A content marketing consultant helps businesses build and execute a content strategy with blogs, case studies, video, and other formats to increase traffic and leads. They can cost $5,000 to $20,000 per month. Learn what to expect in this complete guide.
Business owners everywhere use content marketing to connect with their target audience and guide prospects down the sales funnel.
But with so much competition online, building a content strategy that helps you stand out from the crowd takes an expert’s guidance.
That’s where a content marketing consultant comes in.
In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about hiring a content marketing consultant so you can turn content into organic traffic.
What is a content marketing consultant?
A content marketing consultant is a digital marketer who helps businesses build and execute content marketing strategies that appeal to their target audience — including blogs, infographics, case studies, video, and social media.
A content marketing consultant can be an individual or a group of people (such as a content marketing consultancy).
Consultants offer the following content marketing services:
- Strategy: Identifying buyer personas, target audience, competitors, most effective types of content, and topics.
- Creation: Some (but not all) content marketing consultants will offer content creation services. This can be anything from writing blog posts, landing pages, and white papers to organizing podcasts and webinars.
- Distribution: Content marketing experts will identify where target audiences are most likely to consume content and what formats are most effective.
- Analysis: Using Google Analytics and other data tracking tools, your marketing agency or freelance content marketing consultant will track the performance of your content and determine the metrics to gauge its success.
- Optimization: Using the performance data gathered, consultants can make recommendations on improvements to your messaging, format, and flow to boost rankings.
How much does a content marketing consultant cost?
A high-quality content marketing consultant can cost between $5,000 and $20,000 a month.
However, cost will depend on:
- Freelancer vs. agency. A freelance content marketing consultant is typically less expensive than a digital marketing agency.
- Experience. Consultants with at least five years of experience and specific industry knowledge will cost more than junior consultants.
- Scope of work. If you need your content marketing consultant to create, distribute, and analyze your content, this will add to the cost.
- Goals. Ambitious goals like increasing organic traffic fast or capturing qualified leads will also boost expenses — compared to more attainable goals like setting up an email marketing campaign or building a strategy to execute in-house.
- Project duration. A one-off project will be less costly than a monthly ongoing retainer, although a retainer may be more cost-effective in the long term.
While $5,000 to $20,000 a month may sound like a lot, compare it to the cost of a full-time content strategist.
According to Superpath, the average content marketer’s annual income is $111,891, and this figure is growing year over year.
This can make a content marketing consultancy a cost-effective and efficient way to get high-quality marketing for your business.
5 benefits of working with a content marketing consultant
The benefits of working with a content marketing consultant include increased SEO performance, brand awareness, and authority — while gaining valuable insights into your business and saving time.
Specific benefits include:
- A strong strategy
- Improved performance
- Competitive edge
- Professional insights and analytics
- Growth and scalability
1. A strong strategy
A content marketing consultant will have years of experience building custom strategies to achieve business goals.
Your content calendar will act as a road map to guide you toward success — whether you create your own content or lean on your consultant for support.
Case study: Content strategy leads to 49% increase in traffic
Beth Chernes of Beth Chernes Copy & Strategy demonstrates the importance of a great content marketing strategy.
“A client approached me because they wanted lead generation from their website content,” explains Chernes.
“After reviewing their content, I discovered they were writing and posting without a plan. As a result, the content was well-written but was all over the place.”
Together, Chernes worked with the client on SEO and a content strategy that focused on specific content topics relevant to their target audience.
“[We] made an editorial calendar that their team could keep up with. Within 4 months, they saw a 49% increase in website traffic and doubled their website leads.”
2. Improved performance
Content consultants improve online visibility through thoughtful strategies and high-quality SEO-driven content.
“Many companies think that content is the answer, so they just pump out whatever they feel like,” says Taylor Scher of Taylor Scher SEO.
“Most think they need quantity when in reality, quality is the key to content marketing success,” shares Scher.
3. Competitive edge
By improving your content marketing quality, you’ll rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs) — an effective way to stand out against competitors.
4. Professional insights and analytics
The insights obtained from content specialists can be used in all aspects of your marketing (and business) efforts.
5. Growth and scalability
Improved content and traffic lead to growth opportunities down the road. Content marketing consultancies can offer additional services and support as your business grows.
Top 8 content marketing consultants
Ready to partner with a content marketing consultant?
Here are the top eight content marketing consultancies that’ll supercharge your content marketing strategy.
1. Foundation
Foundation specializes in content marketing for B2B brands, understanding the specific challenges these businesses are experiencing in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Foundation’s unique selling point is that the company and its staff have practical experience in running businesses, SaaS companies, and ecommerce brands.
This means the company knows what content your prospective customers want to see.
