Okay, I am not here to preach and put on a lecture, but digital marketing will change a lot in 2021.
Before we get into why you should consider working with a marketing consultant, let me explain myself a bit.
My name is Belinda, a recent 9-5 quitter (woohoo). Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job for years, but things changed, and so did I. While working there, I learned a lot about marketing! The fundamentals of social media management, brand reputation, customer service, digital marketing, and more. I was surrounded by (mostly) kind people, a comfy paycheck, discounted membership at a swanky gym, and lunch perks almost every week. But I wasn’t fulfilled.
I wrote blogs and saw them listed on the top of the first page of Google. Content I created was getting engagement on social media… and was driving sales! I thought to myself, “I can do this!”
The Adventure of Content Marketing
After months of coming home upset and really listening to my intuition, I decided to quit. I wanted more freedom in life, but I also wanted to help support small eCommerce businesses on a more personal level.
I saw the power of digital marketing before my eyes. As a marketing consultant, I want businesses to get the traffic and exposure they need to grow their business.
When I was 13, I moved to England for a year. That is where my love for adventure, travel, and curiosity grew. That spirit continues with me today with my work.
Ladies, digital marketing is exciting!
It is the most fun part of owning a business – where you can have the most fun with your audience, tell a story, and really get to understand your customers.
COVID-19: Helping E-Commerce Businesses Grow
COVID-19 made things more difficult for the world in 2020, but on the positive side, it’s helped online businesses grow. With the lockdown, consumer buying behaviors changed. This means more people are searching online a lot more to find products and services for their daily needs.
If you’re a small online business owner, then you already know how important it is to make sure your website is in the best condition possible. It’s not just about posting pretty pictures on your site (although they are important). It’s also about making sure Google and other search engines can crawl your site. AND it means optimizing your site so your potential customers can find you easily!
It’s about providing a great user experience for your visitors and using your content to help them convert through the funnels.
When working with a content marketing consultant, you’re getting a professional writer, SEO expert, digital marketing expert, and passionate individual who wants your business to succeed.
5 Reasons You Should Consider Hiring A Marketing Consultant
As a small business, you probably already know the investment of marketing. According to Nuphoriq.com, small businesses should invest in 2-5% of their revenue in marketing. Marketing is a pretty big term – it consists of PR, social media, advertising, and content. Depending on funds you have available to spend on marketing, you may need to start at simply getting your website optimized. This helps to serve your website organically (free) to those searching on Google.
Okay, so enough about that – this is what you get with me, a content marketing consultant.
Marketing Consultants Aka Experienced Writers
Some business owners are not sure how to talk to their customers and in the beginning, may not fully grasp their buyer personas. When writing for emails, social media captions, videos, and other web content, it’s important to understand who you’re talking to.
People can tell when businesses are being genuine. I always go through buyer persona exercises with my clients when we start working together. It’s essential to understand your target audience’s pain points, challenges, and desires. Some new business owners have a tough time figuring this out. It may take someone in marketing to offer clarity to things like this.
I identify important customer attributes and write for them using the right tone, messaging, and strucuture – all being mindful of the funnel and buyer personas.
Content is all about educating, inspiring, and authentically converting your audience.
Whether you’re looking for help with your emails, social media posts, web content, or a blog post, a marketing consultant is there to write and strategize ways for all to convert.
It’s imperative to have someone on your team to create and write compelling content. This content can be repurposed into many forms. Copywriting and content writing goes hand in hand with SEO. You want an expert that can help you write for your audience and also for search engines. This will help Google serve your content to potential clients who are using keywords and phrases associated with your business.
SEO Expert
Most people don’t understand what SEO is, but it stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is really the process of ensuring your on-site webs content is in tip-top shape for search engines. You want to make sure customers find the information they need and keeps them on the site.
You don’t want to have broken pages, missing metadata, or other issues that may lower your website down in the search results.
This includes (but is not limited to) on-page elements, such as headings (H1, H2, H3s), images with alt tags, a keyword strategy, backlinks, and more!
If you want to hand this off to someone who can fix these issues, this is definitely one of the many benefits when working with a marketing consultant.
Marketing consultants have tools to help with a keyword strategy, competitor analysis, and more.
In-Depth Researcher
Marketing is about understanding your customers and the reasons why they purchase. Research (creepin’) needs to get done to understand your customer’s demographics, spending habits, and income. This may take time, but it helps in marketing to them. If you don’t research your customers and your competitors, then you’re business is missing opportunities and insights for your business.
A marketing consultant has knowledge, tools, experience, and special networks that allow them to tap into this information for you.
Seasoned Marketing Expert
I said it a little bit earlier, but marketing is a beast to manage and implement alone. As a small business owner, you may not have the time to take a Udemy course on digital marketing 101. When you hire a marketing consultant, you get someone who’s had many years of experience. This is someone who most likely already worked at an agency or a corporation where they were either a Marketing Manager, Content Marketing Specialist (this was my last title), or other similar title. This individual can help strategize a realistic, customized plan for your business to grow.
Data-Driven
All marketing requires data and analytics – this is how we, as consultants, know what works and what doesn’t. Any time you run an ad, campaign, social post, blog, or email – there must be tracking and tagging.
Tracking is the way for us to see how a particular marketing effort performs. You want a consultant who can look at your data and give direction on how to make informed decisions (and reach your business goals).
Most consultants should be familiar with Google Analytics. This is a platform that offers data on website traffic, sales, and conversions. It also provides information on metrics to measure your content, goals, and purchasing actions. You want to see what does well!
At the end of the day, you want your business to be sustainable, have a loyal customer base, and make money. Content marketing can help!
You want to work with someone as excited about marketing your business as you are (maybe even more).
Ready to Ramp Up Your Digital Marketing?
Choose your consultant wisely and when you get on your first call, make sure to ask them why they love what they do. If you can’t hear the excitement in their voice, then, in the words of Miss Ariana Grande, “Thank you, next.”
So, are you ready to amp up your marketing efforts? You may have your social media on point. That’s great! But don’t forget about your website. It’s the only platform you truly own. If one day Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Pinterest crash, what will you have? Your Site!
My goal is to help small business owners grow their traffic, engagement and conversions organically by working on their on-site content. Back at my old job, our blogs made hundreds of thousands of dollars. I saw the investment in our content because I saw for myself the conversions of each of our blogs!
Remember, when you work with a marketing consultant, you’re getting an experienced writer, SEO expert, researcher, an expert in digital marketing and someone who is data driven. If you’re hiring someone without any of these skills, then you’re business is going to miss out on important opportunities.
If you need help with your content marketing or need someone to bounce ideas off of, let me know! You may be searching for ‘content marketing consultant near me’ to find a local person to work with. If you’re in Chicago I am local here!
Of course, I can work remotely as well, so if you’re interested in taking the leap with a consultant let me know!
I would love to help you and learn about your business! Let’s chat!
xx
Belinda