What are the functions of a digital marketing consultant?

The presence of a digital marketing consultant has gained increasing importance in new business management. Why? Because currently, the global market indicates that brands and their various services or products, when positioned on the web, can achieve their objectives.

This is due to the fact that digital trends have transformed consumer behavior; and with it, the dynamics of companies, to the point of modifying organizational structures, management philosophies, and incorporating new professional profiles.

It is here that advertising agencies, advisors, and specialists in the area take center stage. According to the analysis they obtain about the business, strategic alternatives will be available that allow them to compete organically in this globalization. Let's learn a little more about these professionals.

Learn what a digital marketing consultant does

The digital marketing consultant becomes a fundamental piece in companies that have decided to transition from offline to positioning themselves on the Internet.

Just like your business!

This professional is responsible for designing this process through digital strategies to achieve objectives and guide your client to success.

Not surprisingly, studies related to marketing occupy the top 5 positions among 150 universities. This, according to some rankings of careers in certain Latin American countries.

In this sense, the competencies of a marketing expert are multiple. They encompass not only knowledge, skills, and abilities but also experience, aptitudes, attitudes, and values. They must be an expert who seeks continuous and permanent updating, proactive and visionary. Continue reading for more of their competencies:

Competencies of a digital marketing consultant

It is common for a marketing consultant to have studied advertising, business administration, or some specialization in digital marketing. They are not necessarily a web designer or a WPO technician; however, they should have some knowledge in:

Web page design and architecture.
Principles of web usability.
User experience (UX).
Offline sales.
Functioning of landing and/or sales pages.
E-commerce and international trade.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies.
Google Adwords.

As in other disciplines, the time of experience is relative. However, since a project can develop in a minimum of 6 months, this would be a good indicator to evaluate the effectiveness of a digital marketing consultant. Among the skills and abilities they should have are:

Marketing plan design.
Creation of Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
Management of quantitative methods for analysis.
Buyer persona design.
Content optimization and development with SEO strategies.
Creation of strategies in social media and email marketing.
Application of inbound and outbound marketing techniques.
Management of automation tools.

The digital marketing consultant must be able to exhibit congruent behavior in the development of the marketing plan and the use of technological resources. In this sense, it is considered that a consultant should be:

Creative and socially responsible.
A leader and persuasive.
Critical and ethical.
Reliable and committed.
Results-oriented.
An effective communicator.
Flexible to change.
Innovative and curious.
Analytical and systemic.

These characteristics depend on the personality of the expert, the type of project and business, whether digital or traditional. However, it is valid to take these aspects into account if you want your plan to be executed efficiently and effectively. Now let's take a look at the functions of this valuable professional.

What are the functions of a digital marketing consultant?

If you want your business to position itself and create competitiveness in the market, consider all these competencies before hiring your expert. But if your company is starting and has not included this professional in its payroll, you can opt for external marketing consulting.

The functions they will perform in your business will depend on its status. If it is a startup that wants to enter the digital world, specific activities should be involved around strategies that make it known.

If it is a company that has already taken the first steps but has not achieved the expected results, remarketing should be considered. But if it is a digital business already positioned that wants to expand and improve its strategies, then the plan will be different. In any case, the common functions are:

Analyze the internal and external context

Strategic analyses for a digital marketing project have several facets. Initially, it starts from a briefing; that is, a process that synthesizes all the information needed for the subsequent diagnosis. The final document, called a brief, is personalized; however, some common data are:

Business activity.
Characteristics of the product or service.
Target audience or segment.
Direct competition of the business.
Objective to be achieved.
Available budget.
Previous marketing strategies (if applicable).
Performance indicators.

Once this information is obtained, the consultant must conduct an audit. If your business already has a website or a blog, they should evaluate the presence on social media, email marketing, SEO, etc. Ultimately, which digital channels the company uses or has used and their results.

On the other hand, with the SWOT matrix, they can evaluate the internal and external aspects of the company regarding: weaknesses, opportunities, strengths, and threats. Likewise, the specialist may resort to PESTAL analysis to determine the political, economic, social factors, among others, that surround the business.

An analysis not only focuses on the general factors that will affect the business's performance but also involves evaluating the competition. For this, we recommend conducting a thorough analysis of your competitors using Porter's 5 Forces or the marketing mix. Let's see a bit of them in this table:

Porter's Forces

Marketing Mix

Customer power. It is defined whether customers have other options, substitute products, or greater bargaining power.

Product evaluation. The complete product cycle, presentation, brand, launch, etc., should be considered.

Supplier power. It is evaluated whether there are suppliers that allow generating a more attractive niche.

Market prices. It defines the amount that the market has assigned to the product and how much the customer is willing to pay.

Threat of new competitors. It calculates how many there are and where the closest competitors are located.

Distribution. It specifies how the product reaches the customer, logistics, points of sale, online channels.

Threat of substitute products. It situates those services or products that could replace what you offer.

Promotion. It indicates how the company communicates, informs, and persuades the customer online.

Competitive rivalry. It will concentrate the necessary information to establish positioning strategies.

Define the buyer persona and plan marketing strategies

Although the target audience was determined in the internal analysis, it is important to specify it; since, at times, the characteristics of the types of customers are not well defined. An excellent way to maintain focus is by creating your buyer persona for each product or service with the following information:

Demographic data
Age
Gender
Educational level
Income
Hobbies, motivations, and interests
Social networks used
Websites frequented
Browsing hours

Once the consultant has all this information, they must focus on the digital marketing plan. This will assign: general objective, specific objectives, tasks or activities, resources, responsible parties, and the time frame for completion. Regarding specific objectives, these should be established under the SMART method:

Acronyms in English

Recommendations

Specific

Ensure that clear, simple, and concrete goals are established. Avoid ambiguities.

Measurable

To recognize if the objective is being met, it is necessary for these to be quantifiable, and thus, controllable.

Achievable

Verify that the proposed goals are possible to achieve; otherwise, you will waste time and resources.

Relevant

It is important that the goals are prioritized, but that the result is genuinely useful.

Time-Oriented

You should propose possible completion dates; this way, the team will be committed to working toward the goal.

While the plan will coordinate step by step, it is also valid to visualize the goal and work on the tasks-strategies that will lead to the result. In this sense, some of the functions interrelated with the strategies of the plan are:

Optimize your website's presence in search engines.
Direct prospects to landing or sales pages.
Prospect potential customers on social media.
Increase conversions and leads.
Increase sales.
Create content.
Conduct digital advertising.

Additionally, the digital strategist must be able to optimally manage the available budget; therefore, experienced professionals are recommended to make financial calculations correctly for the proper distribution of costs and projections of income and expenses.

Measure actions and design contingency plans

Since the consultant's functions do not end with the execution of a plan, they must continuously monitor marketing actions. How? Through the feedback obtained after implementing the strategies. Three examples that work for measurement are:

Increase Instagram followers by 25% in 5 months.
Value that a particular customer brings.
Number of leads after offering an ebook.

And although there are companies that do not consider a contingency plan as essential in their tasks, as experts, we recommend anticipating it. This planning will allow controlling crises, negative comments, detecting any sales funnel, among other eventualities. The FMEA model will be your ally.

As you can see, the competencies and functions of a digital marketing consultant are not an easy task, which is why this professional is in such high demand today. As experts, we recommend that if you have not yet decided to include this piece in your payroll, you hire external consultancies.

A marketing agency like Mintec has experts who, after evaluating the needs of your business, will know what is required for its takeoff. If you are interested in learning more about this world, contact us! and start positioning your business on the web.