Marketing tips, marketing help and advice

Stop worrying. Seriously. Stop it

June 3, 2020 by Jim Connolly

Here are some things you need to know about worry, including a more helpful alternative.

Worrying doesn’t make things better. In fact, it’s counter-productive and serves only to make things worse.
Worrying is a horrible waste of your time, and time is your most valuable resource. No one ever looks back and wishes they’d spent more time worrying.
Worrying is infectious. It spreads from you to everyone you connect with; family, friends, clients and your marketplace.
Worrying causes you to operate sub optimally. It poisons your thinking and causes you to make bad decisions.
Worrying puts your mind into a fear focused state. This makes it harder to find the answers you need and easier, to miss valuable opportunities.
Worry is a liar. The vast majority of things we worry about, either never happen or when they do happen, were nothing like as bad as we thought.
Worrying causes you to feel worse… and worse and worse.
Worrying is the lowest possible use of your amazing imagination. When we worry, we use our mind as a movie theatre, which plays the worst case scenarios of whatever we’re worrying about, over and over again. Instead, change the movie. Use your mind to create a movie of the outcomes you want, the solutions you need and the people and things you are grateful for.

A more productive way forward

Once we’re aware that something is worrying us, it’s time to switch on our resources.

It starts with reminding ourselves that we get to choose what we focus on. At any point, we can move our focus from what we’re worrying about, to the solutions open to us. We can list the people whose help or advice we need and reach out to them. We can then decide what action to take and when to take it.

These are difficult times for small business owners. That’s for sure. Thankfully, although we can’t control external circumstances, we absolutely can control how we choose to respond to them.

Here’s what your prospective clients really want from you

May 31, 2020 by Jim Connolly

Photo: Shutterstock.

So, what are your prospective clients (or customers) looking for from you?

The answer to that question remains the same, for every business owner. And it holds true for every industry and in every economy. It’s simply this: They want a bargain.

That’s it.

They want something from you, which is being sold for less than its value. Preferably, way less than its value.

This includes the “money’s no object” crowd. Think about it, when the wealthy customer spends half a million dollars on a piece of jewellery, they want to feel like a million dollars. A million dollar feeling, for just half a million dollars. What a bargain.
The same is true when the shopper on a restricted budget needs a new phone. They go for the best value in their price range. This may be a phone with some of the features, usually found on a more expensive model. What a bargain.

Whatever end of the market you serve, make your value clear. Explain what sets you apart from similarly-priced competitors or what makes your product such an amazing proposition. And if there’s not much separating you from your competitors, pump more value into what you provide.

Do this until there’s so much value attached to what you offer, that it’s the obvious choice. The best option. Well worth the money… and then some.

Given the state of the global economy, this emphasis on value is critically important. People are thinking harder before they hire someone or buy something.

In short, your marketing needs to be more convincing, because your prospects need more convincing.

List building: How to build a list that builds your business

May 28, 2020 by Jim Connolly

People often ask me for tips on how to build a bigger list. They want more subscribers; more readers, more listeners, more viewers, more followers, etc.

The short answer is simple. It’s this.

Create useful content, which is worthy of people’s attention and make it really easy for them to subscribe.

If you do that, you’ll attract more people and because your content is useful, many of them will subscribe. Think about it. That’s the exact process, which motivated you to subscribe to every list you’re on. Something attracted you, you found it useful, you subscribed.

This begs the question: If the answer is so simple, why is it so darn hard to build a large and valuable list?

Here’s the slightly longer answer.

The advice is simple. The process is tricky

There’s some tricky stuff between you and that massively valuable list you want.

Finding something useful to share, on a regular basis, is tricky. Remember, if you just churn out the same stuff as others in your industry, you won’t attract subscribers or retain them. This means you’ll need to be willing to do some research. You’ll need to become a regular note-taker. A collector of ideas. It’s interesting work, but if you’re not already someone who studies and takes notes, it can take a while to transition.

Finding the time to create content is also tricky. You’re already busy, right? Developing content around all that interesting material you have, takes time. That time is easy to justify when you have a huge list. It’s harder to justify, when your hard work is being consumed by just a small number of people. You’ll need to push through the tumbleweed and crickets of the early stages. And I know from personal experience, that can be a real challenge. I explain why here.

Summoning the courage to publish your stuff is tricky. Why? Because if you do it right, you’ll attract critics. Someone once told me that we have a choice to make. We can either be criticized or be ignored. If we’re being ignored, we’re invisible. That’s not good for any business.

The alternative is to not only expect criticism, but to welcome it as a positive sign that we’re no longer being ignored. Don’t set out to attract critics. Set out to be useful and worthy of attention. But see criticism as an inevitable part of becoming visible and successful.

Note: Here’s why people criticize you and how to deal with it.

Once you know what’s involved, building a valuable list is pretty easy.

And the rewards are huge

Picture this: Just imagine what a difference it would make to your business, if you were in regular contact with thousands of prospective customers. Not via advertising, which is usually seen as an unwelcome interruption. But via a subscription to your content, which people proactively requested because they WANT to hear from you. It’s almost impossible to overstate just how valuable your subscribers are.

The opportunity is amazing. And it’s right in front of you. Right now.

A big powerful idea

May 25, 2020 by Jim Connolly

Photo: Shutterstock.

