Founders often ask: “Do I need a growth consultant or a growth marketer?”
The terms sound similar, but the roles serve different purposes. If you confuse the two, you may end up hiring someone great for the wrong job.
In this article, we break down the real difference between growth consulting vs growth marketing, so you can make smarter decisions about who to bring into your team.
Growth Marketing: Focused Execution
A growth marketer is a channel operator. Their job is to run experiments across platforms for paid ads, SEO, email, or content to improve top-of-funnel acquisition and activation.
They are best when you know what your strategy is and just need someone to make it happen.
Typical responsibilities:
- Running A/B tests
- Setting up paid ad campaigns
- Creating landing pages
- Optimizing email flows
- Improving CAC and ROAS
Who they report to: A marketing leader or founder with a clear strategy
Growth Consulting: Strategic Direction
A growth consultant helps define your strategy. They don’t just ask “how can we get more leads?” they ask, “what’s stopping us from growing, and where should we focus next?”
Growth consultants guide GTM in planning, messaging, funnel architecture, pricing, retention, and team structure. They look across your business to connect the dots.
Typical responsibilities:
- Identifying growth bottlenecks
- Defining Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
- Structuring the marketing roadmap
- Aligning product, sales, and marketing
- Prioritizing growth experiments across the funnel
Who they report to: Founders, CEOs, or VPs of growth
When You Need Each One
| Scenario | Hire a Growth Consultant | Hire a Growth Marketer |
| You don’t know what’s holding back growth | ✅ | |
| You need a go-to-market strategy | ✅ | |
| You have a strategy, but no one to execute | ✅ | |
| Your funnel is leaking but unclear where? | ✅ | |
| You want to test ad creatives or CTAs | ✅ | |
| You’re preparing for scale or a fundraise | ✅ | |
| You need more campaign bandwidth | ✅ |
At Consult Kay, we often guide founders through this transition setting the roadmap, then helping them hire the right marketing talent or agency to execute it.
Why This Confusion Hurts Startups
Founders often hire a growth marketer expecting strategy. The result? Busy dashboards, lots of experiments, and no clear direction.
On the other hand, hiring a consultant when you need high-volume execution leads to frustration. A good strategy dies in a backlog.
Knowing the difference helps you build the right team in the right order.
Final Thoughts
Growth consulting vs growth marketing isn’t about which is better. It’s about sequence.
If you’re still figuring out product-market fit, ICP, funnel design, or how to align your team, then you need a growth consultant.
If you’ve nailed those and now want to go faster, hire a marketer to scale.
The best growth doesn’t come from trying everything. It comes from knowing what matters most and doing it well.
About Consult Kay
Consult Kay partners with startups and SaaS companies as their strategic growth consultants helping founders clarify direction, prioritize actions, and build marketing systems that deliver. We offer fractional CMO services, funnel optimization, and roadmap planning designed for early-stage momentum.