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Is there a market for generalist (non-technical) web consultants?

6 points by ybalkind ↗ HN
I often see medium sized Corporates getting completely fleeced when they outsource their corporate websites and digital marketing. Not only are they getting overcharged, but because they don't really understand digital they end up getting less than ideal outcomes.

I've been toying with the idea of becoming an independent digital consultant to the type of corporates which don't usually have a solid foundation in digital, helping them understand what they can and should do online, and managing the process of outsourcing this function..

When one hears of successful consultants, they usually have a more specialist technical understanding. What I propose offering is just a bit of digital marketing, an understanding of the web dev and design process, user experience, content creation, and social media.

Does anyone know of any success stories of people going independent as digital/web consultants such as I'm envisioning (links to blogs or case studies would be most appreciated)? Or are these skills too easily obtainable to make for a successful consulting career?

5 comments

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notahacker
Many if not most PR and media planning companies advise corporates on digital marketing without actually doing design and build in-house, and it's not too difficult to sell design and build as part of your services whilst passing the implementation of the project on to a partner company or contractor. Digital agencies that specialise in more technical projects tend to liaise with corporates through largely "non-technical" account directors rather than developers or analysts anyway. Ability to sell your services is far more important than technical skill for most consulting roles.
CyberFonic
Yup, sales ability is crucial. You also have to consider whether you are operating as a pure consultant or being the principal contractor. In the later case, you would have greater control, but also responsible for SNAFUs.
allendoerfer
As long as you know, what the costs(x) are, you can sell x for costs(x) + y and keep it. When somebody asks you how you do it, the typical answer is, that you work with a network of experts in their field.

As long as I still get the payment I myself ask for. I have no problem working for somebody, who does this and manages to get an additional slice of the pie. Because without him or her the pie could very well be nonexistent.

anon3_
You sound like a project manager, it seems to me like you bring everything together in one package.

Reading into how to run Agile / Scrum processes would be great.

As for the "easily obtainable" bit, wipe away the depressive framing! It turns a world of abundance into a vicious cycle of scarcity; it creates a race to the bottom, when as a consultant, you're showing others clearly how to get to the top, you're with them to help them execute.

Look into NLP. Read a Tony Robbins book.

Focusing on the value you and potential you unlock for others is how we get ahead. And hustle :)

mak4athp
It's extremely hard to sell a novel "job title" as a consultant.

Most clients will want to see examples or case studies of your success in the role -- so that they can understand what you do -- and that can't happen until you get some clients. You'll have a very hard time selling it as "I've done this, that and the other thing in a few different places so of course I can do this for".

You either need to find the established title that already applies to the role you want (project manager?), capture the rest of the supply chain (digital agency?), or you need to stumble into a defining gig before you start marketing yourself.