All Audiences

Value is a funny thing.

Let’s look at my assistant as an example. Let’s say I pay her an average of $1k/month.

But in that time, she does days of cumulative work I no longer have to do.

Did she create a more profitable outcome by her doing those tasks vs. me? Not directly.

On the one hand, the work does not directly generate more money than if I did the work myself. But by her doing it instead of me, my time is freed up to work on other areas of my business.

And my time is worth a lot more than hers.

It’s easy to get hung up on creating profitable financial outcomes for our clients—which, to be clear, is our primary job. But sometimes, value is created in other indirect ways.

It’s part of why fractional CMO/managed advisory work is so valuable. The value is still created in part by freeing up your client to work on other things. Or by saving them from having to hire a full-time person for the role instead.

Other times, your value comes from helping your clients avoid costly mistakes. Or by giving them clarity on a direction sooner—saving time and wasted energy heading in the wrong direction.

If you’re only looking at the immediate number of new leads or customers you generate, you might be missing a much bigger value calculation.

—kw

I took my wife and kids out for a picnic yesterday for Mother’s Day.

We also brought a kite in the hopes we could do some flying. Problem was, the wind speed was slow and sporadic.

We were able to catch a few gusts of wind and get the kite in the air, but it wasn’t long before the breeze stopped and it would come floating down again.

To keep it in the air, I had to do my fair share of running and pulling of the string. It was pretty funny to watch, actually.

And this is a perfect analogy for business. Right now, we’re all flying metaphorical kites in the market winds.

Some of us are catching air and letting our kites soar. Others can’t even feel a light breeze in their direction.

One thing is for sure, you can’t fly a kite if there is no wind, no matter how good your kite is.

Similarly, you can’t sell something if there is no demand for it, no matter how good the product or service is.

Either go where the wind is or expect to be doing a lot of running to keep your business off the ground.

—k

Yesterday, I asked you a simple question: if you could only be known for one specific thing, what would it be and why?

I had some interesting responses, ranging from the highly specific:

“…helping BVFLS people build/grow/scale successful solo practices.”

to philosophical in nature:

“Sowing Radical Futures” because the current trajectory isn’t good for our children; in other words, I had enough awareness to see and resilience to act.

Interestingly, what is also coming up now is:

Do I really want to be know for this? Wouldn’t I rather be known for the kindest, funniest, open-hearted, loving person by my close family, friends and community…! The interesting dilemma of integrating personal worldview and work worldview.”

Putting aside the topic of combining personal and professional worldviews, this question was meant to provoke you to think in specifics.

We’re all generalists.

We all have more skills and interests than we could possibly include in our work.

And if we’re not careful, it could send a confusing message to the market if you try to be known for too many things.

In my experience, a major key to getting noticed, hired, and recommended is to make intentional trade-offs around what you want to be known for.

If you’re lucky, people will associate you with one main thing. And that’s still a big if. Most people only have a vague notion in their heads about what we do.

The point is to get clear and specific on what you want to be known for by first eliminating the noise.

Sure, you can add flavour to your work. You can introduce your personal views if you feel so inclined. You can be multi-dimensional.

As long as you keep the main thing the main thing.  This is the heart of all marketing strategy.

It’s the trade-offs that make us successful.

—kevin

Quick thought for you today:

If you could only be known for one specific thing, what would it be and why?

If you feel like playing, hit reply and let me know.

—kw

P.S. I may share some responses tomorrow, so if you want me to anonymize your response, let me know in the reply.

The other day, I was listening to a podcast by Andrew Huberman—an expert on how the brain works.

It turns out, our brains are wired to spot new and different things. But we quickly learn to tune things out that become too familiar.

For example, if you walk into a new room with a distinct smell, you’ll notice it right away. An hour or two later, you can’t smell it.

If your marketing looks the same every time—same structure, style, and ideas—people will notice it less.

The best thing you can do is keep switching up your style. Try new things. Keep it fresh so people notice.

Below are a few ways to do that.

1. Teardowns

Teardown isn’t a great name for this. It’s more of an outsider’s “analysis” of a company’s website, email, or general marketing practice in your niche.

Pick someone successful, it works better.

