Internet marketing consulting that gets results.

Case Studies

Partnering with Business Consultants

Expanding Branding

Improving E-commerce Sites

Who we provide the most value to

• Consultants and firms looking to solve technical, digital problems for themselves and their clients.
• E-commerce websites of established businesses looking to improve sales

Who we don’t work with

• Startups or new businesses looking for equity partners
• Businesses with budgets less than $1,000 / month, you’re better off learning and self-managing your marketing

Frequently Answered Questions

• Why hire a marketing consultant?

  I’m sure you’ve been Googling around, looking for the right digital marketing solutions. Do you go with a digital marketing agency? Or an Internet marketing company? Maybe you outsource your digital marketing efforts on Fivrr at $5 a pop. The Internet has given you a lot of options to choose from and, at a glance, I’m competing to be one of them. But if you’re looking to get the most return on your investment, it’s clear that hiring me as your digital marketing consultant is the best choice you can make. If you’re looking to increase visibility, improve profitability, boost revenue and achieve other goals, we should talk. Digital marketing strategy is the core of a successful digital marketing program. You don’t need fancy software to put together a solid digital marketing strategy, you just need experience and a text editor. I’ve found in my work that businesses often need a digital marketing strategy when they have the following problems. The business has no purpose. A company that lacks a digital strategy also lacks clear strategic goals defining what they plan to achieve online in terms of building deeper relationships with existing clients or finding new ones. Lacking clear goals may also mean you don’t put enough resources into stay up-to-date with online marketing trends or keep up with competitors. When you can’t name five competitors. I’ve heard it a lot. You’re unique. Nobody does what you do. But 99% of the time, you do. Digital marketing strategy is about understanding how your business competes in the market. With time spent on developing a digital strategy it’s easier to understand your true competitors and how well you compete across a variety of marketing channels. When you can’t tell me what your business does in under 5 seconds. A clearly defined online customer value proposition is what you need to differentiate your online services and at the same time encourage both new and existing customers to engage and stay loyal. You can’t tell me where you’d take your best customer on a date. If you can’t tell me what your best customers are interested in, where they get their information and where they hang out, then you’re not spending enough time developing your digital marketing strategy. When you haven’t updated your website in months. Your market is in a constant state of change. The Internet changes at an even faster rate. You’ve got to stay ahead of the curve to remain relevant and connect with new and current customers.

• How is GainTap’s marketing consulting different?

  If you have an annual marketing budget that’s under $100,000 – I’ll squeeze the most return out of that out of any marketing company you’ll meet. Here’s why. Traditional agencies and Internet companies have bloated staffs. When you’re researching marketing agencies, take a look at their Glassdoor profiles. They’re usually staffed by college grads or interns with little experience and even less wages. More people means more cost. These companies need to drastically increase the cost of their services so they’re profitable. You’ll often have four people working on your account, billing hours to update a spreadsheet when only one of them does actual work on your account for a handful of hours a week. I’m an experienced technical marketer and marketing manager. When you work with me, it’s just me and contractors for specialized or fast-turnaround work. I generally operate off flat rates to keep things easy, sustainable and forecast-able. You don’t have to worry about having the hourly consultant rate meter running in the background either. I provide marketing consulting packages, so if you just want recommendations, I can do that. If you want me to get in there and fix things, I’d prefer to do that. Or if you’re looking for a longer contract marketing manager, VP or CMO to work inside your company temporarily I can offer value there, too.

• What can I expect when I hire a marketing consultant?

  What you can expect from my marketing consulting service is a clear picture of where you are, where you want to be and a map for getting there. A lot of marketing consultants stop there. Don’t pay for advice. Pay for results. I can help you further by realizing your marketing strategy using the right tactics to reach your company’s goals. I’ve managed marketing departments for small to medium sized businesses and know what it takes to get results. From getting Google traffic to starting up successful email marketing programs, I’ll get you on the right path for sustainable business growth.

• Will I be able to measure results?

  Part of an Internet marketing consultant’s job is to look at what works and to make it work better. If you’re spending money on the wrong things, then it needs to be re-routed to things that work. Pretty simple on paper. But it’s a little trickier than that. Good measurable results start with knowing your brand, your business and the market it operates within. From there we agree on an objective to build your marketing strategy around. What I do is assess your position in the market and recommend the right blend of tactics to help you reach your business objectives. It’s more than “start tweeting” or “make a Facebook page.” It’s about a strategic marketing shift to bring you more visits, customers and business. The only thing that matters in business is getting results. Digital marketing has given us more profitable ways to market by reaching the right people at the right time. You can have the best taglines, the flashiest ads or even the biggest budget in your digital strategy, but at the end of the day it’s your execution and strategy that determine how successful your business is. I’ve seen companies get an 80% gain in web form submissions from changing only a few words of text on their site. What improvements are you missing out on from not working with a digital marketing consultant?

• What process do you follow?

  I’ll generally sit down with a new client and ask several questions about challenges the business faces from the client’s point-of-view. Here’s a list of some common answers related to their Internet marketing struggles. We don’t get enough leads. Nobody knows our company name. We don’t have the technical skills to do any of this online marketing stuff. People say our product is awesome but nobody is talking about. I don’t know if my advertising is working. Our website doesn’t tell the whole story about our company. I don’t feel like we’re efficient. We’ve been getting complaints online and I don’t know how to deal with it. We’ve got a blog but I’m too busy to post anything. Not planning or routinely reviewing a digital marketing strategy is where most companies go wrong. When executed correctly, your digital marketing programs and assets can impact positively on your company’s success. The problem is most businesses don’t step back, sit down, make a map and chart a course. They’re constantly just getting by and when they do get into marketing it’s approached as a task based system. Make a Facebook page. Post a Tweet. It’s not addressed in a strategic way. I’ll take a look at the market and find out where more of your best customers are. From there we can build out a marketing strategy to help your company acquire more of these customers. I’ll look at your customers and their demographics. Who are they? What do they like? Where do they spend their time online? A lot of these questions can be answered through customer surveys either directly with your customers or through the use of an online survey program. I’ll build out customer profiles to help personalize your company’s marketing programs and then I can get to work acquiring new customers for your business that fit these profiles. From there we’ll find out the most profitable ways to reach new customers.