by Oliver Booker, Marketing Manager
Inspired by a recent workshop, and from the experience of building a marketing arm in a growing consultancy business (SBR Consulting), here are 6 quick wins to align marketing & sales in your consultancy.
Everyone will have a different perspective on what value marketing provides, or what it even does.
Interviewing those in your business about what they think works, and what needs improving, will help drive a marketing mindset across the business to the non-believers. For example, âThe LinkedIn posts are not consistent or powerful enough and donât reach our target audience,â or, âthe Case Studies are a huge value-add when trying to close business, we need more!â
In SBR, in everything we do, we always ask ourselves, âWhat went wellâ, and âIt would be even better ifâŠâ. How often do you adapt and learn, and what old habits are staying the same in your business?
When presenting back to the leadership you should be able to say, âWith _____ budget we have achieved _____, with more we can reach _____ audience and achieve _____.â
Get the leadership on your side so you can have a senior voice when making bigger marketing suggestions. Who are your sponsors in the business?
Communicate the good news. Marketing is the biggest support engine for all other departments, so it needs to be communicated to get support from your colleagues.
Everything you plan with your marketing engine should stem from 3-4 key objectives of your business.
Be experts in your niche. Everyone does Transformation, but what is it specifically that you do that solves the issues your clients are facing? If you have a solution to their pain points, theyâll use you, simple as that. Be experts in a more unique field rather than one full of competition!
I recently found a great Digital Marketing Framework from another marketing professional in a consulting firm that started with, âWhat do you want to be famous for?â Be a thought leader in your niche. Build your messaging & content off that and âatomiseâ it. Always be leveraging!
Use the voice of the customer and align your marketing with that voice, and always see where marketing can add value.
Itâs taken me years to learn how to do less. Play to your strengths and use external specialists where appropriate. Marketing is one instrument in the band. Get budgets for a graphic designer to create your LinkedIn posts and marketing collateral. Use partners to boost your audience and expose your value proposition. Outsource videographers from other countries if budgets are tight. Use SEO experts for advice⊠the list goes on.
I know this may be seen as an enemy to some, but itâs not stealing your job yet. And no, I didnât use it to write this blog.
ChatGPT and other AI tools can be great if you need some nuggets of inspiration. Donât by any means copy and paste as it will be very plain! But you can use them to start your marketing copy and give you ideas and brainwaves that you may not have thought of without that extra cup of coffee.
Build a one-page lead-generation & nurturing piece. Are you working on your SEO, do you pay for PPC, or is it worth it for your business? How often are you posting on social media, do you have a podcast to nurture your community, whatâs your PR strategy, whatâs your resource strategy, are you paying or need advertising? Are you tracking activity on your CRM well enough, how are you tracking affiliate marketingâŠ
One top tip for your website resources is to offer a PDF alternative to what youâre reading. While youâre reading this, I should put a couple of buttons, âDownload this as a PDFâ. This is much less invasive and ultimately leads to your visitors filling out that form!
Iâd be keen to see your lightbulb moments from reading this and how youâre using marketing to attract strangers. What other quick wins are you seeing prove effective, and what relationships have you built?
To talk to us more about marketing vs selling in your consultancy, please get in touch by emailing info@sbrconsulting.com or call us on +44 (0) 207 653 3740.
You can sign up to receive regular updates and join over 4,000 others who enjoy access to our unique research insights, expert guidance, and advice.