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:
- Your job to act in their best business interest at all times.
- Your mission is to get a result with whatever tools you have at your disposal (though not your hands if you can avoid it).
- You’re a facilitator of outcomes. You’re a guide. You are not the pack mule. You can’t be everything.
- Niching makes your expertise rarer and immensely more valuable independent of execution.
Here are 22 ways a marketing advisor adds value without doing execution:
- Create an insight- and data-driven marketing strategy
- Create a marketing plan that actually gets implemented
- Bring a proven process that makes things more efficient
- Source outside specialists to perform specific tasks
- Help them develop and manage a financial budget
- Help them measure results in a non-ambiguous way
- Help them limit mistakes they could easily avoid
- Hold them accountable to their goals and promises
- Coach them on their marketing skills and mindsets
- Bring rare subject matter expertise they can’t find elsewhere
- Help them achieve their goals faster by knowing what to do
- Bring examples, templates, and resources they can use
- Help them create lasting habits, systems and processes
- Challenge their assumptions about what they can or should do
- Provide a neutral, outside perspective on their business
- Connect them with others in their industry or niche
- Assist with the market research and analysis process
- Draft proof-of-concept wireframes, content, and other materials
- Help them sell their business, attract investors, or report to stakeholders
- Help them hire an in-house marketing manager when the time is right
- Guide their marketing from a higher level without getting lost in the weeds
- 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.