals?
- Are they committed to helping you find solutions to achieve your goals and not just answer your initial questions?
- Can they recommend solutions that fit within your overall marketing strategy?
Local Social Business Online Marketing Consultants
Is your business based in the Stamford, CT or Westchester, NY area? So is Solutions for Growth!
We are your local digital marketing consultants for small businesses with the most five star Google reviews.
Easy Steps to Get Started with a Small Business Online Marketing Consultant
Maximize your success and start things off on the right footing with these steps:
- Determine what your budget will be and outline the scope of services you will need from a marketing consultant.
- Once you have identified one or more prospective consultants, ask about a mini audit or free consultation with them to get a sense of how well they will fit your business needs and learn more about their approach.
- At the start of your relationship with your new online marketing consultant, provide them with a complete overview of your business’s current challenges, goals, and target metrics. The more information they have to work with at the beginning, the better they will be able to develop a strategy and plan to help you achieve your objectives.
- Be ready to provide them with access to your accounts, including your email marketing, social media, advertising accounts, website, and website analytics accounts, such as Google Analytics.
- Determine a timeline for milestones, reporting, and deliverables so that both parties are on the same page about when to expect what parts of the program.
Digital Marketing Consultants for Small Businesses
Partner with Solutions for Growth, an award-winning digital marketing consulting agency specializing in small business sales growth. We will help uncover new opportunities to increase revenue, show you how to maximize your marketing budget, and optimize your marketing programs.
Webinar Series: Online Marketing Success
The first step to a successful marketing plan is setting the right goals. Learn what questions to ask yourself and how to set better goals with this 5 minute tip from our recent Online Marketing Success webinar.