What steps can you take to advance from entry-level marketing consulting to senior roles?

Yes. As always, the AI article has the basic obvious steps, we are invited to flesh them out. Build your network. Don't just collect people and connections, talk to people, get to know them, ask questions and learn from that network. An ask for help is always well received when it comes in the form of a request for advice. Your listener has a choice and isn't boxed in. Everyone likes to be asked their opinion. People will help you. And be sure to help other people. It's true in person or on LinkedIn: people don't just want to know you, they want to know your character. Be sure to share and give as much as you get. It doesn't necessarily have to be giving and receiving with the same person, it's the energy and intent. People can feel that.

Doing is an active thing, reading and listening are a different kind of active thing, but not interaction with someone. You will learn from each person you work with. Problem A. Solution A. Outcome A. Here is what I learned from A. And so on. I like to read about marketing, successes and failures. I can for sure tell you the ones from years ago because I still remember them. A measure you can take that is contemporaneous is, not just the metrics, it's whether or not it was effective. You may have 1,000 impressions of the solution you and our client implemented. But, do those 1,000 impressions remember what the presentation was about? There are marketing pieces I remember, but can't tell you what it was for. That is not a successful effort.

Expanding your portfolio is pretty obvious. If you aren't, then either you aren't working or what you are doing isn't being quantified and documented - by you. Often, when we are hungry, we take work that is less than what we are capable of. Then we get referred to more the same. We all want to grow and get higher level and more demanding projects, but if you are so busy doing the 'I need to eat" stuff when you now have food on the table, you won't move up. If there is a business that you know and see how you can help them, help them. For free. Not only will they remember them, but you have something new and more interesting to add to your book. Nobody said you have to be paid for everything in your book.

"... Strategy, analysis, creativity, communication, and technology." Yes, all of them. But we are all better at some things than others. Focus on the things you are naturally good at and seek business that leverages those skills. In the first technology job I had, we sold things that, at the time, were revolutionary. There were 3 or 4 products we offered, all similar. Each night I took home the manual from one product. After a while, I knew what they all did. I also knew what product X did that product J did not. Not only was I better able to offer the best product for the customer's need, I had an edge, a very big one, over those I was working with. That translated into more opportunity.

First you have to know your value. One's minimum value is what they need to pay the rent and buy food. Or, you can look at the volume of benefit the client will receive. You know your strong points. Apply them to the job at hand and charge accordingly. The first encounter with a client is the only chance you will have to find out as much as possible about how much they have to spend. They are seeking you, or several you for prices and in an information giving mode. Ask for the budget. i.e. Where does this project fit in your company's overall needs and plans? Important? On the front burner? No you know how they value the project and will likely give you some information about their budget. There are thousands of ways to ask. So ask.