When you’re ready to grow your business, it’s tempting to reach for the lowest-hanging fruit. You may be tempted to hire an agency or a freelancer who can do digital marketing for you on a retainer basis.
But there are many other options out there for small businesses looking to scale up their online presence without breaking the bank.
One such option is hiring a digital marketing consultant a professional who will work with your team (if you have one) or handle everything from start to finish if need be.
A good digital marketing consultant can help increase sales by generating leads and driving traffic through targeted advertising, optimizing your website for search engines, and much more.
But how much do these professionals charge? How do you know if working with one will save money compared with hiring an agency instead?
And most importantly: is this something your company needs at all? In this guide we’ll dive deep into what makes up their rates (and why they’re so high), how much money startups around the world spend on consultants each year, and how much those projects cost when broken down into hourly rates plus tips on finding the right person for your project!
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Digital marketing consultants’ salaries can range from $50,000 to $80,000 per year, depending on various factors such as experience and location. |
| 2. A bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, or a related field is typically required to pursue a career as a digital marketing consultant. |
| 3. Practical experience and relevant certifications in different digital marketing strategies can enhance a consultant’s career prospects. |
| 4. Digital marketing consultants may work independently as freelancers or be employed by marketing agencies and companies. |
| 5. Their expertise lies in helping businesses develop and implement effective online marketing strategies to boost brand visibility and drive growth. |
| 6. Essential skills for success in this role include strong analytical abilities, a deep understanding of digital marketing channels, and excellent communication skills. |
What Is A Digital Marketing Consultant?
A digital marketing consultant is a professional who helps businesses grow their online presence. They do this by offering guidance in three main areas: SEO, social media, and content marketing.
SEO stands for search engine optimization, while SMM is the acronym used to describe social media management. The final form of online marketing that digital consultants are often responsible for its content creation that is, writing blog posts or creating videos that help build your brand and bring in new customers.
Building a successful career as a digital marketing consultant can be financially rewarding. If you’re curious about the earning potential, check out our article on How Much Does a Digital Marketing Consultant Make? to get insights into the industry’s compensation.
Where Do Digital Marketing Consultants Work?
Digital marketing consultants work in a variety of places. They can be employed by a company or agency, and they can even choose to work for themselves or become an independent contractor.
Digital marketing consultants are also classified as a “in-house” or “agency.”
Those who work onsite at their client’s location are called in-house digital marketers, while consultants who operate from an external office and provide strategic advice are known as agency digital marketers but both types still work with the same clients and handle the same tasks as each other.
How Much Do Digital Marketing Consultants Make?
The answer to this question varies significantly, depending on numerous factors. It can be a very high salary in some cases, higher than $300,000 per year and it can also be a very low salary.
There is no standard salary for digital marketing consultants; it depends entirely on the industry in which you work and the type of work you do. For example, if your client is based in Silicon Valley and they are willing to pay top dollar for cutting-edge technology solutions that drive growth for their company, then your salary will reflect that level of expertise and experience.
If you don’t have an extensive background in technology or data analytics but have been working as a consultant within other industries (for example healthcare),
Then there aren’t many companies who will want to hire you at such a high rate because they may not feel that your skillset aligns with theirs perfectly; however, there are plenty of companies who would love for someone like yourself to come aboard!
What Should You Pay For A Digital Marketing Consultant?
As with any professional service, it’s important to get the most bang for your buck. This means not paying for what you don’t need, or for someone who can’t do the job in the first place. The best consultants understand your business and know how to do their job well.
They add value by helping you achieve results so make sure they’re worth every penny before committing!
Digital marketing specialists play a crucial role in driving online success for businesses. If you’re wondering about their earning potential, our article on How Much Do Digital Marketing Specialists Make? sheds light on the salaries in this dynamic field.
How Do You Find A Good Digital Marketing Consultant?
There are a few things you can do to ensure that the person you hire is the right fit for your business.
Ask for recommendations from trusted sources. If someone comes recommended by a colleague or friend, that’s a good start. If they offer up their testimonial, make sure it’s not just fluff get specific about what kind of results they achieved for their other clients and how long those results lasted (if possible).
Look at their track record and reputation online. You might not have time to dig too deep into every detail on this one; just be sure to check out what comes up when you type in “Digital Marketing Consultant + Your City/State” (or whatever location applies). Make sure that whoever pops up looks like they know what they’re doing!
Make sure they have expertise in your industry specifically (or at least close enough). It’s easy enough to find advisors who specialize in general types of marketing because anyone out there with basic technical knowledge can throw together an ad campaign if given enough time and money.
But an expert will know how to tailor their approach based on all sorts of factors unique within your niche market and ultimately give better results!
How Does A Digital Marketing Consultant Help Businesses Grow?
