Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing ideas to help you grow your business

What happened next?

by

Business is full of contradictions.

Why do accountants, smart people who really understand business, tend to use the least efficient business model, selling their time for money?

Why do designers, supposedly highly creative thinkers, tend to work from similar looking offices, with white paint on the walls and Mac’s on every desk?

Why do marketing consultants, who understand the importance of standing out, offer an almost identical range of services?

What do you think would happen, if…

What do you think would happen, if an accountant developed an innovative business model that clients found attractive? Could it help them stand out in their overcrowded marketplace?

What do you think would happen, if a prospective client visited a designer’s office and found that it looked a lot more original, than the other designers they’d visited? Could it make the designer look a lot more creative than their competitors?

What do you think would happen, if a marketing professional developed a uniquely valuable marketing service, which got people talking? Could it help them build a successful marketing business, which gets referenced in the world’s leading newspapers and media outlets. [Yes, look.]

Most importantly

What do you think would happen, if you found a way to differentiate your business from your competitors?

What everybody ought to know about business success

by

business development, business growth,

There are 2 ways to build a business. One route works and one doesn’t. I’m going to show you both and suggest how to make sure your business succeeds!

This works

The business owners who achieve meaningful success are the ones who keep on keeping on. They feel the fear and do it anyway. They strive to be remarkable, knowing the alternative is to be ignored. They give it their best shot and when life knocks them down, they get back up… every time.

They know that you only grow by stretching and you can’t stretch without leaving your comfort zone.

This doesn’t

The alternative way to run a business is to try hard, but fail to give it your all. To work hard, but work hard doing the things you are comfortable with. To be predictable rather than embrace the edges. To seek certainty like an employee rather then seek opportunity, like an entrepreneur.

Thankfully, we get to decide the route we take. We can embrace the opportunity of what works or choose the fake comfort of what isn’t working; what I call the Failing Familiar.

How do we change route?

Change comes from the daily choices we make and the actions we take. It’s down to us. Our decision. No one else can push us up the ladder. The day we start giving it our best shot, leaving nothing on the table, is the day we shift from the Failing Familiar to the edge of our potential.

Want to know more? If you do, this will help inspire you and guide you: The 21 Habits Behind Highly Successful Business Owners.

How to write great content every day!

by

Content Marketing, copywriting, coppy, writing

If you find it hard to write articles, blog posts or newsletters, I have a quick tip for you. It will help you write more frequently and in a way that people will understand.

Drum-roll please…

Write the way you speak

Think about it: When you talk, people understand you. They listen to you. You engage them.

You don’t get talkers-block either!

So, don’t treat your written words differently from your spoken words. Just type them, rather than speaking them. This is the approach I used when I started as a writer and it has never failed me. And yes, the more you do it the better your writing will become.

The challenge with this approach is that it robs you of any excuse not to write more frequently. Sorry 🙂

Tip – Read this: Bloggers: Are you 1 question away from 10,000 daily readers?

How to build a better business by solving better problems

by

Think about it… the value of your work and the demand for your work are determined by the type of problems you solve.

This is why one of the best ways to grow your business, is to:

  • Look for better problems than those solved by your competitors.
  • Create a solution to the problem.
  • Offer the solution to your market place.

You can do this by expanding the utility of an existing product or service you provide or by developing something new. It’s up to you. Both can work amazingly well.

Is this easy? No.

Is it worth it? Absolutely!

This will help you get started: How to find the answers you need, Einstein style!

Stop working for average clients. Seriously. Stop it!

by

professional development,

The average client will pay you late — just often enough to mess with your cash flow.

The average client is fee sensitive.

The average client will seldom, if ever, inspire you to do your best work.

In fact, the average client is toxic to your business. Everything you do to attract average work from average clients is a waste of your time and energy.

A better approach

Decide today to build a strategy that attracts great clients. These high value clients will pay you what you are worth and they will pay you on time. Their investment in you will inspire you to do your finest work… which in turn delights them and motivates them to recommend you to everyone.

Let your competitors wrestle over the average clients. But not you. You deserve better than that!

This will help you: What everybody needs to know about strategy!

The opportunity you always wanted is already here!

by

As a business owner, you have more power and potential today than ever before. In fact, there is an opportunity right under your nose, which was impossible to imagine until recently.

Allow me to explain

Just a decade ago, we were very limited in the number of people we could reach with our marketing message. To send a mailshot to just a few thousand people would cost us a small fortune. A nationwide radio campaign was way out of our budget.

There was no scalable, affordable way to reach all our prospective clients.

This gave the big guys a massive advantage over us. However, everything has changed and if you’re willing to embrace the change, there’s no real limit on what you can achieve.

The world is your oyster

Thanks to the advent of the Internet and free, global communications, the only barrier between you and your marketplace are the limitations you place on yourself.

What an amazing opportunity.

Of course, the challenge you now face is that the same zero cost marketing opportunity is open to everyone. This is why we are bombarded every minute of the day with interruptions. Social network updates, emails, text messages… all these and more combine to create a wall of noise.

Noise is your barrier today. Not money!

In other words, the only thing between you and the ability to market your services to thousands or millions of people, is your ability to make it through the noise.

It’s not about money any more. It’s not about knowing the right people. It’s in your hands, rich or poor.

So, what next?

Here’s what we know about those who fail and more importantly, those who succeed:

  • Those who fail are adding to the noise. They are the people who spam you, cold call you, pester you on social networks and junk-text you. They are the average businesses doing average work for average clients and average fees.
  • Those who succeed cut through the noise like a hot knife through butter. They attract attention by doing something meaningful. Next, they earn permission from the people they attract, to share useful information with them — usually by getting them to subscribe to a newsletter or blog. They then keep re-earning that permission, by remaining a source of value.

Make no mistake, it’s all in your hands. If you are willing to do what is required, the world is your oyster!

Here’s the challenge: You can either find this opportunity interesting or you can do something with it. Opportunity is knocking on your door, but only you can decide whether you will let it in or let it slide.

Let’s grow your business!

I can help you build a more successful business, increase your sales, attract more clients and boost your profits.

Find out how