It’s recession-o-clock and people are losing their jobs.
Which means there’s about to be a wave of new consultants entering the market, as highly skilled folks take control of their future / start freelancing in desperation.
It’s three and a half years since I was given the heave ho from my last paid job. They’ve been the best years of my adult life. I didn’t mean to set up a business, but I didn’t want to work for anyone else either, so now I own a small, thriving consultancy that made $140,000 last year. Now that’s not a huge amount, but it’s not shite either.
I’ve had a few DMs from folks starting their own hustle, asking for marketing advice. So, this is what I’d do to market myself if I was starting as a brand-new baby consultant today.
First I’d build my foundations
And good foundations have four corners.
Know your ideal client.
Have a clear, simple offer.
Put good systems and processes in place.
Invest in your mindset and self-care.
I know this isn’t sexy. But foundations are one thing I got right when I started my own business, and I regularly slap myself on the back for it, because it’s made a huge difference. Building a consultancy is an interminable multi-sport endurance race. If you don’t have a base level of fitness, you will not last the course. Your foundations are that base.
1/ KNOW YOUR IDEAL CLIENT
You need to know exactly who your ideal clients are. The smaller and more niche that group is, the more successful your business and your marketing will be. I know that sounds counterintuitive. Surely the larger your group of potential clients the bigger your business can grow.
But no.
Because the larger and more undifferentiated your target market, the blander and less memorable your offer and your marketing will be.
Finding your ideal client may be a process of trial and error. And it’s important to settle on a group of people you like because when you’re sweating blood over them (and you will) it helps to care about their success. A tip. Consider what it might look like to solve problems you’ve already solved for yourself for other people. There’s a certain satisfaction in helping past you.
2/ HAVE A CLEAR, SIMPLE OFFER
It’s normal to take any work you’re offered at the start of your business journey.
Whatever it takes to pay the rent. No shame in that.
But you don’t want to stay in that reactive, survival mode. So, specialise. Now lots of newbie consultants try to do far too much because they’re scared of missing out on any money on the table. Screw that. That’s a fast road to bewilderment and burn out. Instead of spreading yourself thin over many services, develop one clear offer that solves one big problem your ideal client has.
Just like finding your ideal client, this may take some experimentation to get right, but it’s a lot easier to become known as the go-to expert in your field when your proposition is single-minded.
Conversely, if you miss this step and stay a wishy-washy generalist, It won’t be long before you’re having your arse handed to you by people with the flaps to take a stronger stand and make a more targeted offer. There is nothing compelling in doing all the things.
3/ PUT GOOD SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES IN PLACE
I’m not the expert in this. Jennifer Heuett is your human. But having just worked my way through her course on business systems, I realise I did a pretty solid job setting these up at the start of my journey. That’s stood me in good stead because I know where to find everything fast, have good templates, and well documented processes that make proposals a breeze.
Now it was pure luck that I got this right. I’ve managed businesses so I’ve seen a few systems in play and know what works and what doesn’t. Plus, I’m a naturally organised kinda human, and systems tickle the nerdy part of my brain. So, it was obvious to me that I needed systems and processes.
But doing Jen’s course made me realise systems aren’t second nature to everyone. And as people’s businesses grew, their lack of systems were biting them on the arse, to the extent that they were spending hours on pointless busy work. Hours that could be saved with a few good templates and processes. A good clue you need to spend time honing your processes is if you find yourself wasting time doing the same task manually over and over again. Template that mofo, for the love of Pete.
4/ INVEST IN YOUR MINDSET AND SELF CARE
Marketing your business is a long game. Only about 5% of the people you get in front of will be ready to buy your offer that day. And you won’t appeal to all those folks, so that ain’t even a slam dunk. So, when it comes to marketing, your main job is to stay front of mind for the 95% of folks who can buy your offer in the future.
Marketing activities take months or even years to pay off. This is why content marketing is such a powerful play. It’s designed to become more effective over time. But that cumulative effect only comes into play when you’re consistent. To maintain consistency, and weather the months building a community when it feels like you’re yelling into the void, mindset and self-care are key.
Things that work for me have been:
Setting realistic goals and focusing on metrics that matter.
Having a regular practice of reflection, learning, and gratitude.
Running and strength work and getting outside every day.
Prioritising my self-care over everything else.
Doing nice things for myself.
Fill your tank before you do anything else.
