Nervous about that big marketing project looming on the horizon? You may want to hire a marketing consultant to guide you, both logistically and creatively.
What Does a marketing consultant do?
A marketing consultant is a hired professional who can help you with a wide range of marketing goals, from developing your marketing plan to helping you build and monetize a blog.
Or perhaps you want to publish a book? Create a website? Design a social media marketing strategy? Marketing consultants know what you need to do, who you need to hire, and what training you’d need if you were to do the project yourself.
They are your advisor and liaison as you navigate your business marketing strategies in web design, social media, graphics, publishing, SEO, and other marketing focuses.
If you’re not sure what type of marketing help you need, or if you’re not familiar with the different marketing options available, a marketing consultant can give you a clear overview and be a great resource to help lay out your business marketing strategy.
In this blog post, we’ll list 13 projects a marketing consultant can help with, and give some examples of the types of learning you can acquire from having a marketing advisor in your corner.
Keep in mind, marketing gurus typically have a variety of practical resources they can offer their clients, too, such as preferred printers, web designers, and social media experts. They likely have relationships with creative professionals they can recommend for a variety of marketing needs such as photographers, writers, and media contacts.
A marketing consultant can help you choose the best software programs and hardware setup for your business marketing strategy, and they can help you to market your business effectively and efficiently.
13 ways a marketing consultant can help your business:
1. Publish a book
If you’ve ever wanted to write a book, a marketing consultant can help you get your book published. They can help with everything from developing the marketing plan for your book to getting it listed on Amazon and other online stores.
A marketing consultant can help you self-publish.
They can teach you how to:
- Plan your book
- Write your book
- Have your book edited
- Layout your pages
- Create a front cover
- Setup print and ebook files
- Distribute your book
A marketing consultant can teach you how to publish a book yourself, or they can advice you on getting it published through a publishing company. They can help with the planning stages, writing, editing, layout and design, and marketing of your book.
2. Publish a magazine
Do you have a great idea for a magazine but don’t know where to start? A marketing consultant can help you get your magazine printed and distributed. They can also help with marketing your magazine, both online and offline.
For magazine publishing hire a marketing consultant to help you:
- Structure your magazine: Determine page count, percentage of editorial to images and ads
- Calculate ad sales pricing
- Create a media kit
- Layout your magazine
- Curate your photography: self-authored, stock purchases, hiring professionals
- Set up your file according to print specs
- Distribute your magazine
A marketing consultant can help you take your magazine from idea to published work. They can help with the planning stages, layout and design, marketing of your magazine, and getting it printed and distributed.
Magazine design is much more than simply laying out text and images on a page. To create an effective and visually appealing magazine, you need to consider things like:
- The overall look and feel of the magazine
- How to use typography effectively
- What kind of images will be most effective
- How to layout pages for maximum impact
- Designing covers that stand out from the competition
Marketing consultants typically have years of experience designing publications and can offer you guidance and advice on how to design an effective magazine.
3. Build, publish and monitize a blog
Blogs have become valuable tools for today’s small businesses. If you’re not sure how to build a blog, or if you need help marketing your blog, try hiring a professional to guide you.
For blog hosting, a marketing consultant can help you:
- Setup your blog
- Host your blog
- Pick your blog name or niche
- Design your blog site
- Write effective blog posts
- Market your blog
If your blog will be hosted on your business website, a marketing consultant can teach you how to use SEO tools to rank higher on the search engines results pages.
Here are some tips for creating a successful blog:
- Make sure people are interested in what you have to say. There’s no point in blogging for yourself. That’s called a diary.
- Understand the mechanics behind creating and hosting a blog website or page. The initial setup of your blog will be a project that will take up much of your time initially, but less so as your systems are established and running well.
- Know that SEO plays a huge role in the success of a monetized blog and be prepared to learn or hire out for it.
4. Plan your social media marketing strategy
Are you using social media for your business but not seeing results? If so, it may be time to hire a marketing consultant. A marketing consultant can help you take your social media marketing from idea to successful strategy.
Some marketing consultants do hands-on social media management for their clients and others teach their clients how to do their social media management themselves. Alternately, the marketing professional you hire might act as an agent for you, researching providers, and negotiating for best value/costs on your behalf.
For social media marketing, hire a marketing consultant to help:
- Determine which social platforms are best for your niche
- Setup your social media accounts
- Create a social media marketing plan
- Develop content for social media posts
- Advertise on social media platforms
A marketing consultant can help you develop an effective social media marketing plan that will help you reach your target audience. They can also provide training on how to use various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This will help you get the most out of your social media marketing efforts.
5. Build your website
If you don’t have a website for your business, or if you have a website but it’s not effective, you can hire a marketing consultant to help. A marketing consultant can build a basic WordPress website for you or teach you how to do it yourself.
For web design, hire a marketing consultant to help:
• Choose and register your domain name
• Set up your Web hosting
• Install and setup WordPress
• Create pages, posts, and menus
• Add plugins and themes
• Build a blog
If your website is more complicated the marketing consultant you hire may advise you to seek out a web design and SEO company to take on your web build project. The consultant can advise you on which companies are most capable of handling the job, interview the companies with you using video-conferencing, and help direct the project if necessary.
6. Increase your website SEO
If you’re not happy with your website ranking or if you’re not seeing any traffic, a marketing consultant can help you understand how you can increase your website’s search engine optimization.
For website SEO, hire a marketing consultant to help or teach you to:
- Understand the various methods of website SEO
- Design your website SEO strategy and understand dollar and time costs
- Have a plan for DIY or who to hire
Your marketing consultant can help you with SEO basics as well as advise you on your next steps for massive growth. They can provide you with tested SEO providers if you’d prefer to hand off your website SEO to a specialist company.