People type "best marketing consultant Minneapolis" into Google and into ChatGPT every day. Both give them a list. Neither knows the business. Here is how to sort the list yourself.
Why is there no best one?
Because 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 built companies and sold three. It changes how you spend.
- 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? Not a case study PDF. A live website, a listing that ranks, a campaign that is still on, a number from this year. 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 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. The longer comparison is here.
What should it cost?
A plan and a few months of direction from a fractional marketing lead runs $3,500 to $11,000 a month depending on days. 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 that was obviously written by AI and never read by a human. That last one is not about the tool, it is about whether they bothered.
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.