Tips for Working Well with a Marketing Professional

How to Have a Successful Partnership with a Marketing Consultant

Successful Marketing partnership

Key Takeaways:

Positive habits for a healthy and successful relationship with your marketing consultant

Understand two habits that can weaken your relationship with your marketing consultant.

When you hire the services of a marketing firm to promote your small business, it’s important to remember that it’s a partnership. Both you and the marketing expert you choose to work with bring unique contributions to the table. (It’s not a one-sided conversation!) Here are some tips to work well with the marketing consultant that you hire.

What to Do

1. Be clear with your goals and expectations.

It’s important to have specific goals that you want to work toward with the help of your marketing consultant. For instance, instead of “improve your business’s social media presence,” consider establishing a more specific and measurable goal of “increasing your Facebook followers” or “increasing engagement rates on Instagram”.

And be transparent about the expectations you have for them. Make sure they know what marketing tasks you’ll be in charge of internally and what tasks you’re handing off to them. For example, maybe your team will manage your social platforms and provide the marketing consultant with blog content, but you want the consultant to take 100% control of digital advertising and SEO strategy.

2. Educate them on your brand.

Coach your marketing consultant on your company. Even if the professional you choose has decades of experience with marketing, no one knows your brand like you do. Be prepared to educate them on what your company does and why you do it. Explain your core mission, values, and history — then trust that the learning curve will kick in as they gain familiarity with your business and its unique voice.

3. Be open to new ideas.

One reason to hire a marketing consultant is for a fresh perspective on your business’s marketing. Cultivate an attitude of curiosity and adaptability when considering your consultant’s ideas and suggestions. Don’t be afraid to try new things to achieve the better results that you want.

4. Give them feedback.

Share feedback with your marketing consultant on a regular basis. Your comments and critiques will help guide them. They’ll know what’s working for you and what you’d like them to do differently for future campaigns, projects, and tasks.

5. Communicate clearly and regularly with them.

Stay connected with your marketing consultant so that they’re in the loop about your business and how projects are proceeding. Inform them of any delays on your part. Perhaps it’s a delay in sending them images to use in creatives or a delay in providing them with some notes to draft a new “about us” page for your website. The consultant might need to adjust some deadlines or reprioritize other tasks for your business in the meantime.

6. Be patient with results.

It takes time to see digital marketing results, so remember to be patient with outcomes (and the marketing consultant that’s helping to bring them about!). For instance, we advise our clients to expect a six-month time frame for SEO results for low-volume to moderate-volume keyword phrases. Other marketing experts estimate that it takes as long as 12 months to start seeing noticeable results from doing SEO.

No one knows your business and brand like you do. Be prepared to educate them on what your company does and your core mission, values, and history.

What to Avoid Doing

1. Don’t Stay Silent

Staying silent is one of the top mistakes that business owners make in their relationship with a marketing consultant. When reviewing your business’s objective data, it’s vital that you also consider your observational data. (Then share it with your marketing consultant!)

In other words, bring your perspective and added knowledge forward, so the marketing professional who is performing the data analysis will have that information to better inform their recommendations. The more they know about your business, the more robust and useful their analysis will be. (Because even the best analytics programs don’t capture everything.)

2. Don’t be annoyed with their questions or check-ins

Honest and frequent communication are two “musts” for a healthy relationship with your marketing professional. Avoid getting peeved when they ask questions or check in about projects. Instead, welcome these communications and keep a positive mindset, knowing that their efforts and suggestions are helping to push your business into its next stage of growth.

Staying silent is one of the top mistakes that business owners make in their relationship with a marketing consultant

Time to Rope in the Marketing Expert

Need some help with your business’s marketing? You know where to turn! Contact Technology Therapy® Group for some customized coaching sessions for you and your team. And make sure to check out the following on-demand trainings to further grow your marketing skills.

The Right Platforms for Your Text Marketing Journey

Ready to get started with text marketing for your business? Discover the text messaging platforms we recommend when you check out our Partners page!

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