Hiring a Digital Consultant
There comes a moment in every small business owner’s virtual
life, when he or she asks, is it time to hire a digital consultant?
The answer, of course, is different for every enterprise, but there
are some telltale signs it’s time to make the move and what to
look for when one does.
Today’s Internet is complex; the sophisticated acquisition,
retention and personalization tactics and
tools alone can be challenging for even the savviest
to wrap their heads around. Adding to this
complexity (and cost, of course), are the countless
digital touchpoints that are now necessary investments
to help grow a business, such as search
and social, email and mobile. It’s a fast-moving,
multi-channel world — can a digital consultant
help you navigate through it?
EXPERTISE
Growing a business online can be a significant investment
of time, particularly for those small- and
mid-size businesses not already versed in certain
tech practices; this may be especially true with paid
search, as it is deceptively simple to get started but
can quickly become complex to manage.
“Most small businesses do not have the time to
become digital experts, so they go through quite a
bit of trial and error while they learn search,” said
Kristina Cutura, AdWords consultant and former
client education specialist and optimization specialist
at Google. “Many spend their tight budgets
on keywords that are ineffective while they
experiment with different targets. These are
valuable small business funds being wasted
on strategies that will never work.”
For paid search (or any digital initiative really),
it’s imperative business owners track the
time and cost involved in learning and executing
projects, and then compare the return on investment
between doing it themselves and what it
would cost for someone else to do it. A spa owner,
for example, might spend an unknown amount of
hours making small changes on his website with a
website builder that charges a monthly fee, may
find it beneficial to know if a designer can make
the same adjustments faster and cheaper. The designer
might spend just five minutes making the
changes whereas the owner could invest hours
only to get ultimately frustrated with formatting
mistakes. This is where tracking time comes in. So
how much time is this spa owner spending on
website design that can be used more efficiently in
other areas? Time tracking software like Toggl or
Hubstaff can go a long way in identifying where it
is actually best spent.
COMMITMENT
Hiring a digital consultant sounds like a nobrainer
for many small business owners, but
cost is typically where plans are stalled. Oftentimes,
consultants work on monthly flat fees
for all of their work — like social media, content,
website management, etc. — and the consultant
pays (either out of his monthly fee or
on top of his monthly fee) for any help he
needs on the site, like design assistance. Of
course, this varies by consultant, but knowing
price structures in advance will keep both parties
happy and productive.
When it is time to make the move, no small
business owner wants to be in the dark about any
areas of his business, which is why many ownerconsultant
relationships can go sour if there is not
a high level of transparency and equal footing between
the two. Even if a small business owner
turns over some or all of their digital projects to a
consultant, he will still want to commit to educating
himself on what it takes to succeed in that specific
niche and on the Web in general. Website
Magazine is, obviously, a terrific free resource for
keeping industry awareness high, but nearly every
B2B platform or software provider also offers white
papers, webinars and other educational material
to consider. Website Magazine editors have compiled
a dozen of the best of these free reports/
guides from 2013 at wsm.co/12resources.
Red Flags: Learn the warning signs that a digital consultant may not be who your business needs (or wants).
Aside from personal learning, small business owners also need to commit to establishing strong rapport with their consultants and that starts from the very beginning of the relationship.
CONSIDERATION
When going into business with anyone,
there have to be questions involved.
This is why there are things like job interviews.
To start a partnership between
a business and a consultant off on the
right foot, it’s important that both parties
do their due diligence. Cutura suggests
that small business owners ask
consultants how long they’ve been
doing this work.
“There are many ‘experts’ in the digital
space who are just getting started
and learning the platform themselves
and may be experimenting on your account,”
said Cutura.
Stakeholders will also want to ask
prospective consultants what types of
businesses they are currently working
with or have consulted in the past.
They’ll ideally want to hire based on
experience with related business issues,
whatever the general focus of the
enterprise being served. LinkedIn is
a fantastic resource for small businesses
looking to fact check or just do
a little more homework on consultants.
Learn how to research potential
consultants or partners using LinkedIn
at wsm.co/consultlinkedin.
Lastly, Cutura suggests asking,
“How often will you make changes to
my account and what types of reports
do you provide?”
FULL FORCE
The best advisors can not only shift through the Web wasteland to identify and leverage truly best-of-breed solutions, but also serve as strategic advocates providing your company with opportunities you may never have been aware of, or had access to. This can level the playing field between your small business and the bigger guys, as well as free up time to grow your company in other ways.


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