The role of a marketing consulting agency
To analyze the ERP needs of a marketing agency, it is important to understand its various roles.
A marketing consulting agency supports businesses in developing and implementing customized marketing strategies tailored to their objectives and market. Its role includes:
- Analyzing the market, trends, competition, and consumer behavior;
- Designing marketing plans and multichannel campaigns;
- Defining positioning, communication, content, SEO/SEA, and advertising strategies (social media, display, etc.);
- Managing the execution of marketing actions and measuring their performance.
In short, it intervenes both upstream in strategic planning and downstream in the operational execution of marketing actions.
Key roles within a marketing consulting agency
Marketing Director
The marketing director oversees all of the agency’s activities. They define strategic direction, manage teams, oversee budgets, and ensure client satisfaction. They must have an excellent business vision, a solid marketing background, and strong project management and leadership skills.
ERP expectations:
- Overall performance management through consolidated dashboards (budgets, margins per client, project ROI).
- Cost tracking and profitability analysis of campaigns and clients.
- Cross-functional visibility into teams, projects, resources, and time spent.
- Decision support: forecasting, strategic planning, resource allocation.
Marketing Strategist
The marketing strategist designs action plans tailored to the challenges of the brands they support. They rely on market research, consumer data, and benchmarks to deliver relevant recommendations. They must master client behavior analysis and the formulation of targeted strategies.
ERP expectations:
- Access to consolidated data: client histories, past performance, campaign typologies.
- Smooth collaboration with project and sales teams.
- Ability to segment clients, their behaviors, and their histories.
Marketing Project Manager
A true conductor, the project manager ensures coordination between internal teams, external contractors, and the client. They monitor deadlines, budgets, and deliverables. This role requires great rigor, strong adaptability, and excellent communication skills.
ERP expectations:
- Task and schedule management (Gantt, Kanban, deadlines by resource).
- Budget tracking and time control.
- Visibility into available resources and project assignments.
- Structured communication with clients and internal stakeholders.
Graphic Designer
The graphic designer is responsible for creating visual assets (logos, posters, social media visuals, brochures, etc.). They ensure graphic consistency and the aesthetics of campaigns. Proficiency in design tools (Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, etc.) and a strong creative sensibility are essential.
ERP expectations:
- Simplified access to briefs and files (history, versioning).
- Clear planning of creative tasks in a calendar.
- Tracking of client feedback on designs.
- Link with project teams and associated deadlines.
Community Manager
The community manager is responsible for managing online communities. They create, plan, and publish content on social media, moderate interactions, and analyze user engagement. They must demonstrate responsiveness, creative writing skills, and a good understanding of digital social norms.
ERP expectations:
- Publication planning and coordination with the campaign calendar.
- Tracking of client/community feedback (CRM, possible ticketing).
- Access to campaign KPIs.
- Collaborative tools for content validation with teams.
Communications Officer
The communications officer manages external communication for the agency or its clients. They write content for various channels (social media, press releases, newsletters) and help enhance the brand image. They must have excellent writing skills and the ability to manage public relations.
ERP expectations:
- Centralization of content to be distributed (press releases, articles, newsletters).
- Coordination with other marketing actions (events, campaigns).
- Visibility into important dates (deadlines, publications).
- Tracking of content performance (opens, clicks, engagement).
Web Developer
The web developer designs, develops, and maintains client websites. They ensure technical performance, mobile compatibility, usability, and SEO. They must master programming languages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.) and understand UX/UI principles and SEO/SEA best practices.
ERP expectations:
- Tracking of technical requests from clients and internal teams.
- Organization of the development backlog (prioritization, estimation, tasks).
- Visibility into incidents or bugs to fix (tickets).
- Link with marketing performance (landing pages, tracking).
Marketing Data Analyst
The analyst collects, structures, and interprets data from campaigns and marketing tools. They identify trends, measure performance (KPIs), and produce recommendations to optimize actions. They must be comfortable with data visualization tools (Google Analytics, Power BI, etc.) and know how to communicate their analyses clearly and impactfully.
ERP expectations:
- Unified access to marketing, CRM, campaign, sales, and engagement data.
- Exploration and visualization of KPIs to support strategic decisions.
- Easy data extraction for processing in tools like Power BI.
- Collaboration with teams to interpret results.
Other marketing and communications roles
Here is an additional list of roles found in the marketing and advertising sector:
- Market Research Analyst
- Media Research Analyst
- Marketing Product Manager
- Advertising Manager
- Copywriter
- Web Analytics Consultant
- Data Manager
- Art Director
- Illustrator
- Influencer
- Layout Artist
- Sales Promotion Manager
- Traffic Manager
- Web Designer