Marketing Advisor, Mentor, & Educator

Kevin C. Whelan

marketing

Where my advisory clients come from (and that quiet inner voice)

Hey—happy Friday.

Here’s the latest for you…

I recorded and published two audio recordings yesterday.

Episode 190: Analyzing where my advisory clients come from (a general vs. niche business comparison)

Do you analyze where your clients come from? It might surprise you when you do.

In this episode, I break down where my advisory clients came from.

I also compare my where niche consulting clients (Everspaces) vs. my general consulting clients came from to see if there was a difference.

And let me tell you, it was enlightening.

Listen here or subscribe via your podcast player.

Episode 191: Noticing your quiet inner voice—and what to do about it

What is your quiet inner voice telling you?

The one that whispers. You barely notice it at first. But when you do hear it, you’re inspired.

Should you explore it?

Maybe you don’t take it seriously at first. Maybe it feels like a pipe dream. It’s not always rational. Sometimes it’s idealistic. Regardless, when you pay attention to it, it feels directionally interesting.

Where does it come from?

I’ve noticed that it shows up when I take time away from my business. It shows up on vacations, bike rides, long walks, or while reading a good book. I’m not sure if it’s the truth or just a passing random idea, but it feels worth exploring.

So what do you do when that voice says something? Do you jump to action or think about it until it no longer inspires you? Is it valuable or random? That’s what I cover today.

It may just be the very thing that helps you create unique, valuable, and lasting work.

Or maybe not. Who knows.

Listen here or subscribe via your podcast player.

What’s new in Mindshareland:

  • We had our Mindshare Community coffee meetup—thanks to Danilo, Luke, and Sean for attending. Hit reply if you want access to the free community.
  • We had a Mindtrust strategy call focused on designing and modeling our product and service ladders.
  • Mindtrust members got a special Content Bonus—more of those coming.
  • A few people were looking for analytics help for their clients—especially with Google Analytics 4 coming next year. If learning about analytics interests you, hit reply with the word “yes” so I can see how prevalent this need for training might be.

That’s all for now – have a great weekend.

—k

Twitter growth and memes-as-marketing with Dagobert Renouf (audio)

I interviewed Dagobert Renouf of Logology last week on how he’s been so successful on Twitter.

Dagobert is extremely active and publishes a meme every day of the week, which is a big hit for his 30k+ audience.

But like any successful story, there’s an underlying mindset and strategy that makes the tactics more successful.

So I wanted to dig into those. And he delivered.

​We’ll get into the specifics of:

  • ​His overarching Twitter strategy
  • ​Why he believes memes work so well
  • ​How he comes up with his meme ideas each day
  • ​How he actually creates and publishes his memes
  • ​His approach to engaging with accounts—small and big—at scale
  • ​The tools he uses to manage Twitter as a power user
  • ​How he’s grown his logo design business with this strategy
  • ​And a range of other topics!

Listen in to hear this episode—it already changed my thinking and approach to Twitter.

Mentioned links

> Click here to listen or add Mindshare Radio to your podcast player.

 

P.S. You’ll hear me saying “mm-hmm” a lot, which may be slightly annoying to the listener (it annoyed me) so I will fix that for future episodes!

Why I’m allowing myself to stop publishing daily (audio)

I recently decided to switch from daily publishing to a more flexible format.

In this episode of Mindshare Radio, I break down the reasons why I started publishing daily in the first place (549 days ago) as well as the reasons for giving myself permission to publish whenever I want instead.

I’m still extremely bullish on daily content. It’s a highly powerful tactic if it aligns with your strategy.

But for now, I’m choosing flexibility. Listen to find out more.

Listen to the full episode here.

P.S. I’d love your thoughts. Hit reply and tell me what you’re doing related to publishing.

I’ve decided to stop writing daily

I’ve decided to stop writing daily. Or at least, to feel like I have to write daily.

It’s been 548 consecutive days including today. I’ve loved the process. It’s helped me think through and articulate my ideas.

But like anything, if you feel like you have to do something, it can become a chore. And nobody wants to read somebody’s chore.

Instead, I’ll write when I want to write.

I’ll still keep the fire under my bottom to publish often. I like the forcing function it creates to show up at a keyboard and publish my best idea that day—whatever that is.

But I won’t feel like I have to publish something. The difference is subtle.

Writing daily has allowed me to build traction with my mentorship work, develop a community, and clarify my thinking. I’m grateful for that.

I plan to keep doing this work a long time. It’s rewarding to me. I’ll just do it at a pace that feels right for me.

So maybe I’ll write to you again tomorrow. Or maybe I’ll skip a day.

Regardless, I’ll do what feels right, not what I feel I have to do.

Live Interview: Memes as Marketing + Twitter Growth with Dagobert Renouf [RSVP]

This Monday, May 9th at 8am PST/11am EST/4pm UK, I’ll be chatting with Dagobert Renouf about how he grew his Twitter following to 30k followers and his startup, logology.co.

Why should you attend?

Dagobert publishes a daily startup meme he creates himself and gets tons of engagement each time. He’s a cult favourite. And for good reason.

He’s also highly interactive with his followers and startup community at large, adding insightful commentary—not just generic replies.

​Dagobert is worth following and learning from if you want to grow your audience on Twitter and other platforms. My plan is to dig out the gold in his head so we can all learn from his success.

