Marketing strategy consulting can mean many different things but usually if you are looking for a marketing strategy consultant, you need help planning out your marketing. Sometimes you know exactly what you want to do. Usually, you know what you are selling and often you know who your target client is … but as a business owner, you can not be an expert at everything. Sometimes, you need some help to move your business forward in the right direction.
In fact, usually marketing is not in your area of expertise, but to make the phone ring or sales come in through your web site, you need to let people know about your services.
The end result:
What you should have in hand at the end of this consulting project is an overview of your marketing strategies, where you are going to advertise your business, what you are going to do to market yourself, an editorial calendar to plan out when you will market your business, any promotions or events you plan on participating in through the year and step by step tasks to complete.
Often marketing strategy consulting includes doing the work as well, but if you have people to do the work or you want to market yourself, consultants will also create a road map only.
What is involved in creating a marketing strategy:
Step 1: Gathering Information
Here a marketing strategy consultant will start learning about your business and talk to employees and clients, research online reviews and testimonials and find out more about the products and services offered.
Step 2: Looking at Competitors
An important step is to look at competitors to see what they are doing and not doing.
Step 3: Assessing Your Current Marketing
A marketing strategy consultant will want to see all your current marketing materials, logos, web sites, blogs, ads and anything else you have used in the past or are currently using to attract customers.
Step 4: Suggesting Untapped Resources
At this point, a good consultant will have some ideas and resources that you are not using in your business. You can use these to make some decisions about what you want to do.
Step 5: Deciding On Promotions / Events / Sales
Looking at the time of year and your market, a list of promotions and events should be compiled.
Step 6: Putting Together The Strategy: Online & Offline
Once all of this is done, a good marketing strategy consultant will look at what you have available for marketing, how much money you want to spend and what you are currently doing and create the strategy. This is often a collaboration between the owner or senior executives and often goes through a few drafts.
Step 7: Creating An Editorial Calendar
From that strategy, an editorial calendar is created to go through what will be done when, including press releases, promotions, videos, e-mails, product launches, articles, eZines, social media events and postings, etc.
Step 8: Optimizing Your Web Site, Social Media and Web Traffic Strategy
Before the marketing can start, there will need to be some work done on your web site, social media and other online services to make sure you are ready to accept new business or launch new marketing campaigns.
Step 9: Suggested Pull Marketing Materials Online & Offline
Any print ads or postcards will be recommended here.
Step 10: Launching & Maintenance
A suggested launch and maintenance schedule will sum up your marketing strategy consulting road map.
If you want to do this yourself, great. You have the tools to create your own road map but if you are not sure, start contacting some marketing strategy consultants to find the one that looks like the best fit for you and your business.