7 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Marketing Consultant

There are countless reasons why you would need to hire a marketing consultant – I highlighted four of them here. Making the decision is not exactly a breeze. But if you got there, congratulations! It’s time you found out how to hire the best marketing consultant.

You may have read my article about finding a good copywriter. Some of the things I discussed there apply to marketing consultants, too. With a single amendment: marketing consultants are more expensive than copywriters, so your selection process needs to be even more thorough.

I’ve worked as a marketing manager or marketing consultant for countless companies on almost all the continents. Even now, along with my agency work, I accept consulting gigs (mainly for tech startups). Plus, I also hired numerous marketers.

In my experience at both ends of the hiring process, these are the top questions you should ask a marketing consultant before hiring them.

7 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Marketing Consultant

I know that hiring processes are different from company to company and highly personalized for each candidate (or they should be). The same goes for hiring external contractors, even marketing consultants.

However, I have found that there are some questions that you must ask when interviewing shortlisted candidates for a marketing consultancy gig.

1. What Do You Think About our Current Strategy?

This is always a good place to start, but only as long as you are honest with the candidate. I noticed that some of the clients I discussed with tend to “embellish” things a bit. I know it’s hard to admit when things aren’t exactly going the way you hoped they would. But covering up past failures will almost render the consultant you hire irrelevant.

Yes, some information may be sensitive. There’s no need to share complete reports at this point. But you do have to give them something to go on.

What you’re looking for is someone who’s honest with you. There’s no point in hiring and paying a marketing consultant who will tell you that everything looks great and your campaigns are flawless. What you need is a critical, results-oriented approach.

2. What Is Your Marketing Background?

You may not look to hire someone for a permanent in-house position, but you still need to know a few things about their background. At the very least, you want to make sure that you won’t be hiring a complete rookie.

Don’t get me wrong; I worked with a lot of beginner marketers and they are amazing! They are committed and full of bright ideas. But when you hire a marketing consultant, you need someone who has at least 5 years of experience in various industries.

3. What’s Your Experience with My Industry?

You shouldn’t aim to hire someone who’s worked exclusively in your industry. A broad view and a large background in multiple fields should always be preferred.

People who have focused too much on a single industry tend to approach things in a much too granular way. They are too entrenched and they may miss opportunities. In fact, this is why some companies hire marketing consultants even though they have a full marketing team in place. They need someone with a fresh perspective on things, someone who can see the forest for the proverbial trees.

Furthermore, a marketing consultant with experience across industries is comfortable with challenges. They can also “borrow” techniques from one industry and apply them to another.

4. How Do You Measure Success?

The answer you should expect here is “through sales”. If the candidate starts talking about vanity metrics like traffic or number of social media fans/followers, you should probably tell them this is not your end goal.

5. How Do You Track Progress?

It may seem like these two last questions are identical, but they are, in fact, complementary. When you ask a marketing consultant about measuring success, you’re trying to see whether they are revenue-oriented or not.

Progress tracking techniques, on the other hand, speak of their expertise. The answer a good marketing consultant would give here entails a series of monitoring tools. For instance, tracking traffic and traffic sources in Google Analytics is good. Creating goals to measure the efficiency of various campaigns and marketing techniques is excellent.

6. Do You Work Alone?

Some consultants work alone, others have a team in place. The right answer here depends on your needs.

For example, I work alone for strategy creation. If a client requires the implementation of the strategy, too, then I bring my team aboard.

I think this kind of flexibility is important for my clients. I received a lot on inquiries about copywriting or social media marketing and management only to learn that the client in question had no strategy in place. So I worked on their strategy, while my team took care of implementing it.

I also work on gigs that are only about consulting. I create marketing plans or simply answer customers’ questions via phone or Skype.

Again, it’s all about flexibility.

7. How Much Do You Charge?

This one is a no-brainer. You need to know what you’re signing up for, right?

When you hire a marketing consultant, you can expect two types of fees: hourly and per project. I work on hourly fees for small issues or phone/Skype calls and on flat fees when I have to create a marketing strategy from scratch.

The latter option is more comfortable for both me and my clients. They know what they will pay from the very beginning. Hourly estimates can turn into disagreements and unpleasant conversations quite quickly.

When you discuss payment, you should also make sure to establish the deliverables clearly. What kind of reports will you receive? How will the strategy be documented? Get everything in writing before you commit to a consultant.

Looking to hire a marketing consultant who can boost your company’s revenue? Take a look at the marketing strategy services we offer and let’s talk!