Competitive Advantage Consultancy

Stand out and scale up

Feel stuck in a rut? Keep losing out to rivals?

Herkess Marketing is a strategic marketing consultancy focussed on competitive advantage. It helps plateauing B2B SMEs to regain momentum and improve their business performance.

A lot of B2B businesses focus on ‘keeping up’ with their competitors rather than aiming to move past them and take business away from them. They start to plateau and struggle to know what it is they need to do to ‘shift the needle’.

Herkess is an affordable way for small businesses to get out of this rut and start regaining momentum.

Move back into the fast lane

move up a gear

My name is Emma Radcliffe, I’m a freelance marketing strategy consultant and I love helping SMEs to punch above their weight.

I’ll help you to:

Sharpen up your competitive edge
Communicate that edge to your staff, get everyone enthused about it and aligned
Build and deliver a marketing and PR strategy that tells your target customers about your competitive edge and strengthens your reputation
Convert more leads by clarifying why businesses should hire you

Outsource your strategic marketing activity and watch your business growth speed up.

Three-step process

Competitive advantage discovery

This involves me researching your competitors, speaking to a small sample group of your staff and customers, having a workshop with your senior team to find and hone your competitive advantages, then creating a short report to record the findings.

2. Staff communication

I’ll work with you and use the report to create an internal communications process that will get the message across to your staff in a way that resonates, creates alignment, and will subsequently result in all employees communicating a consistent message about the company.

3. Communicate the message (marketing/PR activity)

Once everyone is clear internally, I’ll work with you and any internal or agency marketers to create an ongoing marketing and PR strategy that will put your business and its competitive advantage in front of the right people. I can help you deliver that strategy and keep the momentum going. I can also monitor and update you on your competitors’ activity.

Stop coasting & start winning

why use a competitive advantage consultancy?

If you’re spending time and resources on telling potential customers about your business in a way that doesn’t resonate or interest them, you’re going to grind to a halt.

Think of it like having a bland online dating profile that says "I like to eat nice foods, go to nice places and sometimes I play sport" and has a photo that's hard to see. You're hardly likely to set anyone's pulse racing.

Get your competitive advantage right, and you’ll start attracting attention, generating more leads and converting a higher percentage of them.

Get it wrong and you’ll waste marketing budget trying to get leads and convert them, find you're competing on price, and in the long term, weaken the company’s reputation and financial standing.

testimonial

"If you want someone in your team that can turn the toughest of subjects into an intelligent customer story, then look no further than Emma."

Dan Greenall, Head of Marketing, Daisy Group

what Herkess doesn't do

SMEs that appoint business strategy consultancies can often find the process long, expensive and they end up with a thick report with recommendations they can struggle to implement.

Herkess is NOT a standard business consultancy or market research agency. I do NOT advise on portfolio strategy, digital transformation, BU strategy, restructuring or turnaround strategy.

My job is simply to help businesses understand their competition better, clarify what their competitive advantage is (or should be) and give practical help in communicating it to the right people inside your business and outside of it, in a simple and affordable way.

A unique service

Hiring a traditional business consultancy, internal communications or marketing agency often means spending a fortune and/or having to prioritise between strategy and getting work done. I think there's another way.

With Herkess Marketing, you get a unique, affordable service that acts as three experts in one.

Competitive strategy consultant: I start with strategic research and help you to define a competitive edge that will make your target customer sit up and pay attention.

Internal communications consultancy: I'll help you and your team get aligned on the new strategy, making sure everyone is engaged and pulling in the same direction.

Marketing agency: I'll then step in as your hands-on freelance marketing manager to execute the tactics (SEO, content, PR) precisely based on that core strategy. I can work autonomously or with your existing marketing team.

This integrated approach cuts out waste, boosts staff alignment, and delivers the senior-level clarity and execution you need to secure high-value clients, and all without long delays and a big agency price tag.

FAQs

So, are you a business consultant?

No. If I were I’d probably be charging three times more for my services and taking three times as long to deliver them! I also wouldn’t be qualified to help you implement the communication elements of the process. I am a very experienced marketing and PR consultant who has advised numerous B2B SMEs on strategy and devised and delivered lots of strategic internal communications campaigns.

Are you a fractional CMO?

No. A fractional CMO offers strategy and leadership, but not day-to-day execution. I do both plus internal communications strategy and tactical delivery. Also fractional CMO usually offers guidance to medium-sized businesses on things like revenue targets, marketing technology/systems, and market expansion. I focus on helping smaller businesses (usually around 10-100 staff) whose progress is stalling to get moving again and start overtaking their rivals.

Are you a competitor research agency?

No. I will do competitor research as part of the process, but I don’t go into the level of depth that a market research agency would usually go into. That would add significant cost, making my services prohibitively expensive for most small businesses, and in most cases, that level of detail isn’t necessary. However, if you have the budget available and have a complex competitor landscape, I am more than happy to work with a market research agency.

Do we have to hire you on an ongoing basis?

It’s advisable but, no, you don’t have to. The benefit of working with me on an ongoing basis is that you get support implementing changes and consistency with regards to messaging. It’s very easy for the message to become diluted so I’ll help to keep all your marketing communication aligned. I can also help with internal communications on an ongoing basis. The ongoing marketing support I provide is pretty affordable and there are package deals available.

How long does the competitive advantage consultancy process take?

Reputation and client understanding of a brand won’t change overnight. Done properly, this should be a long-term, ongoing process. That said, the initial stages of identifying your competitive advantage and creating an internal communications and external marketing strategy can potentially be delivered within a fortnight, depending on my capacity and other work commitments.

Can you guarantee the process will be a success?

If I'm given the right information within the specified timeframe, the right number of people with the right level of seniority attend the bootcamp, and everyone is receptive to making significant changes, there's a very good chance it will succeed. However, the process won't work for every business, so I offer a guarantee. If I can’t help your business to identify a competitive advantage that will appeal to your target audience, I will only charge you for the day of research done prior to the bootcamp (£400), and my travel to and from the bootcamp venue.

Can I hire you for just marketing services without undertaking the competitive advantage consulting process?

Yes. While my competitive advantage consultancy process is the best way to ensure your marketing, business strategy, and corporate culture are perfectly aligned (a great long-term health check for any business!), I'm happy to meet you where you are. I understand that you may have a specific need, like award entry writing, content creation, or specific campaign execution, or you may just need additional marketing support to increase your activity levels. Just let me know what you need, and we can discuss a focussed plan that works for you.

What about conflict of interest?

Because I’m really getting to know a lot about a business, I try never to work with businesses in direct competition, and subsequently avoid working with full-service firms that offer everything. I'm bound to never use a past client’s confidential strategies or data for your benefit. Before I even start talking to a similar company, I make sure there’s a suitable time gap, and all old, sensitive files are completely archived or deleted. This guarantees your project gets my full expertise, built from the ground up, with total focus and integrity.

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