What happens when you start marketing as a consulting business?
Every year Facebook serves up the same memory from my wedding day. My husband and I with smiles on both our faces. Each year, it’s the same photo and immediately I’m brought back to that day and the joy we both felt.
In my opinion, the memories feature is one of the greatest features of Facebook. Because Meta knows that memories serve to remind you of some of your happiest moments. It brings you back into the day, into the moment, into the emotion of that time and place. And each time it pops up, you get to live that again – if only briefly.
That’s exactly how I feel every time the picture from my wedding day pops up on my feed. I’m immediately back on that day.
Interestingly, marketing works the same way.
When you start marketing yourself as a consultant or thought leader, you’re creating opportunities to build those future memories for your audience. At first they might just see a single post, or read one newsletter or attend a keynote. But over time, those touchpoints start to build an emotional and intellectual memory of who you are and what you stand for.
Now your target audience starts to remember you. They start to trust you. And over time, that relationship and trust starts to build and create a layered set of memories. That’s real value-adding marketing.
Why Good Marketing is Memory Making – and Why it Matters in Consulting
Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of memory, was the first to show that our recall (or remembering) drops steeply without reinforcement. He called this the ‘forgetfulness curve’ – and he posited that the best way to combat this was to implement spaced repetition. That is revisiting the information at several different times and intervals, which would then reinforce your learning and long-term retention.
It works the same way with any brand. The more often we revisit the information – or have the information fed back to us – the more likely we are to remember it in the long term.
This is exactly what happens with my Facebook memories. And it’s also what marketing does for our consulting practice. Repeated, consistent interactions with your audience – which you can create through your marketing activities – become memory-building moments that strengthen trust.
A Marketing Strategy for Consulting Business
If you’re building a marketing strategy for your consulting business, remember that consistency – memory building – is key. When you commit to showing up, you unlock the following benefits:
You stop being a stranger and become a trusted voice. Familiarity builds comfort and comfort allows someone to open up to you and begin to trust. This is how you start to become the authority your clients rely on.
People start associating you with the solutions and expertise they need. And when they have a problem, you are the first to come to mind.
You create anchors for decision making. When someone needs help, the memory of your expertise is ready and waiting. They know how to get the help they need without even thinking about it.
It’s not about shouting the loudest – it’s about planting the right memories
Remember that as a consultant, you’re not trying to shout the loudest. But you are trying to be the most consistent. You want to continually plant the right memories with the right audience so that when your ideal clients are ready to act, they already know you. They’ve experienced your value. And they trust you.
The best time to start creating memories for your clients is today. That’s the future of your consulting business.
I’d love to hear your thoughts…
