Positioning + Messaging = Narrative

How my consulting service evolved over the last 2 years

I’ve been doing Positioning & Messaging Consulting for 2-y now.

And I think I finally found the right way to package it:

A Marketing Narrative.

Tl;Dr - I’m repackaging my service as a Marketing Narrative - helping craft the product’s story your audience gets, remembers, shares.

No, it’s not one of those “independent consultant reframes the same service so it engineers hype” kind of bluff.

Today, I simply want to share with you the behind-the-scenes of my iteration process.

These two years (26 months actually) went sooo fast! I took the time to celebrate this business-birthday on LinkedIn

/ Messaging

I started 2y ago with Messaging

I was a growth marketer before, so I was applying my expertise in messages to clarify my clients’.

I had pretty huge wins, like once we got +60 inbound leads from content, per month, in just 3-month for a B2B SaaS.

But for most clients, I realized:

They have too many target customer profiles.

So no matter my work on the Messaging, it always got stuck at how precise the target audience was…

Meaning it only worked for tech founders crystal-clear on their best target customers, and willing to focus down on it.

But if you work with tech companies, you know it:

Nobody in tech can focus.

So I had two choices:

a) keep going and do my part as I could - frustrating

b) find a way to help my clients better - challenging

I chose b.

/ Positioning

That’s how I started consulting exclusively on Positioning around 1-year ago

(exclusively, because I’m the “all or nothing” type)

(maybe a flaw, you tell me)

And then I faced the exact same problem:

Nobody. Is. Willing. To. Focus.

Even tech founders or marketers who want help on their Positioning, pay for advice, see the proof, don’t commit.

*picture me eating my fist*

After a though period fueled by pure grit, I finally found clients willing to take a stance.

Yet, I encountered another problem:

Once we nail the strategy, they struggle to apply it.

So I got stuck in this situation where I struggle for months to sell positioning consulting, and even when it goes well, my clients can’t leverage it.

Back to being a growth marketing advisor, mentoring teams on all-things marketing, hoping they’ll be able to make it work - or I’d have to spend non-profitable hours taking them by the hand, or doing the work for them.

Not sustainable.

I had to find a way to guarantee success.

Bonus point if it can make my own sales/marketing easier.

Because with only project-based services, I constantly need pipeline.

And to attract pipeline, I need results to show.

So if my clients can succeed after working with me… this is going nowhere.

Hence my recent reflection on my target clients, my service, and how I frame it.

I ended up with three main roads:

a) repackaging my service

b) changing service

c) both

I chose a.

/ Narrative

Lightbulb moment was when I was thinking enablement.

Like, how my work on the product’s marketing helps internal Sales & Marketing teams perform better.

Long story short:

When they can easily communicate the strategy themselves.

(the strategy to operations bridge I mentioned earlier)

Best way to do so?

Stories.

Everybody loves, remembers, and shares them.

And now that I know Positioning and Messaging only work together, what if I merged these into one strategy? That’d be dope.

But how could I make it easy to buy and apply it?

Same answer: package it as a Story.

Or in more fancy: Narrative.

See the announce post

I didn’t call it “Strategic Narrative” because I know a great consultant who does it:

Her work includes outcomes raising funds, being acquired, recruiting… but I don’t.

My thing is customer acquisition.

Better fit with companies who get marketing.

So I call it:

Marketing Narrative

/ Next steps

Right now I’m testing the waters with a few prospects.

I think I’ll keep the same method as when I work Positioning, so like a 2 or 3-week sprint that includes workshops, CRM analysis, and customer interviews.

Maybe at a lower ticket, around €7-12k, not sure yet.

The double challenge is that I’m expanding to not only B2B tech, but also “impact-led” tech, including B2B2C and B2C

But that’s another story ;)

To end this very self-centered publication, I’d love your opinion on which of these one-liners is clearer and more convincing:

A- “I craft the story of your tech product so buyers understand, remember, buy and refer it.”

B- “I craft your tech product’s narrative so you get clear on your marketing roadmap.”

Thanks for reading me!

Next release will be an episode of TractionStories, so stay tuned ;)

Best,

Gaspard