Are you struggling to boost traffic to your website or generate fresh leads? You’re not the only one. In fact, 65% of marketers have the same problem.
Meanwhile, 80% of new leads never translate into sales. About 96% of your site visitors aren’t ready to buy, either.
If you’re struggling to generate leads and sales, consider hiring a digital marketing consultant. They can help you adjust your marketing strategy with lead generation in mind.
On the fence about hiring the best digital marketing consulting agency in town? Here are seven signs you shouldn’t wait.
After reading this guide, you can make a more informed decision with your business in mind. You can even learn how to choose a marketing consultant based on your needs.
Don’t give your competitors the chance to take the lead. Instead, discover the telltale signs you need to hire a marketing agency with this guide today.
Signs You Need a Consultant ASAP
First, let’s determine whether or not you need to consider hiring a digital marketing consultant. Here are the seven telltale signs you need help.
Otherwise, neglecting to hire a consultant could leave you with a lackluster marketing strategy. You could struggle to draw in fresh leads and sales.
Don’t it come to that! If these signs sound familiar, consider hiring a digital marketing consultant right away. With their help, you can boost brand awareness, website traffic, and sales.
1. You’re Not Sure Who Your Customers Are
If you don’t know exactly who your customers are, you won’t appeal to their interests. You’ll struggle to appear in front of them online. You could struggle to understand the problems they’re experiencing, too.
If you don’t understand their pain points, you’ll fail to provide the solution they need.
Your customers will take their business to one of your competitors instead.
Before that can happen, talk to a digital marketing consultant. They’ll help by gathering research about your target audience. The more you know about your customers, the stronger your marketing strategy will become.
If you’re targeting a broad audience, your consultant can create distinct buyer personas for each group. For example, you can define your customers based on:
- Location
- Age
- Household income
- Education
- Language
- Marital status
- Gender
- Buying behaviors
- Interests
- Hobbies
- Pain points
A female college student will have different needs and interests than a single father of three kids.
Once you know who your customers are, you can personalize your content with their needs and interests in mind.
About 70% of customers expect companies to understand their needs. In fact, over 50% will switch brands if the company doesn’t personalize communications. About 74% get annoyed when website content doesn’t appeal to their interests.
Personalizing your content can even improve your ROI. In fact, 80% of customers will make a purchase if you personalize. Personalization can deliver eight times the return on marketing spend, too.
Personalizing your marketing strategy could set your business up for success.
2. You Don’t Have a Distinct Brand
Your brand helps you stand out from other businesses in the industry. Without a distinct brand, you could fall into the background. You’ll struggle to generate awareness and recognition, too.
If you don’t have a stand-out brand, consider hiring a digital marketing consultant. They can help you build your brand guidelines. These guidelines will include your:
- Mission statement
- Vision statement
- Unique value proposition
- Voice
- Tone
- Personality
- Logo
- Color scheme
- Image/photography styles
These elements can help you stand out. You can also develop your branding with your target audience in mind. Then, you can appeal to your audience and draw them to your product or service.
It’s important to keep your branding consistent across every marketing platform. If your brand isn’t consistent, talk to a consultant. They can help you update your branding.
Make sure your branding is fresh, too. If you last updated your brand 10 years ago, consider an upgrade.
3. Your Website is Slow and Outdated
If your branding is outdated, there’s a chance your website is, too.
An old, outdated website could scare away visitors. In fact, most people won’t return to a site after a bad experience. They’ll leave and take their business with them.
Instead, make sure to talk to your marketing consultant about updating your website. They’ll make sure your site is fast, mobile-optimized, and secure.
A fast, organized website can improve the user experience (UX). Visitors will have an easier time finding the information they need. They could become more likely to convert as a result.
Then, you can generate more leads, sales, and conversions.
If your website doesn’t have an SSL certificate, you could leave your business and customers vulnerable. Make sure you see “HTTPS” in front of the domain name.
Is your site optimized for conversions? Make sure there’s a lead opportunity on every page, too.
Otherwise, make sure to follow Google’s Core Web Vitals. These vitals can further improve the user experience. A positive user experience can improve your clickthrough rate and dwell times.
Your search engine ranking will improve as a result. Then, you can reach more customers and draw more traffic.
Run your site through Google’s PageSpeed Insights and Mobile-Friendly Test. Contact a marketing consultant if your site is slow or isn’t optimized.
A single-second delay in mobile load times can impact conversions by up to 20%. In fact, people who have a bad experience on your site are 62% less likely to make a purchase. It doesn’t matter how beautiful or data-driven your campaigns appear.
In other words, a slow, outdated website could hurt your entire marketing strategy.
You can learn more about the importance of websites for businesses here.
4. You’re Not Creating Content
About 90% of all marketers use content marketing to generate inbound leads. In fact, 53% set content creation as their highest priority. Over 70% say content marketing increases leads and engagement.
In fact, content marketing generates 3 times more leads than traditional marketing strategies.
Marketers who prioritize daily blogging are 13 times more likely to experience a positive ROI, too.
Over 30% of marketers don’t have a documented content marketing strategy, though.
If you’re not creating content for your website, your website could start to look stale. Meanwhile, you’ll miss a chance to generate traffic. If you’re not attracting new visitors to your website, you’re missing out on new leads.
