What do you want to achieve by the time you reach your next landmark birthday; (ya know, those birthdays that end in a zero?)

What do WE want?

We live in an age, where we are being professionally influenced for the vast majority of our waking hours.  Every time we listen to a radio, watch a TV or sit in front of a computer, there are highly skilled people trying to convince us to change how we think and take some kind of action.

• Advertisers want us to buy their products.
• Celebrities want us to buy their sponsor’s products.
• Politicians want us to see things their way and give them our vote.
• Charities want us to help them make a difference.
• There are even voices that want to tell us what shape our bodies need to be and how we should dress.

With all these inputs trying to shape what we think and believe, it’s good from time to time to get back in touch with what WE WANT, based on OUR VALUES and what matters TO US.

The next time you are putting some goals down for your business or yourself, make sure they are what YOU want.  Not what you are supposed to want.  It’s a lot easier to get motivated, when it’s our own goals and targets we are aiming for!

Photo: Danika Pierce

Related posts:

1. It’s time to get passionate
2. Make it happen!
3. How to set your marketing goals so they motivate you!

It’s always great to be recognised for your work isn’t it?

That’s why I was delighted, when I was emailed this morning by Advertising Age; telling me that this blog has just been listed in their Adage Power 150!

Advertising Age is a very popular and well respected weekly publication and online resource; for people interested in marketing, advertising and the media.  As one of their regular readers for many years, this recognition means a great deal to me.

It’s also humbling to listed along with the likes of Seth Godin, Robert Scoble Chris Brogan and other leading professionals.

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When I launched this blog, I decided to introduce a zero advertising policy – no paid advertising or endorsements. There were a couple of solid reasons for this.

Firstly, I don’t like blogs, which are just glorified advertising vehicles.  They make me wonder if the posts are being written just as a way to sell ads, rather than provide genuine value.

Secondly, I wanted to show you that this blog contained information you could trust, without you having to wonder if I was being paid to recommend a product or service to you.  My aim was to use my ad free approach, as a way to increase the quality of the content here and make it a more valuable resource for you and your business.

I soon had to include unpaid endorsements in this ban, as it was the only way to prove that this was a fully, paid-ad free blog.  I tried offering unpaid recommendations, but as you will see later in this post, it just didn’t work.

However, after reviewing the impact of this approach since the blog’s launch in winter 2008, it’s become increasingly clear to me that my zero ad / recommendation has actually done the total opposite of what I intended.

In reality, banning all forms of paid and unpaid recommendations, has stopped me being able to provide you with a stack of genuinely useful, valuable information.  I have also been unable to share some great resources with you, things that I pro-actively recommend to people on the radio or when I give a talk.  I have even been unable to answer some common reader questions here; things I get asked all the time and have to answer individually via email – because the answer involves me directly recommending a product or service to you.

To show you what I mean, here’s just a few examples of the kind of issues I’ve encountered, by refusing to offer any form of paid or unpaid promotion here:

• Over the years, I have invested thousands of pounds and dollars on marketing and other business related audio programmes. Some of these programs have been massively useful and have the potential to directly help you and your business.  One program helped me to totally transform my whole life!  However, I have not been able to recommend them here.  This has clearly stopped me being able to provide you with something of genuine value.
• After I reviewed Seth Godin’s blog, I got emails and messages on Twitter, complaining that it was an advertisement! In truth it was an endorsement, albeit an unpaid one, for a site that offers stacks of great, free content.  There’s been (literally) dozens of similar examples.  I mention this, to highlight the difficulty I have found in being able to bring you really useful information – within my self-imposed guidelines.  This has clearly stopped me being able to provide you with resources of genuine value.
• David Henderson sent me a copy of his book; “The Media Savvy Leader” to review.  I loved it.  David’s a former Emmy Award winning CBS News Correspondent and really understands the media. His book is excellent, BUT I wasn’t able to review it for you here.  So, I find myself in the insane position, where I can pro-actively recommend his book to my friends and contacts, but not to you.  This has clearly stopped me being able to provide you with something of genuine value.
• I get emails on a very regular basis, from people asking the same questions – questions, which I could answer easily in the blog, but can’t because they involve me giving an endorsement.  These include: “What emailing software do you use for your newsletter?”, “Which is best for Twitter management; TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop?”, “Which hosting company do you use for your blog?” and “What wordpress theme do you recommend?” etc, etc.
  