Then I’d make it my job to get visible
Once you’ve sorted your foundations you know who you’re talking to. You know what you’re selling. You’ve got the systems to deliver. And you’re taking care of yourself so you can play the long game. Congratulations you absolute weapon. It’s time to start making some noise.
If I was starting out as a consultant today, my first priority would be becoming more visible. You can be the absolute best in the world in your field, but it ain’t going to make you a penny if people don’t know how hot sauce you are. So, make it your job to get visible.
Here’s what I’d do.
1/ GET ACTIVE ON SOCIAL
Pick a social platform where your ideal clients are active. Start showing up every weekday. You can ease yourself in by commenting and engaging on your ideal clients’ content. But your goal is to get posting yourself ASAP. More advice on this part of the puzzle later in this guide.
2/ START NETWORKING LIKE IT’S YOUR JOB
In fact, networking is your job now.
So go to a networking event at least once a week.
Your goal at those events is to find out about other people. Make it a game to say as little about yourself as you can. The more you know about others’ business problems the more you’ll see opportunities. But also interest and attention is in such short supply these days. So, if you give someone your full attention and ask good questions you’ll stand out from the crowd of people desperate to pitch their hustle du jour.
Ask for people’s contact details, connect with them on LinkedIn, or email them to share something cool related to your conversation and tell them a little about what you do. But don’t pitch them until they ask. Nobody appreciates a pitch slap from some rando they’ve just met.
3/ ACTIVATE YOUR NETWORK
Take everyone you know who has the potential to be your client out for a coffee and ask their advice.
Tell them you’re setting up a new business helping people solve whatever problem it is you solve, and you’d love their advice to help you refine your offer and make it more powerful.
Ask them what issues they’ve experienced in their business related to the problem you solve.
Find out how they’ve tried to solve that problem in the past and how that worked out for them.
You’ll come away armed with valuable insights that will help you refine your offer.
But often you’ll also come away with a new project because the saying ‘ask for advice and get money, ask for money and get advice’ is founded on solid truth.
4/ PITCH YOURSELF AS A FREE EXPERT
Brain dump a few ideas for talks and pitch them to your local chamber of commerce, and any business groups and industry clusters that might include your ideal clients. You’ll probably be speaking for free but if you see this as a marketing exercise that’s sweet as.
Now, I’m not the speaking expert round these parts, so for great advice on crafting stand out talks go follow Michael Philpott.
Get clear on what you want to be famous for
This needs to be linked back to the way you make money, because there’s a big difference between building a personal brand for pure visibility and building a personal brand that makes you money.
Let me explain what I mean.
Checked just now, and I only have 2,719 LinkedIn followers. That makes me a minnow. But I get solid leads from the platform regularly. I’ve made well over a third of my revenue from LinkedIn since I started my business. And I know from talking to a number of people with much larger communities that I make more money from LinkedIn than they do.
And there’s a reason for that. There’s a strong connection between the topics I talk about and the services I offer. And I remind people regularly how they can work with me.
So, be deliberate about what you talk about because you build a brand through repetition. Choose your expert topics wisely. And make the topics you talk about repeatedly ones that are relevant to your ideal clients and build your business at the same time.
A good way to identify those topics is to ask yourself three questions:
What do my clients struggle with?
What do I sell that helps them out?
What do I enjoy sharing advice on?
Where the answers to those three questions intersect, you’ll find your expert topics.
You can also be really simplistic about this and draw a direct line between the things you talk about and the services you offer.
My three key services are:
Writing website copy for consultants and coaches.
LinkedIn ghost writing for consultants and coaches.
Blogs, e-books, and case studies for consultants and coaches.
The main topics I talk about on LinkedIn are:
How consultants and coaches can make their website copy their #1 salesperson.
LinkedIn tips for consultants and coaches.
How consultants and coaches can use blogs, e-books, and case studies to attract their ideal clients and grow their business.
And that, my friend is how I’ve made over $100,000 on LinkedIn.
Because one of the main ways to establish trust and credibility is to show people how to DIY the things you do for them for free.
Get out of your own way
If I was able to go back in time and talk to brand new baby consultant me, I’d say three things:
Don’t underestimate the power of community.
Being amazing isn’t enough.
Don’t be your own handbrake.
1/ DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF COMMUNITY
Community gives you choice.
Especially when you build community mindfully to attract people who could be your ideal client.
