Jim Connolly Marketing

  • Home
  • About
    • About Jim Connolly
    • Jim’s small business marketing newsletter
    • Top Marketing Tips for 2026
    • Privacy Policy
    • How I use cookies
    • Contact
    • Disclosure
  • Let’s Grow Your Business

What’s on the outside counts too!

Updated June 2015

By Jim Connolly | December 29, 2009

This post is all about the importance of how you present and deliver your marketing messages.  Content may be king, but if that content is delivered inappropriately, no one will read it.

Here’s a recent example of what I mean.

I was emailed today by a company that wanted me to buy some software.  I could tell that from the subject line of their email.  However, I have no idea what their software does or even how compelling their offer was.  That’s because I never read their marketing message.

Why?

Because they emailed me using the free version of an emailing program, which inserted advertisements all over their marketing message.  It immediately drew my attention away from their marketing message and caused me to wonder why they were using such a low class way of marketing their services. After all, emailing software is not expensive these days.

I drew a number of immediate, negative conclusions about the company that was trying to market to me.  After all, how professional are they likely to be?  They have just shown me, (and everyone else on their list), that they either think it’s OK for pictures of semi naked women advertising online casinos to be plastered all over their messages, or they were too unprofessional to check first.  In either case, I was unimpressed.

My conclusions may or may not have been correct, but that’s not important.  What’s important is that the way they delivered and presented their marketing to me, caused me to ask myself questions about them that they could easily have avoided.

More importantly, and the reason for this post, I was unimpressed before I even knew what they were offering!

The way they chose to present and deliver their marketing was enough in itself, to ruin any chance they had of winning my business.  You might think that this is a rare example, but I see it many times every day.  All day long I see people, who make such a mess of how they present and deliver their marketing message, that their message never gets the oxygen it needs, in order to work.

Here are some very common examples:

  • People who email you marketing messages, without your permission. They just add your email address to their list and spam you.
  • People who cold call you, reading from a script, showing you no respect for your individuality or needs.
  • People who have never previously connected with you, sending you messages on Twitter, with a link to a sales page for their wonder product.
  • People who walk up to you at a networking event and give you a sales pitch, whilst looking over your shoulder, eyeing up their next ‘victim.’

The bottom line here, is that if we want people to take our marketing seriously, we need to create a powerful, professional impression.  We need to do everything possible to encourage them to trust us – and that includes the way we present and deliver our marketing messages, not just the content of those messages.

IMPORTANT: If you want to make more sales, boost your profits and grow an amazing business, this will help you!

Creative Marketing Tips

Get my best ideas delivered direct to your inbox. Just add your email below.

You can unsubscribe at any time. I respect your privacy.

Jim Connolly

Hi! I'm Jim Connolly and I use creative marketing to help small business owners increase sales, boost profits and build amazing businesses. Read more here.

Featured by

marketing advice, marketing help

Categories

  • AI (7)
  • Blogging (407)
  • Business development (493)
  • Copywriting (307)
  • Creative Marketing (1,668)
  • Email marketing & mail shots (187)
  • Professional development (545)
  • Social media marketing (358)

Hosting provider

20i hosting

Search

Recent posts

  • Sign your work. Grow your business August 17, 2026
  • Get creative: Let others market your business for free! August 7, 2026
  • Traditional marketing is dead July 27, 2026
  • The stupid game July 13, 2026
  • Hey! Not so fast! July 6, 2026
  • How to get your fees right June 23, 2026
  • A 3 shot espresso for your business June 17, 2026
  • Unproductive? You’re probably just bored June 12, 2026
  • Make AI grow your business June 8, 2026
  • It motivates people to take action, now June 4, 2026
  • Is your business one of the 50% that prospects now avoid? Probably! May 30, 2026
  • Give your best ideas away for free. Here’s why May 12, 2026
  • AI is wiping out your competitors. Now take their market share May 5, 2026
  • Powerful words for your marketing toolbox. Part 2 April 29, 2026
  • Your social media is sending an important message April 27, 2026
  • When was the last time? April 23, 2026
  • Jim, why are my sales numbers down? April 20, 2026
  • The secret sauce you were looking for, is here April 15, 2026
  • A few things worth learning, from the top small businesses April 9, 2026
  • Be optimistic. Because all this is true April 2, 2026

Creative Thinking?

My Creative Thinking Website
  • Home
  • About
  • Let’s Grow Your Business

Copyright © 2026 Jim Connolly