Finding the right marketing consultant for your specific requirements may seem like a daunting process at first, but it becomes much easier once you narrow down your potential consultants based on your individual needs and each consultant’s ability to deliver the results you want.
Many companies naturally will look to hire a marketing consultant in the locality in which they operate, certainly for SME type businesses where there is a comfort factor in using a marketing consultant in the roughly same locality of where the business is based.
This is a good idea for many businesses, as it enables the relationship to build more quickly if the client and the consultant already have the shared experiences of living in a similar location and operating in the same local economy.
However, it is not always the case that the business owner is too concerned about the physical location of the marketing consultant. There are many businesses the realise that most marketing consultants operate remotely and therefore the actual location is not as relevant as long as the end results are achieved.
Finding a marketing consultant on Google
The search for a marketing consultant will normally take place via a search on Google or Bing, or even via social channels like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
There are many search terms that can be used to look for a marketing consultant, and sometimes it is a good idea to append your search term with a little more detail to find more relevant results for your enquiry.
Such as, if you were for example a financial services company, you may search for 'financial services marketing consultants', which should then rank those with that specialism more highly than other more general marketing consultants.
It’s always a good idea to have the basis of what you are looking for in your marketing consultant written down, so that you can look for the criteria you want and have it close to hand when you are shortlisting marketing consultant candidates from the information displayed on their websites.
Having this advanced idea and brief in your mind can make the process of refining marketing consultants easier and therefore take up less of your time.
Finding a marketing consultant from referrals
Many business owners will look to rely on the experience of other associates and colleagues on the marketing consultants that they have used in the past, or are currently engaged with, so that they have the reassurance of somebody they know and trust to recommend the marketing consultant.
This is actually a good idea in many cases, as it shortcuts much of the necessary due diligence that may be necessary when doing a cold review of available marketing consultants.
The only thing that could be a potential problem with simply going off referrals alone is that your associate or colleague may be in a very different area of business to your business.
And so a marketing consultant that is delivering great results for him or her, may not do as well for you if you are in a completely different arena of business, or your business is much larger or smaller in scope than your referrer’s business.
That said, in many cases the marketing consultant will be quite adept at managing different types and sizes of clients, so the referral route is always a strong approach.
Comparing a marketing consultant against others
Once you have your shortlist of marketing consultants, it may be a good idea to them compare them like-for like for the service you need and the results you want to attain, so that you can make the best judgement for your specific needs.
This can easily be done using a spreadsheet where you list columns of the features that you want from your marketing consultant, and rows of the actual marketing consultant candidates you have shortlisted.
Then it’s a case of simply scoring the different services, experience, testimonials, pricing, terms, location and any other variables that are important in your decision, so that you gain clarity of which marketing consultant is emerging as a clear winner or at least worthy of taking to the next stage of your deliberation.
Marketing consultant testimonials
Just as the benefits of having a friend, associate or colleague refer a marketing consultant they both know and trust to you, marketing consultant testimonials can also be a great tool to use in choosing your ideal marketing consultant.
Most marketing consultants will have a good range of testimonials from their recent clients and this can be a good indicator of the personality and work-style of your marketing consultant, and also the type and range of clients that they have worked for.
In addition to this, marketing consultants will usually have a good range of case-studies available that they can share with you as a prospective client, that outline in greater detail the specific experience and skills they brought to a project and the deliverables that were achieved for the investment the client made in the services.
Testimonials are therefore very useful certainly when researching potential marketing consultants and wanting to refine an initial list, to something more manageable and eventually your shortlist of marketing consultants.
Other ways to find a marketing consultant
As well as using the internet, asking colleagues friends and associates about who is the best marketing consultant, there are other ways to locate a good marketing consultant and one appropriate for your personal requirements.
Personal networking can be a very successful way of finding a good marketing consultant and especially if you are a business who appreciates the more locally based marketing consultant.
Networking means visiting local business groups and usually speaking with the attendee businesses so that you can then ask around the personal experiences they have had with marketing consultants they know and who they can recommend.
Being in a face-to-face context means you can get into more detail about what you are looking for in your marketing consultant and derive more information and real experiences than relying solely on your desk-based research.
Thanks for reading and good luck in finding your ideal marketing consultant.