By Sonia Tamayo — 20 years in growth marketing, running creator campaigns since 2014.
Drafted with my agents, edited and fact-checked by me.
TL;DR
- An AI marketing consultant analyses your audience, market and competition, builds the plan around your business objectives and runs it, with AI systems doing the busy work and a senior person in control.
- I go from strategy and opportunity detection to implementing and operating what's needed to reach the result. Hire me when channels are running and you want one person accountable for the whole funnel.
- I cover market, consumer and competitor real-time data and insights, SEO and AEO, paid media, social, creators, analytics, and AI systems for lead gen and acquisition.
Table of Contents
- What Does an AI Marketing Consultant Do?
- Growth Marketing, AI Marketing or Freelance Consultant: What's the Difference?
- How I Work: From Strategy to Operation
- What I Run, Channel by Channel
- How AI Works in My Process
- When Should You Hire a Growth Marketing Consultant?
- What Does a Growth Marketing Consultant Cost?
- Freelance Marketing Consultant, Agency or In-House Hire?
- How to Choose a Growth Marketing Consultant
- How to Hire Me
- Why Hire Me
- FAQ
- About the Author
What Does an AI Marketing Consultant Do?
An AI marketing consultant analyses the audience, the environment and the competition, finds the insights, and reviews the messaging, the positioning and the opportunities. Then the media mix and the core KPIs, read against the business objectives. From there I draft the plan and run it.
The KPIs are also read against the digital properties and what the client's team and tech can actually do. I review performance every day and iterate for the growth we set out to get. I'm a consultant and an operator. I run a human-led agentic operation: a team of agents, plus specialist humans when the job needs them, and I check what they produce before anything goes out.
Growth Marketing, AI Marketing or Freelance Consultant: What's the Difference?
These titles overlap and get used loosely. Growth, AI and AI growth describe what the work covers, and freelance only says how the person is hired, so a freelance consultant can also be any of the others.
| Term | What it usually means | Typical scope | Where I sit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth marketing consultant | Works on getting customers across the whole funnel | Several channels plus the numbers behind them | The core of what I do |
| AI marketing consultant | Uses AI inside marketing work | Anything from a tool list to running the work | The agents carry the weekly legwork |
| AI growth consultant | The growth job with AI systems doing much of the running | Strategy plus the systems that carry it out | My own title |
| Freelance marketing consultant | An independent person hired for a scope | A defined project or retainer, often one specialty | You hire me the same way |
| Fractional CMO | A part-time senior executive who leads the marketing function | The department: team, budget, hiring, strategy | I work on growth and run the channels, next to a CMO or for a founder without one |
| Growth hacker | Usually fast experiments on acquisition and conversion, often in a product company | Tests on landing pages, funnels and channels | I run tests too, inside one plan with the sales data behind it |
I cover the whole funnel and operate the work myself.
How I Work: From Strategy to Operation
Phase 1: Strategy and opportunity detection
Everything starts from your business objectives. I look at your audience, market and competitors, then at your site, ad accounts, analytics and CRM, always against what you're trying to achieve.
The deliverable is a plan built on those objectives: what to go after first, through which channels, measured by which numbers, and who does what. You approve it before anything goes live.
Phase 2: Implementation and operation
Phase 2 is executing whatever is needed to reach the result. This is my proprietary working framework: one loop with five stages, DETECT, CREATE, SCALE, ANALYZE and LEARN.
The agents run on proprietary systems I built from my own way of working: the methods, the thinking and the guidelines I've used with clients for 20 years, written into their instructions and checks. I've digitised my process, so every week runs to the same standard I'd hold myself to. Which tools and systems run depends on the task, and each client works in its own separate space, with its own data, instructions and access.
Ideas, strategy, revision and control are human-led. Agents do the busy work.
What runs each week, who does it, and what you see.
- 01Detectagents read · I cut the noiseLive sources, pulled fresh each week. You get a short brief of what moved.
- 02Createagents draft · I editPosts, scripts, ad copy, pages, daily visuals, one designed video a week.
- 03Scaleapproved work goes outSEO pages, paid, social, creators, outbound. You see what went live and where.
- 04Analyzeads daily · SEO weeklyEverything reads from one place, so the report matches the account.
- 05Learnback into DetectWhat worked and what didn't shapes the next round.
One loop, five stages, running on proprietary agentic systems built from the way I work. Ideas, strategy, revision and control are human-led; agents do the busy work.
