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6 Signs You Should Invest in a Marketing Consultant
Here are six signs that the time is right to make a positive investment in marketing your business.
1. You don’t know what you don’t know
It’s no easy feat to keep abreast of an ever changing world of Marketing, especially Digital Marketing. Every month there are new marketing software platforms, social networks, search engine algorithm changes and legislative changes regarding privacy and marketing communications.
Where do you start? Most people accept that in 2017 you simply can not, not have an online presence. This is your shop front. This is where the perception of your business begins.
87% of B2B marketers now have a mobile-friendly website, marking a 53% increase from 2014.
Did you know if your website is not mobile responsive, search engines such as Google will penalise your website rankings? Unsure if your website is mobile responsive? Check how it fits the screen when viewed from your mobile. Is it customised for mobile screens or is it the desktop version which you have to zoom in on?
Great! You have a mobile friendly site, you may have even just created a new website recently. This is an excellent start… but not enough. Next you need that site to actually be found. After all, your site is competing with 150,000+ other websites which are being created daily and with over a billion sites worldwide.
This is where SEO comes in. A Marketing acronym you may have heard of called Search Engine Optimisation. These are a range of tactics to help your site rank better and to be found amongst your competitors ideally on page 1 of search engines. Without an SEO strategy your site may be difficult to be found.
By seeking the expertise of an experienced and well rounded Marketing Consultant or Marketing Consulting Agency, they will be able to put you on the right path on what the most important marketing priorities are for your business which will result in optimum results and growth.
2. You’re time poor so Marketing always comes last
There are constant demands on your time every day and you need to concentrate on your product development, customer service, your staff, cash flow and everything else that goes into keeping your business running from day to day. This often means that through no fault of your own, marketing becomes an afterthought, something to be squeezed in when time allows on an adhoc basis. Newsflash! Adhoc Marketing is ineffective marketing. Don’t expect to hear the phone ringing with leads by sending out one email blast or having one event per quarter or per year.
Effective marketing is regular and targeted messaging which communicates the benefits of your products or services to your ideal client. The key words here are regular and targeted so that you remain front of mind for when your prospect is in a position to require your product or service. It is not enough to just send out your corporate profile brochure and hope that alone, will bring leads in the door.
A good marketing consultant can take the weight off your shoulders and effectively set up your marketing processes well from day one. They can assist you with preparing a marketing plan and calendar that is aligned to your business and revenue objectives, showing you how to build targeted client & prospect lists to communicate with, preparing content plans with key messages which can be conveyed via blogs, white papers, videos, case studies etc. Showing you what social media channels to focus on, giving you key insights into your competitors’ marketing activities. A good marketing consultant will show you what industry keywords to focus on enabling your site to rank better and compete for sales leads.
Of course, if this all seems too overwhelming, then you can hire the services of a marketing consulting agency like Optimum Marketing Solutions who provide access to a complete marketing department for the cost of a part-timer!
3. You don’t have a marketing plan
Marketing covers a wide variety of initiatives and strategies that should work in alignment with your business goals. If you don’t have a current marketing plan in place, it’s likely that you’re blindly spending time and money on marketing efforts that aren’t necessarily delivering the results you want. If you’re unsure about your marketing strategy or where to start, you might end up doing the occasional blog post, trying social media without any real goals and sending out emails that seem to disappear without being read. A marketing consultant can help you develop and implement a realistic and effective marketing plan which is aligned to your budget and growth aspirations.
4. You aren’t connecting with customers and prospects
If your business is difficult to find online, is in a niche market or your competitors are consistently beating you in search rankings, it’s going to be difficult to bring in new business. Digital marketing can seem to be a confusing and intimidating technical world but, with the benefit of expert marketing knowledge on your side, greater visibility and results can absolutely be achieved. You really do have to be in it though, to win it!
48% Of B2Bs Plan To Increase Digital Budgets In 2017!
From bespoke SEO strategies to content marketing that will draw valuable prospects to your business, a marketing consultant can work with you to get new business coming to you.
5. Your leads and sales are stagnant
Lack of growth is a common issue for many businesses. If you’re relying on your current customer base and not getting the quality sales leads and conversions you want, it’s time to look at outsourcing your marketing to professionals. You know your products and services are great, but perhaps you don’t have a sales team in place or any marketing tools for anyone to sell with! We see it regularly with Professional Services businesses who are great at providing their service to a high degree of quality but don’t invest in the sales and marketing of their business because they are so caught up working in their business. How is anyone going to know about your business if you don’t invest in promoting it? You may have a great referral system in place based on existing relationships but what about upcoming future generations… how are you reaching them?
If you think your marketing efforts (or lack of) may be outdated and ineffective, or aren’t geared towards targeting the needs of your target market, then it’s time to consider getting some expert marketing advice.
6. You don’t have a marketing budget
This one says it all. You don’t see marketing as a priority or a tool to enable growth and sales. If you just see Marketing as an expense in 2017, then you may as well accept your fate now. Marketing has now become so sophisticated that you can obtain insights into how to dominate your industry, navigate into new markets and beat your competitors at their own game. There is now so much valuable Marketing data available to you which can actually help dictate the direction of your businesses’ strategy that there is no excuse not to invest in Marketing.
Also remember, your accountant or CFO should not be your only advisor in business, as marketers often say, sometimes you have to spend money to make money! We have personally seen this to be true first hand. Marketing budgets continued their steady ascent in 2016, climbing to 12% of company revenue, according to the Gartner 2016-2017 CMO Spend Survey.
We have all heard of the saying for the need to ‘work on your business, not in your business’ to enable growth and success. It’s important to outsource your areas of weakness or those in which you are inexperienced so you can focus on the work you do best.
Outsourcing your marketing strategy and implementation to experts can truly take your business to the next level.
If any of the above resonates with you, you’re not alone, contact us today to have a chat about your aspirations and marketing challenges. At Optimum Marketing Solutions we provide a dedicated marketing department for the cost of a part-timer. We take care of your marketing strategy and day to day implementation giving you the peace of mind that your marketing is on auto pilot.