Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing ideas to help you grow your business

How to build a great business, doing things YOUR way

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professsional development, business

If you want to work with better clients and never need to compete based on fees again, here’s something to consider.

Doing things your way

The moment you stop offering a similar service to your competitors, you stop competing with them. The great news here, is that no matter what industry you are in, you can do things your way and build a highly profitable niche of your own.

Here are 4 examples, from very different industries:

  • The accountant, who set up a forum for his clients, so they can network together, help one another and buy from one another.
  • The coffee shop owner, who offers customers poetry evenings and creative writing events.
  • The dentist, who provides classes for people who have an irrational fear of dentists.
  • The gardener, who not only keeps your garden looking great, but also provides all the garden consumables you need and delivers them.

How to make it work for you

Think about your ideal client. Consider their challenges and needs. Now, think of a new service that could help them with those challenges. Alternatively, look for additional, valuable elements, which you can add to one or more of your existing services.

Tip: A great place to find ideas you can use, is to look outside your industry for inspiration. Something that’s extremely common in one industry, is often unheard of in another.

If you need a little help getting your ideas into action, I strongly suggest you read this.

How to put your ideas into action

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There are 2 types of idea people:

  1. Those who have lots of ideas.
  2. Those who have lots of ideas… and do something with them.

Putting your ideas into action

The rewards in business always go to those, who do something with their ideas. Here’s how they tend to get their ideas into action:

  • Just like everyone else, they get an idea.
  • From this point on, they act very differently to the average person.
  • They write their idea down, whilst it’s still fresh in their mind.
  • They chew on it for a while.
  • Then, if it’s worth working on, they develop a simple plan to get it out of their head and into the world.
  • They take the first step on that plan. Then the next…

Failure and criticism

The key difference between those who work on their ideas and those who do not, seems to be their mindset regarding failure and criticism.

Those who act on their ideas, see failure as feedback. They are fine learning from the feedback they get from shipping their ideas. Those who act on their ideas see criticism as a natural part of achieving anything worthwhile. They regard criticism as a sign they are doing something that’s making a splash.

It’s their mindset, not the value of their ideas, which makes all the difference.

Try this

I’ve written about fear and failure a lot in the past. This particular post is one you may find useful. It shows how to turn fear into a valuable business asset.

How stories help you grow your business

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story

I recently bought 2 boxes of chocolate chip cookies. I don’t like chocolate chip cookies. My family are not especially keen on them either. So, what motivated me to buy them?

People buy the story

When a child from the village school comes to my door selling cookies, it feels different than when a shop is selling them. Even if the product is the same, the story behind the cookies is what we pay for. I wanted to support the local school, so I now have 2 boxes of chocolate chip cookies.

Your business has a story. The question you need to ponder, is whether your story is motivating enough. Here are some ideas and examples to help you.

How to get all the help you need

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How to, tips, advice

I’d like to share an idea with you today. It’s about how to get all the help you and your business will ever need.

Of course, we see people doing it wrong every day. Strangers, asking us to do things for them.

  • They ask us to connect with them on Linkedin.
  • They ask us to tell our friends about their business.
  • They ask us to retweet their Twitter messages.
  • They ask us, via a spam email, to subscribe to the newsletter they just sent us.

The list goes on and on… strangers making selfish demands.

Selfish demands don’t work

Selfish demands succeed only in irritating people. I receive around a dozen emails a day, from total strangers who expect me to write blog posts about their product or service. I refuse. Always. Like most people, I don’t respond positively to selfish demands from strangers.

So, why is it that some people have no problem getting all the help they need?

Why we eagerly helped Jenny and felt great about it

When a friend of mine launched her new business, she was inundated with people who wanted to help. If you knew Jenny, you’d know why. She’s one of the most helpful people I have ever met.

The launch of her business was an opportunity for me and many others, to repay her kindness and support.

The power of reciprocity

This need to return someone’s kindness is sometimes referred to as reciprocity. And it’s extremely powerful. It’s why the process of giving and receiving, starts with the giving part. It’s why we earn the money… then get paid.

Selfish demands fail because they attempt to do the opposite. When the guy emails me and asks me to post his infographic on my blog, it’s 100% about him.