A great digital marketing consultant will help you understand your target audience and how to connect with them most effectively. They’ll also help you understand your competition, knowing that this is the best way to plot out a strategy for growing your business.
A good digital marketing consultant will be able to help you define what makes your brand unique and how you can leverage that uniqueness as part of a larger strategy for building an audience, converting leads into paying customers and ultimately increasing profit margins.
Digital marketing consultants are experts at helping businesses grow their revenue by focusing on the right areas: understanding their customers’ needs; providing a superior product or service; developing internal systems that allow employees to work more efficiently.
Keeping costs low while maintaining quality control standards; taking advantage of new technologies when they’re available so they can stay ahead of competitors who may use older methods instead!
Do I Need A Digital Marketing Consultant?
If you’re not sure what you need, if your competition is fierce, or if you simply want to grow your business and reach more customers, a digital marketing consultant can help.
Digital marketers usually have a deep understanding of how people use the internet and how businesses can best reach their target audiences through online channels.
They’ll also be able to recommend ways that companies can build trust among their customers and make themselves stand out from competitors.
Many individuals choose to work as digital marketing freelancers due to the flexibility and independence it offers. To get an idea of the earning potential, check out our guide on How Much Do Digital Marketing Freelancers Make? to see how freelancers thrive in this industry.
Who Can Benefit From Working With Digital Marketing Consultants?
A digital marketing consultant can be an invaluable resource to a business of any size, but they’re especially beneficial to small and medium-sized businesses. Smaller brands may not have the resources or manpower to develop their in-house marketing strategies and campaigns, so it makes sense for them to hire a digital marketing consultant.
Smaller companies also benefit from hiring consultants because they help maximize budgets by offering services at lower rates than most agencies would charge.
A large agency might have dozens of employees on staff each specializing in different areas of digital marketing which means that clients will end up paying more than necessary for their services if they go with one that has high overhead costs.
Startups have limited funds but often don’t know where best to utilize them when starting; working with an experienced consultant can help these companies avoid wasting money on unnecessary expenses like flashy office spaces or expensive equipment when other options may be just as effective (and less expensive).
And finally, startups are often too busy focusing on their core products/services/businesses without having time left over for developing their online presence; this is where consultants come into play by helping them prepare content while still attending meetings or coding programs half the day!
How Do You Know If A Business Needs A Digital Marketing Consultant?
If you are not seeing results from your efforts, it’s time to get help. If you have a complicated website and don’t know how to make it better, or if your business is too big and complicated for an in-house marketing team but doesn’t qualify as large enough for an agency (or if you don’t want to pay the agency fees), then a consultant may be right for you.
It’s also worth considering hiring a digital marketing consultant if:
- You have multiple locations that need local SEO strategies and content creation
- Your products require specific campaigns on social media channels (e.g., Facebook Ads) or search engines (e.g., Google AdWords)
- You want advice on using consumer data analytics such as Google Analytics
What Makes A Good Digital Marketing Consultant?
The most important skill a digital marketing consultant must have is the ability to communicate. Whether you’re speaking with clients, writing emails, or working with other members of your team, you need to be able to explain complex ideas simply and clearly.
Additionally, it’s important that the consultant understands his or her client’s goals and objectives and can work with them towards those goals. A good digital marketing consultant will be able to understand what makes their client tick before suggesting any solutions.
A good consultant also needs an open mind when it comes to new technologies and methods and will be flexible enough in their approach that they can adjust their strategy as needs change over time without being beholden solely to previous experience (or stuck in old ways).
Aspiring to become a digital marketing manager? Discover the earning potential and career prospects in this role by checking out our article on How Much Do Digital Marketing Managers Make? to see how they contribute to a company’s success.
What’s The Difference Between Hiring A Digital Marketing Consultant Vs. Hiring An Agency To Do The Work For Me?
The difference between hiring a digital marketing consultant vs. hiring an agency to do the work for you is that:
- An agency will have multiple consultants on staff, while a consultant is an individual.
- Agencies can provide a variety of services whereas consultants generally focus on one or two areas (such as paid search or social media).
Agencies are often more specialized than consultants, which means they’re better at doing specific things like optimizing websites or generating leads through the phone.
Consultants may be able to specialize in these areas if they have experience in them and want to offer that service to clients, but it’s not something they necessarily advertise as part of their business model unless they’ve worked with a lot of agencies before.
They’ll typically stick with their base expertise instead of what David does (content marketing).
Why Would I Want To Hire An Individual Rather Than An Agency When It Comes To My Business’ Online Presence And Growth?
There are several reasons why you would want to work with an individual instead of an agency.
You can get more personal attention. An agency is going to be busy and has multiple clients, so, likely, your project will not be their top priority.
