While working on her startups like Sorted and Masala Tokri, Ms Aarti Samant started taking on digital marketing projects. Having a knack for digital marketing, she decided to become an independent Digital Marketing consultant. The passion that was just a side hustle turned out to be her calling 1.5 years ago. “I am quite proud of how this business has grown organically, and now it’s no more a side hustle but rather a thriving business I am quite kicked to build an empire out of,” Ms Aarti mentions. Being a planner, she likes to have a strong sense of what’s on her plate and what’s in store each day. It helps her in her journey as she is ready to take on the next adventure. For the past 1.5 years, she has worked and built some exciting startups like GreenSoul and Kingdom Of White. She has also collaborated with well-established brands like Durex, Chyawanprash, and Big Bazaar. According to Ms Aarti, the snowball effect is real. You have to believe in yourself and start from somewhere. “You have to start from somewhere. You can begin by working with two clients, and then once people get to see your work, you start getting more clients on board,” shares Ms Aarti. Ms Aarti aspires to work with big and small brands to walk with them on their journey toward success. She thinks that with the right set of strategies, the sky is the limit for businesses in today’s time.
Many marketers believe that the only way to achieve success in the workplace is to climb the ladder as a full-time employee. They don’t realize that there’s another choice: becoming a self-employed marketing consultant. A brand consultant advises businesses & brands on how to develop and execute branding & marketing strategies. They collaborate with brands and agencies to offer marketing, crisis management, and strategy solutions to enable scalable growth. They are critical thinkers who make creative decisions in helping a brand succeed at the top. In this article, we explain what the crucial responsibilities of a brand consultant are:
- Understand the Company’s Goals & Decoding the Brand Purpose
The primary goal of an independent brand/marketing consultant is to deeply understand the nature and objectives of the business, and It should be accomplished by holding a series of meetings with the senior management. The marketing and branding divisions are also part of this briefing stage. The brand consultant fully comprehends and plans the way forward concerning the vision, purpose, short-term and long-term goals, unique selling propositions, brand values, brand strengths, target market, and target customers. It’s critical that these goals are objectives are decoded and translated into a “brand purpose” document, one which is driven by the addressing – what’s in it for their audience? Everything that you communicate post this must stem from this central brand purpose, your brands WHY, the raison d’etre on a consistent basis.
- Identifying THE REAL Hiccups
Increasing market share and boosting brand value are typically the other primary responsibilities of a brand consultant. It includes identifying the (real) bottlenecks that prevent the brand from achieving the targeted goals and objectives. The brand consultant must access consumer views by conducting both primary and secondary research and analysis.
They must ascertain customers’ opinions of the brand in its raw form. How is the brand of the product perceived by its audience, what’s their current product experience and whether they have any concerns are some of the main KRA’s to address. Post which they craft the RTB’s – top reasons to believe for the customers as to why they choose to purchase products visa vie from the rival brand, among other important inquiries that will help the brand win the customers’ enduring loyalty.
- Streamline User Journey And Customer Experience
Sharpening all the customer experience touchpoints – The overall experience during and after the sale of the product or service helps to decide if your customer going to be loyal or not. Will your consumer remain loyal and do repeat purchases or not would depend on their overall experience before and after the sale experience. They will be your devoted consumers if they have a positive experience both before and after the sale. To improve the customer’s service experience, a brand consultant must develop and design innovative initiatives focusing on the customer’s needs.
- Plan the Marketing & Promotional Strategies – The Marketing Calendar.
A brand consultant’s work is to perfectly plan the marketing and promotional strategies that will help the brand to increase the sale of its products or services. This calendar can be crafted by keeping in mind several consumption events that matter to your customers and aligning them with sales targets that are shared by the business teams.
5. Overlook Execution
The consultant plans and strategizes the marketing programs, promotional tools, and measures to increase the brand value and assist the company in obtaining a competitive edge. They work at the forefront along with the marketing team, creative agencies and vendors. Brand strategy and campaigns that successfully communicate the brand message to the audience are planned after the research is complete and all the data has been gathered. The process doesn’t end there, as a brand consultant closely monitors the implementation of the suggested ideas and uses the analytics to determine the reaction.