Question

Topic: Strategy

Approach To Starting A Marketing Consult. Firm?

Posted by jcasalou on 4/21/2009 at 8:43 AM ET 500 Points
With the dreary economy across the US and especially here in Michigan. I have decided to put together a team of young talent like myself and start a marketing consulting company. I have a marketing degree and am almost halfway through my MBA program.

Currently, I have someone who specializes in website creation and SEO/SEM. I've been talking to a couple of PR people that can do press releases. In addition, I will be contacting a few graphic designers that I know. I have a good friend who graduated from the CIA and is a chef at Wolfgang in MGM who is more than qualified to be a restaurant/bar consultant. I will also be reaching out to a few marketers well versed in experiential marketing.

Initially my target area will be locally owned, small businesses.

Questions:

What other positions should I pursue?

With the talent I have on board; which industries should I zero in on?

Services to offer?
White papers
Website creation
Business card/logo design
Marketing strategy
Branding

In addition, any examples of rates for various services listed above and or some you may think of would be great!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by telemoxie on 4/21/2009 at 9:22 AM Member
    You asked which positions you should pursue. If were in your situation , I would not pursue any positions at all at this phase in your growth. It sounds like you have too many people for your current level of billing already. First, I would concentrate on getting the work. I would wait until I had a more definite projects in the pipeline before I started building an organization.

    I see that you have completed your marketing profs profile, and that you have participated this forum for a good bit. I think that is a great first step. There are plenty of people who can help you grow your business as you find that business. Again, I would do all I could to avoid overhead and other commitments at this early stage.

    People keep saying that they want to work for small businesses, to provide marketing services. And I keep asking them, WHY?

    Larger firms are much more likely to pay you a professional wage for professional work. Yes, it is true that many small businesses lack professional marketing. But I have found the vast majority of them are totally and completely unwilling to pay for professional marketing. I am not saying that you should avoid small and midsize businesses, but I'm recommending that you not limit yourself to them.
  • Posted by michael on 4/21/2009 at 9:31 AM Member
    Jonathan,
    Bottom line is SALES. What will bring in business for your clients.

    If you know, really know, a industry you should start there. While networking for outsourcing purposes is a good idea, it should not be your focus. Focus on bringing in clients. THEN, when you get a request, you can call on your network.

    Michael
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 4/21/2009 at 9:32 AM Member
    Telemoxie,
    Gosh, its good to see your well thought out replys back up on this board.

    jcasalou,
    Before you spend one more thin dime, you need to hit the streets and start roping in some clients. The old saying, "build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door" works with mouse traps - not marketing.

    And, marketing will not bring in clients. That will take phone calls, personal effort and a whole lot of selling.
  • Posted by jcasalou on 4/21/2009 at 9:36 AM Author
    telemoxie-

    I should have clarified that the people I have on board will all be contract employees. Therefore I have no overhead and the only financial obligations I have with these people occur when we land a job.

    My whole thinking is to have people in place so I know exactly what my company can offer potential clients. Instead of finding potential projects then scrambling for talent to fill needs. Its better to under promise and over deliver, not the other way around.

    As for targeting small businesses first. This is necessary to build a clientele base and provide references to potential clients down the road. As a brand new company people will usually want to see examples of work we have done etc. Put yourself in the clients position. You have an annual budget of $80k for marketing and you're going to give the business to a company with no references or examples of prior work?

    Thank you for the input either way!
  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/21/2009 at 9:36 AM Accepted
    You really need to get your hands on a copy of Rasputin For Hire. The book's subtitle is An inside look at management consulting between jobs or as a second career and it deals with every issue you've touched, plus a bunch more.

    It's pretty hard to respond to your questions in a few paragraphs, but if you'll click on the link in the previous paragraph, you'll find a self-assessment link on the home page that will help you understand the prerequisites for becoming a successful consultant and allow you to determine for yourself what skills and characteristics you need to look for.

    The key will NOT be in having the right collection of marketing/business skills. It will be in how (and how effectively) you market the service. Who are your target clients? Why would they hire you? Who are your competitors, and how are you different from, and better than them? How is your target audience even going to find out you exist?

    If you start with the marketing piece, and use Rasputin For Hire as a kind of guide, you'll be able to develop the pricing strategy, team requirements and a bunch of other critical elements of your consulting business.

    A couple of other notes: The book includes "the 5 keys to consulting success" (as agreed by a few dozen experienced and successful consultants). And if you order it at the website above, you will get a free copy of a 23-page report with advice and suggestions for new consultants as identified and discussed in a focus group with 5 of the top experts here on the MarketingProfs Know-How Exchange forum.

    The special report it titled

    Experienced Consultants Talk About Consulting

    If you only want the report (and not the book), you can download it immediately as a PDF by clicking on the link above and then clicking on the report cover.
  • Posted by ajanzer on 4/21/2009 at 11:55 AM Accepted
    Given your target market and the state of the economy, I think I'd focus on web marketing (website SEO, email marketing, PPC advertising, etc.) because that's one area where small businesses can get the biggest bang for their marketing buck and play out like the bigger businesses. I'd also build a competency in social marketing - another area where small businesses can leverage and build on loyal customers to expand their base and presence and, again, compete effectively with the bigger companies in their fields. And, finally, I'd make sure that I had a strong focus on metrics and demonstrable results, to convince your customers that their marketing dollars are well spent with you. Good luck.
  • Posted on 4/21/2009 at 11:59 AM Accepted
    Direct mail still receives one of the highest response rates of any strategy. You should find someone who knows their way around mail design and is extremely familiar with USPS requirements. Other big areas you should think about are social networking and targeted email marketing.

    Hope this helps!

    Rebecca
  • Posted by jcasalou on 4/21/2009 at 12:57 PM Author
    ajanzer & rsloand -

    I thought about social network marketing but wasn't sure how to approach that. I am familiar with some blogging, Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook. How would I offer that as a service? Are there other avenues I should be looking for?

    Thanks!
  • Posted by dino.gruppuso on 4/21/2009 at 1:25 PM Member
    Hi i think some of your comment can be good for my question of today in the other forum topic. Telemoxie i am thinking if really can be better try to have work from biggest marketing company as service provider or work to have small and medium company as new customers. Telemoxie said <> So you think that in this moment of crisis small company will risk to go in bankruptcy without understand that they need to switch from sales approach to a more complete marketing approach ? This maybe is a lack in the marketing approach ?
    Should be very useful to know the basic data for B2B marketing to large marketing company.
    I think the marketing company can found very useful a network structure for many reason especially for international marketing. I am try to use translators, call center, email marketing , telemarketing center, graphic designer in a network structure that can help to reduce the investment and to start more quickly
    Thank you
  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/21/2009 at 3:55 PM Accepted
    Regarding small business vs. medium/large business clients: The needs are typically quite different, as is their willingness and ability to pay. Thus you need to determine which is a better match for your skills -- particularly your marketing skills to generate awareness on the part of your primary target audience.

    The things you do to attract and appeal to a small business client are probably quite different than what you'd do to approach a large company, and it's unlikely you'll be able to do a great job of both when you're brand new in the business.

    Again, I suggest you go back to the basics and identify your prime target very specifically. What industry? How big/small? Detroit metro, or Ann Arbor, or Northern Suburbs, or Livonia? The more narrowly you can define the target the better.

    If you can narrow the target to a dozen companies and land half of them by doing a really focused job, you'll be way better off than if you contact 200 companies and get 1% to eventually convert.

    Once you have figured out the right formula (for new business prospecting) you can always expand. The priority now is to get a few clients without spending a fortune or taking a year to do it.

    Good luck!
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