What is a marketing system for a consulting business?
A marketing system is the set of repeatable activities that make the right potential clients aware of you, on purpose, every week. The opposite is what I call "random acts of marketing": posting sometimes, reaching out to people randomly, doing a speaking gig here and there, and never knowing what's working or why.
A consultant told me, "I used to do random acts of marketing. Now I have a system. I finally feel professional." Here's what she really meant: she could see what was working, replicate it, and stop guessing.
The system has four working parts:
- A chosen client. One specific kind of client you serve best, named out loud.
- A message. What you fix, for whom, in their words instead of yours.
- One or two channels. Picked because your clients are there, and nowhere else.
- A cadence. A weekly rhythm you keep whether or not this month is busy.
And remember: getting clients takes TWO systems working together. Marketing brings potential clients into your pipeline. Your sales process signs them.
Which marketing channels work for B2B consultants?
The channels that work are the ones where your clients already spend attention and where expertise shows well. For most women consultants, that shortlist is LinkedIn, an email newsletter, and being heard in the rooms your clients trust. You don't have to be on every platform. I'm not: I built this business on LinkedIn, a newsletter, and a podcast several years later. You can build yours on fewer channels than you think.
| Channel | Why it fits B2B consulting | What "deep" looks like |
|---|
| LinkedIn | Your clients are professionally there, with budgets | In the feed every week with a real point of view |
| Email newsletter | You own the list; consistency builds trust and the relationship in the inbox | A letter worth opening |
| Speaking, podcasts, rooms | Borrowed trust from hosts and audiences | A few right rooms a year, chosen for fit |
Whether LinkedIn is worth it for YOU, and whether you need speaking or a podcast at all, are real decisions. The system rule holds everywhere: pick one or two, go deep, and skip the rest without guilt. (EP 143 of the podcast, "Why your marketing isn't working," is the companion listen.)
How do I start when I've hardly done any marketing?
Start with who and what, never with a channel. Consultants who jump straight to posting spend weeks broadcasting a fuzzy message to nobody in particular, then decide marketing doesn't work. The sequence that works runs the other way:
- Name your ideal client. One sentence: the kind of organization and person you do your best work for.
- Name the problem you solve. In their words, the words they'd type at 11pm, never your methodology's words.
- Pick your channel. One place your clients already are. Two at most.
- Set a weekly cadence. Small and unbreakable. That's what replaces random acts of marketing.
- Add warm visibility. Tell the people who already know your work what you're focused on now.
The secret is there is no secret: name your person, name their problem, pick your channel, and keep showing up. And remember the clock you're on: a B2B engagement takes three to 18 months to come together, so the system you start this month is building next year's client list. Marketing for a consulting business is about planting seeds. That's the reason to start now.
Do I have to do cold calling or cold emailing to get consulting clients?
No. Cold calling and cold emailing have the lowest success rate and, frankly, feel gross to you and to your clients. Cold outreach is for massive sales teams working at scale. It's not for solo consultants or small teams. That's why cold outreach is not part of our methodology. I'll never tell you to do it.
Cold outreach is B2C thinking pointed at a B2B sale. Look at what this sale really is: in your work, you're selling a five- or six-figure engagement, signed by someone who needs several real conversations and a proposal before they say yes. You don't get those opportunities by showing up randomly in someone's inbox. You get them by showing up where your clients are, with your expertise, and building trust as an expert.
But (and I say this with love) clients won't swim into your net, either. Skipping cold outreach is never permission to sit back and wait. Here's what does the job instead:
Warm outreach
Reconnecting with people who already know your work, generously and specifically, without a pitch attached. For consultants, warm outreach is usually the first activity that turns visibility into real conversations (EP 74 of the podcast, "How to get clients outside your network," walks through how the circle widens from there).
Visible expertise
Your channel does the approaching for you. When a potential client has read you, heard you, or seen your thinking for months, the first call is warmer, easier, and closer to the goal. You're never convincing a stranger. You're talking to someone who arrived already knowing how you think.
Leah's take
Real talk: most consultants who say they're doing marketing are doing what I call "fluffing the pillows": tinkering with the website, rewriting the services page, reorganizing the back end where nobody can see you. It feels like work because it IS work, and (no judgment, I've done it too) it's more comfortable than showing up. A real marketing system is the opposite of fluffing the pillows. It puts you in front of the people who can hire you, on a schedule, whether or not it feels comfortable that week. I'm an introvert and never liked being the center of attention, and I built my whole business this way, and I've taught hundreds of women to do the same: pick the channels that are yours, go deep, and let consistency do what talent alone can't. And here's the good news: most consultants aren't doing any of this consistently. They aren't showing up, they aren't following up, they aren't leading a sales process. So the way to stand out as a consultant is to do what most other consultants won't do.
The Academy is where I teach both systems, step by step, with a room of women doing the same work.