Content creation gives you a chance to demonstrate your experience and expertise. In fact, Google prioritizes content that demonstrates EAT. EAT stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
Establishing EAT within your content can encourage brand trust and loyalty.
If consumers don’t trust your brand, they won’t shop from your business. Instead, you can use your content to give them a reason to trust you. Once you develop brand trust, you can encourage brand loyalty to grow.
Brand loyalty can help you retain long-term customers and generate repeat sales. Your ROI can rise as a result.
Unfortunately, many businesses struggle to create fresh content. If you’re not creating content, consider hiring a digital marketing consultant. They can help you develop a content marketing strategy.
You can create content in different formats, including:
- Blog posts/articles
- eBooks
- Webinars
- Videos (tutorials, company culture, testimonials, etc.)
- Polls
- Quizzes
- Checklists
You can use your content marketing materials as lead magnets. For example, you can encourage someone to provide their email in exchange for your eBook.
With a strong content marketing strategy, you can attract more website traffic and boost leads.
5. You Don’t Have an SEO Strategy
Nearly 70% of all activities online start with a search engine like Google. Only 0.78% of people look at the second page, though. If you’re not ranking at the top of a search engine results page (SERP), you need help.
Otherwise, you could miss a chance to reach customers. The best digital marketing consulting agency can help. With search engine optimization (SEO), you can boost your rankings.
In fact, SEO drives 1,000% more traffic than organic social media. Leads from SEO have a 14.6% close rate, too.
About 60% of marketers say inbound strategies (SEO, content, etc.) are their highest source of quality leads.
SEO can help boost your ranking on SERPs, which can help:
- Boost brand visibility, awareness, and recognition
- Generate traffic to your site
- Increase leads, conversions, and sales
- Boost your ROI
- Establish you as a thought leader in the industry
- Establish your credibility, fostering brand trust and loyalty
You can rank ahead of your competitors to generate leads before they get the chance.
Google’s search engine algorithm changes throughout the year, though. If you’re not up-to-date with the latest SEO trends, call a consultant. Your digital marketing consultant can establish your SEO strategy.
With their help, you can start reaching more customers online.
6. You’re Avoiding Social Media
Social media platforms gain 1.3 million users every day. That’s 15.5 new users a second. Today, 4.2 billion people use social media around the world.
The average user spends nearly 2.5 hours on social media every day. If you’re not using social media marketing, you’re missing a chance to reach customers.
Many businesses are still wary about using social media. If you’re not sure where to start, consider hiring a digital marketing consultant.
First, they’ll help you determine which platforms will help you reach your target audience. To focus on younger consumers, you can use TikTok and Snapchat. Older consumers are more likely on Facebook.
Then, your consultant will help you create social media content with your audience in mind. For example, you can create Stories, Reels, and other engaging posts. They’ll help you determine which hashtags to use to expand your reach, too.
Social media marketing can help you connect with your customers online.
7. You’re Struggling to Generate Leads
If your current digital marketing strategy isn’t helping you generate leads, it’s time to make some adjustments. Consult a marketing agency right away. They can help you make an omnichannel marketing strategy.
You can appear in front of customers at different touchpoints and attract them to your website. Then, you can create conversion opportunities on your site to generate leads.
With help from a consultant, you can give your business the boost it needs.
How to Choose the Perfect Consultant
Do these signs that it’s time to hire a consultant sound familiar? If so, it’s time to start your search. Here are a few tips that can help.
1. Establish Your Goals
First, take the time to establish your marketing goals. For example, you might want to:
- Boost brand awareness
- Become a thought leader
- Generate website traffic
- Gain social media followers
- Boost leads and conversions
- Generate sales on your eCommerce site
- Improve your ROI
Once you establish your goals, you can determine which marketing services you need.
2. Look for Relevant Experience
Try to find an established digital marketing consultant. Make sure they have years of experience. Then, make sure their experience is relevant to your business.
For example, if you work in the IT industry, try to find a consultant that’s worked with IT businesses in the past. Their previous experience could strengthen your marketing strategy.
3. Review Their Services
Take the time to review the services each consultant offers. Make sure their services align with your goals.
If you want to generate awareness, traffic, and leads, look for someone who offers search engine marketing services. Are you concerned about your reputation? Look for reputation management services instead.
4. Consider Their Reputation
Every agency will try to convince you that they’re the best digital marketing consulting agency in the industry. Don’t take their word for it.
Instead, ask for references and reviews. Check their BBB and Google My Business listings for reviews, too.
You can also determine if they’re capable of accomplishing your goals by reading case studies. Look for case studies that cover the services you need.
5. Check the Contract
Take the time to review each consultant’s contract. Make sure they’ll develop a customized plan based on your needs.
Ask about their payment structure before signing on the dotted line, too.
Set for Success: 7 Signs You Need a Digital Marketing Consultant ASAP
Do these seven signs you need a digital marketing consultant sound familiar? Don’t wait to ask for help. The sooner you develop a marketing strategy, the sooner you can boost your business.
With a consultant at your side, you can set your business up for lasting growth and success.
Ready to boost your digital marketing strategy? We’re here to help.
Get started with a free, no-obligation consultation from our team today.
