What Skills Do I Need to Be a Marketing Consultant?

If you are interested in marketing, you are at the right place! Many people think that marketing can only be learned if you are employed by a company, but that is not true.

There are many ways to employ yourself in marketing. These are some of the things you need to know.

What does a marketing consultant do?

The job of a marketing consultant differs depending on what company he/she works for, what the goals and deadlines are. The consultant offers services to a client who is usually a company.

A marketing consultant can assess the current work of marketing and suggest action steps for progress. Also, design digital campaigns for different channels, plan and implement strategically. Finally, it measures the results of success and suggests further steps.

Marketing consultant needs to know the topics related to marketing.

Marketing is a broad science and can be approached from different angles. What companies usually need most is a marketing consultant who has the necessary knowledge and experience.

He should have a high level of knowledge in the field of SEO, paid digital media and social networks.  On the other hand, he should know analytics, optimization and use data strategically. All this so that he could plan strategically.

Formal education is always important, but it is not crucial in this area.

It is much more important what skills you possess, applicable knowledge and work experience you have.

We will mention that it is very important for you to build relationships with other people and gain connections. They are your potential clients or they can bring them to you.

What qualities should you have as a marketing consultant?

To go in the right direction, you need to know where you are going. Here are some guidelines to tell you what you need to become a marketing consultant.

The portfolio is important.

You need to show what you have been doing so far, as well as a history of marketing-related activities and success. It would be great to have several years of full-time experience. This will ensure that you are an expert in the specific niche you choose.

Writing and communication skills

These skills are very important. Whatever you do in marketing you will not be able to bypass them. Writing includes everything else. That is why it is important to be an expert in a wide fields such as  social media, content, SEO, generating potential clients, etc.

This automatically entails strong skills in Excel, PowerPoint, Salesforce and Microsoft Office.

Strategies vs. Tactics

Strategy is a plan of action, while tactics are only a specific action in order to implement the whole strategy. You need to understand the strategy to know how to set tactics.

Key soft skills

Soft skills are skills that you develop throughout your life and are not visible at first glance. It’s the way you communicate and the signals you give through it. Here we can think of communication itself, but also of persuasion and sales skills, adaptability, creativity, etc.

Human qualities

Work related to people cannot be without emotions. People love emotions. Show your ability to listen and empathize. Although you will work at the back office as a marketing consultant, your psychological skills of knowing people will be seen through your work.

It is very likely that you will not work alone. If you work in teams, show your leadership skills and professionalism. Your motivation to work and progress will be seen through work.

What else can you do to be better?

The qualities you currently have are a good basis for upgrading. As marketing trends change, so does knowledge. In the modern world there is no place to stand still!

Gain reputation and trust

It’s not easy when you’re at the beginning. It’s harder to find clients and get started. The reason is that there are a lot of people who work in the field of marketing. You need to attract clients to contact you.

In order for that to happen, it is necessary to gain their trust. Use LinkedIn as a tool to introduce yourself to potential customers. Highlight your experience, interests and opportunities.

Learn, learn and keep learning

When you earn a degree in marketing or a marketing consultant title, your work on yourself doesn’t end there. Marketing is evolving very fast and it is important to keep up with the industry. You need to offer your client the latest marketing practices and technologies to succeed.

Let your approach begin with thorough research

Provide the client with detailed market research. Find the 10 best competitors. Investigate the size of the company, their products and services, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Track their work and progress.

You need to know the basic financial information about your client. Track numbers for total revenue, gross profit and market capitalization.

Meet the people you work with. The director and senior manager need to know who is doing the marketing for them. You are not a robot, but a human. It is useful to explore their LinkedIn as well.

Start with self-promotion

Even if you have regular customers and those who keep coming back, the market needs to know about you. Promote yourself as an expert and the work you do by creating, for example, a site with all the necessary information about you.

Choose the social networks that work best for you. LinkedIn is necessary, but start thinking about visual presentation on Instagram, for example. Tik – tok is now in trend and via Twitter you can achieve extra communication with users.

Consider blogging as well. It can bring you numerous benefits as well as participation in various conferences. These are great options for networking and sharing different ideas.

A word for the end…

Marketing is a nice place to develop. In addition to creativity, your leadership will flourish. As a marketing consultant, your opportunities are great and the space for work and training is unlimited.