Who are the Blogging Consultants?

At Bob Bly's Copywriting Blog, Bob asks the question, Are you a blogging consultant? The comments are pretty instructive.

One of the things you have to do if you're an independent consultant is find a way to differentiate your offering. What is it about you that makes you different and, yes, better than all the other consultant's out there?

The comments are a fascinating snapshot of the blogging consultancy world. I really like ElisaC's Work Bees Blog. She's got a blog offering targeted particularly at arts and non-profit orgs. Tom Kane targets law firms. These are consultants who provide targeted business expertise with blogging knowledge.

I'm less in line with the consultants who emphasize platform and design. The sad truth is that good designers are cheap and plentiful. Find one to build your site and move on.

Offering a list of all the great things you can do is also kind of ho-hum. It's important, but not nearly as important as showing a larger understanding of where blogging fits in with the personal and business goals of your client.

A few of the commenters get around to talking about goals. That's something you can't stress enough. Realistic goals and measures of success are what differentiate a fad from a real business initiative. Strategy is the word to watch here. Read Tobys comment, number 7. This is a guy who knows how to lay out his service offering. I can learn something from this. Paul from Radiant Marketing also explains exactly what it is that he does.

Update: I just got an Email from an employee of Bob Bly asking if I want to be added to his vendor directory as a blogging consultant. I think that's way cool.