Marketing Advisor, Mentor, & Educator

Kevin C. Whelan

positioning

My unofficial definition of strategy

There’s a lot of definitions of strategy.

None of them are particularly clear or obvious. So here’s the way I think about it:

To me, strategy is about having one or more insights that you believe will give you a competitive advantage if applied, making many of the tactical decisions easy or obvious.

How you get to those insights is a story for another day. It might be a combination of research, data, knowledge of the market factors, product-related, instinctive, or any combination thereof.

The key is that when you have these insights, it’s easy to recall them and use them as a lens to make tactical decisions. They should also make a self-evident case for how they might help you win.

That’s a good a definition of strategy as any, in my eyes. It’s not the “right” definition, but it works in practical terms for the strategy work I do with my clients.

So what conscious (or unconscious) insight (s) drive your business and marketing tactics?

What’s your strategy?

Belonging to a genre

In Seth Godin’s book, The Practice, he talks about belonging to a genre. It’s been a while since I read it, so I’ll riff on the concept a bit because it’s an interesting way to view the world.

Belonging to a genre means being similar to people or things in an existing category. You quickly “get it” when you see something that belongs to a genre you’re familiar with.

Bob Marley was part of a genre of reggae artists. Jaws is part of a few genres, including cult classics and classic thriller films. Tony Robbins is part of a genre of motivational speakers.

All genres are made up of peers who do similar things but have their own unique angle or perspective.

Belonging to a genre makes it easy for the market to understand you more quickly. They have a context to place you in.

And with that context, they can more easily see where you stand out or are unique.

It’s the difference among people within a genre that that compels people buy or engage. We want things belonging to a genre we like, but we choose which ones to engage with based on their differences.

It’s good to belong to a genre. The question is, what genre do you belong to, who are your peers, and how are you unique?

What does a marketing consultant even do?

One of the questions I get from clients and students alike is, “what do you even do if you don’t do execution work?”

This is an important question. You will inevitably be asked some version of it. And when you do, you’ll want to have a response internalized.

This is also important if you’re still wrapping your mind around the value of your brain without doing the actual execution.

The main four things to know is this:

  1. Your job to act in their best business interest at all times.
  2. Your mission is to get a result with whatever tools you have at your disposal (though not your hands if you can avoid it).
  3. You’re a facilitator of outcomes. You’re a guide. You are not the pack mule. You can’t be everything.
  4. Niching makes your expertise rarer and immensely more valuable independent of execution.

Here are 22 ways a marketing advisor adds value without doing execution:

  1. Create an insight- and data-driven marketing strategy
  2. Create a marketing plan that actually gets implemented
  3. Bring a proven process that makes things more efficient
  4. Source outside specialists to perform specific tasks
  5. Help them develop and manage a financial budget
  6. Help them measure results in a non-ambiguous way
  7. Help them limit mistakes they could easily avoid
  8. Hold them accountable to their goals and promises
  9. Coach them on their marketing skills and mindsets
  10. Bring rare subject matter expertise they can’t find elsewhere
  11. Help them achieve their goals faster by knowing what to do
  12. Bring examples, templates, and resources they can use
  13. Help them create lasting habits, systems and processes
  14. Challenge their assumptions about what they can or should do
  15. Provide a neutral, outside perspective on their business
  16. Connect them with others in their industry or niche
  17. Assist with the market research and analysis process
  18. Draft proof-of-concept wireframes, content, and other materials
  19. Help them sell their business, attract investors, or report to stakeholders
  20. Help them hire an in-house marketing manager when the time is right
  21. Guide their marketing from a higher level without getting lost in the weeds
  22. Think strategically on their behalf

When you eliminate the need to use your hands, your time is freed up to work on higher-value things that ultimately help them save time, avoid problems, and get better results.

There’s a lot to unpack in all of these, but the bottom line is this: advice and execution are best sold separately.

Once you and your clients internalize this, it’s hard to see it any other way.