​We’ll get into the specifics of:

  • ​His overarching Twitter strategy
  • ​Why he believes memes as a marketing tactic works so well
  • ​How he comes up with his meme ideas each day
  • ​How he actually creates and publishes his memes
  • ​His approach to engaging with accounts—small and big—at scale
  • ​The tools he uses to manage Twitter as a power user
  • ​How he’s grown his logo design business with this strategy
  • ​And a range of other topics!

​There will be time for Q&A toward the end and throughout the conversation. The style will be relaxed and informal.

​Please attend live if you’d like to ask questions and attend. I will record this webinar but not sure if/when/where I will publish it.

​This event is open to the public, so you’re welcome and encouraged to bring a friend!

Register here: https://lu.ma/dagobert-renouf

The story of the auto detailer

A while back, I had my car detailed at a new shop around the corner.

When I called to book, the new business owner asked how dirty it was.

I said it was decent but it had some dog fur in parts of the back seat.

He grumbled and told me (reluctantly) to come in.

They were closed a few months later.

In this episode, I get into a few lessons we can all learn, including the importance of:

  • Doing work that you’re intrinsically motivated by
  • For people you enjoy working with
  • At prices that excite you to bring your best
  • So you can build a sustainable business
  • Which allows you to become great at what you do
  • Which becomes a continued flywheel for your business

Give this a listen if it feels timely for you.

When is enough… enough?

You may never feel like you have enough.

We’re hardwired to collect more resources. It’s deep inside our DNA.

So we take on more clients. Work longer hours. The stress layers on and becomes part of the scenery. You begin to think it’s a normal way of being.

At what point is enough, enough? When do you give yourself permission to do less?

Only you can decide.

Design sends a message

You don’t need the most beautiful website in the world. But the quality of your website’s design is a signal for the quality of your services.

You’re a marketer, for one. Potential clients will expect that if your site isn’t professional-looking, theirs won’t be either if they hire you to help them.

It’s also off-putting to read a piece of content when the site design looks unprofessionally put together. You can get away with it, but it’s not ideal.

Good design says you’re a serious professional. That you take care of your craft and will help your clients do the same.

It’s one of many credibility signals. And your prospective clients will be picking up all the signals when deciding whether to hire you.

Spend some time and maybe even a little money to get a simple, clean, well-designed website.

It’s an investment worth making.

What does a marketing strategist do?

Marketing strategists have an interesting job.

We need to bridge the gaps between the business and the market—helping both sides get precisely what they want. Or, at least as close to it as possible.

Meanwhile, we aren’t usually the ones doing the execution. We’re guiding it. Overseeing it. Remaining impartial to anything but the results.

And that presents some interesting challenges.

Below are some of the questions I consider within the three core stages of the strategic process: strategy, planning, execution.

1. Strategy

During the strategy phase, our job is to get clarity on questions like:

  1. What are our goals?
  2. Who is this for?
  3. Who are the other stakeholders?
  4. What do they want, feel and believe?
  5. Where can we find our ideal clients?
  6. What do we observe about them in our research?
  7. What are their motivations and challenges?
  8. Who are our competitors?
  9. What makes us unique?
  10. What single thing do we want to be known for?
  11. What are our strengths and weaknesses?
  12. What unique advantages do we have?
  13. What are our opportunities and constraints?
  14. What resources do we have available?
  15. What observations can we make about the market and our place in it?
  16. What is our key insight that drives all decision?

These are just a few of the questions we consider at the strategic level. They put the “market” in “marketing”.

The better we answer them, the better we can do on the next parts.

2. Planning

Strategy and planning are not the same thing.

Now that we know what we’re working on and have a good idea of the landscape, we can begin to plan the tactics that will fulfill our strategy. In other words, we create a plan.

A marketing strategist asks seeks to define answers to questions like:

  1. What are our goals for each channel or activity?
  2. What is the timeline to achieve them?
  3. What measurable metrics can be assign to each goal?
  4. What can we systemize?
  5. Who will do the work?
  6. Who will manage the work?
  7. When will it happen?
  8. What channels will we use?
  9. How will we use them?
  10. Are the tactics aligned with the strategy?
  11. Who is responsible for the results of this work?
  12. What do we do in-house vs. outsource?
  13. Do we have the capacity to actually execute this plan?

3. Execution

A plan is only as good as the execution. At this point, the strategist’s job is to ask questions like:

  1. Are we executing this plan correctly?
  2. Are we measuring everything properly?
  3. Are we getting the results we expected?
  4. What is working and what isn’t?
  5. How can we adapt our plan for better results?
  6. Do we need additional resources?
  7. Do we need to do more research/find more examples?
  8. Was our core strategic insight correct?
  9. Are we helping or hurting the brand long-term?
  10. Are we documenting our learnings along the way?

There are probably a long line of other considerations, but these are the main ones I think about.

Strategists have a difficult job. It’s typically a leadership, not a management role. Usually, we’re responsible for the results—even though we’re not doing the tactical execution.

The better questions we ask, the better the answers we’ll get. Clear questions prompt clear thinking.

Good strategists write down answers to these questions to the extent it helps. But don’t write a book that never gets read. Keep it simple.

And remember: document the key insights about the market.

Insights drive strategy which drives everything else.

Some people need to hear this

I’d estimate that about 30% of my daily writing is any good.

The problem is, the 30% that is “any good” varies by who’s reading it.

For you, this post may not be valuable. For others, it may be just what they need to hear today.

My thinking is this: you’re probably better publishing consistently than waiting for the perfect post.

Some people need to hear this, others don’t.

That’s how it goes.