- FEATURE ARTICLE

Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants: Breakthrough Tactics for Winning

Jay Conrad Levinson, Michael W. McLaughlin

"Great consultants don’t just talk about marketing, they do it–every day. That’s why they win. Follow the marketing advice in this book, and you’ll outsell, outperform, and outlast your competitors."
–Jeffrey Fox, marketing consultant and author of How to Become a Marketing Superstar

There are times when it seems like there are as many consultants out there as clients. Clients are becoming increasingly demanding and choosy, so how can you stand out from the herd and get their attention? That’s what this book is all about.

Jay Conrad Levinson is Chairman of Guerrilla Marketing International, a highly successful consulting firm. He is the creator of the term ‘Guerrilla Marketing’ and a former vice president and creative director at J. Walter Thompson and Leo Burnett Advertising.

Michael W. McLaughlin is a Principal with Deloitte Consulting, and has delivered more than $300 million in consulting services in his career.

Put these two authors together and you get a book of powerful, strategic guidance for anyone trying to make a living as a consultant. Even better, it’s all about getting profitable clients to build a consulting business. If you want to escape from the ‘project after project’ syndrome this is a book that tells you how to do it.

These ideas are so practical they can be implemented immediately. As you go through the chapters you’ll discover one thing after another that you’ll want to try. And because Levinson’s concepts are based on using creativity and energy instead of buckets of money, you won’t have to mortgage the family home any more than you already have to start using them in your own firm.

The book tells you how to take action to avoid these common traps and others:

The curse of experience - Many consultants believe that their deep understanding of clients and their businesses translates into an understanding of the nuances of marketing. That assumption can cost you clients and money.

Go it alone - Consulting is a collaborative business. Whether it’s Web design, writing marketing copy, or launching a survey, you should always be on the lookout for talented people to partner with in marketing. Focus your efforts on what you do best—deliver value to clients. Let the pros cover your weak spots in their areas of expertise.

Overestimate clients’ interest in you - Clients care about their own problems and how to solve them, not about your business. They’ll engage you to help and express polite interest in you, but keep the focus on them, not you.

It’s not often that a popular marketing concept (like guerrilla marketing) can be so effectively translated into a consultant-specific activity. Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants: Breakthrough Tactics for Winning Profitable Clients does just that and is well worth reading.

This book review was originally published in the January 2005 edition of ONEderings ezine.