The Strategist's POV: How to find yours
Capability is valued. But expertise is sought after.
Hello strategists,
It’s Free First Friday today, the first Friday of every month where I open my calendar for free trial strategy coaching sessions. I’m writing this in pieces during the brief breaks I’ve gotten smart enough (after only about 8 months of chaos) to block off throughout the day. You can learn more about Free First Friday and schedule for next month at strategycoach.co/fff.
A lot of my FFF conversations are with freelancers trying to position themselves to win more work, and agency strategists looking to make their resumés sharper. Today I’ll share some of the advice I give to them - how to develop a unique point-of-view as a strategist.
-Mike
The Strategist’s POV: How to find yours
Let’s start with what a strategist’s POV is. It’s a lens you look at brands, businesses, products and experiences through. It’s your area of expertise, and it informs how you see the work that strategy needs to do.
It’s also what differentiates you, and makes you stand out to freelance clients, prospective employers or CSOs who need to staff projects.
“I’m Carl and I’m a brand strategist.” That describes Carl but gives nobody a reason to choose him above all the rest. It’s like saying “I’m Coca-Cola and I’m a beverage.”
But, “I’m Carl and I’m a B2B brand strategist specializing in high growth SAAS businesses” communicates very clearly how Carl is different. He’s taken himself out of contention for 99% of the market, but has made himself very attractive to the remaining 1%.
And this POV - this expertise, even if it’s self-declared - becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If Carl’s claim is credible - if he can tell a story about his background, through skills and clients and projects - he will win more B2B SAAS brand strategy work, deepening his expertise and credibility further. It creates a virtuous cycle.
I know for a lot of us though, this area of expertise isn’t easy to identify, if it even exists. Most strategists’ work cuts across industries, company sizes, customer segments, geographies - you name it. That’s what makes us good at our jobs - our process allows us to be agnostic to the particulars and still solve problems.
But being good at our jobs is not the same thing as being good at getting chosen for jobs. People hiring a strategist aren’t looking for someone who can do everything - they’re looking for the world’s leading authority in the specific issue they face. Win the business and maybe you can do more for them later, but most of the job postings and freelance opportunities I’m seeing currently are seeking narrow expertise. You’ve seen what I’m talking about:
“Looking for a planner with expertise in sneaker culture.”
“Healthcare industry expertise required.”
“Who do I know who has done brand work in hotels and hospitality?”
When hundreds apply for every opening, the hiring manager has to use a filter, which is usually expertise in the industry, customer or problem. “I’m Carl and I’m a brand strategist” isn’t going to pass through that filter, even if Carl could be successful at any of those projects (which he probably could, because he’s a strategist).
So how do you niche down into an area of expertise that moves you from “will keep them in mind” to “have to talk to them ASAP”? It’s finding the intersection of 3 things:
What are you interested in? Expertise isn’t something you bestow on yourself I’m afraid. You need to work to develop it. It’s a lot easier if it’s something you’re personally already interested in, because you’re going to spend a lot of time here. Not just reading and watching, but writing and talking and defending. Passive consumption can provide a baseline for understanding, but you don’t really know something well if you can’t talk or write about it. Writing in particular is how you hold yourself accountable to your growing expertise, and open yourself up to criticism. When you’re becoming an expert on something I recommend you begin publishing on it as soon as possible. Maybe not in the crucible that is LinkedIn right away. Find your voice in a thinly subscribed newsletter or a blog you don’t share around much. It’s more the act of putting thoughts in public that’s where the accountability comes from.
What are you good at? Once you find your focus - an industry (healthcare or fashion), or a customer segment (gen x, gamers), or a landscape change (AI, macroeconomic factors, politics) - you need to couple it with a strategy problem you’re good at solving. This is probably close to how you’re defining yourself already - a business strategist or a researcher. Pairing this skill with your area of focus starts to make you really attractive to some clients. If I told you I’m “a researcher specializing in gaming” you might immediately think of businesses who should talk to me.
Who can pay you? Here’s where you do some landscape analysis to identify the kinds of businesses and people who can and would pay for your expertise. Carl was smart - high growth B2B SAAS has plenty of money, and they’re focused on growth (Carl’s specialty) so are eager to spend it to get there. But you may be good at something that’s unique, but where budget is elusive. Like for example if you sell professional development to the advertising industry. This is the iterative part of the process, where the realities of the market may force you to modify your offering or value proposition, or even consider a different niche where there’s more available budget to chase.
Niching down to a narrower POV may feel limiting. It is - by definition. But it’s also the core of strategy, which is making choices about what not to do. By narrowing your focus you’re deciding not to go after everything, but to focus your efforts where you have the greatest chance of success. And the limiting is only temporary. As your expertise grows, what you are the world’s leading authority of can become bigger and bigger. Carl can evolve from his focus on B2B SAAS to B2B tech, and from there to all of B2B, or to B2B and B2C tech. Or he could grow from high growth B2B SAAS to high growth across industries.
But it starts with becoming a world’s leading authority in something, however small.
Strategy in brief
All strategy begins with the strategy of the business. So all strategists need to be part Business Strategist.
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About The Strategy Coach Company
I’m Mike May and I founded the Strategy Coach Company to help brand and agency strategists get better at their job while doing their job. I provide 1:1 coaching, collaboration, real-time feedback and thought partnership on actual work in progress, because I know that’s the best way to get better at doing strategy, and at being a strategist. You can learn more at StrategyCoach.co, connect with me on LinkedIn, or just reply to this newsletter.