• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Nick Jervis

Helping Service Business Owners To Grow Their Business & Enjoy Their Life

0117 290 8549

hello@nickjervis.com

Work with me?

  • Home
    • About Me
  • Free Growth Guides
    • Blogging
    • Consultancy 6 Figure Business
    • Email Marketing Mastery
    • Get Clients Fast
    • Google Ads Mastery
    • Marketing Consultants Fast Growth Guide
    • Marketing Plan Template
    • Mastermind Group Launch
    • SEO For Small Business
    • Starting A Consultancy Business
  • Services
    • Business Mentoring
    • Digital Marketing Coach
    • Google Ads
      • How Much To Spend?
    • More Clients Academy – Business Growth Training
    • Small Business Marketing Consultant
  • About You
    • Coaches
    • Consultants
    • Freelance Copywriters
      • Freelance Copywriter Hire UK
    • Healthcare PPC
    • Mastermind Groups
  • Products
    • Digital Marketing Tools
      • OptinMonster
    • Mastermind Group Blueprint
    • More Clients Academy
  • Contact

Small Business Marketing Consultant | Small Business Marketing Consultancy

March 27, 2020 By nickjervis

If you are looking for a small business marketing consultant, you are likely to be looking ultimately for the results that they can achieve for your business; namely to attract more clients for you.

This article is designed to give you a background to what you can expect your small business marketing consultant to do for you, the likely results that you can achieve and to cover the costs that may be incurred.

In this feature about small business marketing consultants, I am going to cover:

  1. How do you know when you find a good small business marketing consultant?
  2. How long a contract should you sign with a small business marketing consultant?
  3. Obtaining grants to fund your small business marketing consultants fees
  4. What are the right marketing activities?
  5. Should you hire a small business marketing consultant or a coach or mentor?
  6. How much should a small business marketing consultant cost?
  7. What do marketing consultants/ small business consultants do?
  8. How can this small business marketing consultant help you right now?

A Little About This Small Business Marketing Consultant

Small Business Marketing Consultant Nick Jervis
Nick Jervis,, Small Business Marketing Consultant

First, a little about me. I did not enter the small business marketing consulting world by following the usual path of University, marketing agency and then setting up my own business.

I always had an interest in marketing but decided to become a solicitor, mainly, in hindsight, to please my mother.

However, my interest in marketing led me to running the marketing for the law firms that I worked for.

I soon realised that I enjoyed this a lot more than the legal work.

Occasionally, I would invite a small business marketing consultant into my law firm to review my marketing activities and to see if I was missing anything.

Without fail, they all traipsed in, charged me thousands of pounds, and gave me a 100 plus page report (that no doubt they had largely copy and pasted from their standard report) and told me that I was doing just fine.

It was then I realised that I needed to become a full time small business marketing consultant because I could do a better job for my clients than what was currently offered in the marketplace.

I realise that this is a long article, so if you are pressed for time, the fastest way to discover if you like what I have to say about marketing a business is to download my free book by clicking the button below:

How to get clients coming to you – Click to download now:>>

Alternatively call me now on 0117 290 8555 and my amazing PA will schedule a time for us to talk.

Nick is totally practical and has a laser-like focus on getting his clients more clients of their own. As someone with no marketing experience at all, his user-friendly approach made it so much quicker and easier to get started on getting work than if I had tried to do this on my own. I strongly recommend both the More Clients Academy and also Nick’s book, The Law Firm Growth Formula. I’m not a lawyer, but the ideas apply to virtually any professional business. Well worth your time and money!

Ciaran McGee – Chartered Tax Adviser.

Now let’s move on to discover more about what a small business marketing consultant should and shouldn’t do, and give you some good questions to help you find the best marketing consultant for your business.

1. How Do You Know When You Find A Good Small Business Marketing Consultant?

In my opinion, there is only one criteria that you should look for when choosing a marketing consultant to help you to grow your business:

Results!

You should be able to easily see reviews from clients who have worked with the small business marketing consultant and achieved tangible results in terms of generating new clients and return on investment on any money spent.

Phrases such as ‘brand awareness’ should never be used. The only companies that should look to achieve ‘brand awareness’ are the giant brands such as Coca Cola, Microsoft etc.

Small businesses cannot afford to waste money on brand awareness because they will not be able to track any return on investment.

By all means, sponsor your son or daughter’s football team, but do it for fun, not return on investment.

If your marketing consultant pushes you along the brand awareness route, they are not the consultant that you are looking for. Move on to the next one.

