Either way, the nature of the relationship is temporary. So, as companies become more sophisticated about the particulars they want from marketers, they will tend to outsource those particulars to specialists. And as marketers become more sophisticated about our own career interests and skills, many of us will become those specialists. We will trade in our relatively secure functional positions to become itinerant workers who trade on our skills and the inherent value that we can bring to organizations. Consultants tend to evaluate problems as objective outsiders and offer recommendations.
Consultants typically take no role in implementing their suggestions.
They focus on results, not recommendations. They are largely accountable for the end-product of those action plans. Some marketing contractors take turns with these separate roles, but most contractors tend to lean in one direction or another. My hunch is that contract workers will be a more likely resource than consultants as companies turn more and more to outside specialists to get problems solved and important work done. Contract workers who have emerged during the last several years are linked more closely to an era of downsized organizations, flatter hierarchies, more fluid and technologically-driven workforces, and fewer workers.