Marketing Consultants

Sometimes, people just want the idea. The lesson. The fact. The tidbit.

Whether it’s your consulting work or your content, more isn’t always more.

Most times, you just need to give people precisely what they need.

It reduces complexity and creates a more efficient outcome.

No more, no less. 

I used to be a waiter at a decently high-quality restaurant.

But here’s the thing: I was not good at it.

I was constantly running around confused about what I should be doing next. As soon as things got busy, I spent the rest of the night reacting.

It wasn’t good.

By the time I greeted customers, they had often been waiting a few minutes and were ready to order their mains in case they never saw me again.

I got the job because I had built up several years of bartending experience and was familiar with how things worked generally.

I was a good bartender. I was not a good server.

The difference between those two seemingly similar roles is one thing: systems.

I didn’t have a system for being a waiter. I had a solid one for being a bartender, though. While they look like similar jobs, they’re not.

It’s no different with consulting. If you have a methodology or system for delivering client work, things go smoothly. Clients are happy. They stay a long time. You get results.

If you don’t have a good system, all of these areas suffer. 

There are two ways to develop a system with your consulting. The first way is to learn the hard way. You go through it, figure things out as you go, and piss a few people off along the way.

The other way is to learn from someone who already has a system.

I don’t pretend to be the world’s best marketer (I know a few things), but if you need help developing your marketing consulting system that makes clients happy, gets results, and produces a great profit for you at the end of the year, check out Mindshare.

Did you catch it? Do you really know?

Before you get down to scope, timelines, and budgets, do you really know what problem you’re solving?

Are you really designing a logo? Or are you creating a professional image that instills trust and lets your client charge a premium for their services?

Are you really giving advice? Or are you saving months and years of someone’s life learning things the hard way?

Are you really helping drive more leads? Or are you building a lead generation asset that will spin off opportunities for years to come?

Whenever you’re selling, it’s probably not what you think it is at first blush. Dig deeper into the reason behind your clients’ requests. Find out why things matter.

If you want to value your work appropriately and deliver on the real reason people hire you, think past the first layer.

Ask questions. Analyze why the work you do matters.

You’ll make a bigger impact with your work and earn better living in the process.

If you’re a marketing consultant, content marketing is your best friend.

It’s the best way to get in front of people, demonstrate your expertise, give value, build rapport, and ultimately lead people to want to do business with you.

One of my favourite ways to come up with content topics is to keep a list of things my clients ask or things I teach throughout my day.

These questions tell you that there’s a hungry demand for those answers, which is perfect for using as topics in your educational content so I don’t have to make up topics along the way.

And to be clear: don’t listen to just anybody’s questions. Not all questions or challenges make good content.

Specifically, listen to your clients‘ questions and challenges. The people who pay you.

The best way to duplicate your clients is to speak their language and help solve their specific needs via educational content.

Give people what they want and they’ll always return for more.

Your clients have all the answers to your marketing questions. Listen to them.

There are two kinds of clients:

1. Those who buy on value
2. Those who buy on price

The value buyers want an outcome.

Price is less of a factor. They’re more interested in getting a great result than getting the cheapest price. They’re willing to invest a sizeable amount to get it done right, too.

Price shoppers really only care about one thing: price.

They want to maximize the returns they can get for every dollar spent—even if it means choosing someone cheaper for a slightly less effective outcome.

When price shoppers come your way, run. It’s not worth it.

They’ll squeeze as much out of you as possible and bend the lines of your scope until you barely recognize them anymore. They still won’t be satisfied.

When value shoppers come your way, move mountains to work with them.

They expect a lot, sure. But you have the opportunity to charge fairly for your best work. And they’ll be happy with the outcome as long as you see the project through to a high standard.

Value shoppers are portfolio makers. They refer you. They complain the least and speak highly of you once you deliver your best work.

These are the ones you build your business around. Leave the price shoppers for someone else.

As a marketing consultant, having a strong value proposition is one of the most impactful factors in finding clients.

It should say what you do and who you do it for, and should be specific, unique, and memorable.

If you aren’t attracting enough opportunities to your business, this is the place to start. Below are some things to look for.

1. You might be too vague

One problem I see a lot is people saying they help a vague audience do vague things. It should feel really solid when you say it.

Can you make it more specific?

2. You might be too specific

Rarely, people say they help a far-too-specific audience to do far-too-specific things. This is usually not the case, but it happens.

Can you make broaden your offering to make it more widely appealing?

3. It doesn’t seem credible

Some people put out a big promise that just isn’t believable. Or, they haven’t built the proof necessary to make it credible yet.

Can you make it believable and/or better demonstrate your credibility?

4. You’re using the wrong language

Sometimes you have the right audience and help them in a way they care about, but you’re just not using the right language to describe it.

Can you use your clients’ own language to better describe what you do?

5. They just don’t want it

If none of the other ideas apply, you might simply be putting out an offer that the intended buyer simply isn’t hungry for.

In which case, you need to revisit the drawing board.

In closing…

You’ll know your new messaging is working because it should get traction pretty quickly when you put it in front of enough of the right people.

Traction may not be leads right away. It might look like email subscribers, direct messages, or questions exploring your offer in more detail. Early signs of life.

But they should start appearing relatively quickly assuming you’re putting it in front of enough of the right people.

If you’re putting your message out there and nobody is resonating, it might be time to change it.

I went full-time with my web design and marketing agency in 2015 after years of freelancing on the side.

Since then, my profit has more than quadrupled and continues to grow each year.

And yet, there’s always been this feeling of not knowing where my next client will come from. It’s something I always worried about and frankly probably always will. At least to some degree.

But here’s what I’ve noticed: I may not know when or where my next client will come from, but they always show up. 

I’ve made the mistake in the past of sticking with less-than-ideal-fit clients for longer than I should have. It was always a decision made out of fear that I wouldn’t easily replace that income.

But the funny thing is, I always managed to replace them with someone much better after I inevitably parted ways. Every single time.

Your business needs turnover.

It’s scary, yes. But if you take your lessons and apply them to selecting the right clients next time, you’ll find that when one door closes, many more (better ones) open.

Trust yourself to make it work.

This is a sample episode from the Mindshare private podcast, originally published last week.

In this episode I share my approach to building a scalable consulting business model built around your expertise—not your hands.

If you’re currently anywhere on the spectrum of selling your expertise, this episode might spark some ideas to help you create more profitable engagements and scale your work.

The topics covered in this episode include:

• Managed advisory services
• Fractional CMO
• Coaching & mentorship
• Downgrade engagements
• Group coaching (small group and one to many)
• Membership
• Products
• Strategy/audits
• Custom engagements
• Workshops and training

If you want to build a scalable service offering for your own business, I highly recommend you give this one a listen.

Then head over to Mindshare and join for just $15/month (for now) to get other ideas on how to build a more successful marketing consulting business.

Client turnover is a good thing. 

Like any living organism, you need replenishment and movement. No movement is stagnancy, and stagnancy is death.

At all times, you should be seeking to free up the bottom 10% of clients to make room for new and better clients who could be occupying their seats.

The busier you get, the more important this gets. When you’re busy, you don’t have as much time for marketing and business development.

You also don’t have as much time for investing in your skills or expertise, either, which is critical to your success. 

Too much turnover is a bad thing. But a healthy flow of new clients in and old clients out is a positive thing and not to be feared. 

It keeps your lead generation efforts strong and demand high for when you’re ready to phase clients out and in. Otherwise, it’s easy to get complacent. 

Keep the equilibrium in balance.