According to a survey from Gartner, organizations spend around 72% of their marketing budget on digital marketing! It’s a brave move but equally sensible as well. This is because digital advertisements can increase the brand’s awareness by an impressive 80%, thus helping it grow. But is it the digital space that does this job? No, a digital marketing consultant does so by utilizing this space!
Digital Marketing Consultant: Definition
A digital marketing consultant is a person who specializes in developing digital marketing strategies to help businesses grow. Businesses seek their expertise when they have a specific goal to be achieved in their digital space. Be it building a strong online presence, increasing brand awareness, driving sales or reaching the target audience, these professionals can develop marketing strategies for anything! Moreover, they don’t develop these strategies but ensure their proper implementation and analysis of the performance. Overall, they take complete care of the digital space of an organization.
Importance of a Digital Marketing Consultant
Expertise and Industry News
The very first thing that digital marketing consultants bring with them is their expertise. You cannot expect a business to have complete knowledge of online marketing, but we can expect so in the case of these professionals. Their job is to help businesses grow online; thus, they possess in-depth knowledge of the same. Secondly, to thrive in any industry, it is important to be up-to-date with it. These professionals ensure the same by being aware of the latest industry news, latest trends and algorithm changes so that the organization doesn’t fall behind.
Customized Strategies
Since every business is unique, there are no generalized digital marketing strategies. One needs to develop a specific or tailored one to get results! Digital marketing consultants keep the same in mind and ensure their strategies align well with the organization and its goals. They perform thorough market research and competitor analysis so that the strategy is developed to address all the business needs and goals.
Performance Analysis
Apart from developing and implementing marketing strategies, another important thing that digital marketing consultants provide is the complete performance report of the strategies. Whether a strategy is successful or not, or to what extent it worked, these experts will analyze each and everything. Organizations receive detailed reports and insights on their strategies' performance and return on investment through various tools and techniques. Additionally, many data-driven decisions use these insights, further businesses to take a competitive edge.
Time and Resource Efficiency
When an organization decides to take care of digital marketing by themselves, it will require them to dedicate the same amount of effort and time as they do for their other business operations. The amount can be more as well, as marketing is not their primary job. The move will increase the consumption of time and effort and cause a shift in focus from core business operations to marketing ones, which is not at all a smart move.
By hiring digital marketing consultants, businesses can focus on their core responsibilities and leave the marketing to the experts. This move will ensure positive results as everyone is involved in the work they are best at!
Primary Responsibilities of a Digital Marketing Consultant
Market Research and Competitor Analysis
The first step that a digital marketing consultant takes before developing a strategy is to perform complete market research. This is essential as it allows them to understand the business’s market, target audience, preferences and behavior, which would help them develop effective marketing strategies. Understanding what is working in the market and what is not is necessary as it would help them make the right decisions.
After market research, next comes competitor analysis. Competitors target the same audience as you; one with the best offerings would take the lead! To provide the organization with a competitive edge, digital marketing consultants first need to understand what their competitors offer and ensure their offerings are better than those. They need to find the gaps where the competitors are lacking and the areas where they are best so that the organization can benefit from them and put extra effort into the challenging areas. Apart from this, they can also analyze the profiles of market leaders to have more knowledge and a better understanding of the market.
Content Creation and Marketing
After developing strategies, digital marketing consultants create content that includes curating blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics and more. These contents are meant to grab the audience's attention, make them engage with the organization, generate conversions and promote the brand and its services.
For content marketing, many things need to be kept in mind. First and foremost, it should resonate well with the organization’s goals and represent its image appropriately. Secondly, the content should be compelling enough to grab the audience's attention, encourage them to engage and build trust among them. Overall, digital marketing consultants must ensure that the content they have created effectively targets the audience, is relevant, and gives a complete picture of the organization and its services.
Did you know that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates three times as many leads? Surely, an economic and effective strategy to connect with their audience and drive results!
Social Media Marketing & SEO
Promoting various forms of content across social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram is known as social media marketing. This practice is not just about posting content over there. It is more than that and involves various steps to be taken beforehand. Various algorithms are there on these platforms that decide what users will see. To ensure high visibility of their content, digital marketing consultants first need to understand these algorithms and then optimize the content accordingly. Apart from this, they also need to ensure their content effectively promotes the brand's services or products, builds community with the audience, and drives traffic to the organization.
