Tips for Choosing the Right Marketing Consultant: A Veteran Marketers’ Perspective

Choosing the right marketing consultant is an art. My dad used to say there were two types of people: those that talk about doing things and those that actually do them. I have found throughout my 30+ year career in marketing that this holds true for consultants, too.

Two Types of Consultants

I have seen consultants that “do”. They roll up their sleeves and dive into the company’s problems. What needs to be done? Who needs support and coaching? How can I help?

And then there are those that “do not.”  These are the bloviators. The talkers. The incessant theorizers. They love to attend meetings, host meetings, and meet to meet.

The “doers” explore problems and offer solutions. They focus on tangible results and ROI.

The “do not” consultants love to throw money and people at problems. Not getting enough leads? Well, you aren’t spending enough. (That may be true, but it may not be. The do-not-do consultants immediately throw money at the problem.) Not getting the results that you need? Ah, you don’t have the right people, or your staff is too small. Hire my cadre of best friends to fill out your marketing department and you will see the results.

More often than not, the do-not-do consultants leave before the results are in. They leave behind another story: bloated teams, wasted budgets, and exhausted managers. The talkers love theories, but they hate hard work. They love to delegate the job to the staff while making themselves look like the heroes should any one of their trendy theories work and improve leads, sales, and ROI.

At Seven Oaks Consulting, We Are All Doers!

In case you haven’t guessed, I’m a doer. I’m a roll-up your sleeves and dig-in kind of consultant. I mentor and teach, to be sure, but typically, I use situations as learning opportunities with my clients’ marketing teams to help them improve.

I know the theories, of course, and yes, I apply some of them. Brand story. EOS. Agile marketing. Each bears exploring. But the consultants avoid love to talk incessantly about theories without putting them into practice. When pushed, they rarely demonstrate theories in actual practice.

Finding the Best Marketing Consultant

How can you avoid the “do nots” and hire “can do” consultants? During the interview process, listen to the questions they ask. The do nots often leap immediately to the solution and insist that they have seen it all and therefore do not need to explore alternatives. The can-do consultants request data, plans, and results to date. They want to talk one on one with a few team members. They ask specific questions about what has been tried and what has failed.

Occasionally, a client invites me into meetings to screen marketing consultants or observe interviews for marketing staff positions. I am an INFJ on the Myers-Briggs theory of personality and if you know any INFJs, you know that we literally feel our senses in our bodies. When I encounter one of these do-nothings, my stomach feels sour, like a giant rock has settled in. I physically recoil from them. I can usually sense them on a first meeting, and almost never miss them on a second meeting. And when I do sense them, I try to warn my clients about this type of consultant. The theorizer. The philosopher. The expensive, time and money-draining person who rarely solves the client’s problem – they solve their own problems by draining the budget dry before moving on to the next company.

Hire can-do consultants. Ask for references. Look at their work. Ask pointed questions during the interview process.

  • Some questions to consider include:
  • How would you solve this problem?
  • What experience do you have with X?
  • Why do you think this is happening?
  • What would you recommend in this example?

Should Marketing Consultants Provide Samples?

Do not expect the consultant to provide samples specific to your company or a written marketing plan for free.  I have had potential clients steal sample plans and enact them. I’ve caught them doing this; we’ve met, given them a short marketing plan, and the next thing I know, I see the messaging and tactics all playing out. It’s not a coincidence. It’s happened to me too many times over my 18 years as a consultant, so now I rarely provide details in writing without a hiring agreement. However, during the interview, I am happy to give some industry perspectives, best practices, and a few ideas.

As a senior marketing consultant who has run a successful business-to-business marketing practice for over 18 years, I can help you weed out the talkers from the doers. More importantly, I can help you get the work done. My teams can be deployed quickly to your content needs, providing regular marketing content for social media, blog posts, guest posts, and more. And I promise not to talk theory without practical application. That’s a promise.