Professional development Archives | Jim's Marketing Blog

Is the dream behind your business motivating enough?

September 23, 2016 by Jim Connolly

Every truly great business story begins, with someone who has a dream. An inspiring, exciting and motivating dream.

Steve Jobs famously motivated top people to work for him, by sharing his dream with them. The most famous example was when he asked John Scully to leave Pepsi. He said:

“Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or do you want to come with me and change the world?”

It’s hard to reject an offer like that. That kind of inspiring dream literally changes how people feel. And greatly increases the chances they will want to join you.

By the way, here’s the best Steve Jobs story I’ve ever heard.

The power of a compelling dream

In contrast, the dream behind the typical small business is, at best, average. Here’s the thing: an average dream won’t attract the best clients, customers, investors or partners. It also won’t compel people to want to share a business’s vision or talk about them; meaning they get very little word-of-mouth buzz.

How do we know if we are on track? We know by the way people react when we share our plans with them. They sit forward. Eyes wide open. Focusing on what we’re saying.

Most tellingly, they want to become a part of it!

Why?

Because people love to be a part of something exciting. As they say, we are all working toward the fulfilment of a dream, either our own dream or someone else’s.

If your business isn’t attracting the people or attention it needs, check how compelling your dream is — how motivating your plans are. Get this foundation right and it makes everything else so much easier for you.

How predictable are you?

September 21, 2016 by Jim Connolly

Predictable can be life saving: The braking system on your car is a great example. You need to know that each time you put your foot on the brake, you’re going to slow down or stop.

Predictable can be reassuring: It’s reassuring to know that the quality of products or services you receive from a vendor, will be predictably excellent.

However…

Predictable can be dull: If we are in search of fresh ideas and insights, we avoid those who we can predict will have nothing original to say. We tune them out, just like those TV shows that go on for one too many seasons.

Predictability can bite your ass

Being predictable in the wrong areas will weaken your position. It will bore your marketplace and make you less and less relevant.

Typically, this kind of predictability is the result of a lack of creativity. A lack of desire for growth. An unwillingness to leave your comfort zone.

It’s why most providers in your industry offer the same predictable range of services. It’s why they charge the same predictable fees. It’s also why they make the same predictable promises, offer the same predictable guarantees and use the same predictable marketing messages.

In short, make sure you’re only being predictable where it matters. The alternative is to be invisible. And business that lacks the visibility required, places a very low ceiling on its potential.

Why your clients could be killing your business and how to stop it

September 19, 2016 by Jim Connolly

Are your clients destroying your business? That may seem like an odd question. However, it’s an extremely important one. And for most people reading this, the answer is a definite YES!

You see, a huge part of the way your prospective clients will feel about working with you, is defined by who you already work for.

Allow me to explain.

How your client’s define you

Here are just a couple of examples of how the wrong kind of client can ruin a great business.

Firstly, when a prospective client checks your portfolio or testimonials, they get an immediate insight into the quality of clients you’ve worked with. If you’ve worked for clients, who failed to give you the freedom you need to do great work, this will be directly obvious to prospective clients. Most designers, copywriters, accountants, trainers and coaches fall into this trap. And it’s usually fatal.

Secondly, if you work for clients who don’t pay you on time (or pay you enough), you will always have cash flow problems. This leaves you constantly desperate for income. Prospective clients and customers can smell desperation a mile off. They will either be put off working with you or they will use it to drive your fees or prices down.

In each of those instances, your entire commercial future is being dictated, by the quality of clients you choose to work with.

The answer: Pick your clients and choose wisely

Working for anyone who will pay you is usually a very bad idea.

It fails you in the short term (you’re miserable).
It fails you in the medium term (you’re not rewarded financially or professionally).
It fails you in the long term (the process keeps looping). This is how negative cycles are created and allowed to persist.

Yes, it’s tempting to grab whatever work you can get. However, it’s the root cause of the problem. It’s not the solution.

Thankfully, the opposite is also true. When you work with great clients, on inspiring projects and your time is valued, it places you in the VIP vendor box.

Prospective clients see that you work with great people. They see the projects you’re involved in. They draw the conclusion that people like you, don’t come cheap. You then attract more great clients, you get paid what you’re worth and this too creates a cycle.

A highly profitable, enormously rewarding cycle.

For more free information on the subject, read this: How to build a successful business. It contains lots of ideas and examples.

How to have your cake and eat it too

September 16, 2016 by Jim Connolly

There’s a lot of common knowledge out there, which is wholly incorrect.

For example, have you ever stopped to consider the actual meanings behind these popular old sayings?

You’ve got to be cruel to be kind. No you haven’t! It’s perfectly fine to be kind to people, without the cruelty. Just be kind. You will find it works better, too.
A man’s best friend is his dog. No it isn’t! Surely it’s his wife, his children, his parents or siblings. I know a lot of men who own dogs. I know none who would choose their dog over their children.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too! Yes you can! Every cake you have ever eaten, you bought or were given first. You had the cake, you ate the cake.

Critical thinking

Just as people repeat old sayings without giving them much thought, people often apply ideas to their business, which they have failed to give enough critical thought to. That’s a recipe for poor decision making. A precursor to lousy results.

A smarter approach is to regularly review the data, which you’re basing your business decisions on. Your decisions concerning the importance of customer service, marketing, operations, accounts and training etc, will have a massive, direct impact on your results.

How to massively improve your email marketing results

September 14, 2016 by Jim Connolly

In 2016, email marketing is more powerful than ever before. This begs the question: Why do almost all small businesses get such uninspiring email marketing results?