At the beginning of your business, you won’t have as much work as you want. Rather than allowing the work you do have to expand to fill all your space, get deliberate with how you invest your time from Day 1. Spend those extra hours building a community that will help you succeed.
2/ BEING AMAZING ISN’T ENOUGH
When LinkedIn content expert Darren Gibb started his business it took him a couple of years to understand and accept that he had to be a marketer first and a coach second.
Darren’s story was a bit of an epiphany for me. I’d never considered marketing denial as a barrier stopping people getting traction with their business. I’d always assumed everyone knew marketing was an essential component of the deal when you own your own business. They simply didn’t know how to do it. But clearly that’s not always the case.
One comment on Darren’s post cast more light on what’s going on. Someone wrote, “It’s not that I can’t do marketing. It’s that I don’t want to do it. I just want to do what I love.”
There’s an odd fusion of naiveté and entitlement wrapped up in this attitude to marketing. And I understand it to an extent. We live in a society that perpetuates the myth of the meritocracy, where you simply have to work hard and get good at something, and your rewards will come.
Dudes. It’s a lie.
You can be the best coach, consultant, or specialist in your field. But if no one knows about you, and no one wants to hire you for your skills, your skills are worthless.
This is going to sound harsh. But if you can’t get beyond the mindset that marketing is a tedious drag that you shouldn’t really have to do, owning your own business may not be for you. Go get a job. The price of entry to owning your own business is marketing. Being good at what you do isn’t enough. You have to make yourself visible and you have to make people care.
The secret is to do that in a way that’s meaningful and sustainable for you. And the thing that flips the switch for many people and turns marketing from a chore into part of their practice is understanding and embracing the principle of content marketing.
Content marketing is fundamentally a generous discipline. You give your skills, knowledge, and life experience away for free. Yes, of course you have an ulterior motive. You know every time you share your smarts you give people a taste of what it’s like to work with you, and that’s a hugely powerful and effective way to market yourself. But in order to keep marketing momentum, content creation has to flow from an authentic desire to share with others. If that drive isn’t there, not only will your content ring false, you also won’t be able to commit to the long game that builds a thriving business.
Marketing can be a joyous, rewarding task. It can be as much of a source of fulfilment as your professional practice itself. But for that to happen, like Darren, you have to understand and accept that you’re a marketer first and a practitioner second.
3/ DON’T BE YOUR OWN HANDBRAKE
We become our own biggest hand brake by manufacturing barriers that hold us back from sharing content that creates community and grows the value of our personal brand.
The biggest barriers that hold people back from sharing content with the world are:
Not knowing what to say.
Believing they don’t have time.
Fear of what people will think.
So how do you overcome each of these blocks?
You don’t know what to say. Talk to your ideal clients. Ask them what issues they’ve experienced in their business related to the problem you solve. Find out how they’ve tried to fix that problem in the past and how that worked out for them. This process will give you a wealth of content ideas you can use to create a simple content plan showing your ideal client how to DIY the things you do for them for free. Having a plan means you never run out of things to say.
You don’t have time. This isn’t a time issue. It’s a priority issue. You’re not prioritising time to build community. A community that gives you a consistent stream of high-quality business enquiries that doesn’t happen by accident. If you want it, you have to earn it. You earn it by putting in the hours and the effort. So put time in your calendar to create content and engage with other people and make that commitment non-negotiable.
You’re afraid of what other people will think. I’m going to be straight up with you. When you start posting on social, your issue ain’t going to be what other people think. Your issue is going to be that nobody cares about you or what you have to say. And why should they? You’ve got to earn the right to their time and attention. So how do you make them care?
Post content your ideal client cares about. Be relevant. Be useful. Be valuable. Be funny. Be interesting. Be real.
Post more. This helps you cut through the noise. I recommend a minimum of three times a week. Posting more is also effective because of the mere exposure effect. We prefer the familiar, so showing up regularly in their social feed helps people like you more.
Post consistently. Pick a publishing frequency you can commit to. Don’t start posting five days a week, then fall off the wagon after two weeks.
And also, be a good member of any community you’re part of. At workshops, when I’m trying to convey the importance of engaging with other people’s content I often say, you wouldn’t run into a crowded room, holler your thoughts at everyone and run out. So why would you do that on social media? Engage more than you post. Give more than you take.
