Good marketing isn’t merely about jingles and slogans. Good marketing is about constructing a compelling story to operate within, and welcoming others to participate in it.
Marketing is applied psychology. Marketing is storytelling. Marketing is sense-making. Marketing is flirting, seduction, world-building. Marketing is about values.
There’s a widespread assumption that marketing is about creating a flimsy, fake veneer onto shoddy products. It’s true that some people do do that, and it leads to ugly, highly visible failures. But we don’t have to do that. It’s far more interesting and satisfying to look for good things that have lousy veneers, and just remove the veneer.
Sometimes my job as a marketing consultant is really just to go into people’s stuff and say “Look at all this good stuff you already have! Why is this good stuff buried so deep where no one will see it?! Just take it and put it on the front page!” – and this alone creates a serious uptick in their sales. Here’s an example of me doing this for my friend Michael.
My process
Before we initiate a proper consult, we’ll chat (via text) casually about your challenges. I’ll ask you some questions, look into your stuff, ask some follow up questions, get a sense of how things are and what they could be. If we choose to go ahead, I’ll likely give you a little bit of “homework” – really just more questions – and I’ll review your response before we have a ~1 hour zoom call to really dig into it.
I’ll chat with you about your goals and help you outline a strategy that makes sense for you. I’ll help you think about what your bio should be, who you should be following and talking to, and how to figure out a compelling frame.
Some of the stuff I’ve done:
- I’ve helped several SaaS and B2B teams figure out their content strategy, positioning, plan out their content, copywriting, emails. I’m really good at this but I don’t really enjoy it unless the product seems really valuable.
- I’ve helped several early-stage founders figure out how to frame and position their offerings – consumer-facing apps… (more tbc)
- I’ve helped an ambitious young writer figure out a game plan for her trajectory as an essayist – this is my favorite type of consulting to do!
I think we would be a good fit if…
You’re already working on what you want to be doing. I can be much, much more helpful when you have some sort of working prototype, whether it’s a blog, a band, a software product, a youtube channel, a consultancy of your own, whatever it is. I also get more energized helping people to refine and upgrade the thing they’ve already started, than trying to motivate people to do something they haven’t done yet. My favorite clients are working on problems that they feel strongly about, which in turn has a way of bringing out the best in me, because I then want to help them succeed. I can’t force this if I’m not feeling it, so we have to be honest with each other about this.
You have some sense of what you would like to be doing next. I don’t expect you to have a perfectly clear sense. Most thoughtful people are at least somewhat conflicted and uncertain about things. I am too! It’s likely that you may want a few different things that seem to be in conflict – that’s great, I can help you work through that. If you’re totally unsure, I can try to run you through some troubleshooting questions and that can help, but it goes way better if you already have some thoughts and feelings about your options.
You recognize that it’s likely that the bottleneck is partially emotional. I’m not a therapist, and I don’t claim to be, and I don’t exactly want my sessions to be “alright let’s spend an hour talking about your feelings”. But I can’t help you if you’re completely detached and hoping that some quick tactical hacks will change everything. I find that thoughtful clients often already know, “Oh, I should blog more, I should make videos for YouTube or Tiktok, I should talk with customers more, I should update my site…” – hey, I want to be doing all of those things more, too! The question to sit with is always, “So why aren’t you doing it?” I will explore that question with you honestly and sincerely, take you seriously and also challenge you to make progress. About half the challenge is usually project management, but that’s the easier half. The difficult part is managing your psychology, such that you feel motivated, confident, eager to start carving things up and getting things done.
My current rate for each marketing consult is US$600/session.
The critical idea here is that I want to make sure that I create at least US$600 in value for you. I want both of us to take the session that seriously. Really good marketing-positioning-branding work that goes deep into the guts of things can be a powerful force multiplier on your entire project or business. It can even help you improve your relationship with yourself, help you with your friendships and your romantic prospects, improve your marriage and so on. I’m serious!
I do not take on clients unless I believe I can make a substantial difference. If it doesn’t seem like I can help, no worries, I can give you some pointers, you can hit me up again when it feels like you’re ready. No pressure, no expectations. I only accept gigs if I sincerely believe that I can deliver real value. And I believe in delivering more value than I charge.
DM me on Twitter (fastest way to get a reply), or email me at visakanv@gmail and let’s chat. 🤓
(PS: If you can’t afford the $600, but you’re working on something that you think deserves to grow and flourish, hit me up anyway and let’s figure something out. I was a broke kid once too. ❤️)