5 Benefits of Hiring a Great Digital Strategy Consultant

Why should you hire a digital marketing consultant when you already have an in-house or a third-party advertising team?

The benefits that a digital strategy consultant offers go beyond tactics. They:

• Create a comprehensive, actionable business plan to achieve desired outcomes
• Understand your industry and target market
• Help you maximize your resources
• Bring objectivity and impartiality to decision-making
• Resolve and forecast business challenges

Ready to learn more about each of these points? Let’s go!

Watch this video to find out more about how Digital Authority Partners can create a great marketing strategy for you!

1. Create a Comprehensive, Actionable Business Plan 

Do you have a business plan? And is it working? You must have a digital strategy consultant onboard if you answer no to either or both questions.

A company running without a plan is like a boat in the middle of the sea without navigation. You will get lost — and you may sink. You will:

• Hire the wrong people
• Waste resources
• Limit your potential
• Get burned out and frustrated for not achieving the results you want

But having a plan is not enough. A digital strategy consultant combines various approaches to build a realistic, well-timed, and actionable business plan. These include:

• Conducting market research to analyze industry trends and customer needs
• Utilizing analytics tools to track metrics and develop insights
• Identifying and mapping out short-, medium-, and long-term plans
• Determining the best resources, from people to technology, to meet these goals
• Setting up the right key performance indicators (KPIs) based on the objectives

2. Understand Your Industry and Target Market

Your online marketing efforts and business plan are useless if you are barely scraping the surface as far as your industry and market knowledge go.

• Wrong prospects lead to a higher abandonment rate and a lower conversion rate.
• Poor industry knowledge prevents you from applying the best practices. It might get you in trouble, such as violating HIPAA marketing rules.

A consultant can either (1) provide you with brand-new information, (2) fix incorrect industry and customer data, or (3) add more to what you already know.

They can do all these because:

• Most of them have been in your niche for years. They have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly.
• Consultants have many skills, including accurately interpreting statistics and reports.
• They take the time to continue learning. These people subscribe to industry newsletters, join seminars and workshops, and apply for certifications.
• They network with influencers, marketers, and experts in the field. Their connections let them tap into valuable data sources.

3. Help You Maximize Your Resources

Do you feel like your internal resources are insufficient? Are you unable to find the right people with the skills and knowledge needed?

One digital strategy consultant’s job is to provide you with reliable temporary and permanent solutions. They:

• Aid in finding, evaluating, and hiring team members
• Provide personalized, tailored digital marketing training sessions
• Advise on which third-party solutions to use

They can also introduce innovative strategies and channels that were not on your radar. They know the latest trends and technologies, so they know what works.

Take artificial intelligence in marketing, for example. A consultant uses it to

• Automate repetitive tasks and save time and money
• Collect and analyze large amounts of unstructured data
• Develop machine learning models to predict customer behavior
• Generate more personalized marketing campaigns based on customer interests

In other words, this professional ensures you get the best value for your finite resources.

4. Bring Objectivity and Impartiality to Decision-Making

Sometimes we are not the best judges of our projects, which is understandable. It can be difficult to maintain a healthy perspective when you are emotionally and professionally invested in your business.

That is why hiring an outsider who is not emotionally invested in the business is a good idea.

• Digital strategy consultants are like third-party auditors. They give you honest feedback and suggest improvements with no political agenda or personal bias attached.
• They can also challenge your current marketing methods to see if they are right. This is because they do not get obsessed with a single solution.
• They offer alternative perspectives on approaching a campaign, giving you insights that you might have overlooked when working alone.

A digital strategy consultant also sometimes makes the toughest decisions for you. These include:

• Discontinuing a product or service
• Rescinding an offer
• Scaling back advertising during slow seasons

5. Resolve and Forecast Business Challenges

Digital strategy consultants use the data to forecast future trends, understand customer behavior, and identify current issues. They can help you resolve ongoing problems in your business by:

• Analyzing market opportunities and risks
• Evaluating corporate models
• Improving marketing initiatives
• Developing strategies for entering new markets

They also look at your current performance and suggest optimizations. These include process improvements, customer satisfaction, sales systems, and product or service delivery.

Lastly, they provide a big-picture view of the market and help you stay ahead of the competition by creating strategies that keep you in the game.

Digital Strategy Consultants in Action

To help you better understand the work of a digital strategy consultant (and how it varies from that of an online marketer), let us say you are a travel agency expanding your market to San Diego.

Here is a step-by-step look at what this professional can do for you:

• Initial consultation. They schedule a meeting with the business owner or key stakeholders to understand the organization’s objectives, challenges, and opportunities. For instance, what is your expected growth rate? How long do you plan to achieve this? What are your future goals?
• Research. They review relevant market data to understand the competitive landscape, customer buying habits, and industry regulations. For example, how different are California travelers from New Yorkers? Do those who want to go to San Diego have the same preferences as the ones who like LA?
• Strategy development. They develop an actionable strategy for entering the San Diego market with the gathered data. This includes a timeline of activities and a budgeting plan that fits within your resources.
• Analysis of existing resources. They evaluate your current infrastructure and systems to see if they suit the new campaign. Do you have adequate staff to handle increased call volumes? Which online marketing strategies are in place? Can they work for the San Diego market?
• Execution monitoring and optimization. They monitor the progress of the marketing initiatives and make adjustments accordingly. They track customer feedback, improve campaigns, or launch new ones. They may also kill poor-performing activities, scale back spending, or offer recommendations when outsourcing.
• Ongoing support and consultation. They provide assistance and guidance to ensure you continue to meet your objectives. Together with other team members, they brainstorm new ideas, review analytics, and course-correct when necessary.

Summing Up

Having a digital strategy consultant is not about replacing your advertising department or eliminating your SEO team. It is about leveraging someone else’s thought leadership, industry knowledge, and ability to make calculated decisions and recommendations to help you reach business growth more quickly.

If you want to hire the best, Digital Authority Partners (DAP) is the right choice. We have experience working with startups, large corporations, and everything in between.

Our experienced team looks out for your best interest. We help you make informed decisions regarding your digital strategy and provide ongoing consultation to ensure success. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you.