So you have a business and you really want to take it to the next level, what can you do? Do you want to allocate more budget this year into marketing?
A lot of clients, when they first met with me, will say that they want to grow their business. Honestly, everyone wants to grow their business and make money. That’s the whole point of starting a company. I would then ask if they have the budget to invest into a marketing campaign. 9 times out of 10, I will get the same answer, which is, “yeah…we do, but we don’t have a lot to spend and we don’t want to risk it”. I had a business before and I absolutely understand their concern. That feeling of wanting to expand but at the same time, worrying about not getting the return that you want with all the money spent on Marketing is definitely a painful process. I have been there before and it’s a struggle.
My question to my potential clients is, “where do you think you will be heading in the next 5 years and 10 years?”. I will analyze their goals and see if it is reachable and provide a professional estimation on how much will it cost for him/her to reach that goal. As a Digital Marketing Consultant in Vancouver, it is my job to make sure that our client’s goal makes sense and if Digital Marketing really helps them. Once I know Digital Marketing will be useful for them, I would then listen to their goals and see if Search Engine Optimization or Search Engine Marketing or Social Media would be suitable for them.
The purpose of having a Digital Marketing Consultant helping you is for you to spend time on doing some other things that is the core of the company. It is then can you excel and succeed. My job is to help you discover new opportunities. We will sit down and build a plan together and I like to be as transparent as possible. I want my clients to know have a basic idea on what I’m doing and how am I going to help achieve the goals. I don’t like the feeling where clients are wondering what I am doing and wonder where the money is being spent on.
I don’t like to tie my clients into a 1 year or 2 years contract. Instead, I like to be more flexible and work with my clients. There are several options that I would initially suggest to my clients.
So you want a Specialist to come in and help you but you don’t want to commit to a monthly or yearly consultation fee, what can you do? Well, I have a lot of experience in working for companies based on projects. I will just come in, work on the project, after it is completed, I’ll leave. I understand that there are times where companies might not always need a Digital Marketing Specialist for each project. I believe this will be a great option for them.
This is one of my favorite plan. Some agencies or freelancers will ask for a 3 month trial. However, to be honest, 3 months can’t really tell if that Specialist is the person for the job or not. I strongly believe 6 months is the minimum time frame in order to see if that person fits in the team, capable of performing what he/she is suppose to do, and it takes time for a marketing plan to run smoothly. After 6 months, I would then suggest either we do a monthly commitment or another 6 months.
This is what a lot of agencies prefer. I would love this as well, but I know it is a lot of money committed for my clients. However, the bright side of having a 1-year plan is that, I can then have an idea how I can utilize this 1 year to fully help your company grow. I can have a plan for the next 12 months laid out and support your team. If it is a year, I can then have a look at your team’s yearly plan and create a blueprint that works with the team’s advantage.
This is a great option for companies that is committed to improve their own marketing team. This is a 3-month plan where I will come in as a Digital Marketing Instructor and teach your marketing team Digital Marketing topics such as SEO, SEM, Social Media and Google Analytics. I will base the curriculum on your company and create projects on how to grow your company. After teaching your team, you can have the option to hire me as a consultant where I would join your team every quarter to see how your company is growing and what strategies can we implement. This is a great option for companies that want to grow their team internally.
All of these plans can be adjusted and like I said, my goal is to consider what my clients want and need first before having them commit to the plans. I would love to meet in person or online and listen to what their pain points are and how I can help. I love sharing my knowledge and meeting people. Feel free to contact me if you ever have any questions.
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and all other Social Media platforms are perfect for you to get your brand name out there. How can a Social Media Specialist help you? Let me explain it.
What is Search Engine Marketing? How can a SEM Specialist help you grow you business. There are other Digital Marketing tools other than Social Media that you can utilize. Have a look at it now and expand!