Being involved in eCommerce (Internet Marketing is the common buzz word) for well over a decade, I have seen a substantial amount of trends and fads. The more recent and ongoing trend has been to entice a prospective client with a 37 dollar product.
These cheap (many are down right cheap quality), not to be considered inexpensive although they are, products come onto the market almost daily with grand and lucrative launches offering normally over ten thousand dollars in prizes. Do not assume that thousands of these are sold, in fact only a couple hundred are normally sold. The prize money comes from the back-end sales for the most part (up selling is the buzz word for this practice) and a popular item being portrayed as your “Golden Egg” is an internet marketing consultancy package.
There is a big issue, in my opinion, with this being the fact you are not made aware of their skill set which is the most important aspect you need to consider when picking out an internet marketing consultant.
A few of the most important tidbits you should know prior to grabbing an internet marketing consultant are their experience, expertise, and background among other things.
Knowing information about your consultant and having the ability to make an informed decision is what will lead to internet marketing consultancy your most valuable marketing tool.
Anyone can give you information and normally it is not desired nor considered as they normally blurt out something known by most individuals. I hear information regularly in the super market about cooking and various ingredients I could use which is wonderful.
Many internet marketing consultants will either approach you or, as previously mentioned, sell their services to you as an up-sell. They also offer to do tasks for you including building your business for you. What you are seeing there is excitement and desperation coming from them subconsciously.
A consultant will certainly mention that they offer consulting services, a decent internet marketing consultant will make their services known on their webpage or word of mouth advertising. They may also play around with search engine marketing (pronounced” SEM”, another buzz word in eCommerce). If you read this paragraph again you will notice there is a stark contrast between newer and more experienced consultants.
Another internet marketing consultancy trait you need to consider is their background. What have they done since quitting their daytime job? If there is a dial toned answer (a long or drawn out humming sound) you may want to thank them for their time and move along. Numerous consultants, myself included, will take on contract work normally in some area of business development which is perfectly fine.
This is actually a consultants way of getting paid to further their education and implement new information and techniques they may have come across. If you need help creating an opt in page, would you look for a consultant who knows absolutely anything there is to know relating to search engine optimization?
Absolutely not, would you be upset when you realize three hundred dollars later that in fact you paid for information from someone who provided you nothing useful at all?
That scenario should help you realize the importance of having an idea of what their expertise is in!
The background is similar, though slightly different, than an internet marketing consultants area of expertise. I mentioned asking them what they did prior to offering internet marketing consultancy. Finding their background can help you decide which consultant you feel more comfortable with.
If one consultant receives the same amount of recommendations as another, look at their background. Very few of those offering or willing to do an internet marketing consultancy have a business background.
If you are in business and trying to build your page ranking on Google, would you ask a pig farmer or someone with at least an Associate Degree in Business Development? Unless you ask them their background, some prefer to not disclose that information.
Many of the individuals offering you internet marketing consultations do not have the experience, expertise, nor background to operate their own business, let alone make recommendations on yours. I can speak from experience both as an internet marketing consultant as well as a customer. I call the process of questioning someone who offers you internet marketing consultancy an interview.
I also recommend you take it a step further and request a resume if you want to check resources. The problem with checking resources is they may simply give you a friends name and contact information. Other consultants, such as myself, can not provide this information due to a privacy policy they may have in place.
When you pick the right consultant they will explain and make various recommendations. You should expect constructive criticism as they are not likely to tell you what you want to hear just for the sake of pleasing you. They will not sit and laugh at you, and the information they give you should be taken seriously, especially since it is your money!