Avoid
Results Without Evidence
If you cannot show before and after, revenue, or testimonials, a client has no reason to choose you over a cheaper option.
Content Ideas: The Skyline Strategy for Consultants
All consumed media educates, entertains, inspires, or connects. The Skyline Strategy asks for two pieces about your work for every one about your life. Here is one of each, for each purpose.
| Purpose | Brand Post | Personal Post |
|---|---|---|
| EducateTeach something useful. | A live teardown of a common mistake in your field. | How you structure a deep-work day. |
| EntertainMake it enjoyable to follow you. | The myth clients believe that makes you laugh. | Your travel ritual between client visits. |
| InspireShow what is possible. | A before and after from a client, with permission. | The moment you decided to go out on your own. |
| ConnectGive people a reason to reply. | Answer a question a client asked this week. | Ask your audience the hardest problem they are facing. |
More Ideas for Consultants
- Blend Humor Into Business Content Add one light moment to every piece of professional content: a story, an aside, a self-aware joke.
Plan the ratio with the free Skyline Planner (opens in a new tab).
What to Avoid
Avoid
Not Asking to Use Your Work
Before a project begins, ask whether you can reference your role publicly, and put it in the agreement for larger clients.
Avoid
A Generic Message
A line of the form I help X get Y gives a stranger nothing personal to connect with. Lead with a personal hook.
Measure It First: The Identity Positioning™ Brand Audit
Twenty-five questions, about seven minutes, free. Choose Consultant / Advisor on the intake and the audit scores all five pillars, places you on The Hierarchy of Personal Branding, and returns the three moves that would raise your score most, each traced to the subchapter it comes from.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do consultants build a personal brand?
With evidence and relationships: case studies and testimonials clients can check, a referral network of complementary professionals, and a clear point of view published under your own name.
Will a personal brand let me raise my rates?
The Manifesto describes rates rising as reputation grows and the brand scales, but only with substantiated results behind it.
What should a consultant publish?
Frameworks, lessons from engagements with permission, and opinions on how your field is done, balanced with the personal side.
