Consulting is considered a professional line of work and marketing for consulting is probably best done by spending big bucks with fancy advertisements in expensive professional publications, right?

Well, that’s one way to do it. But, there are other ways to market for consulting work that involve high energy, creativity, and imagination. This type of marketing is called guerrilla marketing, a term used by authors Jay Conrad Levinson and Al Lautenslager to sell a series of books.

Consulting is Very Competitive

Though consulting is a professional, satisfying, and profitable career, it is also a very competitive industry. The industry grew by leaps and bounds for years, but that growth has slowed and there is a glut of consultants marketing for the same pool of potential clients. This doesn’t mean it is a declining industry; it is still a dynamic industry to enter and work, but the marketing rules have changed because of the tough competition.

You must find cost-effective ways to promote your services. With a poorly conceived marketing plan you will either spend to much money or attract too few clients, or both! In a competitive environment, marketing for consulting work takes some cojones and creativity.

Marketing for Consultants in the 21st Century

The first thing to realize is that marketing for consultants in the new economy involves promoting your practice to networks of clients, not just individual clients. Many individuals will become new clients without ever hearing or seeing one of your slick ads. You must learn to create excitement in your current clients so they can spread the word about your services through their networks.

Guerrilla marketing also involves an adaptive strategy toward marketing. Traditional marketing for consultants was more of a one-size-fits-all approach. The digital age has created smarter and better-informed consumers who have access to amazing amounts of information; to reach them, you must adapt your promotional strategies to various media and groups of people. Remember, adaptability and flexibility is the key, though they must always be balanced with a careful analysis of what works and what fails to hit the nail on the head.

Is Guerrilla Marketing Different Than Traditional Marketing?

Damn right it is. Guerrilla marketing forces you to listen to your clients and serve their needs instead of telling them what you do and selling them on what you can do. This new promotional strategy is all about creating new markets instead of taking market share from other consultants. Creating new niches and opening up new avenues for consultants is easier and less costly than prying clients away from others in the profession.

Traditional marketing has always been viewed as an integral part of the business, however, guerrilla marketing IS your business – you will not have a practice without marketing. Marketing is everything. Every ad you place, every time you speak, every client you see, every word your write, every corner of the web you visit, is part of your marketing strategy. Even though this sounds as if marketing will consume your practice and your life, guerrilla marketing actually means you spend less time promoting. If you aren’t devoting specific blocks of time to promotional activities you will be surprised at how much more time you have to work with your clients.

Guerrilla marketing for consultants still requires planning and strategy, but it is more adaptive and interactive with your and your practice. Under guerrilla rules, marketing is your practice!

Hope you took some great value out of this post today! I’d love to hear your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment with your thoughts or questions. And also, you can click on the Twitter button below to retweet this article…Thank you!

Fred Philips
Business Coach
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