Let your own voice out
So many people in business are cosplaying professionalism. Now I love playing dress ups like the next person, but it’s no way to show up as an adult in life. Sure, you need to win your share of attention for your business to succeed. But do it in a way that’s sustainable and authentic.
What do I mean by this?
Well just be you.
Tell stories from your life
Use your own conversational voice
Share your feelings, even the messy unresolved one.
Stand up for the things you believe in.*
Yes, you will polarise people and put people off. But that’s what you want. The job of effective marketing is to attract your ideal clients. But it’s also to repel people you don’t want to work with.
Had a coffee with leadership coach Sean Bailey the other day.
He asked me, “Lizzie, do you ever adjust your approach for different audiences?”
And I said, “Well no. I can’t be fucked.”
But this is not just about me giving no shits. It’s about me making a conscious choice to be authentic and sustainable. If people can’t handle my full mouthy, opinionated, woke, feminist, sweary, bawdy glory, then we’re not going to work well together. And I won’t compromise any more. Attract and repel my friend. If they can’t handle you, they’re not for you.
*If the things you believe harm other people, this doesn’t apply to you.
You don’t have to compromise who you are
A lot of professionals see marketing as a bit icky. And I get it. Certain marketing is salesy in a way that adds no value. It is kinda icky. But good marketing isn’t like that.
The thing that made me a content marketing enthusiast (apart from the fact it works really well) was the realisation that content marketing is an open-handed, open hearted way to promote yourself because you give everything you know away for free. But just because you’re giving stuff away for free doesn’t mean you get nothing in return. In fact, you get huge return.
New business.
Opportunities.
Community.
Appreciation.
Marketing can be as satisfying as practicing your professional skill. It’s a generous, creative act. And the key to relishing your marketing is talking about things you care about. One of the secrets of establishing a solid reputation as an expert is repetition. So, choose topics you enjoy enough to write about for years.
On top of that, create content you enjoy creating. Who cares if the algorithm favours carousels if you can’t stand them? Absolutely experiment with new content formats. Being an early adopter can be fun. But for any practice to be sustainable, it has to be enjoyable. So go with content formats you like. That applies to the social channels you chose too. Marketing wisdom says go where your clients are online. But also, use the channels you enjoy using. Because if, like me, video mostly bores you, Tik Tok isn’t going to be a joyful place for you to build community.
Have a plan
I’ve made over $100,000+ from posting on LinkedIn in the last three years. I worked out my ROI last year was about $104 per hour spent on LinkedIn. But that doesn’t happen by accident. If you’re serious about using social media as a source of $$$ you’re going to need a plan. A solid LinkedIn content strategy has three parts.
1/ Identify your expert topics
These are subjects you want to become famous for that are both relevant to your ideal clients and grow your business.
2/ Confirm your content pillars.
Your content pillars combine your expert topics with social proof you know your shit and personal stories that help people get to know you as a human.
3/ Plan your posting strategy.
Your strategy defines how often you talk about different topics.
Typically, business content has three different purposes:
Entertain to get reach and connect.
Educate to nurture.
Sell to convert.
Each type of content benefits your business in a different way. To grow your business, balance entertaining with nurturing and selling. The ideal split is +90% entertain & educate vs -10% sell.
Then develop a content plan to structure your week or month of content. Having a plan keeps you on track, and it helps when things get hard, and the shine wears off.
Made you a cheeky wee two pager summing up how to develop a solid LinkedIn content strategy.
Don’t get distracted by the shiny stuff
When it comes to getting visible, getting started on social media is always the hardest bit. Several of the consultants I work with speak about having to overcome a sense of shame because they knew they were deliberately courting attention, and we’re taught that isn’t a nice thing to do.
The only way through that barrier is to feel the discomfort and do it anyway. It will get easier. I promise. One day you may even enjoy sharing content.
Once you break through that initial barrier you may find yourself caught in another trap. You might find people like what you have to say. This might not happen straight away. Sometimes we can spend months feeling like we’re talking to ourselves. But one day, sooner or later, you’ll find people start to react to your content. Then they start to comment. And that feels good.
But don’t get hopped up on attention. It’s very easy to get distracted by vanity metrics and post more of the content that gets the likes and LOLs. That content is valuable because it gets you in front of more people and grows your following. But crowd pleasing content alone doesn’t sell your services. Remember you’re doing this to grow your business and stick to your plan.