Detect
Agents read the market before anything gets made: what people in your category are asking for, what competitors changed. It comes from sources curated by hand after reading your brief, so we know exactly who and what to analyse and follow. The agents then pull them fresh each week. I read the summary myself and throw out the noise. You get a short brief of what moved.
Create
The brief turns into drafts: posts, scripts, ad copy, pages, daily visuals and one designed video a week. Agents write the first versions and I edit them. Brand, design direction and the creative angle come from you, and for bigger clients I bring in a real designer.
Scale
Approved work goes out through whatever channels the brief and the project need: SEO pages, paid campaigns, social, creator partnerships, outbound, and digital TV, out of home or PR when the job calls for them. You see what went live and where, and I can say why each change was made.
Analyze
Every day the ad accounts report what they brought in. Every week the SEO agent checks where you show up in Google, Bing and AI Overview citations. Then the sales data from your CRM: which leads were valid, which became clients, and which channel they came from. All of it reads from one place, so a number in a report matches the number in the account, and a lead is only counted once it's real.
Learn
Every week you get recommendations built from live data: which pages moved up or down in the rankings, which ads and creatives converted, which leads turned into sales, and what to optimise or create next. A page that started ranking tells us what to build next to it. A creative that flopped in paid gets noted before anyone reuses it in social.
The next round of Detect begins from what actually worked.
How I measure the work
What I measure depends on the objective of the job. I love performance data, and I focus on what matters most: marketing qualified leads and sales, even though in many cases part of the sales process sits outside my job and my control. Valid leads, cost per acquisition (CAC) and sales closed in your CRM are the numbers I track, and each change we apply is checked again four weeks later against where it started.
What I don't do, and when you need a specialist
I won't promise a result the system can't predict. What I can give you is an estimate built on your own numbers: your current CAC, lead volume and the other core KPIs show what the same spend is likely to bring, and what more or less spend would likely change. It's an estimate, and we check it against what actually happens every week.
Nothing is published or sent until I've checked it.
Design, brand photography and a developer on your side for the implementation need specialists, and I'll tell you when the budget should include one.
What I Run, Channel by Channel
Seven areas, in the order I usually set them up.
| Area | What runs every week | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Market, consumer and competitor real-time data and insights | Agents pull fresh data from curated, client-specific sources (communities, search data, competitor pages and public competitor and market sales data when available) and flag what changed | A short brief on what people want, what competitors did and how the market is selling |
| SEO and AEO | An SEO agent checks Google, Bing and AI Overview citations | A ranked list of what to fix or build next, what moved last week and how to optimise it |
| Paid media | Budgets, bids and creative performance read across Google, Meta, LinkedIn and X | Proposed changes with the reason attached |
| Social | Daily visuals plus one designed video a week, from your brief and materials | Drafts for your approval, then published work |
| Creators | Each creator vetted against the brief for audience fit before budget moves, and creator programmes run for the long term | One verdict per name through Creator Validator, and a creator programme built around your brand |
| Viral scripts and formats | Agents track what's trending in your niche, which formats are winning and which core concepts are moving, rising or already peaked | Ready-to-shoot scripts every week, built on those winning formats and concepts and adapted to your brand, with hooks and filming notes |
| Analytics | Reports from the same source every time, across ad accounts and web analytics | One place where the numbers live, from the click to the closed sale |
| AI systems for lead gen and acquisition | Outreach goes out every week, and the ads report daily on what they brought in | Prospect lists by sector and postcode, replies and a daily ad report |
The AI growth systems page shows the setup in more detail.
How AI Works in My Process
An AI marketing consultant plans your marketing and uses AI agents to carry out the work. I operate the agents, review what comes out and answer for the result. When you compare consultants, ask who runs the agents day to day.
In my work, AI sits at the center. With expert guidance and my own proprietary systems, it helps execute everything better and faster. Agents pull the market data, draft the first versions, write the daily ad reports and build the prospect lists, each with its own instructions and checks. They don't decide where your budget goes or send an email to a prospect. Those calls are mine, and often yours.
When Should You Hire a Growth Marketing Consultant?
Hire a growth marketing consultant when you need a senior person to set the strategy and run the implementation, and you don't want to take on a full-time hire. It usually comes up in one of five situations, listed below.
You need someone who can run it from strategy to implementation
Yes, when you want one person to plan the work and carry it out. I set the strategy, run the channels and read what comes back from them.