When you run a small business, which can mean anything up to tens of millions in turnover, the only results that you should look for from your marketing activities are ‘return on investement’.

You need to know that if you spend £1 you generate £3 or more in instructions.

If your small business marketing consultant does not talk in these terms, or worse still tries to persuade you to sign a 12 month contract which he or she says will give them enough time to start to get some results with them (see below) then back away and move on to the next one.

Here are some other ‘avoid’ signs when choosing a small business marketing consultant.

a. They only talk about one type of marketing.

If the small business marketing consultant that you are considering using only specialises in one type of marketing and pushes you in that direction, regardless of whether it will work or not for your business, this is a clear sign that they are not the well rounded marketing consultant that you need to help you grow your business.

I have seen clients spend tens of thousands of pounds on completely the wrong forms of marketing that I know, from the nature of the service that they provide, will never work for them.

Sadly, often they have run out of budget by the time that they reach me. Which is why I say to anyone reading this blog, if you are considering spending any money on any form of marketing, please email or speak to me before doing so. I will check that it is the right form of marketing for the product or service that you provide and advise you accordingly – no cost. I just HATE seeing people being duped into spending money on the wrong marketing activities. It is, in my opinion, what gives marketing or business growth consultancy a bad name.

Download my free guide below to discover how to set up a time for us to talk to ensure that you are spending your money wisely:

How to get clients coming to you – Click to download now:>>

b. They do not ask anything (or enough) about your business.

Following on from the above, if you speak with a marketing consultant and all they do is talk about their business and how they work, without first asking anything about your business, they are not the consultant for you.

Marketing needs to be all about the business being marketed, so if they do not talk to you about your business, how can they know what will work for you?

c. They want you to spend money straight out of the gate.

The first thing any decent small business marketing consultant should do for you is to review your current marketing activities and suggest tweaks and optimisations which will generate more enquiries for you.

Many of my new clients are surprised that they often end up spending less on marketing once they start working with me. I often start with my client’s websites because they are their 24/7/365 marketing tool.

I can always find many ways to instantly drive up enquiries from their website from people already finding the website, so why would I advise my consultancy clients to spend money on new marketing activities when they haven’t optimised the ones that they are already doing.

If you optimise your marketing activities first, you may well discover that you do not need to spend more money on marketing, you just need to get a better return from the marketing that you area already doing.

Let’s move onto the second major point in helping you to choose the right small business marketing consultant for your business.

Nick’s advice and guidance has been excellent. He cuts through all the noise and brings clarity. His focus is on what is effective and what will achieve the objective. He knows what works and what doesn’t and shows you the best way to approach a strategy.

One particular aspect of marketing was hard to get my head around but Nick made everything so clear and easy to understand. When you speak to him you will see, he knows his stuff!

Thanks Nick.

Shan Phoenix – Financial Adviser

2. How Long A Contract Should You Sign With A Small Business Marketing Consultant?

Following on from my first point, it should be clear to you that my view is that you should not have to sign a contract for 12 months.

Why?

Because if the marketing consultant is any good at what they do they should be confident that they can achieve results for you in the first month, so why would they need a 12 month contract?

I know that for all of my consultancy clients I can achieve great results for them in the first month of working with them, usually the first week, so I only ever work on a one month rolling contract basis.

I am then equally invested in achieving great results for my clients because if I do not, they can leave at any time, as they should be able to do so.

What frustrates me about many of the small business marketing consultants out there (and remember I employed quite a few in the past), is that they rely on 12 month contracts and then they use the next method to fully or partly fund their fees, which is another tell-tale sign that they are not worth their salt and you should avoid them!

I run an HR business dealing with the nasty bits of HR (disciplinaries, grievances, terminations, etc).

I have been working with Nick for 12 months now and it has really changed the quality of leads I am getting. My website is now attracting the right type of clients and brings in a lot more quality, and easy to convert, leads.

Nick is clear in what the marketing priorities are to get me the results I want. Very easy to work with and cuts to the heart of the matter – no excuses!

Carolyne Wahlen – HR Consultant

3. Obtaining Grants To Fund Your Small Business Marketing Consultants Fees

If you run a small business all you should be interested in is attracting new clients and growing your profitability quickly.

Why then, would your marketing consultant push you through the tiresome, time wasting and draining process of applying for a business grant to fund all or part of their fees?

