Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Getting unstuck 101: No one gives you the initiative

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marketing ideas

There’s something wonderful about initiative. Wonderful and extremely powerful, when we dive just a little deeper into it.

Just think about this for a moment – No one gives us the initiative. We take the initiative.

It’s that last part that is easy to overlook… we take it. This means it’s down to us to make things happen. And this is true regardless of where we are right now. Regardless of what season our business is going through. Regardless of our age, industry, background or our past performance.

Better still, not only are we free to take the initiative. We’re free to take it any time we choose to. We have the green light to make something amazing happen.

Those are not just empty words.

Any business owner right now, feeling deflated and looking to improve their current situation, can make amazing things happen. And that’s because:

  • We’re free to take the initiative and answer important problems, which prospective clients will eagerly pay us to solve.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and develop a better version of an existing product, which customers will flock to.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and strive to provide the best customer service in our industry.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and generously encourage others.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and connect people who may be able to help one another.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and endeavour to become a leader in our industry.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and improve one key area of our business, every week.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and increase our knowledge.

And we’re free to take the initiative with a thousand other useful things.

Sometimes, what we need in order to turn things around is a gentle nudge in the right direction. A reminder to take the initiative and make things happen, rather than passively wait, hoping that a situation will improve.

Your choice

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choices, decisions

Even in today’s rapidly changing marketplace, commercial success is profoundly shaped by what we choose to do. Just consider for a moment the business decisions we make, like those below. And think about how different choices will clearly lead to very different results.

  • We choose the people we hire to join our team.
  • We choose the quality of vendors we use for our business.
  • We choose whether or not, to give our clients an experience worth talking about.
  • We choose the advice we take, as well as the advice we ignore.
  • We choose whether our business stands out or fits in.
  • We choose our commercial priorities.
  • We choose to be reactive or proactive in important situations.
  • We choose how we respond to possible opportunities.
  • We choose how we respond when our plans get derailed.
  • We choose who, and what, we pay attention to throughout the day.
  • We choose our clients or customers.
  • We choose the quality of service we provide.
  • We choose the projects we accept.
  • We choose where to set our prices or fees.
  • We choose our payment terms.
  • We choose whether to show leadership in our industry or not.
  • We choose who we believe can be trusted.

Our choices and our outcomes

In every area of life, better choices lead to better outcomes. For instance, the person who makes better diet choices will enjoy better health and fitness outcomes. The same holds true for the choices we make in business. That’s because our choices determine our direction of travel, as we navigate the way ahead.

I’m not suggesting for one moment that we can control everything. We absolutely can’t. What I am suggesting, is that we can control how effectively we choose to respond.

It’s no coincidence that the worlds most successful business owners are also great decision makers. Thankfully, by applying more thought to the choices we make, then monitoring our results, we can learn to make better and better decisions. And enjoy better and better results.

If we choose to.

The pandemic: Why your marketing needs to change

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pandemic, marketing tip

Obviously, the marketplace you serve has changed during the coronavirus pandemic.

So in today’s post, I want to help you successfully adapt to these changes, so your business absolutely thrives.

Let’s go.

Ask most business owners how they’ve adapted to the pandemic, you’ll hear very similar replies. They’ll tell you they’ve switched as much of their business online as possible. If they’re in hospitality, leisure, offline retail, construction, etc, they’ll tell you about social distancing measures, too.

Whilst those are important considerations, they’re missing a HUGE part of the picture. And it could lose them a fortune.

I don’t want that to happen to you.

Feelings

The big brands have a very different and more effective focus. Agile owners of small and medium-sized businesses do too.

Their focus is on the dramatic change, in the way their clients and prospective clients are FEELING during these most difficult of times. As feelings are what drive decisions (and sales) far more than logic, this is something you need to be aware of. And focused on.

With that in mind, think for a moment about your clients and prospective clients. Consider how they have been impacted by the pandemic. Now ask yourself, how has the past 13 months changed things like:

  • The way they feel about their immediate and long-term future?
  • The way they feel about money?
  • The way they feel about credit, debt, investments?
  • The way they feel about the people in their lives?
  • The way they feel about risk?
  • The way they feel about the value of their time?
  • The way they feel about their health?
  • The way they feel about travelling?
  • The way they feel about donating to causes?
  • The way they feel about long-term results?
  • The way they feel about short-term results?
  • The way they feel about various types of loss?