I know from the volume of email I receive, that answering questions like these here on the blog will help a LOT of people.

So, my friends and contacts all know the things I use and endorse, but my readers here don’t  - And that’s just wrong!

Then there’s the borderline stuff

Things get even crazier, when you look at other borderline advertising issues here.  For example, is that button in the sidebar that says ‘Twitter’ an ad for Twitter or not?  What about the link at the bottom of the screen, that lets you know who configured this blog for me, surely that’s an advertisement?  What about the links in my sidebar or the people who promote their services in the comments section of the blog? Though none of these mentions were paid for, surely they are all forms of advertising?

Clearly, something had to change.  So after a lot of thinking, I have decided to kick the zero ad policy into touch!

Removing the barriers

The time has come for me to remove this barrier, so I can increase the value of this blog to you and your business. As a reader, you are likely to notice two significant improvements:

• Firstly, I will be able to write posts far more frequently, because posts will be written with total freedom and none of the previous limitations.
• Secondly, the blog will become a more valuable resource for you.  That’s because the only qualification a post will now need, in order for it to be published here, is that I believe it will help you or your business to succeed.  This leaves me free to share everything with you and is a powerful enough reason by itself, to make the change worthwhile.

Full disclosure

I have not spoken to anyone yet about paid advertising here, as my primary reason for this change is to give myself the freedom to deliver better quality content to you. Everything I recommend on this blog, will be something I use and/or believe in 100%.

Of course, having now made this announcement, it’s likely there will be advertising enquiries.  I have a blog that already successfully offers paid and unpaid endorsements, advertising and reviews; via a full disclosure policy. When the time comes, I will use a full disclosure policy here too. This means everything related to any form of paid advertising that you see here in the future, will be clearly identified. Full disclosure allows total transparency and the development and retention of trust.

For example, if I recommend a book to you that’s on amazon, and I include an affiliate link to it in the post, the link will be clearly marked as an affiliate link. Then, if you want to read reviews of the book on amazon or buy a copy, you can do so with just one click. By the way, bloggers typically make VERY little money from this kind of link.  Chris Brogan refers to it laughingly as ‘beer money’ – and he has a massively popular blog. These links are primarily offered as a useful resource for people that are interested in finding out more about the book.

Conclusion

There’s a real irony about this, as I can be more open and transparent without the former ad ban, using full disclosure, than I could with it. Remember, only a relatively small number of my long-term readers even knew what my policy was! Everyone else must just have wondered why such a popular marketing blog had no ads and seldom reviewed anything!

By having the freedom to write for you, without all the previous restrictions, I hope to significantly increase the value of this blog to you and your business.  I would like to know what you think about these changes, so please leave your feedback in the comments section below or if you prefer, by contacting me here.

Update:
In the 2 days since writing this post, I have received almost 90 messages; through the comments below, emails, Tweets and even a phone call from a long time reader – which was brilliant.  All the feedback thus far is in support of what I am trying to do here.  I have also seen my largest ever increase in my RSS subscribers.  Thanks to everyone!

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When you write a marketing message, make sure that it’s focussed 100% on getting the right message to the right person.

Too much marketing is vague; intended to appeal to as wide a group as possible.  However, by being vaguely relevant to everyone, the message is going to be directly relevant to no one!

Motivation and marketing

The word motivation comes from two words; motive and action. If you want to motivate someone to take action, (email you, call you, visit you, buy from you) your message must be motivating.

Never dilute your marketing in order to give it a wider appeal.  Instead, make your marketing as focused and compelling as possible, to the kind of people you want to do business with.

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In this post, I am going to show you how to get massively better results from your advertising – starting right now!

Making advertising work!

