Affordable Marketing for Small Businesses

what does it all cost?

I’m sure you have noticed many marketing companies/consultants have a rather vague approach to pricing, however I bet ‘how much do you charge’ is one of the first questions you want an answer to?

As I am an honest, straightforward, no jargon (that is upfront and transparent) person, there might be a few fellow marketing consultants that may not like me explaining this, but if you’re intrigued (and I hope you are), read on :

As a business owner myself, I know every penny counts, so getting great value from your appointed marketing consultant is a must, however looking around the marketing arena locally, hardly anyone is upfront on pricing before, let’s call it the ‘hard sell’ first meeting.

The reason? Many marketing consultants base their pricing on one of these three ways ... which is fine if you’re quoted upfront:
Hourly rate
Fixed Project rate
Retainer rate (fixed monthly cost)

Now to explain that further ... a consultancy is a service that should be delivered by experienced professionals who have achieved a certain level of expertise, so the figures could vary depending upon the credentials, knowledge and abilities of the individual, but you should expect to be paying anywhere between £50 and up to £200 per hour (approx. £350 – £1400 per day) for someone who really knows their job (consultants working for large companies could command 2 or 3 times more).

Similarly, ‘tactical’ marketing people with little strategic understanding and might be self-styled “marketing experts” will typically charge somewhere between £25 and £50/hour (£175 - £350/day), but experience levels and abilities will vary massively.

HOW I WORK OUT THE COST

When I cost work I take the worry out of the mind of a small business … “the clock might be ticking, but the 'till isn't ringing'”, as I like to work on a fixed project rate where possible, so you know the total cost upfront and have no nasty surprises. You brief what you want me to do and I'll give you the total cost - which only changes if you change the brief - is that fair?

With new clients I also try to front-load the relationship by offering my time free of charge to provide valuable, actionable advice and insight before even quoting for any of my services. Hence you get the first hour consultation absolutely FREE during which I will give you some of that advice and insight.

Still with me … good … as I like creating scenarios, consider the following:

As an expert at running your small business you try to source more leads yourself by networking, throwing a grand or so at advertising and maybe the same into your business website, so you’ve spent upwards of £3,000 to £5,000 on marketing, therefore why should you consider spending more on top of that by bringing an external marketing consultant into the mix?

Let me share this example with you, then you can decide whether you need my services or not?

Company A spends £5,000 on marketing that brings 10,000 visitors to its website. They have a 0.5% conversion rate, that means of the 10,000 visitors, 50 will be converted into a sale. The average sale value is £200, so in this case, Company A will generate £10,000 of sales income. Sounds OK.

Company B spends the same £5,000 on marketing, plus £3,000 on a marketing consultant who helps create a marketing plan and advises how and where the budget should be allocated. The synchronised marketing activity yields a modest increase in the conversion rate to 1%. Even assuming the number of visitors doesn’t increase (which in practice it usually does) and stays at 10,000 visitors,

Company B will convert 100 into a sale, generating £20,000, doubling the income achieved by Company A. The cost of employing the consultant has been covered 3 times over.

OK this is, of course, a hypothetical example, but a good marketing consultant really can have this kind of impact on your business.

Marketing is after all the process of identifying and satisfying the needs of your customers profitably (CIM definition). If you do that better, you will satisfy more customers (get more sales) and make more profit.

A nice analogy I read elsewhere … if you had a brain tumour you wouldn’t trust your hairdresser to diagnose the problem and perform brain surgery because they work with heads all day long. Your head is quite an important part of your body, so of course, you would seek out a fully trained brain surgeon to fix your problem and make things better.

The same is true with your business.

Good marketing consultants have helped to grow businesses and can help you to finely tune your marketing to yield better results and increase your profits. Equally, spending money on an inexperienced or cheap marketing consultant can be money down the drain because, they, like the hairdresser, lack the skills and expertise to deliver real results. So, is it worth it? That’s for you to decide.

If you are considering using a marketing consultant … like me … evaluate them based on credentials, experience, and ability; each on their own does not a good marketing consultant make, they all come into play in determining a marketing consultant’s worth.

Credentials These will range from self-taught marketing “gurus” with no formal training to masters-level educated and beyond. I would suggest you need someone with a wealth of experience (at least 10 years).

Experience There are two types of experience small business marketing consultants need, one is in delivering sizeable marketing budgets successfully, and the other, perhaps most important, is the first-hand experience of running and growing a business themselves. I’ve met innumerable “expert marketers” who have worked with some large firms but have no clue of the real challenges small business owners must manage on a daily basis.

Ability Do they have a solid strategic understanding of marketing or are they just tactical marketers masquerading as consultants? Are you looking for someone hands on to do this stuff day to day? Or are you looking for someone who can propel your business to the next level? Furthermore, do they understand the current digital marketing landscape and help you to leverage this in your business?

Make every penny of your marketing spend counts. If all else fails, ask your hairdresser … 😊