Understandably, there’s a real sense of apprehension among many business owners right now. So today, I’m going to share something with you that can help you move forward with your business and your plans, in a massively more productive way.

And it’s all about the importance of focusing on a big, compelling idea.

Here’s why.

Big ideas crush apprehension and replace it with eager anticipation and excitement.
Big ideas fill you with motivation. They also provide the energy that’s required to achieve them.
Big ideas force you to grow. Every big idea requires you to learn new things, connect with new people and expand your horizons.
Big ideas attract the attention of others. People lean forward when they hear a big idea. They want to know more.
Big ideas draw people to you who want to be involved. You never have to worry about getting the help you need, if your idea is compelling enough.
Big ideas spread. You don’t need to push big ideas. They go from person to person. They have legs. They’re the source of that ‘buzz’ that every thriving business has.

If you feel demotivated, feel like you’re not growing, feel apprehensive about the future of your business, feel trapped by external restrictions, you’re probably not working on a big idea right now.

So think big. Plan big. If you do, you’ll be amazed what a big improvement it will make. Tip: The 6 Idea Trick will help.

You deserve clients like mine

May 20, 2020 by Jim Connolly

My clients are amazing.

In fact, they’re totally and utterly amazing.

I’ve loved serving my clients for over 25 years. And I respect them. Every single one of them.

Why?

Because they’re not like the average business owner. That’s why their businesses succeed, when the average business fails in the first 5 years, or worse; slowly fails to deliver the results they need for decades.

My clients want to succeed, but they know that DIY marketing can only take them so far. So they choose me to be a part of their success. For which I’m eternally grateful.

The biggest accomplishment of my career, is nothing I myself have done. It’s that I get to spend every working day, with inspirational, smart, courageous people, helping THEM achieve. Imagine that: Every day since 1995, being fortunate enough to do something I love, with amazing people I admire and respect.

You deserve clients like mine.

How to work with totally, utterly amazing clients

Here are a few useful pointers, based on what I do.

Before I work with a client, I always speak with them to determine if we’re a great fit. I only suggest we work together and explain how my service works, after I’ve established I can definitely improve their results. I strongly recommend you do the same.
Only work with people you instinctively trust. If they lose your trust, fire them. Fast. By the way, I’ve only done this once in 25 years, because I take time to make sure we’re a great fit, first.
Treat different clients differently, based on their unique needs. No two clients are the same, so adapt to their specific wants and requirements.
Resolve to do everything possible, to help them succeed. I’m talking about going WAY above and beyond the claims you make in your marketing. For example, when appropriate, I connect my clients to my contacts, opening up possibilities they’d never dreamed of. Do the same. All or nothing. If you can help, help. Period. If you don’t trust your clients with your contacts, you should seriously reconsider who you’re working with.

And always follow the golden rule… care more about your client’s success, than you care about your own success.

You’re only as good as your last performance

May 18, 2020 by Jim Connolly

Photo: Shutterstock.

I want to share maybe the most powerful mindset in business with you. Because when you understand it, it boosts your productivity, increases your confidence and supercharges your results.

It’s simply this: “You’re only as good as your last performance”.

Here’s how it works.

Why this mindset is so powerful

By learning from your last performance, your road ahead is always filled with potential. Always filled = never-ending. And never-ending potential is just another way of saying endless potential.

It gets even better!

Because you’re always free to bury an unsuccessful last performance, under a better performance, you can destroy the fear of failure from holding you back.

Here’s an example of how I embrace this mindset.

When I publish a blog post and find it didn’t resonate with my readers, (it bombed) I don’t just leave it there.

I understand that “you’re only as good as your last performance”. So I learn from my last performance, make improvements and replace it with something better.

I check things like the subject, the message, the conclusion, the clarity, and the relevance etc.

My NEW last performance is then an improvement. The previous performance is history. And knowing that if I get it wrong, I can always perform better next time, I’m free to work without fear. That’s huge. Because it’s exactly that kind of fear that holds people back from doing their best work.

In short: This mindset gives you the freedom to produce marketing (or do pretty-much anything), without the fear of failure crushing you.

When you embrace the idea, that each performance is an opportunity to improve, and that a bad performance can be buried under a great one, you’re free to blow the lid off your potential.

You’re only as good as your last performance in business

Here are a few real-world examples, of the way embracing this mindset helps business owners.

If your last public speaking opportunity didn’t go as well as you’d hoped, learn from it and make your next performance better. Because that’s the talk, which people will remember.
If your last newsletter or blog post didn’t generate the results you needed, learn from it and bury it under your next, newly-improved performance. Because that’s the one your readers will remember.
If your last marketing exercise failed to get the results you needed, learn from it. Make the required improvements. Then bask in the success of your newly-improved marketing performance.

As you can see, the idea can be applied extremely widely. This gives it the flexibility to help you in many of the most challenging areas of your business.

Embracing this mindset frees you to give the world a massively better (and always improving) version of you and your work. Oh, and just watch what it does to your results.

Knowing that you’re only as good as your last performance, list some past performances, which you’d love to replace, with better ones. That’s a great place to start.

Tip: If you found this useful, you can get my latest ideas delivered direct to your inbox, for free, right here.

Stay safe.