Digital Marketing Consultant: Unlock the Guide to become a Professional

Digital marketing in the world of the internet and technological services is not a new wave of service. Every small to big businesses is nourishing their online presence by adapting to the digital marketing services. These services come in a power-packed bundle of SEO activities, content marketing, web development, social media, and more.

All these fancy services that amplify a business need some of the best experts from a digital marketing agency.  Now as any manager in the organization, sits to lead, guide, and correct the operations of the staff, a digital marketing agency needs a digital marketing consultant.

But there’s an interesting fact about digital marketing consultants. Businesses may stress over the idea of hiring a full-time agency, to curb that stress, companies use the services of a consultant.  A person who is equipped with skills for every digital activity that a business might require. From the strategy muscle to creative muscle, consultants are known the be the helping hand at every step.

As a digital marketing expert, you will be responsible to know the operations of the business in and out. While the role of a consultant brings a lot of authority and respect, it also requires a lot of passion and an outspoken attitude to give your inputs to the clients. Unlike the experts of various digital activities, a professional digital marketing consultant is focused on a long-term association with of long-term betterment of the business.

All the consultants delivering their advice to Indian companies today, were once the digital marketers of India, working their way through daily activities. Thus, this tells you the story to work your way up as a consultant by having close experience as a digital expert.

Once you step away from the knacks of corporate pressure, you can be your boss a digital consultant. But before taking that huge step, we would like you to wander around to understand how to become an expert in digital marketing consultancy. Pick up a few steps on the way while climbing towards self-employment.

1.  A Marketer who knows it all

A digital marketing consultant plays the role of every expert present in a digital marketing agency. As a consultant, you must be nurture every skill set that a business would require to amplify its online presence. To do so various aspiring consultants level up their game with a certification course in digital marketing.

Start with basic skill sets like SEO which is an essential tool for the visibility of any business. Alongside you also keep a strong base of knowledge for email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, paid marketing, web analytics, influencer marketing, and more.

The best of all; SEO services are the lifeline of any business and also of your career as a marketing consultant. SEO holds the business’s online presence intact and as a digital marketing consultant, it is your responsibility to manage the team of SEO experts and build an effective campaign.

With Social media marketing, the industry has become all about social media platforms, thus as a consultant, you need to stay very close to social networks. Your advice as a social media planner is considered the most valuable asset for both the social media team and the company.

2.  Declare your niche

Nothing speaks louder than letting your clients know what expertise you bring to the table as a digital marketing consultant. These key expert areas set you apart from other consultants and identify your special skills in the market.

Expertise comes with experience and experience comes with trying and testing every digital activity. Know what service you can excel in. Is it SEO expertise? Is it the underlying tactics of social media? Or is it resting in conversion optimization techniques?

Defining niche areas helps you convert clients and sell them your services better. Once they take consultancy of your expert skills, you can slowly begin to give advice pieces on other digital activities.

3.  Work your way through industry experience

You may be a certified marketer and turned to be a know-it-all person with defined expertise. But have you converted the expertise into applied skills? If not, then it calls for you to gain some industry exposure before becoming a consultant expert.

Take your acquired certificates and skills to the industry and deliver tangible work before you can be a great advisor. It can be as small as doing an internship or a job. Once you’ve gained the experience required to be a great consultant, you can share your piece of advice by way of blogging.

Sharing your industry experience and some marketing tips as a bonus will put you on the map of consistent and persuasive bloggers. Additionally, working in a corporate atmosphere with various clients will help you understand the diversity of the industry. A digital consultant not only needs to be spontaneous with fresh ideas but also have a quick wit to understand client’s needs.

4.  It all starts with an online presence

Now that your goal is to become a digital marketing consultant even you need to get on the task to build an online presence. Just how businesses aim for a website, social media, and other platforms to market their product/service, a consultant must also showcase their digital marketing services.

This can easily be done (since you already know the nook and corner of digital marketing) on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, website, and WhatsApp business account.

Remember;

Consistency is the key, it’s not all about building the website and social media handles. Share your opinions, tools, and tactics with the industry. The blogs you write or creatives you post will allow the businesses to visualize you as a marketing consultant. As a bonus, your website can have the services you offer, portfolio, and testimonials to present you as a professional digital marketing consultant.

