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Marketing Coach or Marketing Consultant

Which is Right for Your Business?

Debra Murphy, Vista Consulting

Developing an effective marketing plan for your small business or professional service firm is the first and most important contributing factor to your company’s success. But for many small businesses, the cost of hiring a marketing agency to help them develop and execute a plan may be too expensive for their budget. A do-it-yourself approach may not work either because you most likely don’t have the skills to effectively develop the plan yourself. So although you know marketing can help your business grow, you just don’t think you can afford to hire an expert to develop and execute the plan for you.

There is an alternative solution to this dilemma where you can get the best of both worlds. You might want to consider hiring a marketing coach.

Coach or Consultant - What is the difference?

Both consulting and coaching involve the use of a skilled, trained professional to assist you in achieving your goals, but each entity approaches your business from a different perspective.

A marketing coach works with the business owner or partners to help them develop the skills necessary to take ownership of the marketing activities. The marketing coach asks the right questions so that you can determine the strategy and plan that is best for your business.

It may make sense for your business to hire a marketing coach if you have the time to develop the expertise. The benefit is that you will be able to take control of your marketing efforts, removing the dependency on an outside agency. Cost savings can be anywhere from 25 – 50%, depending on how much or how little coaching you may need for each of the activities.

A marketing consultant is someone with the expertise to develop and execute your marketing to achieve the desired results. A marketing consultant provides a total marketing strategy and plan for the client, leaving the client free to pursue other areas of the business.

Your businesses may require that you hire marketing consultants because you don’t have the time or resources to execute the marketing in-house. In many cases, it may be more cost-effective to outsource marketing because it leaves you available to do what you do best. The expense of hiring internal resources or taking your time to do the marketing may not be a good use of your resources. In this case, hiring a marketing firm that can offload the entire marketing effort is a worthwhile effort.

When do you use a Marketing Coach verses a Marketing Consultant?

Sometimes a business needs the best of both worlds – a person who can act as both a coach and a consultant. This hybrid mode offers you the best of both: advice and guidance for those activities that you want to control; expertise and an extra resource for those activities you should not do yourself.

Developing a marketing plan is one of the areas where coaching can work really well. The information needed for a marketing plan in the areas of vision, mission, positioning and messages is usually stuck inside the owner’s head. Spending a few sessions with a marketing coach uncovering this information can be a valuable use time. Doing your own research and writing the plan based on the coach’s marketing plan outline and materials can make it simpler and can save you 40% of the cost of a marketing plan done by a consultant. Then you can put this saved money towards other marketing efforts.

Executing some of your marketing activities may not be the best use of your time. For example, you should never do your own advertising. Advertising is too expensive to take the chance that your ads are not effective. Plus, an ad agency may not cost you more than going direct to the publication. Ad agencies get an agency discount because they purchase ad space in volume. A reputable agency may include the design of the ad as part of the media buy since they are getting paid through the publication.

Coach versus Consultant

Use the following to determine whether you want a marketing coach, a marketing consultant or a hybrid coach-consultant:

  • If you have some marketing skills, but feel you still need a marketing system that provides additional structure and guidance or ongoing advice and support – coach.
  • If you know what needs doing but would prefer to hire someone to actually perform the work for you – consultant.
  • If your skill set is better used running the business or working with clients – consultant.
  • If you want to remain hands-on throughout the process, but may not have the time to devote to completing the marketing activities – hybrid coach-consultant.
  • If you need to conduct research in areas outside of your experience or expertise - coach or consultant.

To determine if a marketing coach is right for you and your business, think about your expertise, the time you have to devote to the effort, and how your skills and time are best used in your business. If you don’t have the time or the desire to do marketing, or if your business benefits from you spending time working on the business in other areas, hire a marketing consulting firm. Otherwise, a marketing coach may be just the thing you need.