Competitive advantage consultancy

The one-day-a-week marketing manager

Stand out from rivals and scale up

I offer a competitive advantage consultancy service that I devised myself specifically for at SMEs in highly competitive industries.

If your business is operating in a competitive market, it can be incredibly difficult to stand out from the crowd.

I offer a strategic marketing consultancy service focussed on competitive advantage to help businesses outthink, out-position and outperform their competition.

A lot of 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 they can do to improve the effectiveness of their marketing and business development efforts.

I offer an affordable way for businesses to avoid getting stuck in a rut and start regaining momentum. I won't just help you find a competitive advantage, I'll guide you through the process of implementing the changes too.

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Outthink and outperform your competitors

My name is Emma Radcliffe and I've spent the last two decades helping B2B businesses 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.

Sound good? Book in a call with me to find out more.

Book in a call

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 ensure all employees communicate 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. If needed, I can also help you monitor your competitors’ activity.

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why use a competitive advantage consultant?

If you’re spending time and resources on telling potential customers about your business in a way that doesn’t resonate or interest them, eventually you could start grinding 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 positioning 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.

Sick of playing 'second fiddle' to your rivals? Let's have a chat.

Book in a call

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 I don't do

Businesses that appoint traditional 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, business unit strategy, restructuring or turnaround strategy.

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

Venn diagram showing the crossover between a business consultancy, internal communications agency, and a marketing agency

A unique competitive advantage service

Hiring a traditional business consultancy, internal communications and marketing agency to advise on market positioning and communicating it internally and externally would normally cost a fortune and/or having to prioritise between strategy and getting work done. I've developed a better way of tackling this situation.

By working with me, 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) based on that core strategy. I can work with your existing marketing team or autonomously.

This integrated approach gives you clarity on your business direction, boosts staff alignment, and executes the work needed to secure more high-value clients - all without wasting any time or a big agency price tag.

Got questions? Drop me a line to find out more

Get in touch

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! A standard business consultant probably 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?

Yes and 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 CMOs offer guidance on things like revenue targets, marketing technology/systems, and market expansion which tend to involve a lot of granular detail on business strategy and market research. My model doesn't allow for me to spend lots of time inside a business developing this understanding.

My focus is to help businesses to improve their market positioning, sharpen up their pipeline, and to 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 SMEs, 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?

In an ideal world, yes. But I will consider working with businesses for consultancy projects on a case-by-case basis. The benefit of working with me on an ongoing basis is that you get support implementing the recommended changes identified in the consultancy process. You'll also get consistency with regards to messaging. It’s very easy for the message to become diluted so I’ll work with you/your in-house marketers to keep all your marketing communication messages aligned with the strategy. I can also help with internal communications on an ongoing basis. The ongoing marketing support I provide is also pretty affordable.

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, but I can't make guarantees.

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. Just let me know what you need, and we can discuss a focussed plan that works for you.

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