Talk about all the things they’re doing well so others in your target market can learn from them. People will associate those great ideas with you and trust you have the skills and expertise to help them do something similar.

They’ll also get a sample of how you think.

Here’s a recent example I recorded for members and then shared to Twitter.

2. Podcast

Podcasts are a great way to reach people with different mediums.

Even if it’s just you riffing on things or interviewing someone every few weeks, publishing podcasts gives the audio learners a chance to connect with you on a deeper level.

Even within your own episodes, switch it up! Bring guests on some weeks and do solo episodes others.

Or, be super consistent with your structure and mix it up elsewhere—whatever you want.

3. Video

YouTube is considered the second-largest search engine in the world. Google is the first.

Not only is it a good way to build awareness about what you do, it also helps you build relationships with your audience.

It’s hard for people to hire you without getting a sense of your vibe. That’s why video is so powerful. It builds trust and familiarity.

Your vibe attracts your tribe, as they say.

4. Email

I prefer letter-style emails written in my own voice. One email, one topic, one purpose.

But you might prefer to round up resources or ideas you uncovered that week.

Either way, building your email list is one of the most valuable way you can spend your time.

It’s algorithm-proof and will last much longer than the latest social media platform.

The money is in the list, as they say. Keep playing with the format.

6. Resources 

Every so often, try giving people a free training or template.

Package it up like a product but give it away for free. Show people how in-depth your work is.

If you can help people get a win or two for free, you better believe they’ll come back for more.

7. Live training

Nothing beats a live webinar on a highly valuable and specific topic.

Some people won’t attend live, so you can provide a recording for those folks.

Avoid topics that are too general or generic. Get specific by tapping into the things your clients value most from your engagements.

Try to end the webinar with a template people can use to implement what you taught.

It’s a great way to collect emails and also show people how you think and what you know.

7. Engage on social media

Engage with people on social media!

Even if you don’t connect with your actual potential clients, you could easily drum up referrals or have people notice you in the comments.

When you play in traffic, good things happen.

8. Reach out 

Reach out to past clients, industry peers, people who engage with you, or even your ideal clients.

You don’t need a reason other than to see how people are doing. Be curious, be a connector, make intros, or offer a little free help to whoever needs it.

You never know what good things come from just talking to people around you.

9. Dabble in SEO

My friend Tsavo did a great workshop for membership on how to rank your website in search engines.

He converted me to thinking more in terms of search engines (I mostly ignored it before).

SEO can work—and for a long time—if you hit on the right veins.

I still get leads from my old agency website several years later.

10. Golden Goose/Traveling Roadshow

This one is more advanced, but it works super well.

Instead of trying to get in front of prospects one by one (Golden Eggs), look for ways to get in front of your target audience where they already aggregate (Golden Goose).

One method of this is to use what I call the Traveling Roadshow Strategy.

It works like this:

1. Align yourself with people who have an audience of your target market
2. Offer to teach a specific topic that participants can implement without needing to hire you
3. Give them free templates/resources they can use to make that process easier
4. Some percentage will likely convert to hiring you – all you need is one!

I have an entire training on this strategy in the membership, including 15+ places this tactic works.

What else?

This is by no means an exhaustive list. The point I’m making is to diversify your tactics a little.

It’s too easy to get into a rut doing the things that are comfortable. But your marketing will often be a lot more effective if you blend it with other approaches to keep people engaged.

Keep doing what works, but don’t forget to switch it up to keep things fresh.

—kw

There’s a good chance, you’re selling widgets, not business outcomes.

It doesn’t matter the industry, we all do it. We focus on the details of what we sell because we’re trained to do those things so precisely.

We focus on our identity as strategists, advisors, consultants, freelancers.

The problem is, clients don’t buy what we do or who we are. They buy business outcomes from the least risky options available.

Clients want more leads, more profit, higher retention, better conversion rates, more efficient ad spend, etc.

It’s your job to talk about how those things are achieved by whatever it is you sell in a logical and concise way.

I don’t care that the baker made my quiche at 5 am by hand—I just want a delicious breakfast at my local cafe.

Fine to talk about what you do and how you do it, but first focus on the problem you solve and then tie it into the solution you offer.

Go back to the title and intro of this post. Problem first.

