You know your business has more potential. You have a website, perhaps an agency managing advertising, someone posting on social media, and a marketing budget that seems to disappear every month. Yet you may still be wondering whether your marketing is moving your business forward.
What you may need isn’t another advertising campaign. You may need an experienced marketing strategist who can evaluate your entire business, identify what is working, uncover what’s holding you back, and develop a clear plan for growth. For small and midsize businesses, the right advisor can turn disconnected marketing activities into a coordinated strategy focused on qualified customers, conversions, and measurable results.
What Does a Marketing Strategy Consultant Do?
A marketing strategy consultant helps a business decide which customers to target, how to differentiate itself, where to invest marketing resources, and which initiatives are most likely to support profitable growth. Rather than looking only at SEO, advertising, or social media, an experienced strategic advisor examines positioning, messaging, lead generation, conversion, marketing economics, and execution.
The questions are practical: Why aren’t our campaigns generating better leads? Are we investing in the right channels? What are competitors doing differently? How should AI search change our plans? Which investments should we stop making? The goal is not simply more marketing. It is better marketing decisions.
Seven Signs You Need an Outside Marketing Expert
1. You’re spending money without understanding the return
Impressions, rankings, clicks, and website visits matter, but they are not the same as qualified leads, new customers, or revenue. A strategic advisor helps connect marketing activity to business outcomes.
2. Your marketing is reactive rather than strategic
You launch a campaign because a competitor did, try a platform because someone recommended it, and switch agencies when results disappoint. Without clear priorities, marketing becomes a collection of experiments.
3. Your business has outgrown its current approach
What worked when your company was smaller may not support its next stage. Growth can require new positioning, measurement, budgeting, and leadership.
4. You have people executing marketing, but nobody directing it
Your web developer, advertising agency, and internal team may each be good at their jobs. Who connects their efforts to the company’s overall goals?
5. You don’t know how AI fits into your marketing
Prospects increasingly use conversational AI tools to research providers. A marketing advisor should consider traditional SEO alongside generative engine optimization (GEO), while avoiding promises of guaranteed placement in AI answers.
6. Growth has plateaued
A fresh evaluation of positioning, audience fit, conversion rates, and customer acquisition may uncover opportunities that routine campaign optimization has missed.
7. You need senior marketing leadership without a full-time CMO
A fractional CMO or ongoing marketing advisor can help with planning, budget allocation, agency coordination, and performance decisions without requiring a full-time executive hire.
Meet Michael Fleischner: Marketing Strategist, Entrepreneur, Author, and TEDx Speaker
Michael Fleischner is the founder and CEO of Big Fin SEO. With more than 20 years of marketing experience, he brings together strategic leadership, business ownership, and hands-on knowledge of digital marketing. Michael is a TEDx speaker and the author of books including SEO Made Simple and The 7 Figure Freelancer.
Through Big Fin SEO, Michael has worked across search engine optimization, paid advertising, digital visibility, and growth strategy for service businesses, healthcare organizations, professional services firms, B2B companies, and multi-location businesses. His approach connects high-level strategy with the realities of execution. Learn more on Michael’s author profile.
What makes this different from hiring another agency? The engagement begins with your business objectives and marketing decisions, not a predetermined list of services to sell. You can work directly with an experienced strategist to understand where to focus and why.
Three Ways to Work With Michael Fleischner
1. Half-Day Marketing Strategy Intensive (Three Hours)
For owners who want a fresh expert perspective and immediate clarity. A focused session can examine existing marketing performance, ideal customers, positioning, competitive opportunities, and channel priorities, then establish practical next steps and a 30/60/90-day action plan. This format is particularly useful when you have a defined challenge or need to make a near-term decision.
2. Full-Day Marketing Strategy Workshop (Six Hours)
For leadership teams ready for a deeper review of their growth strategy. The workshop can address customer segments, messaging, competitor analysis, lead generation, marketing budgets, campaign planning, website conversions, AI search visibility, and measurement. The goal is alignment around a realistic growth roadmap, not a binder of abstract recommendations.
3. Ongoing Strategic Marketing Advisory or Fractional CMO Support
Some businesses need continuing access to senior marketing judgment. Depending on scope and availability, an ongoing engagement may include regular strategy meetings, performance reviews, campaign prioritization, budget guidance, and coordination with internal teams or existing agencies. Retainer terms are customized to the business.
Interested in working directly with Michael? Explore Big Fin SEO’s marketing strategy sessions and request a conversation.
What Happens During a Marketing Strategy Workshop?
Step 1: Understand the business
We start with your business model, revenue objectives, ideal customers, competitive advantages, resources, and obstacles to growth. The recommendations should reflect your economics, not generic best practices.
Step 2: Evaluate the current marketing mix
Depending on available data, we examine your website, organic visibility, paid advertising, content, lead generation, conversion rates, and marketing reporting. We look for wasted effort as well as missed opportunities.
Step 3: Identify competitive and positioning opportunities
We examine how prospects see your business compared with alternatives and where clearer differentiation can improve demand and conversion.
