Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Viral marketing 101

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viral marketing 101

Every piece of viral marketing you’ve ever experienced, consisted of 2 things.

  1. It went to you. (You received it).
  2. It went through you. (You shared it with your friends or contacts).

For both of those to happen, your marketing message or story, needs to be easy to share and remarkable in some way.

How easy is it?

The marketing message from Kentucky Fried Chicken is simple. Just 3 words long. Finger lickin’ good. That’s easy to remember and easy to share. Regardless of what you or I may think of their food, they’ve given their most dedicated customers a simple message, which speaks powerfully about the taste of their food.

The marketing message from Apple is even easier to share. When someone is using one of their products in public, there’s a highly visible Apple logo pointing at everyone who can see them. Until recently, the Apple logo on MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models was illuminated on the lid. Today, those logo’s are (like those on their phones) highly polished mirrors.

How remarkable is it?

Remember Jennie? I wrote about her recently. Jennie knows I take lots of handwritten notes. When she discovered a note-taking app that did everything she wanted, and more, she emailed me. She also told all her friends about it. Jennie’s remarkable experience turned her from a customer into a raving advocate.

When Greg recommends my services to his friends, he tells them; “Jim doubled our turnover in 5 months”. Greg’s success was remarkable to him, so he shares it. His experience of my work is what motivates him. And his message is just 7 words long, meaning it’s easy to share.

Why not take some time today, to consider how you can make it easier for your message to go to people and through people. Consider how clear your message is. And how remarkable it is. Then look for ways to improve it as much as you can. It’s impossible to overstate the power of clear, easy to share, remarkable stories.

Marketing Tip: Capture, earn and motivate

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marketing balance

I discovered today that a local business is about to close down. The owner told me it was due to a lack of trade. This is happening, even though their service is better than many of their competitors.

So, why does it happen; why does an above average business fail, when their lower quality competitors in the same area are thriving?

It happens because there’s a massive difference between being the best quality service and the best selling service. This holds true in every industry. Think about it, the best selling book is seldom the best written book.

Balance

In order for a business to thrive, an essential balance is needed. The build it and they will come mantra is a dangerous trap. You need to build it and then market it correctly. That’s because being great at what you do, doesn’t mean people will magically notice you, trust you and then hire you (or buy from you).

You need a strategy in order to capture their attention, earn their trust and motivate them to hire you.

The business owner I referred to at the start of this post, used the strap-line “the best kept secret in (his profession)” in the signature of his company emails. He clearly knew they had a problem. He probably didn’t know it was their marketing that was the culprit. The right people didn’t know his business existed, how good his business was or why they should hire them.

Because their balance was wrong, they carried on working hard, wondering why things were not improving. And as a result, a small team of people will be facing Christmas this year, without a job.

Once a business is delivering a great service, there’s no reason for it not to thrive. Just be sure to get the balance right: Do great work. But remember to capture attention. Earn trust. And motivate people to hire you or buy from you.

The results you need are only a mile away. Just 1 mile. Yes, really!

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extra mile, success

There’s a spectacularly powerful marketing idea for you in today’s post. But you’ll need to use your imagination a little, in order to see what it means to you and your business.

Picture this

What if a business owner decided that as from today, they’d take the following radical action:

To eagerly go the extra mile for their clients, as standard.

By liberating themselves in this way, the business owner would be free. Free to pay greater attention to the needs of each client. They would also be free to care for each client as an individual and not simply as a client… one of a group.

The business owner would find themselves building stronger relationships with their clients. And because business is all about people, this would massively improve the culture of their business; for clients and staff alike.

  • They’d retain their clients for longer.
  • They’d retain their best staff members too.
  • They’d attract the top talent, because people would want to work in that amazing culture.

Plus, their existing clients would tell all their friends about the remarkable service they receive. Here’s why!

There’s a very strong business case for going the extra mile. Especially in an age where your competitors are looking to automate, scale and cut corners.

I recommend you let your competitors carry on with their race to the bottom. While you, my friend, rise to the top.

How to lower your marketing spend… the right way!

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cheap marketing

There are lots of ways a business owner can lower their overheads. Some will make the business more profitable. Others can be extremely expensive mistakes.

What does this have to do with marketing?

Everything!

Small business owners regularly come to me with serious marketing problems, caused by making cost-cutting decisions, which were supposed to improve their profitability.

Here are a few obvious, marketing-related examples. Just to give you an idea of what I mean.

  • Some will have outsourced their inbound phone calls to a call handling company. It’s cheaper than hiring someone. Right?
  • Some will have their signature pre-printed on their letterheads. It’s cheaper than spending 10 seconds to personally sign their letters. Right?
  • Some will have designed their own company logo. It’s cheaper than hiring a professional designer, who knows what she’s doing. Right?

It’s a GREAT idea to regularly look for ways to reduce your overhead. The smartest business owners regularly review everything. However, they make their decisions based on the medium and longer-term. Not just the immediate, lower expenditure.

Here’s what their thinking might be, based on the above examples.