If you tried advertising in the past and found that the only winner was the person who sold it to you, you’re not alone.  Over the years, I have helped market the services of thousands of businesses, spanning just about every industry and profession.  During my initial conversations with the people behind these businesses, I would often hear a version of the following statement:

“We tried advertising – it doesn’t work!”

Advertising actually DOES work (really well), but only if you use it correctly.  I have personally sold many millions of pounds (and dollars) worth of products and services for my clients and myself, with the help of advertising.  In this post, I am going to share one of the secrets of my advertising success with you.

If you have a small or medium sized business and are advertising with the intention of making sales, boosting your profits and transforming your income; I suggest the only form of advertising worth investing in is action advertising.

Why is ACTION advertising so effective for smaller businesses?

ACTION advertising is designed to make the reader take action.  Big companies are usually seeking to get someone to switch from one brand of cola, razor blade or sports shoes etc to another.  These adverts can be effective by simply associating good feelings or famous / beautiful people with their ‘brand.’

Small businesses typically advertise in order to generate sales.  Their advertising needs to; get their phone ringing, fill their store with eager buyers or fill their inbox with sales requests and enquiries.  This means their adverts need to inspire some form of direct response or action from the reader / listener.  A good quality action advertisement includes the following:

-  It tells the reader who the advertiser is.
-  It tells the reader what the benefits of their product or service is.
-  It gives them a motivating reason to ACT NOW – to call, visit or e-mail the advertiser.
-  It tells them to contact the advertiser – usually with a time sensitive or limited availability element!

Here’s an example of a simple action advertisement I read (with the company’s details changed):

“ACME Widgets can save you a recession-busting 45% on your annual widget costs, that’s why we are inviting you to attend our wine and widget evening on 26th February at 7pm.  You can reserve your place now by calling Rachael on 012345 123123.  As places are limited, please call now to avoid disappointment!  Acme Widgets, 22 East Street, London.”

In contrast, most small business advertising creates little motivation for the reader to take action.  These ads are often based around the following:
-  They tell the reader the name of the service or business.
-  They show the reader the advertiser’s logo.
-  They tell the reader a little about what the advertiser does or their benefits.
-  They sometimes list a ‘special offer’.
-  They usually give the reader some contact details.

These ineffective adverts provide information about who the advertiser is and what they do, BUT give no reason for the reader to take action and contact them.  Guess what – generally, no one does!  Here’s a real life example, (with the company name/details changed):

“Acme Widgets have over 20 years of experience and our customer service is second to none.  Last year our widgets were voted ‘Best Value Widget’ by What Widget Magazine.  Our best selling Orange Widget is just £250.  Acme Widgets, 22 East Street, London”.

The majority of small business advertising I see in the press or in trade journals, is far less effective than it could or should be.  There is nothing compelling about what they say – nothing to inspire the reader to do anything.  When I started out in marketing, back in the 1980’s, we used to call these ineffective advertisements ‘flick-through ads’ – because people would literally see them and just carry on flicking through whichever publication they were in, without doing anything.

Remember, all motivation comes from motive

If you want your advertisement to generate masses of new business, you can!  But you need to advertise where your ideal future clients/customers are and give them a BIG enough reason to inspire them to take the action you require.  People are not stupid and will only contact you if there’s a compelling / motivating enough reason for them to do so.  Just having your message “out there” is simply not enough!

No related posts.

This post is all about how to get yourself some highly effective, FREE advertising!

One of the main reasons most small and medium-sized businesses don’t advertise, is that they lack the finances.

They know they need to get their message in front of a wider number of targeted, prospective clients / customers; but they just don’t have the cash to invest in high quality advertising.

So, what do they do?

Free advertising

There are many great ways to promote or advertise your services to prospective clients, which cost nothing (other than a little of your time and some creative thinking!)

Here’s one I saw recently on twitter.  It’s a very simple but effective ‘free’ advertising technique that’s used by Hugh Briss, from twitterimage.com.  Hugh currently offers people like myself, who have more than 3,000 followers on twitter, a free, professionally designed twitter background.