– kw

P.S. I moved Mindshare to a new brand name and domain, How to Sell Advice. The membership is still called Mindshare, I just wanted to make it a standalone thing. More on that soon.

When you start out in marketing, you generally work with a wide variety of businesses.

Over time though, you begin to spot trends among your best clients. They’re the ones you enjoy the most and get the best results for.

Chances are, your natural skills—and therefore value—also align with their needs.

You practically feel the expertise coursing through your veins when you work with them.

You actually get energy by working with them vs. feeling depleted every day.

If your core skill is online advertising, you may land on a segment that depends on an ad-heavy marketing strategy.

If your core skills are branding and design, you might find yourself naturally gravitating toward B2C companies.

If you’re a copywriter, you might find your clients are generally online educators, for example.

Whatever it is, it usually happens naturally over time.

You might still be in the discovery phase of who your ideal client is, but if you pay attention to your top few clients over time, I bet you’ll spot a trend.

Seek out more clients like that. Chances are, it will be most aligned with your skills—and value—long-term.

Let the niche choose you (when it’s time).

—kw

This might sound a little sensational, but I’ll say it anyway. I believe it’s our duty as consultants to continually market ourselves.

Not just because it helps you grow your business, but because it helps you build a more ethical business.

I know this sounds unusual, but I’ll explain.

For this conversation, I’m defining ethics by how closely you serve your clients’ interests above all else—even your own interests.

It’s a spectrum, not necessarily black and white. It’s also a mindset, a decision, and an aspiration to aim for.

Our duty to our clients…

I believe we have a duty to advocate for our clients and act in their best interests above all else.

That’s what fiduciaries do and what we should all aspire to be.

If we all tried to act in our clients’ best interests at all times, it would shape how we do business entirely.

So, how does marketing yourself actually lead to being more ethical and aligned with your clients’ best interests?

Let’s look at a few examples:

1. You don’t take on poor-fit clients in the first place because you have better options available.
2. You are more likely to refer poor-fit prospects to someone better suited to their needs.
3. You don’t stay in engagements that aren’t working longer than you should—which is good for your client.
4. You can speak the truth as you see it because you’re not scared to lose them by having hard conversations.
5. You can charge enough to do great work because you have other people willing to pay you fairly if they won’t.
6. You can proactively charge less or change the scope if you notice the value being created isn’t high enough to justify your fees and you have better options at lower prices/levels of engagement (because you’re not desperate for the money).
7. You can pre-emptively call out and own your errors because it’s the right thing to do and you’re not nervous about losing a client.

The bottom line is, you can’t do your best work in alignment with the interests of your clients unless you have other options.

I’ve always said, “get busy, then get picky”. You sometimes have to do work that is less than ideal to pay the bills.

Oftentimes, while you may not be ideal for your client’s needs, you’re the best they can reasonably find or afford!

Nothing wrong with that. Nody is pretending you need to only work with some unicorn-perfect client.

You’ll occasionally take on non-ideal work, charge too little to win the business, or work with clients long past the best-by date.

It doesn’t make you unethical to do any of these things in certain contexts. I’m naive to think it’s that black and white.

But it does make it harder to truly act in their interest if we really need the business.

To truly out our financial interests second, we need to have options. That’s where marketing comes in.

Agree? Disagree? Hit reply and let me know what you think.

—kw

P.S. A quick question: I’m thinking about opening a new tier of Mindshare without any coaching options. Just the monthly workshops, members-only audio, and access to a private Slack community. Would you be interested? Click this link to automatically express your interest.

One of the ways you add value as strategy consultant is by having partners you trust to do tactical implementation work for your clients.

After all, if your clients get hung up on implementation, your work comes to a halt—or you won’t get hired in the first place!

You want to make implementation seamless with your advice.

And while it might seem easy to make intros to people you know, it’s actually super valuable to you and your clients if you pair them with the right people.

It’s valuable to you because you don’t need to micromanage. Your partners learn your ways and you learn theirs. Your work becomes more streamlined and effortless.

It’s valuable to your clients because they save the time, effort, and potential sunk costs of hiring people who aren’t the right fit.

The reality is, hiring good implementation partners is not easy.

It’s even hard for me to find the right people to do execution work. It takes time to find, talk to, and vet people for any given job.

