A lot of companies lean on certain external forces to up their marketing game and to trigger some growth. But one of the things companies need to decide on before they seek such help is whether they require a marketing consultant or a marketing strategist, for while both predominantly perform the fundamental role of helping the company improve its marketing, their ways and methods greatly differ. In this article, we have tried to explain how they differ.
-For starters, a consultant is paid to generally share their knowledge and experience to help a business achieve goals and solve problems.
-A Strategist, on the other hand, analyses the existing business model and market situation and figures out the best way to improve marketing, promote products and gain new customers.
-Consultants generally work with around 5-6 clients that they are a point of contact for. They join every weekly meeting, participate in all strategic meetings and brainstorming sessions and play a huge role in executing the work planned by these clients.
-A strategist will instead look at the portfolios of a lot more clients and will assist mainly in planning, strategies and performance of the clients at hand, now and in the long run.
The best way to understand whether you need a marketing consultant or a marketing strategist is based on what exactly you want or expect.
If you want a person to analyse what you’re doing, figure out what’s wrong and proceed to help you make some structural shifts, a strategist is who you require.
On the other hand, if you need someone to manage specific daily tasks with deliverables, run research for the same; write content for you etc. your best option is a consultant.
For example, if you’ve already made the decision to go forward with Instagram advertising and know what kind of return on ad spend you will get, working with a marketing consultant to manage the target market, put your ads together etc. will make your job a lot easier.
However, if you’re trying to figure out if Instagram advertising is indeed the right option for your company, and how they fit in with respect to your existing marketing strategy, marketing mix and overall experience, a strategist is who you need. They will help you figure out if such advertising will, in fact, improve product promotion and gain more customers and if you need to make certain strategic changes to improve performance in the long run.
Therefore, we can see here that while both work towards the betterment of the company’s marketing and promotional methods, they have different ways of going about this.