Now, each background comes with a ‘credit’; showing that the background was designed by his company, with their URL clearly visible. I noticed that as well as myself, Hugh has also designed backgrounds for Darren Rowse, Chris Pirillo and Chris Brogan .  Between us, we have almost 100,000 followers.  That’s 100,000 people who have a twitter account – and who might want to buy one of his twitter background designs!

So, Hugh invests however long it takes to design the background and in return, he gets a sample of his work and his contact details in front of thousands of highly targeted, potential clients every day.  I’m sure a few have also blogged about him, as I have just done, which gives him even more free publicity!

More free advertising

We all like to win awards don’t we?  And when we win an award, what do we do?  We tell people!

An effective but underused form of free Internet advertising, is to offer a monthly award for something; which is appropriate for your business.

Here’s how it works! For this example, imagine you offer a service, which is targeted at ‘women in business’ and you wanted to reach thousands of new potential clients.

You start off by offering a ‘site of the month’ award – for the site you think is best serving the women in business community that month.  You offer the award with a ‘button’ they can add to their site, which confirms that they won your award and links back to the article on YOUR site; where you tell the world how great their site is.

There are many outstanding sites on every topic you can imagine. By honouring these sites with your awards, you both spread the news about them AND potentially develop valuable links back to YOUR site too. Win, win as they say.  Also, it’s quite likely the recipient of your award will want to share the news with their readers; which can be an extremely powerful way to introduce new prospective clients to your work!

I used this approach for a client of mine a few months ago and got a link back from The BBC; which instantly generated a stack of new visitors to my client’s blog and an increase in their Google PageRank.

Creative advertising can out-perform paid advertising

When people read an advertisement, they are aware that they are being sold to.  This places an additional barrier between your message and your marketplace.  However, when you creatively get your message in front of that same targeted group, without an advertisement, the barrier is removed.

There are many, many more ways to reach people, without investing in paid advertising; which I will share with you in future posts.

If YOU have any ideas for generating effective, free advertising; please share them in the comments section below!

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Would you like to gain a massive marketing advantage and boost your sales? Then find a way to market your services, which is NOT already being used by your competitors!

Take a look at the businesses in your local area and you will notice something interesting.

You will see that businesses in the same industry, advertise in the same places, to the same potential clients, using the same kind of marketing messages and the same kind of promises!

As a result, their marketing pretty-much cancels each other’s out. This is a shocking waste of money and extremely low leverage.

Creative marketing

To gain a competitive marketing advantage, you should think of ways to creatively market your services, which are not already being done-to-death by your competitors.

A great way to find new marketing ideas, is to look at the marketing methods common in other industries, which are not being used in your own. Then, think how you can adapt those forms of marketing for your business!

For example, a number of stores are now paying bloggers to write posts about their stores and their ‘special offers.’  Regardless of your industry, if your competitors are not already doing this, it could be well worth considering for your business!

Just imagine a well-known blogger, who has the respect of your future clients, telling them how brilliant you are – that’s powerful!  Before you ask, I don’t offer this service myself. However, popular blogger Chris Brogan did a ‘sponsored post’ for a store on one of his blogs last week, for just $500!

Another example.  If you provide a service that has a national or international client base, like; web design, copy writing, SEO, coaching, consulting – or you sell products via a website, you might want to consider sponsoring a podcast aimed at your core prospect group.  This can be extremely powerful and yet, it’s a form of marketing that’s totally overlooked by most small businesses – including your competitors!

The bottom line

If you want your business to ‘stand out from the crowd,’ stop marketing it where all the competition is!

No related posts.

Here’s a quick tip, which can help you MASSIVELY increase the effectiveness of your marketing!

It’s all about focus

Whenever you write any form of marketing material, it’s extremely important that your message is focussed 100% on your core prospective client base.

Many small businesses use a scatter-gun approach to their marketing messages and as a result, they write copy, which is vaguely relevant to everyone who reads it but directly relevant to no one!

By diluting your marketing message, you always reduce it’s effectiveness.