Before outsourcing their inbound calls

They look at the longer game. How many existing clients could they lose, because the outsourced call-handler is winging it, rather than building rapport? How many potential, new clients could be lost, because the outsourced call-handler was reading from a screen, rather than truly understanding the prospective client’s needs?

There’s a huge cost attached to lower client retention and fewer new clients. This means they may only consider outsourcing to the very best call handling providers available. At which point the expenditure gap between hiring someone and outsourcing, even in the short-term, is way narrower. And that’s factored into their decision.

Before pre-printing their signature on their letterheads

They look at the longer game. They consider what the medium to longer-term cost will be, of failing to offer clients the personal touch. It’s very unlikely that this one cut-back would lead to a significant issue. But they may ponder where that lack of personal attention could lead to, if it penetrates other areas of their service. Cheaper coffee for their clients at the next meeting, maybe? An online ticket system for client enquiries?

Before designing their own company logo

They look at the longer game. They consider what the medium to longer-term cost will be to their reputation, with a DIY logo representing what their business stands for. They may also look at the negative feelings they have, when they see an amateur logo, and not want their business to be seen in such a negative way. And some will remember being told what branding actually means, because they seem to recall it’s about much more than just a logo.

Then. And only then. Will they make a decision.

Balance

As with most things in life, it’s all about balance. Before we outsource, automate or dabble with DIY, we need to look at the full picture. We need to consider the wider costs associated. That’s how we make the best decisions and avoid cutting back in the wrong places.

Quick tip: How to market with massively more impact

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Marketing focus

There are 2 great marketing questions, which very few small business owners ask themselves.

  1. What does my ideal client (or customer) look like?
  2. What am I doing with my marketing, to make sure it’s directly relevant to this super-valuable niche?

Here’s why these questions are so important.

Something for everyone?

One of the most common small business marketing mistakes, is to try and appeal to the widest possible range of people.

Here’s why that’s a really, really bad strategy.

To inspire someone to switch brands or switch providers, your marketing needs to motivate them into action. It has to be directly relevant to them. It needs to talk to their world-view. Their wants. Their needs. Their values.

Every time you decide to widen the appeal of your marketing, beyond your ideal client, you weaken its effectiveness. Your marketing shifts from being directly relevant (powerful) to vaguely relevant (feeble).

It’s hard to overstate the impact of a compelling message, reaching the right person at the right time.

If you haven’t already, I recommend you get intentional about exactly who you want to do business with. Then focus your marketing, so that it speaks exclusively to that high value group.  Go narrow. Not wide.

Get it right and it’s a game changer.

I just received a very angry email. And I have to share it with you

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marketing, unbelievers

Nicola (not her real name) was really angry when she emailed me. With her permission, I’d like to share her story with you. And a powerful business lesson, too!

Nicola had spent a ton of time over the past 2 weeks, looking after the needs of a prospective client. (She’s a web designer). The prospective client told her he desperately needed a new website. He understood his current site was ugly and hurting his reputation.

After a morning-long meeting at the prospective client’s office, a chunk of time spent creating a proposal for him, then several further emails and some phone calls, he finally told her:

He knew he urgently needed a new site. He knew her work was great. He knew her fee was reasonable. But he just couldn’t justify the expense to himself!

Nicola said she was “really, really angry” and asked me what she was doing wrong.

Now, I don’t know Nicola. She’s a reader. And said she’d emailed me out of anger and frustration. The guy sounded so keen. She was expecting a new project. And the disappointment was clearly hurting her.

It’s entirely possible that Nicola has lousy marketing. If she had professional marketing help, she’d ask them what wasn’t working. Rather then me. So yes, it’s possible her prospective client wasn’t motivated to become a paying client, because she handled it poorly. I have no idea.

However, there’s a super-valuable lesson here.

Here’s what prompted me to share this with you

A lot of small business owners wrongly blame their fees, their marketing or their negotiating skills, when they fail to land a new client. Yes, getting it wrong in any of those areas will lose you business. Lots of business.

But sometimes, it’s the prospective client’s mindset. And I believe this is a perfect example, which is why I wanted to share it with you.

Going back to Nicola’s original email, I noticed something interesting. The prospective client explained that he knew he urgently needed a new site. He also said he knew Nicola’s work was great and her fee was reasonable, yet he couldn’t “justify the expense” to himself.

I think it highly probable that this guy was simply one of the unbelievers.

Unbelievers?

Yes!

He knew on an intellectual level that he needed her services, but he didn’t believe it on an emotional level. And as emotions drive decisions, he was never going to hire her.

He sounds like many small business owners, who have an employee mindset when it comes to investment in their business. They know they need expert help, but on an emotional level they’re scared to invest. They believe it’s safer to do nothing. They know… but fear stops them from doing what they know they need to do. Note: He called her fee an expense, not an investment

It’s not your fault

It’s often not your fault when a prospective client walks away.

If you’re using professional marketing, rather than dabbling. If your prices or fees match your promises. If you’re offering real value, and they still decide not to hire you or buy from you… it’s very probable you never had a chance.

So don’t be too hard on yourself, the next time an unbeliever decides to waste your time. It’s them. Not you.

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