I recently spoke to a fellow entrepreneur who shared that she did not have a great experience working with a business coach.
“I’ve worked with business coaches before and got nothing in return,” she said. “I spent all that money and nothing.”
“Why do you feel like you got nothing out of the sessions?”
“I thought they were going to help me do things in my business,” she said. “All they did was give me ideas.”
Interesting.
As entrepreneurs, we need to understand the types of experts we need to support our development. It was incredibly clear to me that her expectations of a coach were not met because she never needed one–she needed a consultant.
Before we begin creating a budget to work with an expert, we need to have an end goal in mind and ask ourselves two questions:
1. What do we want to achieve in our business?
2. How do we want an expert to help us achieve our goals?
Content strategists work with entrepreneurs as coaches or consultants. While both experts will ultimately support a business in creating and executing effective content strategies, their approaches and methods of engaging with clients will differ greatly.
Let’s look at how content coaches and consultants differ and how each will support your business’s growth.
How Does A Content Strategy
Coach Help Businesses?
Coaches work with entrepreneurs individually or in small groups. Their purpose is to listen to your desires and then:
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- Help you set realistic goals and develop objectives to execute your plan of action.
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- Share tools to execute your goals. They do not execute any of the work.
A Focus On Accountability
Like other business coaches, a content coach will help you stay on track to achieve your goals. When you are confronted with challenges in the content creation process, they will provide a listening ear so that you can consider ways of overcoming roadblocks.
Supportive Mindset Shifts
A coach’s ultimate goal is to support you in sustaining a growth mindset and skills to conquer a content strategy within your business. They’ll supply you with various ideas and tools to encourage you to believe in your dreams. Their guidance will empower you to keep building your vision so that you can reach your ideal clients and generate revenue in your business.
A Long-Term Relationship
The mindset shifts, skills, and strategies developed through coaching don’t happen overnight. Instead, coaching is considered a relationship that will develop over time so that you can focus on continued growth and sustainability in your business.
What Role Does A Content Strategy Consultant
Play In Your Business?
A content consultant’s purpose is to listen to your business goals and then, proceed in the following ways:
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- Develop and execute the content creation process.
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- Use their knowledge base to solve specific content needs.
Implementing Ideas and Getting Results
Consultants are not cheerleaders. They are your team members supporting you with an all-hands-on-deck to achieve your goals. Content consultants are present to implement your ideas–taking you through the content creation process and achieving results.
Specialized Expertise and Execution
Consultants are often hired to meet specific goals. Often, consultants will create strategies from start to finish. They will provide actionable recommendations and execute them so your business can meet its marketing goals.
A consultant focused on content strategy will also solve specific problems or reach goals within a business’ content marketing initiatives. For instance, if you want to focus on search engine optimization, a content consultant will conduct an audit, look at your analytics, develop a strategy, and then do a keyword search to help your business get found online.
Here For a Good Time, Not A Long Time
Consultants work with businesses on projects. They are focused on delivering the best results related to a specific initiative. While consultants may be encouraging, their purpose is not to focus on an entrepreneur’s mindset and ability to follow through with goals.
Femi’s Final Thoughts
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know how passionate I am about the content creation process beginning with a strategy. I also believe that entrepreneurs should work with experts to execute their content creation process–especially if they are just getting started or launching a new service or program.
Remember: if you want to execute your project but want someone who will help you develop a strategy and hold you accountable, you’re looking for a coach. If you want someone who will listen to your ideas and then focus on developing a strategy or solving a specific problem related to content, you need a consultant.
Ready to discuss the benefits of choosing a coach or consultant in your business? I’m ready to support you. Run, don’t walk to schedule your discovery call today.