| If you currently offer consulting services or are | | | | 3. Book Authorship |
| thinking of adding consulting services to your | | | | After you have developed your concepts, branded |
| offerings, one of the most important skills you need | | | | them and developed a unique selling proposition for |
| to master is how to strategically position and | | | | yourself and an appropriate personal title, it's time to |
| package your expertise in a way that can be | | | | get the word out about your concepts and the |
| promoted across multiple media and marketing | | | | problems that you help solve. |
| channels. | | | | One of the most powerful ways to do this is by |
| This is easier said than done if your consulting area is | | | | authoring a book on your specialty area. A book is |
| not in the personal branding or marketing category. | | | | the best business card money can buy and can help |
| Here are a few tips that can help you systematically | | | | you land lucrative speaking gigs, media publicity and |
| create a highly marketable package out of what you | | | | the attention of valuable strategic partners. |
| know and do so in a way that helps you convert | | | | You can learn how to properly pre-sell your services |
| more prospects and attract powerful strategic | | | | in books by reading the works of the most |
| partners. | | | | successful consultants like Dan Kennedy, Ram Charan, |
| 1. Systematize Your Expertise | | | | Jack Trout and Geoff Smart. |
| By this I mean that you should translate your | | | | 4. Assessment Tools |
| expertise into branded packages, products and | | | | Developing assessment tools help you engage book |
| programs that prospects find easier to understand | | | | readers beyond the purchase of your book. Your |
| and more accessible. While you may not always be | | | | assessment tools could be located on a website to |
| able to get prospects to understand the detailed (or | | | | which members gain access when they register with |
| technical) aspects of what you do, they should be | | | | their email addresses. You may also include other |
| able to understand: | | | | interactive and educational elements that deepen the |
| - What their benefits will be | | | | connection between you and your prospects. |
| - The philosophies that guide your practice | | | | By carefully designing your assessment tools, you can |
| - The process by which you deliver results | | | | virtually sell your consulting services and make sure |
| - The difference between you and your competitors | | | | that the people who call your office or organization |
| You should work hard to provide your marketplace | | | | already need and want your services. The Kolbe |
| with resources that help them identify the difference | | | | Index from Kathy Kolbe is a great example of a |
| between your philosophies, processes and practices | | | | powerful assessment tool that pre-sells higher level |
| and those of your competition. | | | | consulting services. |
| 2. Branding | | | | 5. Syndicate Your Content |
| While personal branding is a popular catch phrase in | | | | If you are starting without a national audience or a |
| entrepreneurial circles, successful consultants and | | | | high-profile platform from a previous career, you are |
| business coaches learn how to brand concepts, | | | | going to need all the promotional help you can get. |
| philosophies and approaches. In the arena of | | | | Content marketing online and off is a great way to |
| consulting where your "products" are intangibles, the | | | | spread the word about your expertise and your |
| importance of this skill can not be overstated. | | | | business. |
| In my consulting practice, we teach our clients how | | | | Break up the areas of your expertise to address the |
| to apply the "4P strategic thinking framework" to the | | | | problems that give your target prospects headaches. |
| area of concept branding. Not only should you brand | | | | Share this content in ways that people like to receive |
| your concepts, you should also make sure to brand | | | | information - especially online. Then syndicate your |
| yourself by: | | | | content through tools like social media websites, |
| - Developing a unique selling proposition (USP) | | | | article marketing directories and even video |
| - Compressing your USP into a memorable tag line | | | | screencasts on video sharing and syndication sites. |
| - Assigning yourself a congruent personal tagline | | | | |