A digital marketing consultant is an independent marketing professional who focuses on the digital aspects of marketing, to help businesses harness and profit from exposure across digital channels.
Digital marketing consultants will usually hold the normal marketing qualifications at post-graduate level, MA or even PHD but as opposed to a traditionally based marketing consultant, (some very successful consultants will not hold or need these qualifications to operate as a digital marketing consultant) who will be focused on higher level marketing planning and strategy, a digital marketing consultant will usually be more focused on implementation, although this will be underpinned by a tight strategy and digital marketing plan.
A digital marketing consultant will often be used by businesses who wish to outsource their digital marketing, as an alternative to employing a full-time member of staff.
Digital marketing consultants are therefore sometimes employed on a contract basis, which can be for a short period and work in-house with the client company, or they can work remotely, usually from an office or home office set up.
The skillset of the digital marketing consultant can vary greatly between individual consultants. Some digital marketing consultants will be primarily based on working on social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, as well as many other potential channels.
Other digital marketing consultants will focus their efforts on a specific area, such as Google Ads, where they help clients generate new business leads from the Google platform, this may include Google Search, Google Display, Remarketing and utilising Google partners across the Google search or display networks.
The plethora of digital marketing channels available today, means that there are many opportunities for digital marketing consultants to focus their attention to a narrow field of expertise that can still be very lucrative, or for others, they will offer a broader range of digital services.
In terms of remuneration for their services, digital marketing consultants can be paid in a number of ways, the most popular format is to be paid by a monthly retainer for their services. This figure can vary greatly between consultants, but in general, is usually in the range of £1000 - £2000 per month.
Other consultants, who focus on lead generation, will work on a performance basis, so they will decide on a cost-per-lead to the client, they will then only be paid for the number of qualified leads they provide to the business.
This is typical of how many Facebook consultants will work, they seek out companies that need a lot of leads per day and can afford the media spend on Facebook to achieve the required number, so say on 100 leads delivered, this type of digital marketing consultant may receive £10 - £20 per lead, so again this can be a very lucrative way for the consultant to operate.