There are two substantial reasons why they do this and why you should avoid it at all costs if you are looking for help from a marketing consultant:

  1. If you do not have any ‘skin in the game’, i.e. you do not pay for their services, you are less likely to do the work that is needed to generate the clients that you want. I know this to be true because I have seen it in operation time and time again.
    You need to invest in your marketing consultant to make you do the marketing activities that you need to do to generate the clients that you are looking for.
  2. It shows that the small business marketing consultant has a lack of confidence in their own ability to generate new clients for you. After all, if you are not paying, you will not be so angry if you do not get the results that you are looking for. However, that misses the point that we started with, which is that you need more clients now, not in 12 months’ time when you start to work with a different marketing consultant!

One thing is true above all else when it comes to marketing:

Marketing needs momentum.

Unless and until you do the right marketing activities consistently, you will not generate your steady and consistent flow of new client instructions.

Therefore, on the days when you ‘don’t feel like doing’ what you need to do to implement your small business marketing plan, having paid for the advice you are far more likely to force yourself to do this.

This is why I strongly advise you to stay away from any small business marketing consultant who wants you to sign a 12 month contact and then encourages you to apply for a grant to cover the entire cost of that contract or a substantial portion of it.

The only person that is likely to work for is the marketing consultant.

You might notice that this point annoys me more than anything.

The main reason for this is that in my old life as a solicitor I used to deal with claims for seriously injured people. Often I would send them a cheque for hundreds of thousands of pounds, feeling like I had done a good job, but they were never that happy because they still had daily pain.

I did the best that I could, but money can never remove pain, sadly.

In my role now as a small business marketing consultant, when I get great results for my clients now it is a complete win, win situation.

My client wins more new clients, turnover and profitability goes up, and the small fee that they pay me is easily covered by the wins in their business. We are both happy.

So why would any marketing consultant delay your happiness by putting you through a grant application process?

Before meeting Nick, I was wasting money with google, I had a high price per click and a trickle of leads. Now, having worked with Nick for 3 months my google business page is optimised, my price per click is greatly reduced, customers are finding me and quality lead are flowing! Which means, my google ads spend is now profitable with a 3:1 return! That is why I would strongly recommend working with Nick if you want consistent leads and a greater return on your investment.

Thanks Nick

Richard Linden – Letting Agent

3. The Right Marketing Activities

Not all marketing activities are created equal; far from it.

You want marketing activities that put at least three times the income into your business than they take out. Then you can spend time optimising them to make them work even better for you and to put even more income into your business, but three to one should be your starting point.

The best forms of marketing are those which pitch your services to your ideal clients at the precise moment in time that they are ready to buy them.

Let me state that again because it is so important:

The best forms of marketing are those which pitch your services to your ideal clients at the precise moment in time that they are ready to buy them.

‘The precise moment in time that they are ready to buy them’ is a key part here. It shows the one thing that you want from your prospects; buyer intent.

They want to buy your services and do so now, which means it is much easier to make them convert into a new client than someone wasting a few hours of their life browsing through facebook or other social media channels, where they have absolutely no ‘buyer intent’.

I call pitching your services to prospects with buyer intent ‘easy life marketing’ because it is so much easier than if you try and persuade someone not looking for your services to use them.

The most effective forms of ‘easy life marketing’ are:

  • Your website. A high quality website with good quality content that proves your expertise to your prospects so that they are pre-sold on your services by the time that they decide to contact you. Your website should continually evolve and grow; not just a refresh every 5 or 10 years, but adding new, high quality content that answers the questions that your ideal prospects type into Google when searching for information around your area of expertise. You don’t need to spend thousands on SEO consultants if you do this, you may be pleased to hear. None of my marketing consultancy clients pay for SEO, I just work with them to create a content marketing plan then carry out that plan and watch the volume of visitors and enquiries grow.
  • Google Ads. If you attract some visitors to your website and generate some enquiries for your services already, you can amplify this volume of enquiries instantly with Google Ads. Once again, you very much have the ‘buyer intent’ required here because they headed to Google and typed in the name of your service in the first place. If you have a DNA Marketing Now business, Google Ads is one of the easiest ways to grow your business. To discover more about how I can help see my PPC Consultant section.
  • Your email list. If you have built an email list by offering free books or downloads from your website, or by adding all of your old clients and all of your referrers, you already have people who know, like and trust you. When they need your services again, they will not look elsewhere, so long as you keep in touch with them at least once a month. All business to business service providers must have a good email marketing list and email it consistently if they want an easy way to grow their business.
  • Referral partners. What is better than putting yourself in front of your ideal clients when they are ready to buy your services? You probably already have one great referral partner, so what would happen to your business if you had 12 of them?

