Good question. There’s probably no one set of skills that defines what a digital marketing consultant looks like, but in general, it’s someone who can look at all or most of your online activity and give you some tips on how to improve, or solve your existing problems. This will typically come with some experience of paid and organic media, some data skills to actually dig into what’s happening and give you some actionable insights, and the ability to work tactically and strategically (i.e. work on what’s happening now, but also plan for the future). Let’s break some of this down.
What does a digital marketing consultant do?
Before we can answer “What is a digital marketing consultant?”, we need to break down that title a little bit.
“Consultant” is one of those terms that can sound a bit airy-fairy. It may conjure up images of someone who swoops in, makes a bunch of recommendations, takes the paycheck and disappears. On the other hand, if you’ve had a good experience with one it might look more like this:
- Have an introductory call or meeting where they introduce themselves and their skills in a way that lets you know genuinely what they can and can’t do
- If agreeable to both sides, agree on an initial arrangement for work that benefits themselves and your business
- Take sufficient time to get to know your business, products and relevant members of your team
- Listen to your objectives/problems as a business
- Understand where they fit in and the limitations of their role
- Spend some time analysing the situation they’ve been brought in to address
- Propose a way forward, strategically or tactically, that will help to achieve your goals
- Work with you on a project basis or ongoing arrangement as required
- Where relevant, provide documentation/handovers at the end of a project or engagement
Digital marketing consultant skills
Digital marketing (i.e. a big part of general marketing since the 90s) is obviously a broad topic. A digital marketing consultant may be a specialist in some areas of the online marketing world, or a generalist who knows a bit about it all. A typical consultant skill-set might look like this:
- Experience of one or more paid channels (e.g. Meta or Google Ads)
- Experience of one or more organic channels (e.g. SEO or organic social media marketing)
- Experience of multiple verticals (e.g. FMCG, construction, retail)
- Experience of B2B and B2C industries
- Can understand and speak about nuances of design or copy
- Good at problem solving
- Can look at things in an unbiased way from the perspective of the target audience
- Ability to think analytically (and ideally to use analytics tools and approaches to solve problems or derive insights)
- Ability to strategise (including long-term planning that works towards your business goals, or perhaps even challenges them)
- Clear communication skills — they will likely need to be able to speak to people who want results but not details, and other team members who will be implementing technical changes or activity
Naturally everyone is different (which is obviously a good thing) but it would be normal for a good digital marketing consultant to at least tick 4-5 of the above points.
Digital marketing consultant services
If you’re thinking about bringing someone in, then don’t be afraid to ask about their skills, experience and even motivations — after all, you need to know as much as possible about someone who maybe hasn’t spent years learning your trade, to see if they will hit the ground running and provide the value that you’re looking for. If you are interested in finding out if I can help your business to grow online, then feel free to get in touch and test me on the above 🙂