What Does it Take to be a Successful Marketing Consultant?

The job of a marketing consultant can vary greatly depending on the company and project, but it typically involves providing advice to businesses on the best way to reach, attract and convert customers. It takes a lot of listening and understanding of the company and its goals to be successful. As an experienced marketing consultant, I bring together my knowledge and experience to determine what the company needs to do to create a successful marketing operation that generates sustainable profits. This can include figuring out how to present products, setting up the right marketing tools, and establishing a set of marketing activities to get the company's name out there. A consultant is like an expert in all trades.

They have extensive experience in both traditional and digital marketing. Marketing consultants take on a wide range of tasks in developing, implementing, analyzing and maintaining a successful marketing strategy. Depending on the organization's preferences (or the consultant's assessment), these efforts could be spread across multiple marketing channels. Yes, being a marketing consultant is a great career choice. It is an excellent option for those who have worked in marketing for many years and are interested in diversifying independently.

Working as a marketing consultant is essentially independent work and requires you to build your clientele to make money. There are various certifications for marketing consultants that can provide you with additional business skills. A well-known option is the Professional Certified Marketer, which requires at least a bachelor's degree, a few years of experience and passing an exam to get certified. If you specialize in market research, you may decide to earn the Insights Association professional researcher certification, which offers 18 different certifications for great customization. These tools are used to help a marketing consultant's clients attract more customers and increase sales.

However, if the consultant has extensive experience serving similar clients in the same industry, they may not necessarily conduct market research from scratch. In addition to conducting research, creating strategies and executing plans, a marketing consultant also analyzes the performance of their efforts and shares them with their clients. The success of a company depends on its marketing plan, so marketers should be valued and respected more. However, “marketing involves a lot, and most marketing consultants don't know how to do it all. Most marketing consultants need a bachelor's degree in marketing, business or communications to get started. Marketing consultants also use various tools in their day-to-day operations to provide the best advice to clients.

If you've been in your marketing career for a few years, gain more experience experimenting with different marketing channels and industries. Consultants create a clear timeline for initiatives and coordinate with interested teams to ensure all marketing activities are carried out on time. Working in these types of roles for some time can give you the kind of experience you need to succeed as a marketing consultant. We take averages and estimates from various sources to give you an overall assessment of what you could do as a marketing consultant. Some may focus on SEO consulting, while others may focus on influencer marketing or affiliate marketing programs.

You'll need to research competition, keywords, topics, strategies and more to be an effective marketing consultant. Companies can hire marketing consultants for one project or work with them for longer periods under contract. Most of the graduates I've talked to about careers in marketing think about working in large departments at Coca-Cola or consumer brands that come up with advertising ideas, which is far from what I do (and what Coke salespeople do).

Frank Klinkenberg
Frank Klinkenberg

Beer lover. Amateur travel geek. Friendly burrito fan. Hipster-friendly social media expert. Devoted twitter buff. Devoted zombie junkie.