Analyze our clients. Understand what leads them to buy and what functional/emotional outcomes they try to achieve. Segment them based on their goals. Find the most profitable segments that get the most value from our services, which also have reasonable sales cycles. Look for patterns that define those businesses. Dig into our firm’s expertise and strengths. What positively surprises the clients the most? What’s the edge our firm has that others don’t? Consider the major trends in our space....
12 days ago • 3 min read
Most consulting firms’ content fails to influence prospects. On paper, they do everything right: They invest in articles and posts. They publish consistently. And they optimize everything based on the latest tactics. But then… Nothing happens. They continue to rely on referrals for growth. No “We read your articles” on sales calls. No prospects quoting their ideas back to them. Why? Well, because most consulting firms treat content as a mere checklist item. Something you’re supposed to do for...
19 days ago • 5 min read
Positioning drives messaging. Messaging drives copy and content. Without clear positioning, everything is noise. Capabilities are becoming commodities. Every firm needs a compelling narrative and ideology to stand out. Storytelling is the last stronghold. The same firm can become 10X more valuable to prospects with a different frame. Positioning is about finding it. Bad is stronger than good. One weak touchpoint (cheap content, vague messaging, annoying outreach) can ruin your brand and push...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
In 1925, a rookie copywriter named John Caples had to sell something hard to sell: A mail-order piano course. He was barely a year into his job at the agency Ruthrauff & Ryan. The U.S. School of Music had knocked on their door. They wanted a campaign for their new self-study instrument courses. Caples needed an angle for his copy. Should he focus on how easy it makes learning? Should he focus on the lower price compared to hiring a tutor? Both were true. But none of it felt compelling. Caples...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Weak positioning causes a vicious cycle for every firm. It goes like this: You lack clarity around your ideal client profile, the specific problem you solve for them, and how you solve it differently. That causes you to have generic messaging. That causes your website, content, and ads to get ignored. That causes buyers to see you as interchangeable with hundreds of other firms. That causes you to lack pricing power. That causes you to have low margins. That causes you to have a low budget...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Boutique consulting firms make most of their revenue from a single service. But that core service gets only a tiny share of their messaging. You know why? Because they fear losing out. “What if somebody is looking for our other offers?” “What if we miss an opportunity?” So they list 10 services on their websites. Their content talks about 10 different value points related to different services. They hedge. But this ‘just in case’ messaging kills sales. Warren Buffett has a quote I like:...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Some boutique consulting firms are still doing marketing like it’s 2010: They rely on their partners’ networks for new business. They post some random content. And they occasionally hire an agency to do mass outreach campaigns. These tactics worked fine 15 years ago. But the world has changed since then. Going through a pandemic. The AI wave. Smartphone ownership levels and social media usage. Everything is different. And together with the world, how B2B buyers buy high-value services has...
3 months ago • 6 min read
Copywriting legend Gary Halbert goes to prison for tax fraud. The conditions are harsh. He doesn’t know if he’ll survive in Boron Prison for long. So he writes letters to his son to teach him everything he knows about copywriting and marketing. And later his letters became the famous book: The Boron Letters. Gary Halbert In one of the letters, he tells about a question he asked his copywriting students: “If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to see who would sell...
3 months ago • 4 min read
I don’t know how it was for you. But when I prepared for university exams, three wrong answers erased one correct answer. When it comes to marketing, it’s worse. One negative association cancels out three positives. Because people have a negativity bias. Negative things have a stronger and longer-lasting impact on emotions and memory than positive ones. Social psychologist Roy Baumeister and his colleagues wrote a paper on this. And its title explains the idea perfectly: “Bad is stronger than...
4 months ago • 4 min read
