What is Marketing Consulting: 101 For Start-ups

A marketing consultant is a business professional skilled in creating detailed marketing plans. They are able to determine marketing messages, and identify appropriate marketing mixes. They can either run their own marketing consulting practice or be employed by a marketing firm.

Marketing consulting is essential for business owners as they create and implement marketing strategies focusing on products and services your company offers. Their roles also vary by companies and projects because companies all have their unique business objectives, goals and challenges. It is the consultant or marketing consulting teams to first identify what those goals are and where the challenges lie in order to provide recommendations and solutions. The marketer will then do research, strategize with the team and implement tactics designed to reach those goals.

What Makes a Marketing Consultant Good?

Marketing consulting firms and marketing consultants are crucial to a business’ success. Their value is often measured by their years in the business. Their track record of successfully manoeuvring marketing on behalf of their clients to meet their clients’ needs also tells you a lot about their capabilities.

As we mentioned, their approach to being hands-on will vary; some consultants are just advisors, while others advise and implement strategies. When approaching or hiring a marketing consulting firm, make sure you understand their capacity to handle your needs. Make sure that they not only think creatively but also analytically and that they are result oriented.

The Position that Marketing Consultant Holds Verifies their Background

In many cases, marketing consultants become consultants after leaving the corporate sector. There much experience that one gets from their corporate career which come from areas such as:

  • Marketing Coordinator – Often a junior or entry level, marketing coordinators are responsible for executing a variety of tactics and strategies designed and developed with marketing departments. When they become marketing consultants, they have the experience to implement strategies more effectively!
  • Marketing Specialist – Marketing specialists have a particular set of expertise in marketing. Their skills can range from social media, copywriting, search engine marketing and optimization, marketing research and other areas in digital marketing.
  • Marketing Manager – Within the marketing department, someone needs to run the day to day operations to have run a well-oiled machine, and that’s the job of a marketing manager. They also come up with strategies and help to implement and measure their success. Because they are generalists, they are crucial in many marketing consulting firms.
  • Marketing Director – Marketing directors are often either in senior positions or the head of a department. They work more in strategic levels and tasks, assign or work with teams to create marketing deliverables. If you need a marketing consultant to help you with your advertising company, these should be your go-to at any consulting firm.
  • Marketing Communication Manager – This group of specialists are the generals of this field. They are strategic marketing innovators and will get their hands dirty to ensure that all implemented marketing is successful, giving you plenty of bang for your buck.

Marketing consulting companies need to also, in some cases, focus on one or two disciplines. Here are some of the chosen disciplines that marketing consultants fall under:

Business to Consumer (B2C) – Here we refer to the commerce between a business and an individual. Consumer transactions can be very impulsive, so to bridge the gap, B2C marketing consulting companies, or consultants will use marketing techniques to appease the imbalance.

Business to Business (B2B) – Here we’re talking about selling to other businesses. Business to business marketing consultants have cultivated the experience with a range of business needs providing quality solutions.

Marketing consulting companies are also experts in the following products and services:

Real Estate Marketing

Retail Marketing

Services Marketing

Luxury Marketing

Healthcare Marketing

Food Marketing

Sports Marketing

Non-profit Marketing

International Marketing

Many start-up companies get into business without consulting professionals to help them avoid making dire mistakes. Having a company that’s dedicated to helping you leverage on your marketing efforts is invaluable. For marketing consulting you can rely on, get in touch with us at Pounce Marketing.