These are the four main marketing arteries that any service business owner should be using.

These are the ones that any small business marketing consultant worth their salt should discuss with you when you start working together.

5. Should You Hire A Small Business Marketing Consultant Or A Coach Or Mentor?

The main difference between a coach or mentor and a consultant is that a coach asks you questions to get you to work out the answers for yourself whereas a consultant has the answers you need and you pay him or her to give them to you.

You are buying their expertise in a specific area; in this case marketing.

I have employed coaches for my own business, and it was helpful.

However, it was only when I paid a consultant to tell me what to do, then to ensure that I did it, that I got the biggest results.

In my opinion, for my own business and for your own, life is too short already, so I want to achieve the results I crave for my business sooner rather than later.

Perhaps, not surprisingly, I come down on the side of the consultant who has the expertise (above) and tells you precisely what you need to do to grow your business AFTER they have spent time finding out more about you and your business.

6. How Much Should A Small Business Marketing Consultant Cost?

I know that one of the largest coaching networks in the UK charges from around £1,250 a month, and that is just for ‘coaching’; you now know why I am not a huge fan of that.

Many marketing consultants work on a retainer system too (ideally 12 months for them, which, as I say, may not be ideal for you). Fees range from around £1,000 a month to several thousand pounds each month.

Ultimately, the fee is irrelevant (cash flow aside), it is all about the results.

I mention that I work on one month notice because I want you to get the results that persuade you to stay with me, not that you do so because you have signed a contract.

I also want my advice to be available to as many business owners as possible, which is why you can access my expertise from as little as £50 a month in the More Clients Academy, or if you want to access my full consultancy service, this starts from around £750 per month.

Nothing ties you in. You leave when you wish. My aim is that you never leave because I make you far more money than you pay me!

Some of my clients have been with me for over 15 years, so I think I achieve my objective of making my fees quickly pain into insignificance against the additional income that my clients generate.

7. What Do Marketing Consultants/ Small Business Consultants Do?

This part is very easy; ultimately all that your small business marketing consultant should do is to make your telephone ring more, or to make your enquiry form or brochure download form be completed more.

It is not about ‘brand building’ or ‘brand recognition’ as that is simply for the huge brands out there. A small business owner cannot afford to waste time, energy or money on any marketing activity that does not put more money into his business bank account than it takes out.

A good small business marketing consultant will show you precisely which marketing activities will achieve this for your services, then set out a plan for you to implement those activities, prioritised in order of those that will achieve the biggest returns on investment for you.

“I implemented one piece of advice Nick gave me and immediately generated £800 in additional revenue with zero marketing spend!”

Richard Hand, Urban Jump Trampoline Park.

 

8. How Can This Small Business Marketing Consultant Help You Right Now?

There are many ways that I can help you immediately.

My Free Marketing Guides

If you like what you are reading but would like to find out more about my methods as a potential consultant for your business, I have a few for you to choose from.

Click the one that scratches your biggest itch right now (or pick more than one, I don’t mind at all):

  • Marketing Plan – claim your one page marketing plan:>>
  • Google Ads Review – watch me review a live Google Ads campaign and suggest how to easily improve it. Click here:>>
  • Get Clients Fast – my most downloaded guide:>>
  • SEO/Content Marketing For Small Businesses (no spammy link building involved):>>

Google Ads Review

I manage an annual spend of around £1.5-2 million per annum for my clients, covering a wide range of service based businesses.

If you are running a Google Ads campaign, let me show you precisely what you should do to generate more clients from the same or less Google Spend.

These reviews are always fun, short, but packed full of useful information that you can implement immediately – or ask me to do it if you would like to, but there is certainly no hard selling involved, just hard helping.

Click here to arrange your own Google Ads Review:>>

Summary

I sat down to write this article because I realised that many people, whilst recognising that they need help to market their business do not know what to expect from a small business marketing consultant.

Hopefully you now at least know the questions to ask to ensure you choose the right small business marketing consultant for your business.

If you would like to know how to attract a steady and consistent flow of new clients to your business at the precise moment in time that they are ready to buy your services, easy life marketing as I call it, click the button below to download my guide now:

How to get clients coming to you – Click to download now:>>

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Marketing Consultant, Small Business Owners

Primary Sidebar

How To Get Clients Fast

Why Me?

