Kevin C. Whelan

Marketing Strategy Advisor and Mentor

The 8 key documents I use in my marketing consulting practice

In my consulting work, I use Google Drive to managed shared projects and documents.

When I begin with a client, I ask them to create their own Google Drive folder and invite me. I then move my key working documents into their folder so they “own” them should I ever get hit by the lottery.

It’s essential my clients own all the work we do and have the keys to the kingdom at all times.

Anyway, here are the documents I use in case you’re looking for inspiration to solidify your consulting project deliveries:

1. Onboarding questionnaire

This is a document I use that has over 117 questions to get started. Yes, it’s a lot. It takes a couple hours to complete and gives me the full rundown of their current situation, goals, and more.

I’ve shortened it in some cases to make the process easier for some clients.

2. KPI dashboard

This is a spreadsheet that allows me to do pro-forma budgets and financial planning, keep track of expenses, revenue, sales, leads, close ratios, and other key performance indicators.

I call it the place where results can’t hide.

3. Marketing notes

This is where we keep notes from all our consulting calls.

I end up being the one to record most of what we talk about and decide on as next steps. It serves as our agenda for future calls as well, as we’re able to look back and see if the work we agreed to got done.

This has been super important for developing case studies and reviewing what we accomplished in any given time. It also keeps the projects on track and keeps people accountable.

4. Marketing strategy and planning worksheet

This is a series of questions I ask to prompt answers that get to the heart of what makes their business tick. From this document, we know what makes them unique, what we should work on, and where we should focus our efforts.

5. Marketing summary document

This is a document that basically summarizes everything we do.

It includes who they are selling to, what they sell, how they are positioned, what the plan is, and the thought process behind each marketing channel we use. We review this every 6-12 months to ensure it’s up to date and accurate.

It also lets new employees and suppliers onboard quickly and get up to speed on all the moving parts and why they are in place.

6. Recurring tasks and standard operating procedures

Anything that gets done more than once (i.e. not a one-off project but something that should be done at some regular interval) gets documented according to frequency. It’s broken up into daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually and annually—fully customized to the reality of their projects.

The tasks get documented as a standard operating procedure so anybody could follow them. We use a combination of numbered steps and Loom videos to make it easy.

This process frees up the marketing manager to do things they must but later delegate responsibilities to new hires and outsourced support.

The goal is to create as much leverage around the in-house team as possible and rely on external as-needed specialists/assistants to perform specialized functions. Thus, the manager(s) can focus on what they do best and keep the big picture in mind.

For bigger clients, this all gets built into their project management software, like Asana.

7. Login credentials

We keep marketing-related login credentials in a Google Sheets document that is strictly shared with only the people who absolutely need it. All accounts must be kept in there and up to date each month.

There should be a standard marketing@domain.com email address to keep company accounts neutral of any one individual.

8. Project agreement

I keep the agreement as a PDF in the drive somewhere so we can refer back to our initial goals and scope at any time.

It comes in handy when people are wondering when we started, what we agreed to, what I do or won’t do, and other similar questions.

And that’s it!

Occasionally, I will include things like a project management spreadsheet or a short-term CRM spreadsheet for clients not ready to move into something more robust.

We also build a folder structure inside Google Drive (or any shared drive) to keep everything organized and in one place.

All of this takes a bit of time and discipline to keep updated (not as much as you might think) but it’s the only way to run an efficient marketing consulting practice, in my opinion.

If you’re interested in these templates, I share the onboarding questionnaire, proposal template/agreement, and KPI dashboard in the mindshare.fm membership.

I might sell the rest soon as a complete package, so get on my mailing list if you want to hear about those first (unless you already are, in which case, hit reply and tell me you’re interested!).

What is your lemon factor?

Something I’ve realized lately in my consulting work is that every company has a “lemon factor”. Mine is no exception, by the way.

And if you don’t quickly get clear on what it is, it will come back to haunt you.

Now that I’m aware of this truth, I ask my clients the question up front, what is your lemon factor?

They won’t always know or be able to accurately assess it themselves, so it’s my job to investigate just to be sure.

This knowledge is crucial for helping companies grow. Most of us are partially or completely blind to them. We get used to them.

What is a lemon factor?

A lemon factor is basically your biggest weakness. It’s why people shouldn’t or don’t buy from you most often.

Maybe you’re in an undesirable part of town or maybe you’re a jack-of-all-trades and master of none.

Whatever it is, it’s crucial you know what’s your lemon factor is so you know how to compensate for it.

