From all points of view — including academic, strategic, and real-world, practical perspectives — marketing is far more than just advertising; far more than simply selling, and much, much more than just sales promotion. It is a core business function, along with legal, finance, accounting, human resources, operations, and other departments typically found in corporate environments, which fuels sales of products and services, and represents the primary revenue driver of any enterprise. Without marketing, no existing or prospective customer would ever be aware that a specific offering can fulfill his distinct need or want.

Depending on who you talk to, marketing is defined in many different ways, but CMAC prefers the following traditional and most widely accepted definitions. According to Dr. Philip Kotler, the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, author of the world’s mostly widely-read marketing textbook, Principles of Marketing, and a world-famous marketing consultant to Fortune 100 corporations, marketing is defined as “a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through the creation and exchange of products and value with others.” The American Marketing Association defines the function as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” In short, marketing is all about fulfilling the needs and wants of specific audiences, whether those be consumers, businesses, investors, employees, community residents, or some other important group of stakeholders that has a vested interest in the company and its offerings.

Marketing consulting refers to both the industry of, and the practice of, providing for-profit businesses and non-profit organizations with sound, practical guidance on how they should best design, organize, implement, and evaluate their respective marketing programs to achieve specific business objectives. These goals include typical operational and promotional targets, such as sales boosts, higher-quality leads, greater brand awareness, heightened industry and/or geographical visibility, and more credible reputations, to name just a few.

In addition to reviewing marketing plans and offering recommendations concerning their optimization and execution, marketing consultants are also often asked to provide companies with in-depth counsel on overall business strategies, organizational management issues, financial concerns, operational methodologies, and technology implementations. As a result, marketing consultants are usually seasoned executives with extensive expertise in managing and mitigating issues in these primary business functions, which are usually tangential to the marketing process.

Unfortunately, there are no industry-standard qualifications or certifications, such as those required to practice medicine, public accounting, law, and other professions, to become a marketing consultant, a public relations professional, a creative director in an advertising agency, a graphic designer, or any other type of practitioner who works in this area. However, there are specific credentials that a marketing consultant should possess to properly demonstrate to clients and prospects that he has the necessary education, experience, knowledge, and expertise to deliver sound marketing and communications counsel. The following is a brief summary:

Education:  At the bare minimum, the marketing consultant should have a B.S. degree in marketing from a respected, accredited four-year university, or a B.S. degree in business administration with a marketing, advertising, public relations, or communications concentration. Preferably, and in addition, the consultant should also have a graduate degree, either a M.S. in marketing, public relations, or strategic communications, or an MBA with a marketing concentration, from a recognizable higher education institution. As a comparison, CMAC President and CEO Keith R. Pillow holds B.S. degrees in both marketing and international business from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, a top 100 undergraduate business school according to BusinessWeek, and an MBA in marketing from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

Experience:  A marketing consultant should have double-digit years of real-world, professional experience, in both agency and corporate settings, successfully developing, managing, and implementing multi-faceted marketing programs in specific industry domains. It is impossible to provide companies with decent advice without actually having devised useful, practical marketing strategies that generate solid results within the industry in question, and physically overseen the creation and execution of multiple integrated marketing campaigns in these areas. In the case of CMAC, CMAC President and CEO Keith R. Pillow possesses almost two decades of marketing and communications experience in a wide range of industries, and he has a proven track record of success in developing creative, innovative, and cost-effective marketing strategies that work…hands down.

Knowledge:  The marketing consultant must have knowledge of both traditional theories and approaches, as well as today’s current best practices and cutting-edge techniques, to design the most comprehensive and appropriate marketing program for a given client. Without this broad base of knowledge to draw from, the consultant, in essence, is simply randomly throwing darts at a board in the hopes that a specific methodology will work. That is not good enough. There must be a high degree of confidence and probability that the recommended strategy will be effective, and will accomplish the objectives it is trying to achieve.