5.  Enhance your network

The business of digital marketing is solely based on a good network of clients and experts. Well, a network is not built overnight and for a good marketing consultant, it is highly essential to start from day one. Look for networks from small to big spaces possible.

Connect yourself with clients and owners of business organization on LinkedIn and Twitter. You may also use some of your corporate connections to get on board with new clients without affecting the existing business of the company.

While clients are the best pitch to cultivate your network, as one of the digital marketers in India you should also focus on connecting with other consultants of your niche. The number of followers is how digital works track credibility and performance today.

6.  Be ready with a Pricing structure

A professional marketing consultant never fails to put a price on their services. Even as a beginner in consultancy, you have gained experience as a marketer in the industry. So when the question comes “How much do you charge?” one should be prepared with a structure to present.

In the consultancy industry, there are vivid forms of charging the clients for advising services.

Additionally, you can also define varied prices for your niche area by justifying the expertise in the same. While per hour is a variable pricing method, per month charges let you and the client sit together to plan the monthly activities and places where the consultant will be extremely resourceful. Per project is a tricky task, requiring a lot of structuring, cost evaluation, and profit margin.

More the planning involved in the pricing structure, better will be your image as a professional digital marketing consultant.

7.  Your team is your strength

Scenario number one;

You are working as a lone wolf, solely providing consultancy service. The main job after understanding the client requires to engage with the in-house team and understand the expertise of each department.

To communicate and execute the ideas, one must coordinate with the team well. Professional decent communication goes a long way to establish healthy relations between you as a consultant and the client.

Scenario number two;

The business hires you as a power-packed agency with experts for all the essential digital marketing services. Under the given situation, you as a consultant must be very careful while forming a team of digital experts. Few people whose skill sets will amplify your consultancy are;

Now if you ask, whether these employees work for you as part-time or full-time employees, then it comes down to your resources. The nature of your business clients also plays an important role. For someone who is looking to build a professional image as a marketing consultant, hiring a full-time team of experts goes a long way to build a credible image in the minds of the clients.

8.  Your tools are your weapon

A professional consultant will bring more than just ideas and strategy to the table. All those marketing tactics that you communicated to the client and the creative team will require platforms and tools for execution.

Thus, while you were in the learning process as a marketer, make sure to get hands-on experience on the essential tools. The digital marketing tools will act as a leading piece of advice and make-believe the clients that your strategy has exceptional value.

Here are some tools that every business organization will be in pursuit of;

On a larger note, make sure that just like your niche area of digital service, you also pick up a niche tool for a recommendation. The reason is that your expert in some tools will give you an extra edge over performance and outcome the strategy. Furthermore, having confidence in your abilities makes a great pitch in front of the clients.

9.  Stay a step ahead with the latest updates

The world is a dynamic and ever-changing place. Over the years of internet and technology evolution, the fundamentals of marketing have remained the same. However, as the human mind is progressing it has found quicker ways to reach out to people and share the message.

This suggests that the whole industry of marketing is moving at a fast pace. To keep up with the changes and implement the new strategies in the business is how people survive today.

Now as a digital marketing expert you are always expected to stay a step ahead with the latest innovations in the industry. To be an approachable and in-demand digital marketing expert, you will be always on your toes about the stagnant and changing situations of marketing.

Opting for online digital marketing courses, webinars, interactions, are some of the ways you can keep yourself relevant in the market. We already spoke about consistency in blogging, which will also broaden your reading spectrum.

The takeaway!

A digital marketing consultant is known to become their boss and procure business according to the industry interest and expertise. As we already read, that a consultant is first a digital marketing expert who has tried their ways in a lot or all of the marketing services.

It is only with years of experience in the industry, businesses look at you as a credible source for consultancy. You might possess great skills and reflect a sense of confidence, but your real work in the industry is what clients depend on for being convinced.

However, while you are your boss you are also the business developer of the consultancy services. Whether you have a team of digital experts or not, your presence on the online platforms is one of the key ways to interact with industry professionals and clients.

As a bonus tip, do not let the first few projects of your consultancy bring down your morale. While your credibility is dependent on the advice you give out to the businesses, it is also important to gain experience from every work you carry out.

AboutBhavik Sarkhedi