  • He gets exposure to my amazing readers.
  • He gets a valuable link, from my blog to his site.
  • He gets his company name in front of thousands of people.
  • All I get is the penalty of linking my blog and reputation to a stranger — A stranger I know nothing about, other than he’s the kind of asshole, who spams people with selfish demands.

Those who demand strangers to do things for them, face a lot of  disappointment. Not only do they fail to get what they demand, they get something they didn’t ask for — a toxic reputation.

A better mindset for business owners

The smartest people are always building relationships with others. They keenly look for ways to contribute. They do this, without knowing (or caring) if they will need that person’s help in the future. That’s the mindset, my friend Jenny has.

In short: Before you expect people to be motivated to help you or your business, make sure you’ve invested in them, first. Remember, give and take starts with the giving part.

PS: If you found today’s post interesting, I recommend you read this: 3 Mistakes that make you look bad and damage your business.

How to attract customers… from your competitors!

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How to, tips, advice

So, you’d like more customers or clients. The question is, why should they switch to you, rather than carry on with their current provider?

In today’s post I help you answer this important question!

Why should they leave their comfort zone?

It takes effort for people to switch from one provider to another. This means the reasons you provide for switching to you, need to be compelling. Your offer needs to inspire them to leave their comfort zone… to dump their familiar, safe, current provider and risk the unknown.

We know that being a little less expensive, a little faster or a little better isn’t enough.

Here’s why: Marginal differences have marginal impact. They lack the power required, to inspire people to take action.

In short: Your prospective clients need to see an obvious, clear, meaningful reason to switch providers.

This will help you get it right

Take a look at your business from the vantage point of a prospective client or customer. Look at the reasons you provide, to motivate them to leave their comfort zone and switch to you.

Now answer this question: Considering the perceived risk involved with them switching providers, are the reasons you give truly compelling enough?

If not, what meaningful, measurable benefit could you add, which would make switching to you feel:

  • Less risky. For example, offer them guarantees. Here’s how I make this work, using something called Risk Reversal.
  • Less hassle. For example, offer to help with any of the tasks involved, when switching from their old provider.
  • More beneficial to them than staying with their current provider. For example, develop a service that’s unique to your business. [Need some creative help? I’ve got you covered. Here’s a website full of creative ideas, written by me. Everything there is free!]

You need to remember that every provider claims to offer great customer service and to go the extra mile for their clients. This means you should focus on developing a meaningful, measurable and motivating difference. Get this right and it can be a game-changer for your business. Yes, it’s that important.

PS: Here’s how to stop your competitors taking clients from YOUR business: How to use the lock-in effect to retain your clients.

The best way to spread the word about your business

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word of mouth, viral, spread word

How do you get people to spread the word about your business?

I’m going to answer this question for you in today’s post. It’s based on a chat I had with an accountant yesterday.

The usual kind of thing

So, a local accountant wanted to know what was the best way to spread the word about his business. I asked him, what kind of accountancy services he provided. He replied with: “You know… the usual kind of thing, Jim.”

Here’s the key part of my reply.

  • If you want the story of a predictable business to reach 100 people, you need to tell 100 people. This is because dull stories don’t spread. You have to push them. You go to networking events, constantly advertise or pester people with emails, etc. The story itself doesn’t spread, because predictable stories don’t have legs.
  • If you want a great story, about a business doing meaningful work, to reach 100 people, you tell 1 person… and it spreads. That person tells several more. They do the same. This is because great stories have legs. You nudge them with effective marketing and watch what happens. It’s beautiful. And extremely successful.

Just a little better, faster or cheaper

No one feels compelled to tell their friends about an accountant, (coach, designer, trainer, marketing consultant or whatever), who is just a little better, faster or cheaper than the rest.

If you want the word to spread about your business, improve the story. Make it worth sharing. Be meaningfully different from your competitors.

Then, put your story into the marketplace and watch it travel from person to person. This generates word of mouth referrals, endless sales leads… and frees you up to focus on making your business even more remarkable.

Recommended reading: Is the dream behind your business inspiring enough?

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