What a Good Marketing Consultant Will Do in the First 30 Days

What a Good Marketing Consultant Will Do in the First 30 Days

Ah, the first month with your new marketing consultant. Exciting, isn't it? But also a bit nerve-wracking. You've invested—now, what exactly should you expect?

I've spent years watching businesses hire marketing consultants only to wonder what they're paying for three weeks in. The problem isn't usually the consultant's expertise—it's the misaligned expectations and unclear roadmap.

Let me fix that for you right now.

In the next few minutes, you'll discover the exact process a good marketing consultant follows in those critical first 30 days—just a practical roadmap separating the professionals from the pretenders.

Ready? Let's crack on.

The First Week: Deep-Dive Discovery & Audit

Right, day one. A proper marketing consultant doesn't waltz in with pre-packaged solutions. That's amateur hour.

Instead, the first week is about becoming obsessed with understanding your business from the inside out. I'm talking forensic-level investigation here.

Comprehensive Marketing Audit

A quality marketing consultant will immediately roll their sleeves and dive into your existing marketing assets and performance data. They're looking for patterns, gaps, and opportunities you might have missed.

• Website analysis – Checking user flows, conversion paths, technical SEO health, and content quality
• Marketing channel review – Examining performance across all active channels (social, email, PPC, etc.)
• Competitor intelligence – Assessing what your competitors are doing right (and wrong)
• Brand consistency check – Evaluating how coherent your messaging is across touchpoints

The consultant should ask questions like: “Why is your bounce rate so high on this landing page?” or “Have you tested different CTAS for this email sequence?”

During my audits, I always find at least 3 to 5 immediate opportunities that businesses have completely overlooked. It's not your fault—you're too close to your business to spot specific patterns.

Stakeholder Interviews

Beyond the data, good marketing consultants get people talking. They'll interview key team members, including:

• Sales team members who hear customer objections firsthand
• Customer service staff who understand pain points intimately
• Product developers who know the true product capabilities
• Executives who hold the vision for the company's future

These conversations reveal the stories behind the numbers. What's the sales team hearing from prospects? Where are customers getting confused? What product features aren't being properly highlighted?

I remember working with a tech company whose marketing completely missed their most compelling selling point—something the customer service team heard praised daily, but the marketing department never knew about. These interviews uncover gold.

Customer Journey Mapping

By the end of week one, your marketing consultant should be sketching out your customer journey with fresh eyes. This isn't just some theoretical exercise—it's about identifying exactly where prospects fall out of your funnel and why.

They'll examine:

1. How prospects initially find you
2. What questions arise during research
3. What objections prevent the immediate purchase
4. What post-purchase experiences drive loyalty or churn

This mapping reveals critical gaps. For instance, you might have stellar acquisition tactics but terrible nurturing sequences, which explains why your conversion rates lag despite substantial traffic.

Week Two: Strategic Framework Development

With the discovery phase complete, week two should bring structure and strategy into focus. This is where a marketing consultant earns their keep by translating insights into actionable plans.

Marketing Objectives & KPI Alignment

A proper marketing consultant will help refine your marketing objectives to ensure they're:

• Specific and measurable (increasing web conversions by 22% vs “improving the website”)
• Aligned with broader business goals (not vanity metrics)
• Prioritised by impact and feasibility
• Assigned clear ownership and timeframes

They'll establish baseline KPIS and tracking mechanisms so you can measure progress. Without this foundation, you're just throwing tactics at the wall.

I've seen businesses waste thousands on Instagram advertising because “everyone's doing it”, while neglecting email marketing that could deliver 5x the ROI. Good consultants prevent these expensive mistakes by tying everything back to data-driven objectives.

Audience Segmentation & Targeting Strategy

Week two also brings clarity to exactly who you're marketing to. Your consultant should develop the following:

• Detailed buyer personas based on actual data, not assumptions
• Segment-specific messaging frameworks
• Channel preferences by audience type
• Content needs to be mapped to the buyer's journey

This isn't about creating cute persona names and fictional biographies. It's about identifying which specific customer segments drive revenue and how to reach them efficiently.

One ecommerce client discovered that 76% of their most profitable customers came from just two of their six target personas. This insight allowed us to reallocate the budget toward the highest-value segments, delivering a 37% increase in ROAS within 60 days.

Positioning & Messaging Framework

By day 14, your marketing consultant should articulate:

• Your unique market position relative to competitors
• Core messaging pillars that differentiate your offering
• Value proposition by customer segment
• Brand voice and communication guidelines

This framework becomes the foundation for all future marketing activities. It ensures your social media manager in Manchester and your email copywriter in Edinburgh deliver consistent, compelling messages despite never meeting.

Good consultants test these frameworks rather than simply presenting them. They'll run sample messaging past current customers or test variations with small paid campaigns to validate assumptions before full deployment.

Week Three: Tactical Roadmap Creation

With the strategic groundwork laid, week three shifts toward tactical planning. This is where you'll see how high-level strategy translates into concrete actions.