I’m going to answer that question for you. I’m also going to explain what you need to do in order to massively improve the success of your email marketing.

Free and easy?

The cost of marketing has changed dramatically over the years.

For example, the cost of sending a traditional, paper-based mailshot to just 1000 prospective customers was considerable. There was the price of the stamp, the printing, the ink and the paper. Then, you paid someone to fold all the letters and stuff them into the envelopes.

Today, sending a marketing email to 1000 prospects (or 100,000 prospects) takes seconds. There’s no paper, no ink, no envelopes, no envelope stuffing and no stamps.

The cost of email marketing is close to zero. Except… it isn’t! You now risk paying a different, far higher price.

Allow me to explain.

Different prices and different thinking

In 1995, my London-based marketing business was paying around £1000 to reach 1000 prospective customers via traditional mail (mailshots). I used high quality stationery and printing. It was still quite an investment.

Before spending that kind of money, small business owners used to think long and hard.

They made sure they were contacting people with a potential need for their offering. They couldn’t afford to contact people with no requirement.
They checked that the contact name and address were correct. They couldn’t afford to send letters to the wrong people.
They used to work hard to optimize their copy or content. It needed to be just right. They couldn’t afford to get their message wrong.
They removed prospective customers from their list, if they failed to get a response after a set number of mailings. (Unlike now, where the person receiving spam email has to ask to be removed). They couldn’t afford to keep mailing someone who wasn’t interested.

Now think for a moment about the poorly targeted marketing emails that flood your inbox. It’s clear that way less thought goes into them. The vast majority are junk and totally irrelevant to you or your needs.

You regard those who send these unwanted emails as pests. Spammers. Assholes. This is where the cost comes in for email marketers in 2016! They build a lousy reputation and get equally lousy results.

Reputation points: The price you pay for average email marketing

Every time you send a poorly conceived email marketing message to someone, you pay a price.

However, unlike before, the cost to you isn’t only monetary. You pay with something even more valuable. You pay with your reputation. You pay using the currency of reputation points.

For example, when you decide to add someone’s name to your list without their consent, you lose reputation points. When you email people too often, you lose reputation points. When your message is pushy or needy, you lose reputation points. When your offer is irrelevant to the recipient, you lose reputation points.

Business owners who service a regional marketplace can soon find their name and reputation seriously damaged. They can only alienate their marketplace so many times, before people get sick of them.

Of course, when your marketing emails are like those I just mention, you pay a second price. You get crappy response rates. Too few sales. Too few new client enquiries. Too few leads.

The answer?

It starts by accepting that email marketing isn’t free. There is a hefty price to pay for a casual approach, both in reputation damage and lost opportunities. Remember, a casual approach to business causes casualties. Treat each email you send as if you were paying to send it. Because in a very real sense, you are.

So, get permission to email people. Then send them targeted, expertly written, relevant information. Do this only as frequently as required.

It works. And it works extremely well.

Here’s how I helped Irene make over $32,000 in 9 days, with email marketing. That was 2 years ago. Today, the results are even better, for those of you serious enough to take email marketing seriously.

How to get the best free marketing advice

September 11, 2016 by Jim Connolly

There’s a lot of free marketing advice available online. Some is good. Sadly, most is ineffective. Today, I want to help you identify the best marketing advice and show you how to avoid the worst.

A new client with a familiar problem

I was inspired to write this, after my initial session with a new client. I went through some questions with her, as I do with all my new clients. I quickly noticed that she was making a number of serious marketing mistakes. During our session, I asked her where she got those marketing ideas from and she named several marketing sites.

I soon figured out what had happened. Today, I want to help you avoid making the same, costly mistake. I want to start by drawing your attention to 2 types of marketing blogger.

1. The marketing blogger, who doesn’t have a business

Many marketing blogs are written by people who are career employees, paid to produce lots of content. Others are employees, who were previously entrepreneurs, but they failed to build their own business and are now paid to produce “content” for their employers.

Think about that for a moment: On sites like these, you’re taking marketing advice from someone, who has either never marketed their own business or whose business failed, so they needed to get a job. I know of at least a dozen relatively well known marketing bloggers, who fit into that latter category.

2. Guest bloggers on popular marketing blogs

Many of the top marketing blogs rely very heavily on unpaid guest bloggers. Guest bloggers are people who write for free, in return for access to a popular blog’s readership.

None of the guest bloggers I checked on the sites my client mentioned, had the assets you’d expect from a competent marketer. In other words, they were unable to market their own brand.

Think about that for a moment: Their readers are taking marketing advice from bloggers, who feel forced to work for free. Bloggers who still haven’t figured out how to grow their own valuable readership, community or tribe. Bloggers who still have no idea how to market their own brand, other than by guest blogging.

Check the source

No, not every employee who writes about marketing is clueless. Some will be knowledgeable. No, not every guest blogger lacks a valuable blog or tribe of their own.

My point is simply this: Always check the credentials of those offering free marketing advice, before you act on what they tell you.

They should have an about page on their site, (like this one). See if they’ve achieved what you need to achieve. See if they have a proven track record at the highest level. If not, then find a better source.

Well written and sincere

Lots of people write extremely well and make a compelling point, when what they’re telling you is incorrect. They may be sincere, but that doesn’t mean what they’re telling you is right. It’s possible to be sincerely wrong.

I estimate my new client has lost at least 5 years worth of business growth. And probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenues. All because she followed the same ineffective marketing advice as thousands of other small business owners.

Don’t let it happen to you. Before you invest your time or money on marketing, check the source. Always, always check the source.