SEO stands for search engine optimization, which means optimizing content to rank well on the search engine results page. Here, digital marketing consultants must ensure that whenever a user searches for anything related to the organization or its services, their website appears at the top of the search results. This enhanced visibility will increase its traffic and the chances of generating leads or conversions. Conducting keyword research, optimizing website content, improving site structure, and building high-quality backlinks are some of these professionals' practices under search engine optimization (SEO).
Performance Analysis and Presentation
Another important responsibility of digital marketing consultants is to do the performance analysis, i.e., to give the organization a clear picture of the implemented marketing campaigns. They need to find the answers to questions such as how well the strategies are working and what are the factors responsible for so. They also need to analyze website traffic, user behavior, conversion rates, social media engagement and much more.
The presentation task involves interpreting the above data to stakeholders so that further decisions can be made. Digital marketing consultants use these reports and insights to understand the effectiveness of their strategies, make data-driven decisions for optimizing them, and develop future marketing campaigns.
What You Should Look For in a Digital Marketing Consultant?
Expertise and Experience
When hiring a digital marketing consultant, always ask for a proven track record, especially in social media marketing, search engine optimization, and content creation, as these are the pillars of digital marketing. A successful portfolio will not only define how much expertise they have but also give you confidence about them.
On the other hand, having an experienced digital marketing consultant eases the job to a great extent as they already possess a lot of knowledge of the best industry practices and can leverage the same to drive various successful digital marketing campaigns for the organization.
Creativity
Here, in digital marketing, success depends a lot on creativity. To stand out among tons of content and grab the audience's attention requires a different skill set. It takes creativity to identify and tailor the trend to the organization and its goal. A digital marketing consultant must possess such skills to develop successful marketing strategies. Creativity only results in engaging content, eye-catching visuals, and innovative marketing campaigns, thus making it an essential trait!
Problem Solving Ability and Attention to Detail
Whether during the development of digital marketing strategies, their implementation or any other stage, one would encounter many problems at each stage. Digital marketing consultants will constantly be required to identify the issues, analyze the root causes, and implement solutions promptly, making it necessary for them to have problem-solving ability.
Attention to detail is also crucial because even a minor error can fail the entire marketing campaign, impacting the brand’s reputation and customer perception. So it's important to have someone who can easily identify even the minute flaws.
Adaptability and Willingness to Learn
The digital space will constantly evolve. There is no doubt about that! New technologies will arrive, platforms will be introduced, trends will emerge, and more. Therefore, to thrive here, a digital marketer needs to be adaptable and willing to learn about all these changes. Moreover, they should stay up-to-date with the latest industry developments and be open to experimenting with different marketing strategies to keep them effective and innovative!
FAQs
Q. Is it necessary to have a digital marketing consultant?
No, it is not necessary, but it is advised to have a digital marketing consultant in your team. With their experience and expertise, they enhance your online presence and allow you to focus more on your core business operations.
Q. Can a digital marketing consultant help me with email marketing campaigns?
Yes, they can. For that, you need to hire digital marketing consultants who specialize in email marketing campaigns. Such professionals create compelling emails, schedule campaigns, and analyze their performance. They will help you nurture leads and drive conversions through targeted communication.
Q. Are digital marketing consultants cost-effective?
Yes, the possibility of digital marketing consultants being cost-effective is there. It is possible as they offer tailored services keeping the budget constraints in mind and focus on strategies that offer the highest ROI, thus ensuring businesses get the most value for their investment.
Q. How do Digital Marketing Consultants stay updated with industry trends and changes?
Digital Marketing Consultants stay updated through continuous learning, attending industry events, participating in webinars, reading industry publications, and obtaining certifications. It is crucial for them to be aware of the latest trends and changes as it would help them craft effective marketing campaigns.
Q. How long does it take to see results from digital marketing strategies implemented by a consultant?
The timeframe to see results depends upon the goal of the organization and the strategies implemented to achieve it. Some might show results within a few months, while others might take longer to show a significant impact.
Conclusion
With the digital marketing industry set to reach $807 billion in valuation by 2026 and a 10% increase in the demand for marketing jobs, it is high time for businesses and individuals to understand the industry's importance and opportunities. Individuals can seek growth by becoming digital marketing consultants, whereas businesses can seek growth by hiring them. Overall, digital marketing is a promising industry with a secure future, offering numerous opportunities for everyone.
