Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Hi there and welcome to the Confessions in the Home Office podcast. This is a podcast for business owners, executives, and really anyone who knows that marketing matters. But they don't have the time, the energy, or the desire to do it themselves.
[00:00:20] I'm Wendy Hill. I've owned Market Momentum here in Greenville, South Carolina for over two decades. Long enough to know that most businesses don't need more and more ideas. They need consistency, follow through, and someone who handles the work when it comes to their marketing. This is not a podcast about hacks, the latest trends, or how to be an overnight success.
[00:00:40] It's about real businesses, real life, and marketing that works without taking over your brain.
[00:00:48] When business owners talk about hiring a marketing consultant, the conversation usually starts with skill. Are they a great designer? Can they write? Do they understand social media? Do they understand paid ads? Do they understand SEO? Do they know what's going on with AI?
[00:01:01] You know, whatever's top of mind right now, whatever they've watched the last webinar on. And skill does matter. It really does. But after more than all these years of doing this work, I can tell you confidently that skill is rarely the reason a marketing relationship succeeds or fails.
[00:01:20] Most of the time, it's everything around the skill.
[00:01:23] And I've seen incredibly talented marketers fail clients, and I've seen steady competent marketers create long term success.
[00:01:31] The difference usually has nothing to do with how clever the work is, it's how how the consultantship functions.
[00:01:38] Because marketing doesn't live in isolation, people think of marketing as just kind of like the solo thing, these activities that just happen.
[00:01:46] Marketing really lives inside a business that already has a lot going on. And if the person or the team you're working with does not understand that reality, even great skill won't save the relationship.
[00:01:56] So one of the first things I tell business owners is this. You don't need the smartest marketer in the room. You need the most reliable one.
[00:02:03] Marketing doesn't break because someone isn't talented enough. It breaks because things don't get followed through on, because context gets lost. Because no one is really owning the work over time.
[00:02:14] That's why one of the most important things to look for in a marketing consultant is consistency.
[00:02:19] Not tons of excitement. Even though excitement, energy is great, not constant new ideas, but consistency. Do they show up when things are quiet?
[00:02:28] Not just when things are launching? Do they keep moving without needing to be chased?
[00:02:33] Do they understand that marketing is ongoing? It's not just an episode here or there.
[00:02:38] A consultant who can deliver consistently will outperform a Brilliant consultant who disappears every time that things get busy for them.
[00:02:45] Another thing that matters far more than people expect is organization.
[00:02:49] This isn't glamorous. It doesn't have to show up in a portfolio. It doesn't have to be in an app and, and online dashboards and all that. Even though that is great, but it shows up everywhere else. Is there a process on how work gets done? Do you know what's happening and when? Is there continuity? Or does everything feel just kind of a little off and a little scattered?
[00:03:11] Disorganized marketing creates extra work for business owners. It creates more decisions, more explanations, more follow up, which defeats the entire purpose of outsourcing in the first place.
[00:03:21] So if you feel like you're constantly reminding, re, explaining, reorienting your marketing consultant, that's not a small issue. That's a structural one. That's a big red flag.
[00:03:30] Another big factor, and this is one often underestimated, is context retention.
[00:03:36] A good marketing consultant remembers your business.
[00:03:39] They remember what you've already talked about. They remember the past decisions.
[00:03:43] They know your likes, your dislikes. They know what matters to you and what doesn't. I've talked about this multiple times. I have a client who doesn't like hyphenated words. I have a client who does not like exclamation points.
[00:03:53] You got to remember those things and your team needs to know those things. You shouldn't have to start from scratch every time you talk to them.
[00:04:00] So if you find yourself saying, as I've mentioned before, and you have to say that a lot, that's a signal, that's a red flag. Marketing works best when someone is holding the long view, not just executing the next task and the next step.
[00:04:14] Responsiveness is another piece that gets misunderstood. Being responsive doesn't mean being available 24, 7, 365.
[00:04:21] It doesn't mean reacting instantly to every idea or request that comes in. And we all know we get those. It just means being reliable. It means you know when you'll hear back. You know when things won't disappear into a black hole. You know that if something needs attention, it's going to be handled. There's a big difference between being reactive, knee jerk, and being responsive. Good marketing consultants understand the difference.
[00:04:46] And then there's something that's harder to define but incredibly important. Judgment.
[00:04:51] A strong marketing consultant doesn't just do what you ask. They help you decide what not to do. They don't overwhelm you with a bunch of options. They don't chase every new idea. They don't treat every request as equally urgent. They understand your business well enough to say this matters and I really think this can wait.
[00:05:11] That kind of judgment only comes from experience and from paying attention over time. Which brings me to one of the most overlooked qualities of a good marketing consultant. Willingness to stay.
[00:05:22] A lot of marketing relationships fail because they were never designed to last.
[00:05:26] They're built around short term project, quick wins, constant reinvention. The consultant needed some business, so they just did a quick close and then they're moving on looking for the next client.
[00:05:37] But marketing works best in long term consultantships.
[00:05:41] When someone stays with your business long enough to understand its rhythms, the seasons, its priorities, the work just keeps getting better, the decisions get easier, the results compound, and it's less on you. You shouldn't feel like you're starting over every year.
[00:05:56] And finally, this one matters more than any than most people expect respect for your band month. A good marketing consultant understands that you are not a marketing department.
[00:06:06] You are running a business.
[00:06:08] They don't require constant input. They don't need endless meetings. And all this meet just to meet drives me crazy. They don't expect you to generate ideas on demand. They make it easier for you to lead, not harder.
[00:06:21] If working with a marketing consultant feels like another job, something is off. Again. It's a red flag. When I built market momentum, I didn't build it around showing how smart I am.
[00:06:31] I built it around making marketing lighter for the people that I work with.
[00:06:36] Because most business owners don't need more information. They need fewer things on their plate. They need help making decisions.
[00:06:43] They need for things to be easier for them.
[00:06:47] So when you're evaluating a marketing consultant, look at skill. But don't stop there. Look at consistency. Look at organization.
[00:06:56] Look at memory, look at judgment.
[00:06:58] Look at whether they make your life easier or harder. And look at how long their clients are staying with them. If they're churning after a project or after a couple of months, keep looking.
[00:07:09] Those are the things that determine whether a marketing relationship actually works. And those are the things that keep momentum going long after the excitement wears off.
[00:07:18] So if this episode made you realize that you've been evaluating marketing consultants based on the wrong criteria, that's okay. Now you know.
[00:07:26] If you want to talk through what a strong, sustainable, can't talk marketing consultantship could look like for your business, just send me an email. Wendy W E N d I@MarketMomentum biz b I z There's not going to be a pitch. There's not going to be a pressure that's not how I work.
[00:07:44] We'll just talk and see if maybe there can be a fit. So thanks for listening to confessions in the home office today, and I'll see you next week.
