- Template item
With over 67% of the world’s population using the internet, not marketing your business online means missing out big time. A digital marketing consultant can help you build a powerful online presence that consistently generates and converts leads.
Relying on their extensive experience, a digital marketing consultant can offer you guidance when entering the world of digital marketing. They can also step in if your business is stuck with a particular problem or not achieving the desired results.
If you want to hire a digital marketing consultant, read this guide to learn about the role, its responsibilities, and the recruiting process. We’ll also present MarketerHire, a platform that can connect you with today’s top digital marketing consultants and other expert marketers.
What Is a Digital Marketing Consultant?
A digital marketing consultant is a seasoned professional with a deep understanding of all online marketing channels, particularly:
This comprehensive knowledge allows them to assess your digital marketing approach overall and offer advice for improving it. Their guidance and external perspective are invaluable when you’re building effective digital marketing strategy from the ground up or looking to boost your performance.
Digital marketing consultants help identify the ideal channels for reaching your audience. Then, they optimize your conversion funnel to ensure that reach translates into profit.
Refer to the table below to learn what a consultant can bring to the table as opposed to your in-house digital marketing team:
There are also fractional consultants you can hire for a specific number of hours instead of on a project basis, so their services may be more affordable. They also offer more flexibility as their hours are scalable.
What Does a Digital Marketing Consultant Do?
A digital marketing consultant improves your brand’s online presence, brand awareness, and customer engagement by:
- Devising strategies: They identify the optimal channels to reach your target audience. They also plan campaigns and define digital marketing strategies to make the best of this approach and your budget
- Analyzing data: By analyzing the market, your campaign performance, and customer behavior, they can detect opportunities for improvement. As you implement the changes, the consultant tracks progress and refines the strategy if needed
- Optimizing your website: A functioning and appealing website is a must-have for every reputable business. The consultant can suggest improvements to make your website more professional and rank higher in search results
- Giving tailored advice: The consultant needs to get to know your business, team, and audience to offer tailored advice. Whether you’re launching a new campaign or revamping an old one, they use their expertise to ensure you’re headed in the right direction
When and Why Should You Hire a Digital Marketing Consultant?
Businesses usually hire a digital marketing consultant when they:
- Are struggling to move the needle with their digital marketing efforts
- Are building a digital marketing strategy and want to do it right from the get-go
- Want to explore a new channel but lack the in-house expertise to do so
- Are faced with fierce competition and want to stand out
- Have temporary skills gaps in the digital marketing team
- Can’t keep up with the workload and need to set their priorities straight
Hiring a digital marketing consultant can be the push your business needs to stand out from the crowd and grow to new heights. Here’s why:
- They have extensive experience: Consultants are usually highly educated individuals with decades of marketing experience. As a result, they know the dynamics of digital marketing and are familiar with strategies that bring results
- They are unbiased: Since they’re external workers, consultants have a much more realistic and clear perspective of your marketing efforts—they focus on data above all and don’t mind pointing out the problems
- They help you stay current: Consultants follow trends and can help refresh your strategy to reflect them
- They can save you money: For some businesses, hiring a full-time expert with decades of experience is unaffordable. Instead, they can hire a consultant and get the expertise they need to prosper without the high cost and commitment of an in-house role. Also, with their guidance, you can maximize the spend on your digital marketing campaigns
What To Look For in a Digital Marketing Consultant
Your chosen digital marketing consultant should be:
5 Best Tools to Hire a Digital Marketing Consultant
1. MarketerHire – Best for High-Quality, Vetted Talent
MarketerHire stands out as one of the best platforms for hiring digital marketing consultants due to its rigorous vetting process and focus on providing highly qualified, experienced professionals. With MarketerHire, you can find top-tier marketers across a variety of disciplines, including search engine optimization, paid media, content strategy, and more.
The platform matches clients with a curated list of experts based on their specific needs, ensuring that you're paired with consultants who not only have the right skill set but also experience in your particular industry. MarketerHire’s network includes professionals with a proven track record of success, many of whom have worked with leading companies and brands.
Another significant advantage is the ease and speed with which you can get started. Once you submit a project, MarketerHire connects you with the best consultant for your needs, often within just 48 hours. This makes it ideal for businesses looking for fast, effective solutions. Plus, all consultants are pre-vetted, so you won’t have to spend time sifting through resumes or portfolios—MarketerHire does that for you.
Key Features:
- Vetted network of top-tier marketers
- Tailored matching to your needs
- Speedy onboarding process
- No long-term contracts, flexible engagement options
2. Upwork – Best for Budget Flexibility
Upwork is one of the most popular freelance marketplaces, offering a large pool of digital marketing professionals. The platform allows you to filter candidates by skills, experience, and client ratings, making it easier to find a consultant who matches your specific requirements.
One of the main advantages of Upwork is the variety of pricing options. Whether you’re looking for entry-level consultants or more experienced professionals, there’s a range of budgets to suit different business needs. Additionally, Upwork provides tools for time tracking and project management, making it easier to monitor your consultant’s work.
Key Features:
- Wide range of pricing options
- Global talent pool
- Project tracking and collaboration tools
3. Toptal – Best for Premium Talent
Toptal is known for its exclusive network of top-tier freelancers. With a highly selective vetting process, the platform ensures that only the top 3% of talent in various fields—including digital marketing—make the cut. This makes Toptal an excellent option if you’re looking for highly skilled consultants who can handle complex or specialized tasks.