You can survive without a niche

It’s scary to commit to a niche. Doing so inherently means excluding most of the world with your marketing.

In some ways, it goes against all survival instincts. And that’s why so few people do it.

It’s also why so many marketing consultants struggle to build a real businesses with healthy margins and ample time freedom.

You can survive without a niche, but you will create a lot greater leverage, profit, and impact with one.

Be a co-buyer with your prospects

The late Zig Ziglar—a renowned author, motivational speaker, and salesman—had many valuable lessons about sales.

One of his lessons that still stands out to me was to be a “co-buyer” with your prospects during the sales process.

That means sitting on their side of the table. To think about all the angles from their perspective. And ultimately, to help them make a purchase only if it’s right for them.

When you act as a co-buyer, it shows prospects you’re already acting in their best interest, not yours. And that’s what a fiduciary advisor does.

Your clients feel this intention when you genuinely have it. It sets a precedent of trust that lasts throughout the entire engagement.

Be your clients biggest advocate—before, during, and after the sale.

That’s the kind of advisor you want to be.

Why I don’t love the term “Fractional CMO”

I’m not actually against the term ‘Fractional CMO’. I just don’t love it.

You may or may not recall, but there’s been a lot of terms for what we as marketing experts do—especially since the digital era.

Digital strategists, e-marketing specialists, growth hackers… the list goes on and on.

As one new term rises, another inevitably takes its place, making the former one look outdated.

‘Fractional CMO’ feels a little like one of those terms to me.

But here’s the thing: the fractional CMO positioning works right now. People get it when you say, “I’m like hiring a part time chief marketing officer”.

And that’s important when you only have a minute to explain what the hell you even do.

There’s another reason I don’t love the term:

It positions you like an employee. And employees are in many ways to take orders.

Not really, but kind of. As a fractional CMO, there’s the expectation that you’re hired to do what the client wants.

And while that’s true to some degree, I’d argue you’re hired to get a result a client wants, not to do what they want you to do.

Because what they want to do is often not entirely the thing they should do to get the result they really want.

Above all else that you’re a consultant.

You’re paid for your expertise, not to take orders and execute them.

And because even ‘consultants’ are sometimes used as a fancy term for a freelancer who executes hard things, I prefer the term ‘advisor’.

It’s timeless and says what it is you do: you sell advice.

So I’m not saying don’t position yourself as a fractional CMO. I just don’t want my content and positioning to use that term too much because it reminds me of all the other buzzwords that came before it.

It works today, so use it if you want. You can always change it later.

Just know the risks and constraints of fractional CMO positioning.

162. Three ways to get clients to take your advice

This is a preview episode of the private podcast that comes with a free Mindshare Community membership. Join today for more members-only content and community.

In order to be successful as an advisor, you need to be able to:
  1. Prove you’re worth hiring for your knowledge in the first place
  2. Reinforce why you’re worth listening to after they hire you

If you have difficulty selling advisory services, or if clients stop listening to your advice during your engagements, it might be due to one of the three things I talk about in this episode.

Give it a listen and share with a friend who might benefit!

If you’re reading this via email, click here to listen to this episode on the web or join Mindshare to listen to more episodes of the private podcast.

Most people won’t buy today

Most people won’t buy from you today.

It doesn’t matter if you have perfect a message, offer, and audience. If they’re not ready now, they won’t buy today.

But they might buy someday.

Which means to win the business of most people, you have to have two things:

  1. A clear and compelling value proposition for a specific target market
  2. A way to stay in front of the right people until they’re ready to buy

Getting clear on your target market and offering things they actually want is your first and most important job.

You have to know what problem you’re solving and they need to know that’s what you do.

As for the second part, that’s where content marketing excels. The value you share over time gives you permission to stay in front of them.

No value, no attention.

So if you want to grow your advisory business, there’s almost no better way to do it than content marketing done consistently for a long, long time.

Build relationships and keep showing up.