Marketing Channel Strategy

A quality marketing consultant will develop a channel strategy that:

• Prioritises channels based on audience presence and engagement
• Allocates budget according to performance potential
• Establishes testing protocols for new channels
• Creates cross-channel integration plans

They won't recommend TikTok because it's trendy or dismiss email because it's “old school.” Each channel recommendation should have clear reasoning tied to your business goals and audience behaviours.

For a B2B client targeting procurement managers, we discovered LinkedIn outperformed all other channels by 340% for qualified lead generation. This insight allowed them to consolidate efforts rather than spread too thin across multiple platforms.

Content Marketing Blueprint

Content drives modern marketing, and your consultant should deliver:

• Content gaps analysis based on competitive research
• Editorial calendar framework
• Content distribution strategy
• Production workflows and resource requirements

The best consultants don't just tell you that “blogs are important”—they specify exactly what topics will move the needle for your business and why.

When working with a professional web design agency, I helped them identify that in-depth case studies showcasing their process outperformed generic design tips by 4:1 for lead generation. This insight completely transformed their content strategy.

Marketing Tech Stack Assessment

Modern marketing requires proper tools. By week three, your consultant should review your current tech stack and recommend the following:

• Tools that should be retained, optimised, or replaced
• Integration improvements between existing systems
• New technologies that could improve efficiency or insights
• Implementation priorities and timelines

They shouldn't push enterprise solutions for minor business problems or suggest complex tools your team won't use. Recommendations should match your team's capabilities and budget constraints.

I helped clients eliminate three redundant tools, saving £21,000 annually while improving their marketing workflow. Sometimes, less really is more when it comes to Martech.

Week Four: Implementation Kickoff & Measurement Framework

The final week transitions from planning to execution. This is where your consultant demonstrates how strategy becomes a reality.

Quick Wins Implementation

A good marketing consultant won't wait until day 30 to deliver value. By week four, they should identify and implement some quick wins:

• Fixing critical technical SEO issues
• Optimising underperforming PPC campaigns
• Improving conversion-focused website elements
• Enhancing email sequence performance

These early victories build momentum, and they can sometimes even pay the consultant's fees before the first-month ends.

For a local business, fixing their Google Business Profile and implementing proper schema markup increased their organic traffic by 43% within three weeks. These types of improvements deliver immediate ROI while larger strategies develop.

90-Day Execution Plan

As the first month concludes, your consultant should deliver a detailed 90-day plan outlining the following:

• Week-by-week activities with clear owners
• Resource requirements for execution
• Budget allocations by initiative
• Expected outcomes and milestones

This plan bridges the gap between high-level strategy and daily tasks. It answers the critical question: “What exactly are we doing next Monday morning?”

The best consultants create these plans collaboratively, ensuring your team has input and buy-in. Marketing initiatives fail when they're handed down from on high without team engagement.

Measurement & Reporting Framework

Finally, your consultant should establish how success will be measured and communicated:

• Dashboard setup for real-time performance tracking
• Regular reporting cadence and format
• Key metrics by initiative and channel
• Learning agenda for ongoing optimisation

Without proper measurement, even brilliant strategies eventually lose support. By establishing transparent reporting from day one, good consultants ensure accountability and create a feedback loop for continuous improvement.

What Sets Good Marketing Consultants Apart

Having worked with dozens of businesses across various industries, I've noticed distinct patterns that separate exceptional marketing consultants from adequate ones.

They Ask Better Questions

Average consultants provide answers. Exceptional ones ask questions that transform how you think about your business.

Questions like:

• “Why do customers choose your competitors despite your better features?”
• “Which customer segment would be most devastated if your product disappeared tomorrow?”
• “What marketing activities would you continue even if you couldn't measure their ROI?”

These questions uncover insights that data alone cannot reveal.

They Connect Marketing to Revenue

Good marketing consultants never let you forget that marketing exists to drive revenue. Every recommendation they make ties back to business impact, not vanity metrics.

They speak the language of:

• Customer acquisition cost
• Lifetime value
• Conversion rate optimisation
• Return on marketing investment

This revenue focus ensures that marketing never becomes an isolated creative exercise but remains a critical business function.

They Balance Strategy and Execution

The best consultants are both strategic thinkers and practical doers. They can articulate a compelling vision while understanding the nuts and bolts of implementation.

This balance prevents the all-too-common scenario where brilliant strategies gather dust because no one knows how to execute them in the real world with limited resources and competing priorities.

How to Support Your Marketing Consultant's Success

The consultant-client relationship is a two-way street. To get maximum value from those first 30 days:

1. Provide transparent access to data – Nothing hampers progress like discovering that critical information was withheld.
2. Connect them with key stakeholders – Ensure they can speak directly with customer-facing team members.
3. Be open to uncomfortable truths – Good consultants will identify issues others have avoided mentioning.
4. Clarify decision-making processes – Help them understand how marketing decisions get approved in your organisation.
5. Share business context beyond marketing – Explain financial constraints, strategic priorities, and organisational politics.

Remember, marketing consultants can't work miracles without your partnership. The most successful engagements happen when clients view consultants as embedded team members rather than external vendors.