  • I focus on marketing that brings clients to you when they are ready to buy your services (easy life marketing I like to call it).
  • I ensure that every penny you spend on marketing creates a return on investment for you. Vanity marketing does not pay your bills, so I won’t let you do it.
  • I have been marketing service businesses since 1991.

Best Selling Amazon Author

Two best selling marketing books on Amazon:

Best_Selling_Marketing_Books

“Before we started working with Nick, we had no clear idea of our paid traffic strategy.

We knew there were people looking for what we offer, but we just weren’t getting them landing on our website, and when they did, they weren’t converting in the way we wanted them to.

That’s when we enlisted Nick’s help, and it’s made a profound difference both to the number of leads coming into the business, but the quality too.

He’s helped us bring in several very high-quality leads, which will be worth many hundreds of thousands of pounds, as well as helping our website become better and more conversion-focused too.

I couldn’t recommend Nick more highly – if you’re looking for more leads and more sales, it’s a no-brainer to have a conversation.

Elliott Myatt, Play Area Hygiene Services, Kingsbridge.

“I run an HR business dealing with the nasty bits of HR (disciplinaries, grievances, terminations, etc). I have been working with Nick for 12 months now and it has really changed the quality of leads I am getting. My website is now attracting the right type of clients and brings in a lot more quality, and easy to convert, leads. Nick is clear in what the marketing priorities are to get me the results I want. Very easy to work with and cuts to the heart of the matter – no excuses!”

Carolyne Wahlen, GAP HR Services, Goring

“After working with Nick on our Google My Business strategy we are now ranking in the “Google 3 pack” and generating leads purely from our ranking!Nick also carried out a fee review resulting in a fee increase of 40% and no detrimental effect to volume. Double whammy with increased leads and increased income. Well worth taking the time to talk to Nick and definitely worth working with him going forward, it’s a no brainer!”

David Aggiss, Three Sixty Mortgages, Plymouth.

“Nick’s advice and guidance has been excellent. He cuts through all the noise and brings clarity. His focus is on what is effective and what will achieve the objective. He knows what works and what doesn’t and shows you the best way to approach a strategy.

One particular aspect of marketing was hard to get my head around but Nick made everything so clear and easy to understand. When you speak to him you will see, he knows his stuff!

Thanks Nick.”

Shan Phoenix, Geneva Wealth, Harpenden

Before meeting Nick, I was wasting money with Google, I had a high price per click and a trickle of leads. Now, having worked with Nick for 3 months my Google business page is optimised, my price per click is greatly reduced, customers are finding me and quality leads are flowing! Which means, my Google Ads spend is now profitable with a 3:1 return!

That is why I would strongly recommend working with Nick if you want consistent leads and a greater return on your investment – thanks Nick”.

Richard Linden, The Rent Guarantee Company, Harlow.

“Through Nick’s advice and on going encouragement I have almost doubled my client base and am now looking to take on members of staff to deal with the increase in demand for my services. My success has been in no small way facilitated by my business coaching with Nick. I would, and I do, recommend him to anyone who wants to grow their business.”

Ben Winter, Bristol Wellness Personal Training, Bristol.

“I’m new to google Ads, Nick is managing my ad campaigns and doing a great job, I’m receiving a steady flow of leads with a low cost per click meaning my marketing is paying for itself. Would recommend.”

Wendy Clarke

“Nick’s professional advice, expert knowledge and constant encouragement have proved invaluable this past year. He has helped my business from the outset, offering me support and guidance every step of the way. His services come highly recommended.”

Charlotte Laken – Copywriter

“Nick is an excellent marketing consultant. His knowledge of Google PPC is unparalled. Well worth a chat.Every time I use him my results improve and I make money. Do the sensible thing and pick up the phone to him as you won’t regret it.”

Phil O’Connor, Whitewell Financial Planning, Bolton.

Footer

Get in touch today…

I am here to help you grow your business, so please do get in touch. Simply enter a few details below and I will personally come back to you.

    Nick Jervis SME Marketing Consultant

    Best Marketing Resources · Business Growth Consultant · Get More Clients · How To Grow A Consulting Business · Online Marketing Coach/Mentor · Small Business Marketing Consultant · PPC Consultant Bristol

     

    NickJervis.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for websites to earn advertising revenues by advertising and linking to the Amazon website.

     

    Copyright © 2023

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
    CookieDurationDescription
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
    viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
    Functional
    Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
    Performance
    Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
    Analytics
    Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
    Advertisement
    Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
    Others
    Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
    SAVE & ACCEPT