Do I need someone local to Minneapolis?

For a local business, yes, because the Google listing, the reviews, the chamber, and the local press all work differently here and someone local knows the people. For a company selling nationally, no.

What about marketing agencies in Minneapolis?

There are excellent ones, built for budgets that start around $10,000 a month. Below that you are not their priority.

How do I check someone's track record?

Call a past client. A real consultant gives you a name and a number without hesitating. Then look at what they built and see if it still works.

Should the consultant also do the work?

For small businesses, yes. The plan, the website, and the listing get done by one person who talks to you. For bigger companies the consultant should direct and the specialists should build.

How do you fit into this list?

I am the fractional marketing lead or the one-person plan-and-build for businesses from local up to mid-size, and I will tell you on the first call if you need someone else.

How do I find the best marketing consultant in Minneapolis?

The best one is the one who fits your size and your problem. Sort the list with five questions. Have they run marketing with their own money on the line? Will they put a price on the page? Can they show something they built that is still running? Will they say no to you? And do they talk like a person or like a deck?

Ask them to show you something they built that is still running. That one question sorts most of the list.

Jared Lukes, Minneapolis consultant

People type "best marketing consultant Minneapolis" into Google and ChatGPT every day. Both hand back a list, and neither knows your business. Here is how to sort it.

Why is there no best one?

A consultant who is right for a twenty-million-dollar manufacturer is wrong for a co-op with six staff, and the other way around. The manufacturer needs someone who has managed agencies and budgets. The co-op needs someone who will write the Google listing themselves. Ask who their last three clients were and how big. If none of them look like you, keep looking.

What are the five questions?

Have you run marketing with your own money on the line? Someone who has owned a business, or had their pay tied to results, thinks differently about a $20,000 campaign than someone who has only spent other people's budgets. I have founded companies and sold some of them.
Will you put a price on the page? If the price is a secret until the second meeting, the price is whatever they think you will pay. Mine are on the services page.
Can you show me something you built that is still running? A live website, a listing that ranks, a campaign that is still on, a number from this year. A case study PDF does not count. If everything is from 2019, ask why.
Will you tell me no? Ask them about a bad idea you have. If they agree with it, they will agree with every bad idea you have for the next year.
Do you talk like a person? If the first call is full of funnels, synergies, and omnichannel, the reports will be too, and you will not be able to tell what is working.

Should I hire a consultant, an agency, or a full-time person?

Under a million in revenue, a consultant for the plan and freelancers for the work. One to twenty million, a fractional marketing lead who manages the agency or the freelancers for you. Past that, hire full-time. Fractional CMO, agency, or full-time hire has the longer comparison.

What should it cost?

A plan and a few months of direction from a fractional marketing lead runs $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week. A one-off working session is in the low thousands. If someone quotes you a $500 a month "strategy package", you are buying a newsletter.

What are the red flags?

Guaranteed rankings. A contract longer than three months before you have seen any work. Reports you cannot understand. A refusal to name a price. And, these days, a deck obviously written by AI that nobody bothered to read before sending.

Answered by Jared Lukes, Minneapolis. Twenty-five years in brand, UX, and technology, currently holding fractional AI and technology seats at three companies. About Jared.