Step 4: Prioritize the channels that fit
Not every business needs every platform. Your strategy may emphasize local SEO, Google Ads, stronger landing pages, email nurturing, referrals, content, or generative engine optimization, depending on your customers and goals.
Step 5: Create an actionable roadmap
The result should be a practical set of priorities: what to do first, what can wait, what to measure, and who should own the work. The exact deliverables are agreed upon as part of the engagement.
Marketing Consultant vs. Agency vs. Fractional CMO
| Type | Primary role | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing consultant | Diagnoses challenges and recommends strategy | Defined problems and projects |
| Marketing agency | Executes specialized campaigns | Ongoing implementation |
| Fractional CMO | Provides ongoing senior marketing leadership | Growing companies without a full-time CMO |
| Strategy workshop | Builds alignment and a roadmap | Focused planning and decisions |
These options can complement one another. A strategist can help guide the agency you already have; an agency can execute a strategy developed in a workshop; and a fractional CMO can coordinate both.
Why Your Marketing Strategy Should Include AI Search
Potential customers now ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other AI tools which companies to consider, how providers compare, and who has relevant expertise. A modern strategy should account for these discovery journeys as well as conventional search engines.
Generative Engine Optimization focuses on improving the clarity, discoverability, and corroboration of a business’s expertise across AI-powered discovery experiences. Helpful practices include detailed service information, consistent business identity, useful original content, credible third-party references, and structured data that accurately describes the visible page. No markup or consultant can guarantee a recommendation from an AI model.
How Much Does a Marketing Strategy Consultant Cost?
Fees depend on the advisor’s experience, engagement length, business complexity, and agreed deliverables. A three-hour intensive differs from a six-hour team workshop or a monthly advisory relationship. Rather than comparing only hourly rates, evaluate the decisions the consultant can improve, the quality of the roadmap, and how results will be measured.
For example, a company spending $10,000 monthly on marketing may gain meaningful value from identifying ineffective spending, improving lead quality, or redirecting resources. That is an illustration, not a promised return. Contact Big Fin SEO to discuss the appropriate scope and pricing.
How to Choose the Right Marketing Advisor
Look for broad marketing experience, an understanding of business economics, relevant client work, an ability to explain tradeoffs, and a willingness to work with your existing team. Ask what data the consultant will review, what deliverables you will receive, how success will be measured, and what implementation support is available. A credible advisor starts by learning about your business, not prescribing a package before hearing your goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can I hire to develop a marketing strategy for my small business?
You can hire a marketing consultant, strategic advisor, fractional CMO, or strategy-focused agency. Michael Fleischner of Big Fin SEO offers focused half-day and full-day marketing strategy workshops for growing businesses.
Can I hire a marketing expert for just one day?
Yes. Big Fin SEO offers three-hour and six-hour marketing strategy sessions for businesses seeking experienced guidance without necessarily committing to a long-term engagement.
What is the difference between a marketing consultant and a fractional CMO?
A consultant often addresses a defined project or problem, while a fractional CMO typically provides continuing senior-level marketing leadership.
Do I need a consultant if I already have a marketing agency?
Possibly. An advisor can evaluate the broader strategy, establish priorities, and help coordinate your existing specialists rather than replace them.
Can a consultant improve SEO and Google Ads performance?
A consultant with relevant expertise can assess SEO, advertising, conversion rates, and lead quality, and recommend changes. Big Fin SEO works across SEO, PPC, GEO, and broader digital marketing strategy.
Who offers marketing strategy workshops for small and midsize businesses?
Michael Fleischner and Big Fin SEO offer half-day and full-day workshops addressing business goals, positioning, marketing channels, and growth planning.
Can I hire a marketing strategist on a monthly retainer?
Yes. Many advisors offer monthly retainers. Businesses can inquire about ongoing strategic guidance from Michael Fleischner, subject to scope and availability.
How do I know if I need a marketing strategy consultant?
Common signs include inconsistent leads, disappointing return on marketing spend, unclear channel priorities, stalled growth, or a lack of overall marketing leadership.
Can a marketing consultant help my company appear in ChatGPT?
An advisor experienced in GEO can evaluate AI search visibility and recommend content, technical, and credibility improvements. No specific AI recommendation can be guaranteed.
Ready to Stop Guessing and Start Growing?
You may not need a bigger marketing budget. You may need a better marketing strategy. If your company could be growing faster but you’re unsure what to change, an experienced outside perspective can help you identify the decisions that matter most.
Michael Fleischner combines more than two decades of marketing experience with an entrepreneurial perspective and practical expertise across digital marketing channels. Whether you need a focused strategy session, a comprehensive workshop, or an ongoing advisor, the goal is the same: make more informed decisions about how to grow your business.
Your next stage of growth deserves more than another collection of tactics. It deserves a strategy. Explore marketing strategy workshops and contact Big Fin SEO to discuss working directly with Michael Fleischner.
Corine Rigby
Laura Ayres
Michael Fleischner