What to Look for at an Email Marketing Consultation

Few things in business are as nerve-wracking as consultations. These formal meetings form the basis of your business growth, and mishandling these get-togethers can torpedo otherwise lucrative business deals.

As you may have guessed from the title of my website, my specialty is email marketing! So, I’m here to make your plans just a little bit more bearable. It’s time to take a closer look at the humble email marketing consultation and how you can optimize your experience.

What are the green flags? What are the red flags? Will your partner of choice build your business and help you establish an extraordinary email strategy? Does your professional partner understand the needs of your email subscribers?

These are just a few of the questions I’ve heard as the head of an email marketing agency.

So, let’s learn more!

Keep scrolling to see how to find the right email marketing consultant.

Know Your Business and Marketing Strategy

Start with the basics.

You’ll need to do some soul-searching before meeting with any consulting services. This is as true for digital marketing as it is for a formal business alliance. Your needs are unique, and so is your marketing strategy.

What generates more revenue for Company A may increase unsubscribe rates for Company B. Similarly, you can rarely copy and paste promotional emails across multiple brands. And it’s about more than your target market. You’re also imparting an irrelevant brand story onto an unwitting competitor. It’s a poor strategic choice and an even worse ethical dilemma!

You must begin with an in-depth audit of your brand’s needs and prerequisites.

What Is Your Brand?

Start with your business presence.

Who are you, and what is important to your business? Your email marketing services must reflect your brand’s unique goals and ideals.

On a tactical level, this uniformity improves the overall customer journey. Consumers are more likely to recognize your brand and interact with your targeted messages. Familiarity breeds success, and consistent marketing efforts are the groundwork for a well-oiled sales funnel.

But a united front is more than a tactical advantage. Maintaining reliable, constant contact with consumers increases your brand’s reputation and storytelling capabilities. And I’m not suggesting that you send your subscribers bedtime stories! No, when I say “storytelling,” I’m referring to your business’ ability to give consumers a deep understanding of its goals and ideals. That very ability powers brand recognition, a powerful force in shaping and meeting your commercial goals.

How Does Your Brand Look?

Extend the concept.

Think beyond the written word. Yes, an experienced email marketing consultant can perfectly mimic the unique quirks that make your brand unique. But can they translate that to visual artistry?

Brands also have a “look.”

For some, it’s as simple as a color. Starbucks Green is an iconic emblem of the brand’s wide reach. Similarly, you can’t go to Target without seeing that vivid, gorgeous red!

Other businesses use more complex signals. For example, Disney has a curated “look” and “feel.” Most people can spot a Disney film from a mile away!

Regardless of how your marketing strategy distinguishes your brand, you must have some sort of signal. Otherwise, you’ll quickly fade into the background of your customers’ crowded inboxes.

What Does Your Brand Do?

It may seem obvious, but you must also consider your industry.

You wouldn’t ask a jewelry salesperson to peddle defibrillators! When would you expect a retail-focused freelance email marketer to handle drip email campaigns for, say, a Best Western competitor?

Beyond informing you of your choice of consulting services, your industry guides your list-building tactics. You’ll also find that each industry has its own averages! Thus, despite the many strategies at your disposal, it’s unrealistic to expect email marketing to pull the same results across the board.

What Does Your Business Need?

Finally, you must confront the elephant in the room.

What do you need?

You (probably) aren’t looking for an email consultant as a fun diversion. It’s yet another business transaction, and each meeting costs precious time.

Make things easier for everyone by knowing what you need before you attend an email consulting session.

How to Know What You Need

Unfortunately, knowing your exact needs is — to say the least — daunting.

Unfortunate ×2 combo? I can’t tell you what you need.

However, as an experienced email marketing consultant, I can guide you to the best possible outcome!

A successful email marketing strategy relies on a give-and-take relationship. You must understand what you’re willing to give before you reap the rewards. In other words, you must know how much work your internal team can support.

How Much Support Does Your Brand Need?

Step back and consider your brand’s status.

Can you afford a small in-house team? Do you have the resources to design or recycle existing email templates? Likewise, are you migrating from a former email marketing service or software?

While many large brands supplement third-party advertising firms with internal hands-on experience, smaller companies often require more work. Naturally, more work makes for a higher price tag.

Two Examples of the Extent of Email Consulting Services

As an example, let’s assume two clients contact the same prospective consultant.

Client A needs a few yearly one-off email campaigns. The ideal email marketing agency will handle the content writing, graphic design, and email platform. At the same time, Client A shall maintain control over the campaign monitor and manage all relevant market research.

Client B needs a complete email marketing package. In addition to multiple yearly drip email campaigns, Client B requires market research, tips to generate leads, and list segmentation. The email consulting services will also be responsible for monitoring vanity metrics and creating new email templates.

Now, break those needs into individual services.

Client A needs writing, design, and hosting. That’s three email campaign elements.

Client B needs writing, design, and hosting, too. However, Client B also requires list building, research, and templatization. That’s a total of six services.

Thus, it’s safe to assume Client B will have a higher fee than Client A!

Do You Have Previous Marketing Emails?

Of course, there are ways to reduce the workload for potential consulting services and — by extension — save yourself some cash!

Retain examples of older email marketing campaigns and present them at your consultation. These digital marketing samples are guidelines for your next email marketing consultant. Beyond offering a visual and tonal roadmap, your older campaigns highlight your target audience and previous business goals. They may even reflect failures in prior email marketing campaigns.

What Services Do You Need?

Finally, you must determine your ideal service package.

There’s not much more to say about it!

Everyone has a unique marketing strategy. Everyone requires different tools. I could spend hours listing every possible digital marketing add-on, but that’s a waste of everyone’s time. Instead, I’ve pared the list down to some of the most commonly requested email marketing services:

• Creation services are the bread and butter for most email marketing consultants. In addition to content writing and visual design, email creation covers coding and spam folder avoidance. Agencies and firms often include landing page creation as part of the email deliverability and design package.
• Development services are in-depth tools to supplement your email marketing strategies. Beyond researching your target audience, an email marketing consultant may also track your customer engagement and email campaign results to better understand your brand’s weaknesses. They may also support your business goals with lead-generation strategies.
• Email monitoring services are part of every email consultant’s daily routine. However, on-demand access to your actionable insights may be locked behind a small fee.
• Research services include market oversight, target audience insights, and email strategy consultations. Experienced professionals often look at every possible revenue stream — including your website visitors — to better understand how your email campaign plans fit into other marketing channels.

The Email Marketers: Your One-Stop Solution to Everything

Of course, the easiest way to court those potential customers is to simply find the best email marketing consultant! And I’ve made it easy to do so!

Schedule a free strategy session to see how my team of hand-picked email marketing pros can meet every marketing automation need you may have.

In addition to my amazing team, The Email Marketers boasts a proven track record of email marketing success! We understand what it takes to maximize your investment. We’ll also work with any existing email program to deliver results that are as seamless as they are impactful.

And don’t forget to browse the rest of my blog. You’ll find tips and tricks to gain more sales from your email marketing campaigns. More importantly, you’ll see the cumulative effort of The Email Marketers’ vast knowledge!