Plus, you never really know how good someone will be until you work with them—and that makes the process even more difficult.

If it’s hard for people like us, you better believe it’s even more difficult for your clients.

The only difference is, your clients learn this the hard way in the middle of a project when they realize they’ve made a terrible mistake in who they hired.

And at that point, it’s too late.

They end up trying to salvage an outcome they really hoped for while becoming exhausted in the process and disappointed in the outcome.

Having a Rolodex is a key part of the value you provide as a strategist.

If you want to build a successful consulting practice—or even as a freelance who relies on other people to get a result—it’s worth taking the time to build your bench to support you.

—kw

P.S. I’m in the process of finalizing a shared Rolodex for Mindshare members. It will include vetted and some yet-to-be-vetted but credible developers, designers, copywriters, ad buyers, and more. It’s just one of the growing number of resources being added to the equation. Join here to get access to those names when they become available soon—plus all the other benefits the group has to offer.

P.P.S. If you want to be considered for being added to this Rolodex as an individual or agency partner, reply with examples of your work and let’s talk.

A lot of smart folks I speak with struggle to sell strategy separately from execution.

It feels like they have to be sold together or not at all.

The thing is, as long as you’re offering your hands for sale, people will always want it instead.

But the problem is, once they see your hands are for sale, you’re implying that your advice comes for free.

If I can get the advice part for free, why would I ever pay for it without also getting the execution done at the same time?

Here are a few ways to approach this to give you more success selling strategic advisory services without doing the execution work yourself.

1. Charge a lot for execution work

Any execution work you do should be expensive relative to your advisory option. I charge $9,500+/month for interim CMO work but $3,000+/month for advisory.

The business case I’m indicating is that if you need my hands, the problem is severe or expensive and should only be purchased for a short period of time.

It then makes sense to hand off anything possible to someone less expensive, which is partly why I only do interim CMO work for a maximum of three months. It doesn’t make sense for me to do things when you can hire someone 4x cheaper to do the heavy lifting.

The value when I do execution work as an interim CMO is to get a lot of big things set up and rolling quickly. Usually, it involves making hires, putting out fires, taking over for absent leadership, and reacting to sudden opportunities.

After three months, I move to advisory-only services once the people and systems are in place.

2. Limit execution to strategic engagements

Strategic engagements may include positioning exercises, website strategy, market research, or go-to-market planning, to name a few examples.

You provide a deliverable, but you won’t be there to grind out social media posts indefinitely.

Your deliverable is strategic and leveraged in nature. 

In this case, your work is not pure advisory because you’re delivering work product, but it’s also not in the weeds either. It’s closer to executive-level work, but you’re still selling deliverables.

If you want people to pay good money for your advice, they shouldn’t be able to get your hands for cheap. 

Nobody pays the intern CMO salaries. Don’t do intern work.

3. Remove all execution work entirely

Eventually, the goal is to remove execution work or significantly limit it.

Execution work done by you is inherently not leveraged. And that means your earning potential will be unnecessarily suppressed.

By removing execution work from your suite of offerings, you are forced to demonstrate the value of your expertise in itself.

Maybe you’re an industry specialist helping clients navigate the intricacies of their problems.

Or perhaps you’re a method consultant who brings order to marketing chaos with a formal system you’ve devised.

Or maybe you bring a suite of tools, templates, people, examples, and more—making it easy for your clients to execute quickly.

Ideally, you do all of the above. But the important part is your brain is positioned as (and is) worth spending a little more on.

You are a fixer. You bring the people and resources to get the job done—all within a budget that makes sense.

The bottom line

The bottom line is, if you want to move to advisory work, you have to stop doing low-level execution work.

Find people who do that stuff cheaper than you. Create an ideal example of how things should be done and let them use that as a guide.

If you want your expertise to be valued, you have to work on showing how what and who you know—along with your tools and knowledge assets—are worth spending money on.

Drop the low-level stuff or make it prohibitively expensive and your clients will naturally see the value in your pure advisory services.

—kw

P.S. I teach this stuff along with a library of resources in Mindshare. Hours of training, coaching calls, a peer community in Slack, and more. Perfect for marketers seeking to sell strategy and get out of trenches. Jump in while the getting is good.