Expertise:  The marketing consultant must possess deep expertise in a broad spectrum of marketing disciplines which, when combined with his vast knowledge, lead to well-designed, strategic recommendations that are on target and produce desired results. In this game, there are no one-trick ponies. The consultant must be able to intelligently evaluate such tactics as advertising, direct mail, viral marketing, database marketing, e-mail marketing, event marketing, and social media programs, and then utilize his expertise to appropriately counsel clients on which activities they should pursue, and which ones they should eliminate.

As the term implies, this practice is a consultative process in which the advisor thoroughly analyzes a company’s existing business problems and marketing challenges, and then formulates a strategic plan that outlines recommended, definitive steps and actions for improvement. In addition, the marketing consultant is often asked by the client to assist with, or completely manage, the physical, tactical execution of the company’s marketing program, typically because the client does not possess the expertise, bandwidth, or staff to do so. The reality is that any marketing program, regardless of its scope, requires both strategic planning and implementation to achieve desired results. In short, a plan, to be effective, must be put into action, or else, what good is it? For this reason, the marketing consultant provides both strategic counsel and implementation support to clients so that the marketing plans created are put to good use and achieve important objectives.

To put this into more easily understandable terms, a marketing consultant is just like any other external professional advisor, such as an attorney, IT technician, or certified public accountant (CPA), hired to provide sound guidance in that specific area of expertise. And why are these practitioners typically retained by companies? Usually, it is to address a key deficiency in the business itself (e.g., no full-time attorney on staff to review contacts), to help the company operate more efficiently, and to save company principals time, money, and energy so they can concentrate on what they do best:  managing the business and servicing customers. In today’s business terminology, this practice is frequently referred to as outsourcing, which tends to carry a negative connotation. Regardless, this is standard operating procedure for many businesses nowadays, and it is quite common to regularly hire and rely on very experienced external advisors, including marketing consultants, who can deliver practical, real-world expertise that adds demonstrative value.

In all cases, the marketing consulting process always begins with the basics:  a clear statement of the immediate problem(s), a comprehensive analysis of the company’s current business situation and industry environment, an assessment of the existing marketing program (if there is even one), and an in-depth review of the goals (i.e., qualitative targets) and objectives (i.e., quantitative targets) the company wishes to achieve. In most cases, marketing consultants, including CMAC, typically view these elements through the lens of The Four P’s, otherwise known as the marketing mix:  product (i.e., the product/service offered), price (i.e., the price at which the product/service is sold), place (i.e., often referred to as distribution; through what channels is the product/service sold?), and promotion (i.e., what tactics, such as advertising, direct mail, and PR, are used to promote the product/service?).

From that point, the process then unfolds according to the client’s specific needs. Does the client require the development of a marketing plan from the ground up? Does the company need its current marketing program to be assessed and redefined? Is the company’s target audience evolving, and if so, how? Are the client’s existing advertising and PR strategies on target? How does the client leverage Web 2.0 tools and technologies to further interact with its target audience? Does the company need advice on all of these matters? As one can see, the number and variety of marketing-related questions are almost endless, so ultimately, the client has to narrowly define the nature, type, and scope of advice he is seeking from the marketing consultant. Then, the consultant can then determine the most appropriate course of action and the deliverables that are required, for that client depending on this input and direction.

Absolutely. Actually, the best way to illustrate the marketing consulting process is through a concrete example.

Recently, CMAC met a successful attorney specializing in estate planning. This professional recently left a large, multi-office law firm in Los Angeles to set up and manage her own estate planning practice here in Ventura County. Six months after officially launching her firm, this attorney was struggling mightily because she had not initiated marketing activities of any kind to promote her business. As a result, few people, besides her immediate family and friends, knew about her practice, and her lead generation and client acquisition efforts were at a complete standstill. She also had very few clients. So, she came to CAC for help, and essentially asked the same questions that CMAC receives from many businesses, large and small:  How should I strategically market my business and my services, and what is the best way for me to go about this without spending a ton of money?

CMAC then sat down with the attorney and discussed all of the previously mentioned marketing basics. CMAC then used that information to develop a comprehensive, written marketing plan for the attorney’s review, and outline an action plan for the next six months whereby CMAC would assist her with implementing many of the recommendations and tactics in the plan. This was critical, since the attorney did not have any employees, and was managing the entire business by herself.