Take a moment to think about the current focus of your marketing. Include things like your messaging, promises, guarantees, benefits, deals and payment options, etc.

Then ask yourself the following question.

Is it speaking to the need and wants of your pre-pandemic marketplace or their ACTUAL, current needs and wants?

Because if you’re using your pre-pandemic marketing strategy, (with Zoom calls and social distancing bolted on), your agile competitors could suddenly sound a lot more attractive.

However, by aligning your marketing with the way your clients and future clients now feel, you cut through the noise. Your messaging will strike the right chord. Your words will be more compelling.

And your products or services will sound a great deal more relevant to their exact needs. That’s marketing gold dust, right there.

Give your best ideas away for free. Here’s why

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content marketing

What I’m about to share with you may sound a little counter-intuitive. It isn’t. In fact, it could help you achieve breakthrough results.

Allow me to explain.

I come across the following problem a lot. Mainly from service providers, who are struggling to attract new clients with their content marketing. Their primary concern looks something like this:

I know I need to provide good, free advice via my content. Surely if I give my best ideas away for free, no one will pay to hire me?

I’ve already explained why you should be stingy with your time, but not your ideas. However, there’s another, excellent reason why you should provide outstanding, free advice.

And it’s this…

Think for a moment about the alternative. Imagine you publish a newsletter, videos, a blog or a podcast. Now let’s also imagine that instead of sharing great advice, you share weaker information. Average free stuff. Nothing special. Nothing that really stands out.

Guess what?

You’ve just given your marketplace a weak, low-impact insight into your work. You’ve painted a lousy picture of how good you are. So, not only will people be highly unlikely to hire you, they’ll also be unlikely to share your newsletters, videos, podcasts, blog posts or subscribe to you. That’s a huge lose, lose. (Actually, that’s wrong; it’s a lose, lose, lose, because you’ll also be damaging your reputation as a knowledgeable professional. Ouch!)

Here’s what really happens when you give great free advice

Yes, freebie hunters will certainly gobble up all your free advice. But that doesn’t lose you a penny. Why? Because they were never going to hire you anyway. Freebie hunters are the dabblers. The DIYers. So, they were never a prospective client.

Yes, a subset of genuine prospective clients who take your free advice will do (whatever) themselves. Of course, if they find your ideas so powerful that they actually use them, they’re highly likely to subscribe to you and share your work. That’s how every successful resource spreads. Also, I know from experience that many of them will later hire you.

However… there’s also a hefty subset of prospective clients who will find your high quality advice extremely valuable. Now, this subset of prospective clients are the ones who value their time. They love the peace-of-mind that comes from getting expert help. They value professionalism.

These prospective clients will hire you, so you can do the job properly for them. And yes, they’ll also share your newsletters, videos, podcasts, blog posts and subscribe to you.

How do I know for 100% certain that this works?

Simple: It’s how I grew my own business!

It’s why I get enquiries from prospective clients, multiple times, all day long, every day. And if it works for me, it can work for you too. Just make sure to offer as much value as you can, as often as you can. Hold nothing back.

P.S. Here’s that article I mentioned earlier. It’s well worth a read: Be stingy with your time, but not your ideas.

Regularly create content your marketplace will love, with these 3 ideas

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Content Marketing tips

Image: Tony Hand

If you’ve ever wondered, how some people are able to regularly produce effective content marketing; (newsletters, blog posts, articles, podcasts, etc), and how you can do the same, this post is for you.

I’ve divided it into 3 core ideas. So, let’s get started!

1. Is this useful?

There’s a sign on the wall in my studio. It’s a small sign, containing just 3 words: “Is this useful”. That’s the mark I set for everything I create. Nothing gets published unless I believe you’ll find it useful. I don’t try and be clever. Just useful. And as long as I think you’ll find an idea or observation useful, I share it.

Some small business owners are put off creating content, because they try and make everything as close to perfect as possible.

The thing is, your prospective clients or customers want something useful, not perfect.

Once you stop aiming for perfection you’ll find it a lot easier. You’ll also get massively better results.