For example, let’s imagine that Bob provides a ‘Virtual Assistant’ service.  He is particularly keen to work with  web designers, software developers and SEO experts.  Bob will get a far, far better response from his marketing if he writes a tailored marketing letter/email for each individual group – rather than a vague, generic one, which is aimed at trying to be relevant to all three industry types.

Bottom line

Vague marketing messages will not motivate people to respond to you!  However, a marketing message that clearly shows how your service will solve the readers problem, is extremely attractive and will inspire far more people to respond to you!

There are 10 GREAT marketing tips for you here!

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I’ve had quite a few people asking me recently, why there’s no advertising on jimsmarketingblog.com.  So, I thought I would let you know.

The short answer is that this blog is NOT here to sell advertising!

Some commercial blogs start off with the sole intention of selling advertising – which is great.  However, the primary focus of this blog is very different!

I decided to simply build this blog as a way for me to connect / network with great people (like you); who share my interest in marketing, networking and business development.  The community here is extremely important to me, which is why I work so hard to get readers ‘involved’ in the blog – with your comments, suggestions, ‘tweets’ and emails.

As you can see from the amazing number of comments this blog already attracts, (after just 11 weeks of marketing) – the community is both growing and very active!

So, what IS the “business model” then?

I want to show you the effectiveness of my work; through the marketing ideas I share with you and the obvious success of this blog itself. Then, if you decide you want to achieve massively better sales/profits or simply develop an amazingly successful blog, you might decide to give me a call or drop me an email.

That’s it!

Of course, as a result of the growing number of people now visiting and commenting here, companies have started asking me if I will advertise their products or services.  This blog’s community is very targeted; primarily people who own a business, are self employed or are ‘decision makers’ in larger companies.  Our community here is what advertisers dream about.

I will happily offer advertising on the blog, but only if it’s a product or service that I use or have researched and believe to be massively valuable to you.  Nothing offered thus far fits into either category – hense no ads.

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In this post, I am going to show you how to sell anything (and for a great price too!)  This means not only making a sale or gaining a new client/customer – but making that sale or winning that contract in the most profitable way possible.

Overview

People often tell me that once they get ‘in front’ of a prospective client, they are pretty good at converting the prospective client into a paying client.  The problem is; they just don’t get in front of enough people! If this sounds like you or someone you know, here’s the solution.  By the way – forward what I am about to share with you to everyone you know that might find it useful!

If you are finding it hard to sell something, the temptation is often to lower the price, especially during a tough economic climate.  This is almost always a REALLY bad idea! Ironically, when we speak with buyers we find that price is not primarily what they base their buying decision on!  We find that quality, support, utility and back-up are ranked higher than price.

Before writing this article I held a poll where I asked people, which of the following were most important to them; price, quality or backup & support. Overwhelmingly, price came back as the least important! In fact, there is a lot of data to suggest that lowering prices actually reduces sales.

Price only becomes a hurdle when the cost of something is greater than its perceived value!

To make something sell, you need to make the perceived value of it higher than the asking price.  For example, a £100 item with a perceived value of £200 will sell very successfully; however, a £200 product with a perceived value of £100 will really struggle.

The bottom line is that people need to believe they are getting a great bargain.  If they do, they will happily spend their money with you.

What is ‘perceived’ value?

Perceived value is the value that someone places in a product or service, based on what they believe it to be worth or their perception of its value is. Whenever you find yourself looking at the price of something and thinking it’s a great deal, it’s because your perceived value of it is higher than the cost.

This is why successful sales and marketing is based around making the perceived value of something appear as high as possible, so that the offering seems like a real bargain when you learn the price.

Sadly, the marketing used by most businesses does very little to increase the perceived value of their products or services (herein called products).

Therefore, these businesses focus on reducing their prices; so that the price matches the low perceived value of their products.

In other words, they end up selling a great product for less than it’s worth – and make far, far fewer sales too.

OK – Enough about how ‘THEY’ sell and market themselves (that’s their problem not ours)  Here’s how YOU can sell more than ever before! (I really am too good to you!)

