Whilst marketing consulting is a field that has had its fair time in the market, marketing coaching is the new kid on the block. Most people understand what training is, but what is marketing training and how is it different from coaching or consulting?
All of these services can be relevant for a company, but it’s important to understand the differences and benefits, especially if you are considering which one might be most useful for you.
Before we dive into the differences between these different marketing services, I have to drop a spoiler: the conclusion will not be that one is better than another. Depending on the needs of the company and of the entrepreneurs, the stage at which the organisation is, and the business dynamic, one might be more suitable at some point than the other.
How to choose the best marketing solution for your company
A good point to start with is to understand each of these services and their processes, to see which working format you resonate with most. Another key aspect would be to decide how involved you want to be and what objectives you want to work on.
I’ve broken the information down into marketing coaching, marketing consultancy, and marketing training so that I can give you a brief overview of each one. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll be happy to help or to chat with you about what you want to achieve and the options available to you.
Marketing coaching
Gaining knowledge about techniques and processes isn’t enough. The best advice fails if it’s not well implemented.
The marketing coaching process is not just about how to sell better, how to have better ads or how to make a marketing plan. It isn’t even all about a company, but about how you can make the most out of every opportunity, about setting yourself up for success, and building your way to reach your goals.
Marketing Coaching is a guided process, formed of one-on-one or group sessions with me. During these meetings, I take you through a carefully managed learning and self-development process that will help you to increase your knowledge and confidence in using marketing tools relevant for your business and coaching objectives. I select tools, exercises and templates that will best help you to improve results and meet your goals.
Marketing coaching is a mix between the marketing process and coaching techniques. This combination allows you, as an entrepreneur, to develop a lasting solution-oriented mindset and to grow solid business pipelines. With support, you will create the materials and be actively involved in designing a marketing strategy that is tailor-made for your business.
Marketing Consulting
Marketing Consulting is focused more on delivering solutions and much less on transferring knowledge. A consultant is a person who delivers a “blueprint” for the whole plan and process to reach the marketing objectives that a company or entrepreneur has chosen. The result of consulting collaboration, besides the plans and other deliverables, is structure and direction for a team that is ready to do the work.
The best way to make a plan for progress is to think about what is going well, what needs to be improved, and what is missing. However, it’s often hard for those directly involved to be completely objective because they are influenced by their past experiences, their views on the processes already in place, or their place in the hierarchy. An external consultant can be a really useful addition to this process because they are not involved and they can help to evaluate the facts with a fresh pair of eyes.
My sole focus is working with you and your team to find solutions, opportunities and resources. I do this by having meetings with multiple representatives and together developing a strategy with deliverables that are Tailor-made for the company. This is also broken down into practical actions to consolidate and clarify the marketing process and the steps to achieve your company’s goals.
Marketing training
We should never stop learning! This is particularly true in an area such as digital marketing, which is a competitive and constantly evolving field.
In order to get the best value out of any training, companies need to be clear about what they want to achieve and which areas of marketing training are aligned with those goals.
I can provide training on a range of subjects related to digital or offline marketing. They can include areas such as:
- designing and getting to know your brand’s strategy, which will then enable you to deliver it;
- understanding Google analytics and using them to learn how to best serve your audience so that they become brand ambassadors and keep coming back for more;
- planning digital content so that all the channels work together for your common goals and so that each piece of content is aligned to your company’s message and audience;
- understanding Facebook ads and using them effectively. Knowing what you want to achieve with your campaigns and finding the most effective way to do it;
- digital recruiting – creating a strong digital recruitment process to find the right candidates for you.
I hope the differences and benefits of each service are now clearer. They all work, and I have experience delivering all of them. It just depends where you are on your journey and what you want to achieve.