2. Don’t let crappy ideas block you

If you’re anything like me, you’ll find that most of the ideas you get are pretty average. But maybe 1 in 5 or 1 in 10 are good enough, to be turned into a valuable piece of content marketing.

The challenge is that in order to get that 1 useful idea, you need to allow yourself to have the crappy ones… without getting disheartened.

The way I overcame this, was to deliberately give myself permission to think of lots of crappy ideas, knowing that something useful would come from it.

When you view lower-value ideas as essential steps in the development of better ones, they switch from being disheartening to highly motivating.

3. Give your work the respect it deserves

We often overestimate the ideas of others and underestimate the value of our own. Here’s a great example of what I mean.

A business owner told me how she was taking some files off a computer for archiving, when she discovered an old documents folder. It contained loads of articles, which were really interesting. She looked to see who wrote them and found they were all her own work, from 6 years earlier!

She didn’t publish them at the time, because she thought they weren’t good enough. It was only when she thought they were written by someone else, that she saw them for what they really were. Your work is almost certainly way, way better than you think.

So get it out there.

In short, if you’re looking to improve your content marketing, focus on being useful. See your average ideas as necessary steps to your useful ideas. And give your work the respect you deserve.

How to know in advance if your business idea is likely to succeed

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Marketing successful ideaImage: Toa Heftiba

Yesterday’s post attracted a lot of feedback. People wanted to know how to tell in advance if their business idea (product, service, opportunity, etc.,) is likely to spread and succeed.

To answer that question, let’s look at what happens when you share a truly exciting idea or opportunity with someone.

  1. They lean forward as you’re talking. You have their attention. They’re listening intently.
  2. Then they try and find a way to get involved with it. They can sense the promise of the opportunity. So they want in. For example, they’ll ask you if they can tell their friends about it or place a pre-order; you won’t have to ask them. That’s because great ideas have legs.

Reaction to an average or below average idea looks VERY different.

  1. People nod politely.
  2. Many will tell you they think you’re onto a winner.
  3. But that’s about as far as it goes. Because average ideas lack legs. More about legs in a moment.

Why am I sharing this with you?

I hear from small business owners regularly, who’ve wasted time and money developing dud ideas, after misinterpreting the feedback they received. This need not happen to you, so long as you know what to look for.

Filter everything

Never make a commercial decision based on surface-level thinking. Filter everything for accuracy.

Before you accept any feedback, remember that people often tell you what they think you want to hear, rather than what they actually think. Their intentions are good. They want to encourage you or be supportive. But their misplaced kindness can lead you into a huge commercial loss if you accept it on a surface level.

As I said yesterday, it’s what people do that counts. Focus 95% on what they do when you tell them about your idea… and 5% on what they say.

Here’s how: Look for how eager they are to get involved, without prompting from you to take action. Just explain the idea clearly. Then watch!

For example.

  • If your idea is a business product or service and includes a pre-order option, did they want to pre-order without you asking?
  • Did they ask you for a second meeting?
  • Did they request a sample of the product?
  • And did they ask if you’d like to demo the idea or give a presentation to their colleagues, boss or friends?

The key is to be guided by what they do, far more than what they say. It’s a proven, time-tested way to see if your idea has legs or not.

Why are legs so important, Jim?

I’ll use the example of an idea for a new product or service.

  • If your idea has legs, it means it will spread from person to person by itself. Every viral product or service works this way. People learn about (whatever it is) and tell their friends. Their friends do the same… repeat. These products or services require far less marketing and are massively more profitable.
  • If your idea doesn’t have legs, growth only comes when you tell people about the product or service. It goes from you, to the marketplace. Ideas that lack legs require lots of advertising, promoting, networking and are drastically less profitable. Growth is slow, expensive, frustrating and time consuming.

So, get feedback from people. Especially those in your target market for the product or service. Look closely for signs that the idea has legs, by focusing on what people do. Are they leaning forward? Do they want to get involved? And remember that actions speak louder than words.

I know what you’re thinking…

At this point, business owners ask me whether it’s possible for their existing product or service, which lacks legs, to be transformed into a runaway success.

The answer is yes. Of course!

I do it every day, helping my clients pump massive extra value into their products or services, which gives it the legs required.