5 Things Your Marketing Consultancy Wants You To Know
Thinking of hiring a marketing consultancy for the first time?
Let’s chat about what your marketing consultancy really think and most importantly what they want you to know about your new partnership working together.
So you’ve decided to go down the route of working with a marketing consultancy to maximise your marketing efforts? Exciting times are ahead. But finding the right fit for your business can be a daunting challenge. Most marketing consultancies won’t come cheap and picking the wrong one can be an expensive mistake to make.
You’re most likely looking for support because your internal marketing resources are short and you need a plug-in and play situation. You might have a big project on the horizon and need external eyes to help you shape the strategy for it. Or it may well be that you’re a new business and need someone you can trust to help support you through the big hurdles of setting up your marketing function.
Whatever the reason you’ve decided to go with a marketing consultancy, there’s a few things we think it’ll be really handy for you to know going into your new journey together.
Don’t expect results to happen overnight
When you’re making an investment into your marketing, it’s common for clients to expect to see a return on investment immediately. Unfortunately, as with most good things in life, a little patience is required. Marketing isn’t a quick fix or slap a plaster on and watch it heal kind of situation (if you’re potential marketing agency is telling you otherwise, the chances are you’ll be a little disappointed). Time is needed to set the strategy (this will include a proper discovery phase and some good old fashioned analytics), implement it (making sure the strategy is put out on all the right channels, at the right time in the right way), and give it an adequate testing period to make sure you’re adapting where necessary and ensuring it’s working as planned.
Don’t let this put you off though - the results will come. Just make sure you go in to the partnership with the right frame of mind, shaped for success.
Discuss the timeline with your marketing consultancy up front - agree on review dates and set realistic goals and KPIs for what you need to achieve and in what time frame. Figure out together a great communication plan with regular updates to ensure you’re kept in the loop the whole way along (as any great marketing consultancy will do).
Just remember, it will take time.
Consistency is key
We get asked a lot by clients what the secret is to successful marketing. The answer? Simple. Consistency. We often see businesses giving their marketing efforts a big drive for a couple of weeks, not seeing immediate results, getting a little disheartened and diverting their efforts elsewhere. Letting your marketing fall to the wayside is the reason so many people struggle to get their marketing strategies working for them.
If you’re sending out a newsletter, keep it consistent - send one out on the same day every month.
If you’re posting on social, keep it consistent - post to a regular schedule that works for you.
If you’re writing blog posts, keep it consistent - aim to write a set number per month.
You get the gist.
This also applies to how you work with your marketing consultancy. Follow their advice for the prescribed amount of time rather than letting it slide after just a couple of weeks. Marketing professionals know that strategy needs time to embed to create a consistent approach, so really do stick to a good routine - it’ll pay off!
Make sure you know your brand
Here’s a hot tip for you. It’s impossible to get marketing right if you don’t know your brand inside out and fully understand who it is you’re marketing to. Now this sounds super obvious but it’s something we see people get wrong far too often. Brands can have an amazing product but without a clear sense of who they are or who they’re speaking to, it’ll flop. This can also apply to established brands - as the world evolves, what your business stands for and who you’re targeting will change along the way. Getting to know your brand and regularly checking in to make sure you’re getting it right is one of the most important tasks you can do to get your marketing strategy working well.
Your marketing consultancy should tell you immediately if there’s a disconnect. If they’re not being abundantly honest with you around this, they’re probably not the right fit for your business.
When we talk about really knowing your brand, you should be able to answer these questions with ease:
Who is your brand, what problem do you solve?
What are your values?
Who is your typical customer?
What do you want your business NOT to be?
If you can’t, or your team answers them wildly differently to one another, the chances are you’ve got yourself a disconnect. If this is the case, speak to a branding consultancy (your marketing consultancy might offer this, we do!) and set up a workshop to work where the disconnect is coming from and establish how to get you back on track.
All your marketing efforts need to work in harmony
If you’re hiring a marketing consultancy to look after just one of your marketing channels (for example social media), it’s a good idea to introduce them to everyone involved in your marketing department. Why? Because marketing works best when it’s harmonised.
Look at it this way, if your car broke down and it needed a push to get started again (we’ve all been there right?!) and one of you was at the back pushing whilst another was pushing at the front of the car towards you - chances are, you’d get nowhere. Marketing is no different, pushing different messages is confusing to the customer, they want to be able to read an email with your marketing message, open up Instagram and see that same message repeated. If they’re not aligned, it just doesn’t make sense - your customer will switch off and head elsewhere.
So at the very least, make sure your whole team is on board talking to one another, and all in the loop about key messages and campaigns! Your website should align with your newsletters and all of your social media channels and so on!
Although it feels daunting, even the smallest steps make a difference
Hopefully, this doesn’t feel too daunting, but if it does - don’t let it dishearten you. You made a big step by deciding to put your marketing at the forefront, and having that additional help to drive your business will add bring so many benefits. Whilst big results do take time, even just having someone to organise, monitor and analyse your efforts will start creating helpful waves in your marketing.
After all this is the first step towards marketing success, which is already one step further than you were!
We hope this helps with creating a meaningful and successful partnership with your marketing consultancy.
If you’re on the lookout for marketing help, please do get in touch - we’re a friendly bunch!
This post was written by our Inner Circle member, Allie. If you’re in any need of social media advice or help, do be sure to book a 30-minute discovery call.
