DIY or Hiring a Consultant? 3 Things to Think About for Marketing Your Small Business

Over the course of owning and operating a business, every small business owner is faced with the challenge of downsizing their daily to-do list to focus more time and energy on long term growth and sustainability.

For me? It was deciding I needed a legal partner and accounting firm to handle those aspects of my business that I was spending way too much time on.

Marketing is often one of the items small business owners determine they need to seek outside support to 1) get it off their to-do list and 2) reach a broader audience to increase leads or sales. Even as a marketing consultant, I am an advocate that not every business needs to outsource their marketing or at least not immediately.

When time and financial resources are indispensable, here’s some things to think about as a small business owner when determining whether to manage your marketing yourself or its time to hire a consultant.

1. Are You Ready to Grow?

A skilled marketing consultant will bring fresh ideas and strategies that can quickly grow the engagement of your audiences. Your business should be prepared for a higher level of engagement whether that be from new leads, increased store traffic, or other inquiries. If your overall business isn’t prepared for an increase in visibility, it can cause strain and create more challenges.

2. Do You Have the Time?

Hiring a marketing consultant is a catch-22. You do so to free up your time to focus on other areas of your small business, but your consultant will need your time in order to be successful for you. While a consultant will manage the implementation of marketing strategies and tactics, they do still need support to gather content and information from you or your team. After the initial start-up, your marketing consultant should meet with you at least once a month, not only to discuss progress and analytics, but to gather new content ideas.

3. Do You Have a Marketing Budget?

Yes, marketing consultants cost money and prices vary drastically. However, you also need to think about a budget to put behind new marketing strategies and tactics. A marketing consultant can and SHOULD be able to do a lot with organic strategies and tactics that will increase engagement. However, there will come a time when dollars need to be allocated to continue to grow. This could be for running Facebook and Instagram ads or creating a brand video.

---

If you aren’t ready to hire a marketing consultant, but need more support, check out The MKTG Collection. The MKTG Collection is a self-serve library for small business owners that provides how-to videos and curated marketing resources to help you implement professional, organized, and consistent marketing tactics. From learning to build email campaigns and paid social media ads to our recommendations of the best marketing platforms, you’ll get the information you need to elevate your marketing and grow the engagement of your audiences.