2. ClearVoice
ClearVoice boasts a wide range of clients in the technology and SaaS sector, including Cisco, Intel, and Intuit (the company behind Mailchimp and QuickBooks).
Fiverr operates this content marketing consultancy and runs in a very similar way.
Clients can select from a range of vetted content marketing specialists, meaning you can work with an experienced person with knowledge of your specific industry sector.
3. HawkSEM
At HawkSEM, we provide content marketing services that drive growth for brands across various industries. We take time to learn each business so we can deliver results to help reach their goals.
And we’re experts at what we do — our clients see an average 4.5x return on investment (ROI) when implementing our suggestions.
One thing that sets us apart from other content marketing consultants is our bespoke marketing technology — ConversionIQ (CIQ).
CIQ tracks the entire marketing process from start to finish, identifying which channels result in the most revenue and seeing where there’s room for improvement. We combine the data we get from CIQ with our marketing team’s extensive knowledge to deliver the best results for our clients.
4. Verblio
Verblio offers “100% Human Content” or “AI+ Human Content” — a cheaper option that uses AI assistance along with human writers for faster (and likely less effective) content creation.
This content marketing consultancy focuses on providing quality content to small and medium-sized businesses and agencies.
5. Siege Media
Siege Media prides itself on being highly data-driven. This means it looks at clients’ data, as well as search engine rankings, to create content that makes them stand out.
This consultancy can deliver a complete content marketing process from start to finish, with strategists, SEO specialists, graphic designers, and animators available as required.
6. Omniscient Digital
Omniscient Digital’s staff have extensive experience working at SaaS brands like HubSpot and Shopify. This means they know what works when it comes to B2B content marketing.
This company doesn’t just create content strategies, but it also specializes in content creation. Omniscient also offers a content optimization service that updates existing content.
7. Codeless
Codeless offers content creation as a service, providing transparent pricing on its website.
The standard content plan includes:
- 2,000 words per article
- Subject-matter expert
- Screenshots and an image library
- Secondary research
- SERP and LLM intent
- One round of revisions
- Quarterly reporting and analysis
- Account management
8. First Page Sage
First Page Sage is an SEO agency that creates your content creation strategy with search engine optimization in mind.
This company’s philosophy is to create “the best piece of content on the web” for their clients’ keyword of choice. If creating more SEO content is a top business goal, First Page Sage could be your match.
How to choose the right content marketing consultant
HawkSEM Co-founder and CEO Sam Yadegar explains that it’s important to do your research when choosing a content marketing consultation specialist.
“The right consultant for your business is someone who understands your target audience, the competitive landscape, and how to position your business as an industry thought leader,” says Yadegar.
“Content marketing consultants who are consistent, reliable, transparent, and have a proven track record are always in high demand.”
Here are some of our top tips for finding a specialist who can help with your content marketing plan.
Identify your goals
Know what business goals you want to achieve with your content so you can set clear expectations and benchmarks from the start.
Calculate your budget
Identify how much you want to spend on content marketing so you know whose services are within your budget.
Some content marketing consulting specialists (like Codeless) are upfront about pricing. This is also true if you use a freelancing portal like Fiverr, Upwork, or PeoplePerHour.
Other content marketing consultants may offer a quote depending on the specific services you need and the time it will take to create in-depth content on your behalf.
Remember that the cheapest content marketing consultant isn’t necessarily the best.
A low-cost marketer may use shortcuts that harm your marketing efforts, such as black hat SEO techniques that result in your web pages getting penalized by Google.
Seek reviews, testimonials, and case studies
Reviews can help you understand the experiences of previous customers to help you decide whether a consultant is the right choice for your business.
Assess their experience, approach, and values
Make sure your potential partner has sufficient experience in the content marketing field and familiarity with your industry as well.
Ask questions about their approach to creating custom content strategies, creating effective content, and managing marketing campaigns.
Finally, it’s important that your values match. From day-to-day operations and communication preferences to larger issues like sustainability and ethics, work with a consultant who feels like they are easily meld with your team.
Many content marketing consultants will have case studies and testimonials on their websites to help you decide.
Google Reviews, social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, and review sites like Clutch and G2 are also fantastic sources of information.
The takeaway
Hiring a content marketing consultant can transform your inbound marketing. However, it’s important to do your research and choose a consultancy that will add value to your business.
If you’re looking for a content marketing consultant that delivers results and enhances your online presence, our expert team is here to help.
Whether you need a top-level strategy to kickstart your marketing workflow or a consultancy that’ll produce and distribute content on your behalf, our know-how will help you succeed.
Get in touch for your free, no-obligation consultation today, and let’s work together to build a successful content plan.
This article has been updated and was originally published in May 2024