You want senior guidance on growth and operations without hiring a person
A consultant fits when you want experienced guidance without a full-time salary, and it lasts as long as the work needs it. You skip the payroll and the recruitment, and someone steers growth and the day-to-day operation.
Your agency executes, but nobody senior owns the strategy
Keep the agency and add someone above it to own the strategy. I set the direction, read the results and brief them on what to do next.
Your team is junior and needs a senior to lean on
Yes, it helps a junior team: someone to set the priorities and review the work while they keep shipping. A junior team can move fast and still miss the bigger picture, so I work next to them and they keep learning while it ships.
You want to run your operation with AI and a specialist
Hire one when you want AI running parts of the operation and a specialist answering for the result. I run the work with a team of agents and check what they produce.
What Does a Growth Marketing Consultant Cost?
My engagements start from €3,000 a month, depending on the systems, tools and scope of work. That starting level covers one channel or a focused scope, run every week. The first call decides the scope, and nothing starts before we agree on it.
How many channels are in scope, how much runs every week, which systems and tools the work needs, and whether specialist humans join all move the figure.
Freelance Marketing Consultant, Agency or In-House Hire?
Each of the three fits some situations. The table compares who does the work, what it covers and how fast it starts.
| In-house hire | Agency | Independent consultant (freelance) who also operates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | The employee, plus whoever you add | A team of specialists, often junior people on the day-to-day | One senior person, with a team of agents and specialist humans when needed |
| Scope | Whatever the job description says | Whatever the retainer covers | The channels we agree on, as one connected job |
| Who owns the result | You do | The account lead, within the scope sold | Me, for the scope agreed |
| Speed to start | Months to hire and onboard | Weeks to pitch and staff | Days to a first scoped piece of work |
| Senior attention | Full, but one person | Shared across many accounts | Direct, because I'm the one in your analytics |
A freelance marketing consultant or a freelance AI consultant is one person you hire for a scope. I work that way too. The difference is that I also run the execution across channels. If you need one specialty on a defined project, a freelance specialist can be the right call. If you need the whole funnel handled as one job, I can do that.
The same split applies to an AI marketing agency vs consultant. If you hire an AI marketing consultant, ask what they run themselves. For AI consulting for small businesses, the table shows what changes in who does the work.
How to Choose a Growth Marketing Consultant
Eight checks worth making with anyone you're considering, me included.
Ask these before you hire anyone, me included.
Four areas, eight checks. A good answer is specific; tick the ones you hear.
Work & proof
- 01Who does the work after the call?good answerI stay on to run it
- 02Real cases in a similar situation?good answerclose sector · similar start · plain terms
Data & cadence
- 03What do they read?good answeryour CRM: valid leads, who became clients
- 05How often will you see results?good answerevery week, from live data
Scope & limits
- 04What won't they do?good answersays when the budget needs a specialist
- 06Which funnel parts do their systems cover?good answerresearch → creation → campaigns → analytics → CRM
Tech
- 07Which LLMs and generative AI?good answernames the models and what each one does
- 08How technical are they?good answerconnects ads, analytics and CRM through APIs
Eight questions in four areas, each with what a good answer sounds like. The list below is how I answer them.
- Ask who does the work after the call. Some consultants hand over a plan and leave, and I stay on to run it.
- Ask for real cases in a similar situation. A close sector, a similar starting point, told in plain terms. Mine are under Results across clients, described by category.
- Check what they read. Clicks and form fills sit one step before revenue. I read the sales data in your CRM: which leads were valid, which became clients.
- Ask what they won't do. I tell you when the budget needs a specialist, and my list is under What I don't do, and when you need a specialist.
- Ask how often you'll see results. You get my recommendations every week, from live data.
- Ask which parts of the funnel their systems and agents cover. Some only automate content. Mine run from market and audience research through creation, campaigns and analytics to the sales data in your CRM.
- Ask what tech they use: which LLMs and which generative AI. A serious answer names the models and says what each one is used for. I work with Claude, Gemini, GLM and Grok, each on the tasks it does best, and choose the image and video models per job.
- Ask how technical they are. Can they connect your ad platforms, analytics and CRM, and build the API connections that give you better control of the ad activity? I run Google, Meta, LinkedIn and X ads through their APIs, with daily reports reading from the same source as your sales data.
How to Hire Me
Email hello@soniaia.com with the problem you're working on.
- Tell me what you're working on. An email describing the actual problem. No form.