This means that they may focus on the projects that are bringing in the most revenue or require less work than yours does (like new business generation).
In contrast, working with a consultant means that you’ll have one person dedicated to your project at all times and not just one person but someone who truly cares about helping your business succeed.
You can get more specialized attention. A digital marketing agency might specialize in search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns but not pay-per-click (PPC) advertising; whereas some consultants might focus exclusively on PPC campaigns without doing much SEO work at all!
Each aspect of online marketing needs to complement each other when trying to achieve results; otherwise, there could be gaps in what services are being provided by either party involved here which could lead to failure
Due to a lack of knowledge regarding certain areas within digital marketing which requires both parties’ expertise if they’re going after different goals/objectives together (ie., ranking better using paid ads vs creating content).
You can get more expertise from those who know how things work firsthand than from those who only received training classes from other people who claim themselves experts but never actually did anything themselves because these people never got any hands-on experience themselves
Under real-world conditions before teaching others about how things should operate when implemented correctly which usually doesn’t happen until AFTER something goes wrong the first time around so everyone else learns “the hard way” instead.”
Is It Better To Pay Per Project Or On Monthly Retainer?
The monthly retainer is a better option because it gives you the same service every month. The monthly retainer can save you money in the long run and gives you more flexibility to stop paying if your consultant doesn’t perform well.
If you are doing a large project, then one-time payments may make sense for some of those services. However, for ongoing efforts like content marketing or social media management, monthly retainer agreements are usually best.
How Long Will It Take To See Results After Hiring A Digital Marketing Consultant?
The answer to this question is: it depends on the project. It depends on the consultant you hire. And it also depends on your goals and expectations, as well as your budget and timeline.
It’s important to keep in mind that there are two parts of digital marketing: strategy and execution. A good consultant will help you with both parts of this equation, but some consultants are better at one part than the other.
For example, if you want someone who can create a strong SEO strategy for your website but aren’t interested in doing much of the execution yourself (like updating your blog), then hiring an SEO strategist might be better for you than hiring an SEO expert who will handle everything from keyword research to content creation to link building and everything in between.
Digital marketing coordinators play a vital role in executing successful marketing campaigns. If you’re curious about their compensation, read our guide on How Much Do Digital Marketing Coordinators Make? to understand the rewards of this pivotal position in the industry.
Consultants Can Make Huge Salaries But It Depends On Many Factors
The amount of money a digital marketing consultant can make will vary widely depending on many factors, including the time and effort required to complete the project. For example, a consultant may charge $100 per hour but only work 40 hours a week.
This means that you could potentially hire them for $20,000 for one month’s worth of work (assuming they take no vacation time). But if you hire them for 100 hours at an average rate of $50 per hour and they bill you every 15 minutes, then your bill would be closer to $30K than it should be.
Another factor is how much time it takes before you start seeing results from hiring that person as your consultant. If this is something that must happen quickly or else your business will suffer serious consequences, then it may not even be worth hiring someone in this field unless you’re willing to pay top dollar just so they can get started right away!
Conclusion
The best way to answer this question is to look at the hourly rate of a digital marketing consultant.
The average hourly rate is $100, but this can vary depending on the type of work they do and where they live. When hiring a professional, always make sure that they have experience as well as certifications so that you know what kind of service levels they’ll provide before entering into any agreement with them.
Further Reading
ZipRecruiter – Digital Marketing Consultant Salary: Find out more about the salary trends and job opportunities for digital marketing consultants.
Glassdoor – Digital Marketing Consultant Salary: Explore reviews and insights on digital marketing consultant salaries from employees and job seekers.
ComputerCareers.org – Digital Marketing Consultant Salary: Discover resources and articles on the earning potential and career prospects in the field of digital marketing consulting.
FAQs
How much do digital marketing consultants earn on average?
Digital marketing consultants’ salaries can vary based on factors like experience, location, and company size. On average, they can earn anywhere from $50,000 to $80,000 per year.
What qualifications are needed to become a digital marketing consultant?
Most digital marketing consultants hold a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, or a related field. Relevant certifications and practical experience in various digital marketing strategies are also valuable.
Do digital marketing consultants work independently or for companies?
Digital marketing consultants may work as freelancers, running their own consulting businesses, or they can be employed by marketing agencies or companies seeking their expertise.
How does a digital marketing consultant contribute to a business?
A digital marketing consultant helps businesses develop and execute effective online marketing strategies, including SEO, content marketing, social media, and digital advertising, to increase brand visibility and drive growth.
What are the essential skills for a successful digital marketing consultant?
A successful digital marketing consultant should have strong analytical skills, a deep understanding of digital marketing channels, excellent communication, and the ability to adapt to the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.
