The Value of an Inbound
Marketing Consultant
Marketing is one of the most dynamic and fast-evolving business functions. Over the course of the last couple of decades, it underwent a significant transformation driven by advances in technology, changes in consumer behavior, and the emergence of new media platforms.
One of the most significant shifts that far too many small and medium-sized business owners still have trouble recognizing is that marketing has evolved from a predominantly product-centric, one-way communication approach to a more customer-centric, interactive, and technologically integrated discipline.
As a result, the effectiveness of all strategies businesses can use to attract customers has shifted significantly. Traditional advertising methods are making way for more targeted and personalized approaches like inbound marketing.
To make the most of it, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel by yourself. Instead, you can leverage inbound marketing consulting.
Here’s an in-depth look at what an inbound marketing consultant does and why their role is critical in today’s business landscape.
What Is an Inbound Marketing Consultant
An inbound marketing consultant specializes in helping businesses attract customers through content-driven digital marketing strategies, rather than traditional outbound methods like cold calling or advertising.
Based on their experience, an inbound marketing consultant can be valuable with their expertise in attracting, engaging, and delighting customers using inbound marketing strategies.
Each of these activities comes with unique challenges and potential pitfalls. An experienced inbound marketing consultant understands them and knows how to help a business overcome the challenges in a time-effective and cost-efficient manner.
As inbound marketing is heavily reliant on content, an inbound marketing consulting is a go-to resource for determining what the right content is for your specific business needs and supporting the planning, creation, and distribution processes.
With that in mind, let’s have a look at what an inbound marketing consultant can actually do for a business.
What Does an Inbound Marketing Consultant Do
Any business owner or experienced marketing professional knows that the sales process goes through a funnel-like journey. Strangers learn about a brand, do some research and consideration, and at some point, potentially give it a try. This applies to both B2B and B2C products and services.
An inbound marketing consultant understands that very well and knows ways to attract the perfect strangers for your brand, interact with them along the way, and help the sales team close more revenue for your business.
Here are key aspects of what an inbound marketing consultant does:
Content Strategy
An inbound marketing consultant can help you develop and execute an effective content strategy and tactical campaigns that align with the buyer’s journey. Depending on your business needs, it can focus on one or more of the following:
- Attracting visitors
- Converting visitors into leads
- Nurturing leads into customers
- Retaining current customers in the long run
The expertise and experience of the inbound marketing consultant are a powerful asset for small and medium-sized businesses that are tired of throwing money out the window on ineffective and expensive advertising and have limited budgets.
As an added benefit, the right inbound marketing consulting organization can even create and distribute all the content needed for executing your inbound marketing strategy.
Keyword Research and SEO
Another thing that an inbound marketing consultant does is help businesses find the terms their ideal customers are looking for on search engines such as Google and YouTube.
The experience of an inbound marketing consultant can save a business a ton of money otherwise wasted on content that just doesn’t vibe with the people they want to attract as their customers.
With the right inbound marketing consulting partner, you can quickly build a list of keywords that perfectly support your business goals at every stage of the buyer’s journey.
Even better, an inbound marketing consultant can help you optimize already existing or planned content to rank for those search terms and get you in front of your target audience in the long term sustainably.
Lead Generation
Brand awareness might not always be an issue. Even though important, it’s not nearly enough for sustainably attracting new customers.
Let’s say your business attracts 20,000 visitors to your website each month and your social media profiles have followers in this range. If none or very few of those people convert into paying customers, you’ve got a problem.
Inbound marketing consulting can help you solve it through effective lead generation. There are many ways to facilitate and leverage lead generation.
Through inbound marketing consulting, you can get expert advice on the best options for your business. You can also expect to receive support in your efforts to identify visitors who are actually interested in buying your services or products and getting them closer to purchase.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is an important part of inbound marketing. It can be a powerful weapon for nurturing leads into paying customers or retaining customers in the long run.
An inbound marketing consultant with email marketing experience will help you find the best ways to convert more people who have already shown interest in your brand into paying customers.
That experience can be especially valuable to B2B organizations with high-touch sales processes that require multiple interactions with various stakeholders before closing a deal.
The same applies to B2C products and services for retaining customer loyalty and getting more purchases from clients who’ve already trusted their brand.
An inbound marketing consultant’s expertise is likely to save you months of effort going in the wrong direction and guide you to your desired outcomes more quickly.
Social Media Marketing Strategy
Like it or not, social media marketing is one of the most effective ways for businesses to connect with their desired customers.
Moreover, social media has become a centerpiece of any kind of digital marketing strategy.
An inbound marketing consultant understands social media marketing. Depending on their experience and expertise, your consulting partner should know where different types of buyers spend their time and what types of content they engage with.
Armed with that knowledge and experience, an inbound marketing consultant can guide businesses of all sizes to social media success. The right partner would support you in crafting a tailored strategy for making social media marketing work in your favor and even executing it.
Now that we’ve covered what an inbound marketing consultant does, let’s have a glimpse of the benefits up for grabs when working with one.
Benefits of Inbound Marketing Consulting
So what makes hiring an inbound marketing consultant worthwhile for a small or medium-sized business? The short answer is expertise and experience. Of course, that’s rather vague, so let’s dive in deeper:
Inbound Marketing Expertise
The most obvious benefit of inbound marketing consulting is getting expert advice on your marketing strategy and tactics from a person who has a track record of solving problems like yours and hitting targets with their work.
By leveraging an inbound marketing consultant, a business gains access to expert knowledge in content creation, SEO, social media, email marketing, and more.
Even better, consultants keep up with the latest trends and best practices, ensuring your strategies are up-to-date and effective.
Customized Strategies
With all the free inbound marketing learning resources available, it’s easy to underestimate the value of a consulting partner. That’s of course until a business spends thousands of dollars on the wrong marketing activities by following a universal recipe for success that doesn’t prove to be that successful in their specific context.
Inbound marketing consulting comes with the benefit of receiving tailored marketing strategies designed to meet your specific business goals and target audience needs.
Cost-Effectiveness
Cost-effectiveness is another great benefit of hiring an inbound marketing consultant. It’s cheaper than hiring a full-time employee with similar expertise and you can leverage flexible payment structures, such as project-based or retainer fees, to help manage budgets effectively.
In addition, you can expect to get a quicker return on your investment because of the consultant’s experience and proven methodologies for operating.
Enhanced Lead Generation and Conversion
Leads are people who are interested in purchasing your products or services but are not yet fully committed to doing so.
An inbound marketing consultant can help you identify them faster and get more leads in less time.
By leveraging their expertise in content creation, SEO, social media, email marketing, and more, you can drive growth and achieve long-term success.
On the Market for an Inbound Marketing Consultant?
Hopefully, by reaching this part of the article, you’ve found answers to the questions that led you here.
Remember, an inbound marketing consultant is a partner who helps businesses attract, engage, and convert potential customers through strategic content creation, SEO, social media, email marketing, and more.
They come with experience and expertise in creating customized marketing strategies, optimizing content for search engines, and implementing lead nurturing and conversion techniques.
The biggest benefit of hiring an inbound marketing consultant is their ability to drive targeted, high-quality leads and convert them into loyal customers, ultimately boosting business growth and ROI.
So are you on the market for an inbound marketing consultant? If you’re already nodding, feel free to reach out and our expert team of inbound marketing growers will be ready to assist you.