FAQs

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Generally, marketing consultants are for-hire resources that claim to have the skills and experiences you need to manage or improve aspects of your company’s strategic and tactical marketing approach.

When hiring a marketing consultant, you should expect a level of expertise and insights that is greater than what you currently have on your team. Look for a marketing growth strategist that understands your industry and has skills and experiences that align well with your business goals and marketing targets.

A marketing consultant serves at the direction of the CEO, and typically embeds with the executive management team that is running the business. We work very closely with stakeholders to lead the growth strategy, as well as the construction and execution of the marketing engine.

Many marketing consultants do not charge an upfront fee for leading a discovery process. If it is determined to be a fit, marketing consultants typically are compensated via monthly retainer, based on a percentage of the CMO’s time you are requiring and multiplied by the number of months they’ll be involved in the engagement.

Though there are variances in the cost of marketing consultants based upon experience level and expected outcomes, a marketing consultant or Fractional CMO is dedicated to deliver the same level of excellence, insights, and strategic mindset, no matter the size of the company.

We start with a Meet & Greet to see if we are a fit for your business and to diagnose your needs. If it’s a match, then we’ll schedule a Discovery call and align a Solution Presentation before signing a proposal and service agreement.

Compensation for marketing consultants varies, depending upon the skill and experience of the consultant. Typically, marketing consultants collect a fee or retainer for a block of hours of dedicated time to your company.

The allocation of hours from your marketing consultant is dependent upon the services you need, and the percentage of time you are contracting for. Unlike CPAs or attorneys, marketing consultants don’t count hours down to the fraction. Instead, they dedicate themselves to your business in the same way that a full-time member of your executive team would – simply in a part-time format.

Though there are no specific qualifications for an individual to call themselves a marketing consultant, you ideally are looking for someone with a decade or more of experience in marketing, specifically for your market or industry.

The main objective of the CMO is to build a strategic marketing plan alongside the CEO and then use that roadmap as the primary focus. Bringing the marketing plan to life by executing multi-channel advertising campaigns, managing and adjusting the campaigns to help support the sales and operations teams, so that collaboratively the business reaches their business growth goals.

Ideally a marketing consultant is a marketing strategist, rather than someone who can just execute on tactics and plans. Additionally, the best qualified marketing consultants have a high level of curiosity and inquisitiveness, are data driven, and are results oriented so they can measure the outcomes of the strategies they implement. Also, they should be culturally flexible and sensitive to the environment in which they’re working.

Strategic marketing consulting defines the action plan for advertising campaigns while the production team (writers, graphic designers, web developers, vendors) creates the materials and launches the campaigns to the public. These different services are charged differently as consulting is a tax-free service while production time is purchased in banks of hours and used over the course of the marketing action plan and is taxable.

Our virtual network is deep and we love match-making creative’s style to the client’s personality and brand for a seamless creative execution. Additionally, with our 20+ years of experience, we manage our production team with strategic and creative art direction to ensure they stay on target with the scope of work, stay on budget, stay on brand, and stay on time.

Unfortunately, not. Doing spec work is replaced by reviewing our online portfolio, scheduling a meet & greet, and working through a complimentary discovery session.

GLOSSARY

SOME OF OUR FAVORITE MARKETING & BRAND TERMS

Brand Touchpoints are every single encounter your business has with your potential and current clients. Everything from business cards, website, social media posts, uniforms, waiting rooms, retail space, office space, trucks, and more. Consider your five senses to ensure that your client is interacting with your brand with each and every sense (sight, sound, smell, taste, see). This creates your own custom-tailored brand experience, making it memorable and referrable

Recognition is how well general public identifies a brand by its attributes. The most successful Brand Recognition is when a person is able to quickly identify visual elements without being exposed to the company’s name but rather with other touchpoints such as packaging, slogans, colors, and images

Loyalty is when a consumer purchases the product/service repeatedly from the same company rather than repurchasing from other suppliers. Additionally, Brand Loyalty is when a consumer is willing to pay premium rates for a specific brand, go out of their way to purchase from their preferred brand, and to not think twice about looking for an alternative.

These are your employees, referrals, and extremely loyal networks who represent your business by promoting you to everyone they come into contact with as well as carrying and showcasing your business Core Values. They are your walking billboards, they are worth investing in.

A graphic, symbol, or mark that identifies your business or organization. This identifier can be trademarked and is your single most representation of communicating your business. A Logo begins your story of who you are.

A set of rules outlining how to use the Brand to keep a consistent look across all marketing channels. Distributed to employees, marketing departments, and vendors to make sure they are creating the approved branded look on each and every tool they create. Brand Standards Guide keep everyone managing your Brand Touchpoints consistent.

The commitment to deliver made between your brand in order to encourage that audience to buy. It’s the authentic statement that says your company will deliver them an experience during their investment. Your internal teams should be reminded of this promise daily.

Positioning is a marketing strategy that aims to make a brand occupy a distinct space or position, relative to competing brands, in the mind of the customer.

Fictional buyers created to represent the different types of customers that you are aiming to gain more of. Their descriptions help align what tools you need to provide them that they want to interact with, are attracted to, and that spark action to connect with your brand. A Persona’s characteristics often include demographics, geographics, economics, social trends, personal status, education, and the struggles they face that lead them to the solutions you offer.

A form of exhibit design and is the process of developing an exhibit around the Brand Guidelines to build a physical brand experience—from a concept to a physical, three-dimensional exhibition. These are proven useful to help motivate and inspire your internal teams in common spaces such as lobbies, cafeterias, break rooms, etc. External audiences interact with them in your lobby, waiting area, transitional spaces like hospital hallways and connectors, entryways, conference rooms, etc.

Experience is conceptualized as sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioral responses evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part of a brand’s design and identity, packaging, communications, and environments. Provide your customers with Brand Experiences from your website, to your internal spaces, to the events you hold. Hold sacred the type of experience you want your prospects and loyal customers to have with your brand to create incredibly memorable impressions that turn them into Brand Ambassadors.

Brand Equity is a phrase used in the marketing industry which describes the value of having a well-known brand name, based on the idea that the owner of a well-known brand name can generate more money from products with that brand name than from products with a less well-known name, as consumers believe that a product with a well-known name is better than products with less well-known names.

Brand Architecture is the structure of all the brands within an organizational entity. It is the way in which the brands within a company’s portfolio are related to, and differentiated from, one another. A perfect example is FedEx, FedEx Freight, FedEx Air, etc.

The word signature can be defined as a “distinctive pattern, product or characteristic by which someone or something can be identified.” A Signature Brand is an original, cohesive design based on the personality of your company that is carried across all print, digital, and web communications.

Wordmark or logotype is a distinct text-only type treatment of the name of a company, institution, or product name used for purposes of identification and branding. Great examples of logo Wordmarks are Google, Coke Cola, and FedEx.

A concept that represents, stands for or suggests another idea, visual image, belief, action, or material entity. Great symbols examples are Nike Swoosh, Apple, and Target.

An organized brand structure for complex businesses who needs visual organizations to empower cross-selling and clear communication.

Agency Jen’s Marketing Navigator Process™

Our process is based on six pillars of our strategic marketing: idea generation, planning, creating, implementing, measuring, adjusting — repeat.

 

Using this proven system helps business owners reach their goals faster and grow smarter.