- A call. We talk through the problem and what a result would look like. If after our first conversation I'm not sure I can deliver the result you need, I'll tell you, and we won't start.
- A scoped start. If it fits, we agree what the first piece of work is and what it should produce.
Why Hire Me
About half my career was inside agency groups and the other half I've spent building on my own. I've worked on brands including Unilever, Samsung and Kellogg's, and I've run creator campaigns since 2014.
The agency groups were MindShare (WPP), Starcom (Publicis) and Carat + iProspect (Dentsu), with media and growth work also for Nokia, Alfa Romeo and Microsoft Iberia.
Recognition along the way: 2014 EMEA Market of the Year (Kellogg's, as Account Director), 2013 Best European Activation (Kellogg's), 2011 Star Performer of the Year, Innovation (Aegis Media Spain), 2011 Working Together (Global Aegis Media Awards).
Results across clients
I've worked with clients in different sectors through rough economic years and a complete change in how people buy and how advertising works. Four cases, described by category.
A B2B client: four years of hitting objectives in a turbulent market
Over four years the economy kept shifting, and advertising and consumer behaviour changed completely along the way. I kept one plan running across channels and re-read the numbers as conditions moved. The client met its objectives across those four years. This year, through one of the biggest disruptions SEO has seen, two of their money pages moved from positions 5 to 10 up to positions 1 and 2 for their core queries.
An aesthetic clinic, after three years of falling sales
Sales had been dropping for three years. We improved the organic social strategy with new viral formats, created branded pieces, and adjusted the media and the ads to reach the people who actually buy aesthetic treatments. That helped reverse the three-year sales decline, and one day of the week brought in the clinic's highest sales in 20 years.
A sports nutrition brand that moved from paid ads to branded content
The brand was running flat paid campaigns. We moved it to a branded content strategy: videos reached up to 500K views, the DMs turned into a steady sales pipeline for the product, and influencer fees went down, because creators now wanted to take part instead of being chased.
A small company: sold out, then distributed abroad
A small company ran an influencer campaign with us. It sold out the stock, and the attention brought in international distribution.
Details on each case are available on request, or when we talk.
FAQ
What does an engagement cost? Engagements start from €3,000 a month, depending on the systems, tools and scope of work involved. We scope it on the first call, before anything starts.
How long before we see results? You get recommendations from the first week, built from live data on your market, ads, rankings and leads. Each change we apply is checked again four weeks later against where it started. I don't promise a date for results, though I can estimate what to expect from your own CAC and volume, and we check it against reality every week.
How involved does my team need to be? It depends on the job and on each case. The first stage needs more of your team: access to the analytics, ad accounts and CRM, the brief, and approving the plan before anything goes live. After that it's lighter, with weekly recommendations on what to change. Brand, relationships and the final say stay with your team.
How do you handle our data and accounts? I work from shared access to your analytics, ad accounts and CRM, so every report reads from the same numbers. Each client runs in its own separate space, with its own data, instructions and access, and nothing is shared between clients.
Do you work with small businesses or only large companies? Both. Small businesses usually start with one channel, run every week, and add more when the numbers justify it. Larger companies can run the full scope. I'll tell you which one fits, and I'll say so if the budget isn't there yet for what you want.
Can you help us show up in AI answers like Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT? Yes, that's part of the SEO and AEO work. My SEO agent checks every week which of your pages Google AI Overviews cite, and I turn that into a list of what to fix or build next. I don't promise citations in Google AI Overviews or ChatGPT.
How is a growth marketing consultant different from a fractional CMO? A fractional CMO is a part-time marketing executive who leads the department: the team, the budget, the hiring. A growth marketing consultant works on the growth itself, the channels and the numbers behind them. I sit next to a fractional CMO, or work directly with a founder who doesn't have one.
What is an AI growth consultant? An AI growth consultant does the growth marketing job with AI agents carrying the repetitive work: research, drafts, reports, prospect lists. I'm one: independent, based in Madrid, running the work as well as planning it.
Can I hire a growth marketing consultant online? Yes. I'm based in Madrid and work remotely with agencies and brands in Spain, the rest of Europe, LATAM and beyond. The first call is online, and the work runs inside your own accounts and tools, so where you're based rarely gets in the way of starting.
About the Author
Sonia Tamayo is the founder of SoniaIA, an independent growth marketing consultant and operator in Madrid running a human-led agentic operation. More on Sonia Tamayo Díaz and on the AI growth systems behind the work.