However, with the premium talent comes premium pricing, so Toptal may not be the best option for small businesses with limited budgets. Still, if you need the best of the best and are willing to invest in high-quality expertise, Toptal is a great choice.
Key Features:
- Access to the top 3% of talent
- Extensive vetting process
- High-quality, specialized consultants
4. PeoplePerHour – Best for Small Projects
PeoplePerHour is a great option if you need a digital marketing consultant for smaller, more specific tasks. With a flexible pricing model, you can hire freelancers on an hourly basis or for fixed-price projects, making it ideal for businesses with more defined, short-term needs.
The platform offers a broad range of consultants with varying levels of expertise, so you can find someone who fits your project scope and budget. However, since the platform isn’t as selective as some others, it may take a bit more time to sift through candidates to find the right digital marketing consultant.
Key Features:
- Ideal for short-term or smaller projects
- Flexible pricing and project structure
- Large pool of freelancers
5. Mayple – Best for Data-Driven Marketing
Mayple is a specialized platform that connects businesses with expert digital marketers, focusing on data-driven strategies. Unlike other platforms, Mayple takes an in-depth approach to understanding your business needs and goals, and then matches you with a consultant who specializes in areas like paid ads, search engine optimization, conversion optimization, and more.
Mayple also offers a unique "performance guarantee" to ensure that you’re getting results, making it a solid option for businesses that prioritize measurable outcomes.
Key Features:
- Focus on data-driven marketing
- Performance-based approach
- Expert consultants across a variety of digital marketing channels
How To Hire a Digital Marketing Consultant
Follow these steps to find and recruit a suitable digital marketing consultant for your business:
- Define your needs: Before you start looking for a consultant, consider your budget and the scope of the role you’re looking to fill. Having a clear picture of your new hire’s profile will help you in your search
- Browse and source: Browse Google, freelancing sites like Upwork and Freelancer, and social media platforms to discover your options. You can also ask for employee referrals and recommendations from your professional network
- Evaluate their digital marketing consulting services: Look at each expert’s social media profile and website to check if it instills trust in their competency. Make sure to also check out their portfolio as well as reviews and testimonials
- Interview them: Use the interview to assess their communication style. You can also learn more about their approach, preferred tools, and values
- Hire and onboard: Once you’ve zeroed in on the perfect candidate, offer them the job. Discuss the terms thoroughly before work starts to avoid misunderstandings. Provide them with resources about your company and processes so they can work efficiently
Challenges of the Traditional Approach to Hiring a Digital Marketing Consultant
Although it seems straightforward on paper, the above-discussed hiring process can be a difficult and lengthy endeavor. Since their role is so important, particularly when you need to manage remote marketing operations, you must screen meticulously. That's why it can take weeks or even months to find and hire a digital marketing expert. During that time, any problems your business has had may worsen, causing delays and disrupting growth.
Hiring a digital marketing consultant is also a high-risk task. If you opt for the wrong person, they may do more damage than good. More importantly, you’d have to redo the hiring process, spending even more of your precious resources.
The good news is you can surpass these roadblocks with MarketerHire. This marketing-focused matchmaking platform makes it effortless to connect with today’s leading expert marketers and consultants. To ensure risk-free hiring and your satisfaction, the platform offers free trials and rematching.
Why Is MarketerHire the Best Choice for Hiring a Digital Marketing Consultant?
Thanks to MarketerHire, recruiting a digital marketing consultant has never been easier. Share your needs, and the platform will match you with a pre-vetted expert from its elite network within days.
Thousands of companies trust MarketerHire’s efficient recruiting process, including household names like Netflix, Forbes, and HP. Since its inception in 2018, the platform has established a track record of excellence, having made over 25,000 successful matches.
MarketerHire’s experts pre-vet all marketers to cut the time-to-hire and ensure talent quality. The vetting process is rigorous, so only the top 1% of applicants end up joining the network. Many of them also have experience working with well-known companies, such as PayPal and Uber.
Another reason behind MarketerHire’s success is its matching system. Named MarketerMatch, it combines human and artificial intelligence to quickly pinpoint a candidate who checks all your boxes.
With MarketerHire’s white-glove service, your involvement in the recruiting process is minimal—you can focus on high-impact tasks while the platform’s experts do their magic. You’ll get a dedicated marketing manager to guide you through the process, checking in on you even after you’ve made the hire.
You can evaluate the fit of your match during a two-week trial. In case they’re not meeting your expectations, you’ll get a replacement for free. You can scale up, scale down, and cancel as needed because MarketerHire’s contract is short-term and flexible.
How MarketerHire Works
Recruiting with MarketerHire takes only three steps:
- Describe your project: Schedule a short call with your marketing manager to discuss your company and project
- Meet your consultant: The MarketerHire team will find you a match within 48 hours
- Start collaborating: Your digital marketing consultant can get to work in as little as three days
MarketerHire can connect you with all kinds of marketing professionals, including growth marketers, marketing analysts, and fractional CMOs. It supports full-time, part-time, and hourly employment, ideal for fractional work. The platform can also recruit full-time Expert Assistants to help your marketing, design, or sales team resolve process bottlenecks and operate more efficiently.
Ready to transform your online presence? Reach out to MarketerHire and recruit a top-notch digital marketing consultant in no time!
Other Hiring Guides To Check Out
Take a look at our other hiring guides for further reading:
