Is a marketing consultant right for you?

A marketing resource will help you. But should you go the agency, full-time team, freelancer, or consulting route? The next questions should help you narrow it down.

If you feel like your marketing plan is already solid then you might just need content and distribution. An agency or freelancer could be sufficient. In this scenario you know you want to run a certain type of campaign (i.e. Facebood ads, billboard ads, direct mail campaign) and you just need someone to handle content development, distribution, ad spend and campaign logistics.

If you have the time and skills to stay on top of the strategy and logistics of your marketing plan, you likely don’t need a full-time team or strategic consultant.

If you have a large team and can afford to hire full-time marketing help, you could consider agency or in-house. This option is for companies who have at least 40-80 hours of work per week for the marketing team to do and can budget more than $150K annually to staff marketing talent.

In this situation a VP/Director-level consultant could also be an option to help you in the early stages as you build out your strategy and determine what kind of marketing team you’ll need in the long-term.

If you just need a one-off piece of marketing content here and there (i.e. videos, print materials, graphic design) your cheapest option will be to hire freelancers.

This works if you have a solid strategy, strong brand, and someone on staff to distribute your marketing messages. One issue with this approach is the lack of a consistent, cohesive strategy. You’ll also need to handle the logistics of distributing, tracking, and monitoring the campaigns yourself.

We’re talking TV commercial quality content here. If you are targeting hundred of thousands of prospects and need to do large ad spend campaigns (i.e. paid search, adwords, television) you are to the point that an agency could be your option. You may also need a full-time marketing team to manage the agency relationship.

Consultants aren’t your top option in this situation unless you are only looking for them to come in and establish a main component for the agency to work from (i.e. brand & identity, messaging).

This is where consultants can shine. A small- to mid-size business may need more than a cookie-cutter marketing approach, but they don’t have the $$ to hire a full-time team.

A VP/Director-level consultant like Dapper Otter Marketing offers the personal touch needed for businesses with unique products/services and distinct target audiences. A good consultant will deliver - at a minimum - your strategy, branding and research. Great consultants will also develop content, execute campaigns and align metrics to company goals.

If you are trying to hire full-time marketing talent, but are not finding qualified applicants, a consultant could provide a stop gap for you.

If you hire the right consultant it will set you up well when you are able to hire a dedicated in-house team. Consultants will also help you find the right talent for your needs.