Red Flags to Watch For

Not all marketing consultants deliver equal value in those first 30 days. Be wary if yours:

• Starts implementing tactics before understanding strategy
• Doesn't ask probing questions about your business and customers
• Presents generic recommendations that could apply to any business
• Cannot clearly explain how their strategy will impact revenue
• Focuses heavily on vanity metrics like followers or impressions
• Avoids discussing measurement and accountability

These warning signs suggest you might be working with someone who applies a one-size-fits-all approach rather than developing tailored strategies for your situation.

Making the Most of Your Marketing Consultant Investment

To maximise return on your marketing consultant investment:

• Set clear expectations – Define what success looks like by days 30, 60, and 90
• Request regular progress updates – Weekly check-ins prevent surprises and enable course correction
• Engage your broader team – Marketing initiatives succeed when they have cross-functional support
• Prioritise knowledge transfer – Ensure your team learns from the consultant's expertise
• Be ready to act on recommendations – The best strategy is worthless without implementation

When properly leveraged, a good marketing consultant doesn't just solve immediate problems—they elevate your team's capabilities for long-term success.

Selecting the Right Marketing Consultant for Your Needs

You need to find the right consultant before reaching those first 30 days. Consider these factors:

Industry Experience vs. Marketing Expertise

Should you prioritise someone who knows your industry or someone with exceptional marketing skills?

In most cases, deep marketing expertise transfers across industries more effectively than industry knowledge without marketing mastery. A consultant can learn your industry faster than they can develop marketing excellence.

That said, specific highly regulated or technical fields (healthcare, finance, etc.) benefit from specialist knowledge. Consider your particular situation when weighing this tradeoff.

Specialist vs. Generalist Consultants

Marketing encompasses numerous specialities:

• SEO consultants
• PPC specialists
• Content marketing strategists
• Social media experts
• Conversion optimisation consultants

While specialists deliver depth in their area, early-stage engagements often benefit from generalist marketing consultants who can assess your entire marketing ecosystem before determining which specialities deserve focus.

After the initial assessment, you might engage specialists for implementation in specific channels.

Solo Consultants vs. Marketing Agencies

Solo marketing consultants typically offer:

• Direct access to senior expertise
• More personalised attention
• Lower costs
• Greater flexibility

Marketing agencies provide:

• Broader skill coverage
• More implementation resources
• Established processes
• Team redundancy

Your choice depends on the scope of your needs and your internal team's capabilities. An agency might be preferable if you need both strategy and extensive implementation. A solo consultant often delivers better value for pure strategy or specialised needs.

Extending Beyond the First 30 Days

While this article focuses on the first month, the consultant-client relationship often continues productively beyond this initial period. Subsequent phases typically involve:

Implementation Support (Months 2-3)

As your team executes the strategy, a good consultant provides the following:

• Implementation guidance and troubleshooting
• Course corrections based on early results
• Training for your team on new approaches
• Accountability for meeting milestones

Optimisation Phase (Months 4-6)

With baseline strategies in place, the focus shifts to:

• A/B testing to improve performance
• Channel expansion based on early wins
• More advanced tactics and techniques
• Performance analysis and refinement

Strategic Evolution (Months 7-12)

As the relationship matures, the consultant helps:

• Adapt strategies based on market changes
• Develop more sophisticated approaches
• Build internal team capabilities
• Plan for long-term marketing evolution

The most successful consultant relationships evolve from tactical guidance to strategic partnership over time.

Case Study: Transformation in 30 Days

Let me briefly explain what's possible in 30 days with the right marketing consultant.

Despite significant marketing spending, a mid-sized B2B software company struggled with lead generation. Their cost per lead had increased by 40% year-over-year while conversion quality declined.

During the first 30 days, their marketing consultant:

1. It was discovered through the audit that 62% of their PPC budget was being wasted on poorly targeted keywords.
2. Identified through stakeholder interviews that their best customers came from entirely different industries than they were targeting
3. Developed a new positioning framework that highlighted their unique advantages for previously overlooked market segments
4. Implemented a quick-win email nurture sequence that converted 17% of stalled prospects

By day 30, they had reduced marketing spend by 35% while increasing qualified lead flow by 28%—all before implementing the complete strategic recommendations.

This example illustrates how quickly a good marketing consultant can identify and address fundamental issues that in-house teams might miss due to institutional blindness or resource constraints.

Bringing It All Together: The 30-Day Deliverables

By day 30, your marketing consultant should provide:

1. A comprehensive audit with specific findings and opportunities
2. Clear strategic recommendations based on business goals
3. A detailed 90-day implementation roadmap
4. Initial quick wins that demonstrate potential
5. A measurement framework for tracking progress
6. Knowledge transfer to elevate your team's capabilities

These deliverables form the foundation for marketing success far beyond the initial engagement.

FAQS About Working With Marketing Consultants

The marketing consultant landscape can be confusing, but with the right expert guiding your strategy, those first 30 days can transform your entire approach to winning and keeping customers. The right consultant doesn't just consult—they become a marketing catalyst that matters to your bottom line.