With CMAC’s assistance, the attorney was able to effectively target prospective clients through multiple channels, consistently generate qualified leads, secure multiple pieces of business, and immediately build a significant presence in the immediate geographical area with relatively high awareness. Most importantly, she was able to accomplish all of this with a minimal investment.

In many respects, a marketing plan is like any other kind of planning document, whether it be a business plan, a go-to-market plan to introduce a new product or service, a visionary long-range company growth plan, an operations plan, or a public relations plan. It is a very detailed written summary that outlines all of the core strategies, tactics, and financial and human resources required to complete a certain task or to achieve specific objectives. In this case, a marketing plan presents a comprehensive assessment and discussion of a company’s integrated marketing program, including strategies, objectives, target audiences, tactics, timeline of activities, and budget, for a specific time period (e.g., month, quarter, six-month period, year, or multiple years).

While a marketing plan’s tone, format, and contents vary somewhat by author and industry, most experts agree that, at the minimum, it should contain the following elements:

• Overview/Situation Analysis:  An outline of the company’s current business situation, and an overview of the challenges it must overcome.
• Value Proposition:  A summary of differentiators that make the company and its offerings unique from others in the marketplace.
• Competitor Analysis:  An assessment of direct and indirect competitors, and the threat they pose to the company’s operations.
• Key Messages:  A collection of messages which the company wishes to emphasize about its offering.
• Tag Line(s):  A memorable slogan often seen in marketing materials.
• Goals and Objectives:  A compilation of desired outcomes the marketing program should achieve; goals are qualitative, while objectives are qualitative in nature.
• Strategies:  Specific methodologies for achieving the aforementioned goals and objectives.
• Target Audience(s):  The groups that the company wishes to reach to promote its product or service.
• Tactics:  The tangible elements of the campaign; also known as the promotional mix.
• Advertising:  Print, broadcast, out-of-home, and online.
• Direct Mail.
• Sales Promotion:  Coupons; Employee Discounts.
• Event Marketing.
• Loyalty Marketing:  Preferred Customer Programs.
• New/Social Media Techniques.
• Online Marketing:  Web Site; E-Mail Marketing; Search Engine Optimization.
• Professional Associations/Networking Platforms.
• Public Relations.
• Sales and Marketing Collateral Materials.
• Miscellaneous:  Premium Items.
• Activity Timeline:  An overview of which tactical components will be implemented, when, and by whom.
• Budget.

CMAC subscribes to this traditional approach to marketing plan development and includes all of these components in each and every plan it presents to clients.

Depending on the nature, size, and length of the engagement, CMAC can flexibly structure its agreements to meet the specific marketing challenges, timeframe restrictions, and financial constraints of each client. This means that clients may engage CMAC on any number of levels, including:

• Hourly:  In this arrangement, the client agrees to have CMAC manage a select number of very specific, agreed-upon marketing and communications activities (e.g., authoring a marketing plan; media relations outreach/support for an important customer win announcement; writing a partnership press release and orchestrating approvals, etc.) at an hourly rate of US$100 per hour. The maximum number of hours per month CMAC spends on the business will be capped, and will never exceed a predetermined amount.
• Project:  Under the terms of this type of agreement, the client agrees to pay CMAC to handle a select number of very specific, agreed-upon marketing and communications activities on a per-project basis, with each activity carrying a different flat-rate fee based on the time required for its completion. CMAC can also oversee short-term (i.e.; 30 days or less) and long-term (60-120 days) projects which require the execution of multiple activities during that timeframe.
• Retainer:  With this engagement, the client agrees to pay CMAC an ongoing monthly retainer to manage a broad range of marketing activities and action items that are specified in advance. Under these terms, CMAC agrees to devote a dedicated number of hours per month to the business, and this time may freely be allocated to a wide variety of important initiatives.

Each of these arrangements is designed to remain sensitive to a client’s financial requirements and to give the company a great deal of flexibility in definitively moving forward with value-added marketing and communications activities that maintain important industry exposure and credibility — all while generating solid, meaningful results that contribute to the company’s bottom line.