“We need more leads” often points to the wrong problem. Erin explains what to focus on instead.
Most new client conversations Erin has start the same way: we need more leads. Her argument is that it’s usually pointing at the wrong problem.
What is in your pipeline today reflects decisions made six to eighteen months ago. If you don’t love what’s coming up, the work is getting intentional about what you’re planting now.
[00:01:17] “The harvest you’re looking for today actually reflects what you put in the ground last season.”
The reframe Erin offers is something she calls “making it more true.” Most established consultants already have a pattern in their best work: a type of client and a type of problem where everything clicks. The work is to name that pattern and commit to it publicly.
That usually means a decision. Turning the volume down on something: not off, but down. The learning design firm she describes stopped leading with lower-cost, one-off projects. Not because those were bad work, but because they were pulling attention away from where the firm wanted to grow. That one call clarified the direction inside the firm and out.
[00:07:11] “Every yes to the old thing is a quiet not yet to that new thing.”

Making It More True

Most consultants start at copywriting and work backward. Erin explains why that makes everything harder.
If you’ve ever struggled to describe what you do, or found yourself rewriting the same bio for the hundredth time, this episode is for you.
Erin Braford starts with a simple question: what do positioning, messaging, and copywriting mean, and how do they connect? She walks through each term and calls out the most common place consultants get stuck: starting with the words before the strategy is solid.
[00:02:58] “Oh, you need a copywriter who understands healthcare? I got a guy.”
Erin uses the “I got a guy” problem to define what positioning is really solving for: becoming the first name someone thinks of when the right problem comes up. Messaging translates your expertise into language your clients use. Copywriting is where all of it becomes words on a page or in a room with a client.
[00:07:38] “Your message is what you’re going to say. Copywriting is how you say it.”

Say It a Thousand Ways: Positioning, Messaging, and Copywriting Defined

A cleaner way to think about messaging strategy, and why your whole team needs to be in on it.
When a fellow marketer challenged Erin to describe messaging without the jargon, one phrase came out of it: scalable talking points.
Erin breaks down what that means in practice. Talking points are the core ideas that anchor every sales conversation: who you are, what you do, who you serve, what makes your approach different, and your point of view on the market. Scalable means those ideas live beyond the founder, so new hires and referral partners can all tell the same story.
[00:03:27] “It has to be ways of articulating the work beyond just what the founder says it is, so that when you’re going to market, everyone is really telling the same story.”
She also covers the moment when basic awareness-building stops being enough. Getting to authority requires a clear messaging guide with your strategy and talking points captured in one place. It becomes the document you hand to any agency or new hire so they can get to work fast.
[00:05:58] “It is about messaging being a system that you can rely on to consistently deliver the same talking points to the marketplace.”

Scalable Talking Points: What Messaging Strategy Means in Practice

Four reasons consultants fumble when it matters most, and the one fix that cuts through all of them.
You’re a pro. You know your work. So why does it feel like a stumble when a prospect turns to you and says, “Tell me exactly how we’d work together”?
Erin Braford walks through four reasons consultants get stuck in those moments: the curse of knowledge, first-time buyers who have no mental model for what you do, the pull toward abstract outcomes over the concrete problems clients are living with, and jargon that signals expertise but creates distance.
[00:03:19] “The first part of the argument really has to be around helping someone understand that you speak their language.”
The fix Erin keeps coming back to is one thing: capture real client language. Mine old prospect emails to see how they described the problem, or run listening interviews with current clients. When you start from their words, you stop translating and start connecting.
[00:13:51] “If you can really say it clearly in one context, you can say it clearly in pretty much any context.”

Why It’s Hard to Talk About What You Do

Known For is for founder-led consulting firms ready to outgrow word of mouth. Hosted by Erin Braford, founder of Dreamboat, this podcast is for boutique firms stretching to or past the million-dollar mark who want to build a reputation that doesn't depend on the founder being in every room.
Each episode brings real stories and practical conversations from Erin's own work with consulting firms, along with peers in the space and specialists across sales, finance, operations, and more.
Follow Known For to give your firm the confidence and message it needs to grow by design, not just by referral.

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