What is the best way to compensate for it?

Double down on your X factor.

Your X factor is the thing that gives your company an edge. It’s your competitive advantage and the thing that makes you uniquely compelling.

Both the X factor and the lemon factor are essential things to be aware of so you can mitigate risks and compensate by focusing on what you do best.

You can’t ignore the lemon factor—both in your own business and your clients’. All businesses have them.

If you do ignore the lemon factor, it will become a blind spot in your work that will severely limit your potential down the line.

Know your lemon factor and compensate with an equally strong (or stronger) X factor.

The unsung tool in my consulting tech stack

One of the tools I enjoy most right now is called Command E.

It’s the kind of tool that can almost goes unnoticed in your day-to-day life except for how wickedly convenient it is.

It’s like a good sports referee—you don’t notice them when they do a good job. Command E does such a good job that it almost blends in with my computer.

With the stroke of two keys (Command + E on a Mac), I can search my email, Google Drive, Dropbox, calendar, and potentially many more tools all at once.

Google Drive, at the best of times, is a pain to navigate, and yet that’s where I store my shared consulting documents. I use it every day, often switching between folders and documents several times per hour.

Command E lets me search Google Drive and all my other places with literally two keys. It’s gold and worth every penny and more (it’s currently free but I’d pay real money for this).

If you haven’t used it, check it out.

Should you aim for quality or consistency with your content marketing?

Most of my work has come to me as a result of content marketing—over a million dollars’ worth over the past 5 years.

The problem with content marketing when you’re a solo consultant is it can be difficult to find time (energy) to create content on a consistent basis.

And yet, it’s the consistency that matters more than one-off great content. At least in terms of attracting opportunities to you.

If you’re not creating content, my best advice to you is to just start. Create something and make it better later.

Starting is the surest way to force yourself to build the habit and improve the work you put out.

It won’t be great at first, but that’s fine. It just needs to become a habit so you can become consistent.

Once you have mastered consistency, then try to make your content excellent.

There are countless examples of people who put out imperfect content that adds value and thus serves its purpose. Their content may not win awards, but it’s consistent and valuable, which is what counts most.

The alternative is to try to make everything you produce perfect from the get-go. The best it could possibly be.

But more often than not, it leads to either procrastination or sporadic content—which isn’t a great strategy.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with wanting to create only the best possible content. Go for it if you think you can do it consistently from a standstill.

But for most people, getting started is the path to publishing great content. They just need to put in the reps first before they can get there.

If you want business results, get consistent and then increase the quality.

Taking a breather

This year has been a whirlwind for all of us.

The uncertainty that took us by storm at the beginning of 2020 and then the long year that followed has left many of us tired and beleaguered.

When the pandemic first hit, I thought I’d see my business get crushed. More than half of my revenue comes from the coworking industry, after all.

Luckily, I was able to sustain a full deck of clients for most of the year, resulting in by far my best year yet.

But with all that busy-ness, I haven’t had time to think about my own business. To plan strategically about what I want 2021 to look like. I’ve even let a lot of my marketing slide for my coworking consultancy, too.

Not to mention,  I’ve almost completely neglected my own personal needs—as I’m sure you and many others may have done also to some extent. I’m extremely grateful for my health, family, new son, and fortunate business results for the year, but it’s taken a toll.

So, my plan is to unwind over the holidays and zoom out from my business a bit. To spend time away from the computer, letting my mind wander and regain the creative energy it needs. To nurture the soul.

There’s nothing like separation from your work (and long walks) to give you perspective on what you want your next steps to look like. This year has been a stressful one, so I think we all need and deserve some time to think and recharge.

That’s my plan, I hope and encourage you to do the same.

The two most important metrics in marketing

When it comes to marketing, there are a LOT of metrics you can keep track of. But at the end of the day, it all boils down to two key numbers:

  1. What is the expected lifetime value of my clients or customers?
  2. How much does it cost to acquire new clients or customers?

Based on these numbers, you can ask questions like:

Is my cost per acquisition number profitable?
If not, you might have a product or marketing problem. You can begin looking into other numbers for more insight.

Do I have enough new customers to sustain my goals?
If not, you need to scale up your marketing efforts. Make sure you do it in alignment with the previous question about profitability.

How long will it take to recoup my investment?
This will be different for everybody, but ideally you will recoup your investment within a couple months. You’re making an investment and want it to pay you back before you run out of free cash flow.

At the end of the day, if you can get new clients or customers for meaningfully less than your expected lifetime value, and you have enough new clients to cover attrition and grow at the speed you want, that’s all that matters.