Firstly, focus on the benefits of whatever you are selling and make those benefits sound as valuable and irresistible as possible.
It is not enough to say something generic like ‘our service saves people money’ – you must give an example of how you saved someone a ton of money and then compare the cost of your service to the saving it achieved!  For example, when I was marketing my services in the 1990′s, I would send a prospective client  my quote; along with a press clipping of how I helped a business triple their turnover in just 120 days – by helping them get the biggest contract in their history!  It worked really well, because it showed people the value of my service and made my fee seem an outstanding bargain!

My competitors sent their quote in with a business card and their fingers crossed!

Failing to clearly show the true value of your products in your marketing will cost you a fortune.  Back in 2005, I met with an Accountant whose practice was in real trouble.  After looking at his marketing material and website, I explained to him that there was no mention anywhere as to the value of what he did; how he could help people pay less tax, make bigger profits and hold onto more of their hard earned money.

Here’s what he replied;
“Jim, if people are too stupid to work out for themselves what an experienced accountant like me can do for their business, that’s their problem!”

“No it’s not” I explained! “It’s very much your problem – because they will take their business elsewhere and you will go broke!” Within 18 months he had lost his business and was working for a former competitor!

Secondly, you need to add ‘bonuses’; things that people will value but which cost little to provide.
For example, I give away a free ebook and free mainland postage and packing to people who buy my Motivation Master Class Audio CD’s.  The ebook version of this programme is worth £9.99 and the free postage and packing is saving my customers a further £4 – making the programme exceptional value.

Thirdly, because value is always relative, you need to look at the perceived value and price of what your competitors are offering.
One of the ways a potential client decides what value to attach to your product, is to compare it with what your competitors are offering.  You must, therefore, research what your competitors are offering and then make your product more valuable than theirs.

For example, my friend Cheryl works in London as an Estate Agent; specialising in selling homes worth over £1.5 million.  The very first thing she does when she takes on a new client is show them around the other homes in their area that are being marketed at the same price.  This way, her clients can see what their home is being marketed against – how it measures up against the competition. Cheryl is then able to encourage them to make the improvements required to make their home stand out against its competitors.  The end result is that her client’s homes always sell very quickly and for a great price!

Fourthly, review your marketing material.
Take a look at your marketing material, everything from; your sales letters and advertisements to your website, blog and any marketing emails you might use.  When you read them, does every sentence and every paragraph pump value into your products and your business?  If a potential client reads your marketing, is it going to motivate them to take action, call, email or meet you?  Is someone reading your marketing material going to feel compelled to call, meet or email you?  If the answer is no, you are losing a fortune in sales.

It is essential to the success of your business that your products are seen as being of exceptional value.  Competition has never been greater than it is today PLUS the consumer has never had so much choice.  If your marketing is pedestrian in its approach, it is hurting your business so improve it NOW.

Finally, review your sales pitch or presentation.
When you speak with a prospective client, do your words add value to whatever you are selling?  Do you identify their problems during your meeting and then sell your product as the answer to these problems?  If not, throw your presentation or sales pitch into the bin and start again!

No one wants to meet with you, to be bombarded with a list of benefits and features and then quoted a price or fee. They want you to inspire them, to show them that you have something that they absolutely need!  They then need to be certain that you are the best person anywhere to buy it from.  Your sales pitch is all about pumping value into your products and your business and then showing the person that you want their custom – not because you are greedy – but because you believe that if they buy from anyone else they will get a worse deal overall.

If you really believe that your products, your service or your business is the best solution for someone, you have a moral obligation to stop them making a mistake! You have an professional obligation to ensure that this person gets to benefit from being one of your highly valued clients.

This message must resonate powerfully through your marketing, your conversations and all your interactions.

Get moving!

Go on – right now, pump the enthusiasm you feel for your product and business into all your marketing and sales messages!  Make sure everyone knows how valuable your product is and how much you want to help them.  Don’t leave anything up to chance.  Tell your prospective clients that you are looking out for them;, that you provide a stunning service and that the only way you can be sure that they will be looked after is if they allow you to service their requirement.

You are a knowledgeable, hard working professional and you want your years of experience to help these people and their businesses!

Now go and make sure that EVERYBODY knows!
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