All of the other metrics serve these two metrics. Just make sure you’re actually tracking these numbers.

Looking for early signs of life

When you create something new, you rarely know if it will work.

The best thing you can do is look for early signs of life and build around them.

I launched Mindshare a few months ago. It’s a private mentorship podcast with resources and a community for marketing consultants.

I don’t know if it will work yet. But I’m noticing early signs of life.

There are 17 current members so far. Some I’ve never met before. Some I’ve met online. A few I know in person.

I sold most of the memberships via Twitter—the only place I talk about it aside from my personal blog. One person even came from a one-day trial run of Twitter ads.

There’s also a half dozen or more people who join the monthly coffee meetups on Zoom that we host. A decently high ratio given the number of people in the group.

I don’t know if the idea has legs yet, but I’m seeing signs of life and I’m personally enjoying it a lot.

There is still tons of work to do and it’s early days yet. For now, I’ll keep watching for signs of life and giving it the attention it needs to grow.

Are you starting something new? Look for the smallest signs of life and build around those.

It could be anything, from increased conversations to new introductions, your first paying client, or some new subscribers to your list.

All that matters is you build around the signs of life and keep doing that until you’ve reached your goals.

H/T to Mark Butler who shared this idea before on a podcast.

How to sell more of anything when it launches

Have you ever noticed movies are teased out in cinemas more than a year in advance—often before shooting is even completed?

As you get closer to the premier, trailers get longer, more frequent, and more vivid.

You could call this pre-selling or marketing, but I call it “priming the pump“.

I work with a client in e-commerce who comes out with new products a few times a year. As soon as the idea is formed, we start talking about it.

We talk about it in vague terms at first. Being a little coy and playfully mysterious with the details. We don’t even talk about expected launch dates yet.

As things get closer, we talk about more details of the product. How it works, how it’s made, what’s included, etc.

Eventually, we get more specific about the date it’s due. Spring of ’21, then April of ’21, and then finally, April 1st, ’21.

Save the date.

The point is to get people thinking about it long before it’s even available to purchase. You want people to buy in their minds long before they are able to actually buy it.

It’s like a faraway object that becomes clearer and more detailed as the date nears.

It just feels different.

Any time we do this, the products sell extremely well. You can see it in the comments on social media, people are eager to learn more and can’t wait to get their hands on it.

When the day comes that it’s finally available, it launches with gusto. Big success.

When we don’t do this process early and often enough, not so much. It’s more like a soft launch.

If you’re planning on selling a new product or service, even if it’s just an idea, talk about it way in advance.

Plant the seed and wait. Nurture it.

Maybe you end up creating the product/service, maybe you don’t. But as that becomes clearer, so too are the details you share.

If you want something to sell when it launches, prime the pump, prime it early, and prime it often.

Oh, and by the way, I might be launching a mini course next year for marketing professionals on selling strategy and advice instead of execution.

Stay tuned for more info. Notice what I did there?

You can’t move forward while standing still

For the last 37 days, I’ve been posting one new short article a day.

At points, I feel tired or unable to come up with anything original. So I share something I found that day or express an idea that’s been bouncing around in my head.

Some days, I feel like not publishing something. Missing a day. It would be so easy.

I’m still in the process of finding my daily rhythm and voice with this blog. But there’s one thing I know for sure: it’s a lot easier to steer a moving car than a parked one.

My best advisory clients take action. They’re doing things, allocating time and resources to their marketing, learning what’s working, and iterating on the fly.

We don’t always know which ideas will gain the most traction or which will get the best results.

But I can guarantee one thing: not taking enough action is a surefire way to not reach your goal.

I’d rather be moving and fumbling than standing still.

Because after all, you can’t move forward while standing still. And you can’t steer a parked car, either.

Interview with John Meese on creating what your customers need

I was interviewed back in June of 2020 by John Meese, a serial entrepreneur and author of his new book, Survive and Thrive: How to Build a Profitable Business in Any Economy.

John is an interesting guy. He’s worked with Michael Hyatt as the Dean of Platform University, he co-founded a WordPress theme business, and currently runs a small coworking space in his home town of Columbia, TN.

In this podcast episode, we talk about the ways companies are adapting during COVID—something we’re all still dealing with today.

I shared a stories and ideas for pivoting with the times, doubling down on the needs of your best customers, and keeping your business moving forward so you come out stronger on the other end.

Lots of good ideas in this one.

> Give it a listen here.