Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

How to make more sales, in uncertain times

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marketing, make more sales,

As I promised recently, here are some more ideas to help you and your business through the uncertainty of the current economy.

As things change, we need to adjust our marketing to the new wants and needs of our customers or clients. That’s what I’m focusing on today.

Plan with flexibility

Typical marketing plans run for a year and make the mistake of assuming conditions will remain roughly the same. As a result, these plans fall to pieces when faced with a period of rapid change. That’s why your marketing plan needs to have flexibility built in.

I recommend creating 90-day marketing plans, to run alongside your overall business plan. These need to be regularly reviewed and adjusted, based on real-time feedback. What’s working better than before? What are your prospects suddenly asking for? What’s no longer working as well as it used to? You get the idea.

Pay extra close attention to your customers

One of the best pieces of business advice I’ve ever received is this.

‘Your customers will show you where your market is going’.

Customers do this through their actions and their words. Here are some questions to ask yourself, so you can see where your market is going.

  • Have your customer enquiries changed recently?
  • Have your customers’ buying habits or preferences changed recently?
  • Are customers mentioning any new concerns during the sales process?
  • Is there a meaningful increase or fall in customer spending?
  • Have you noticed customers becoming more price-sensitive?
  • Are customers engaging with you differently online, perhaps interacting more through social media, direct messages, or emails?
  • Have your customers started recommending (or requesting) new products, services, or features you previously hadn’t considered?
  • Is there a noticeable increase in customers asking you for personalised or customised offerings?
  • Are there specific fears or uncertainties customers are expressing more often?
  • Have customer priorities recently changed?

Now ask yourself, are there new opportunities emerging, or new concerns emerging, which I need to take action on?

Focus on your new opportunities. Think positive

Rapidly changing conditions often cause stress or anxiety for small business owners. We need to be aware of this, and turn it around. A positive, proactive mindset helps us adapt quickly, confidently, and effectively. That’s exactly what we need right now.

So, focus on opportunities rather than obstacles.

Also, encourage yourself, and your team if you have one, to innovate. Innovating puts you in control. It immediately gives you a lift and causes you to think far more positively.

And remind yourself regularly of the challenges you’ve overcome in the past. You’ll overcome future challenges too, if you use the right approach. In fact, you may well come out of this wiser and wealthier than you were before. I saw this with 100% of my clients during the pandemic.

I hope you found this useful. If you did, share it with your friends.

17 Tips to help you grow a stronger business

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marketing tips, build strong business

Here are 17 tips to help you grow a stronger business. In no particular order.

Lead with outcomes
People are buying what life looks like after doing business with you. Don’t sell the process. Sell the improvement.

Simplify the next step
Don’t just tell prospects about your product or service. Show them exactly what they need to do next. One clear action. Make it easy for them to move forward.

Your brand is always doing something
If you haven’t built your brand with intention, it’s still shaping how people see you. Only negatively.

Fit in and disappear
If your offer looks like your competitors’, you vanish. Be specific. Be different. Be seen.

Don’t build your audience on rented land
Social media platforms regularly change their rules and algorithms. They can disconnect you from your community or massively restrict your reach at any time. And it’s put many people out of business. Build an email list. Own your business’ communication channel.

Turn up consistently
In uncertain times, consistency builds trust. Be the business that turns up, follows through, and keeps its word even when others go quiet.

Stop waiting. Start creating
The perfect time won’t come. Build the opportunity yourself.

People buy for their reasons
Not yours. Always start with what matters to them.

You don’t own your customers (or clients)
You borrow them. They’re free to leave. So, keep increasing your value.

Every touchpoint matters
Buyers check you out quietly, behind the scenes. Especially your online personality. Make sure every part of your presence earns their confidence.

Too many low-quality customers
Low quality customers or clients are the unavoidable result of low-quality marketing.

Everything you do is marketing
Yes, everything… look. The way you answer emails. Your prices. Your contracts. How you follow-up. People notice. And they talk.

Use curiosity in your marketing
Give people just enough information to spark a question. That’s how you generate enquiries. Not by trying to answer everything upfront.

Use fewer words
Most marketing copy I see is 70% too long. Cut to the chase before they lose interest.

Don’t lower your fees
Raise your value. People pay for outcomes, not discounts.

Clarity sells. Confusion repels
Make your message short, clear and easy to act on. Too many options? They won’t pick any.

Earn permission
When someone chooses to hear from you, they’re far more likely to listen.

How to increase your prices

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Image represents, How to increase your prices, arrow going up, comic style

Do you need to increase your prices or fees because of the current crisis? Not sure what to do? I’ve put these ideas together, to help you limit resistance to your price increase as much as possible.

Let’s go!

Honesty and openness

Customers are more understanding of a price rise when they hear specifics. For example, tell them your shipping costs have doubled and to maintain the same level of quality/service, you’re increasing prices by (whatever) percent.

Specifics cut to the point. The more real it feels, the fairer it sounds.

Give as much notice as possible

This is important on a number of levels.

  • Short notice price increases give the impression your business is in trouble. This dents customer confidence.
  • Even a couple of weeks’ notice can reduce customer resistance.

You may also find that the advance notice creates a short-term increase in sales. This can provide you with a very welcome improvement to your cash flow!

Reward your most loyal customers

This is the worst possible time to start losing your most valuable customers. Whenever possible, let your best customers keep their current price for a little longer. 

A message like this goes a very long way. 

‘We’re increasing our pricing, but as one of our most valued customers, we’re keeping your rate the same for the next 3-months’.

Being forced to increase your prices is never easy

There’s almost always a degree of pushback. That’s why it’s essential to focus on protecting your customer relationships. Once you know for sure that an increase is inevitable, take action.

It isn’t easy. But the longer you delay, the harder it gets.

On a personal note, I feel for everyone who’s struggling with the current crisis. I want you and your business to come out the other side of this better and stronger. Rest assured, I’m going to try and help you as much as possible.

Your economy

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marketing tip, economic opportunity, make it happen

The economy is general. It’s determined by outside factors.

Your economy is specific. It’s determined by you.

Your economy is what matters. That’s because it is always your actions that determine your economy… and your results.

We saw this everywhere a few years ago, during the pandemic lockdowns. There would be businesses in the same industry, in the same towns, serving the same marketplace; one would flourish and the other would fail.

Same restrictions.

Same opportunities.

But massively different outcomes.

Your economy and amazing opportunities

Yes, the 2025 economy is fast moving and increasingly hard to predict. However, every business owner who’s doing the right things for the current landscape will thrive. I know because I work with these business owners every day. We’re working on their economy. We’re focused on the things they can control.

It turns out that’s almost 100% of what actually matters, for the success of their businesses.

Also, remind yourself that every time we see economic uncertainty, the number of new opportunities multiply. So, look for the new needs and new wants of your marketplace. Their needs and wants are begging for you to step in. Bring them your new ideas, new products, new services, new product bundles, new payment options and new packages, etc.

In short, there are opportunities all around you. It’s the perfect time to start developing your economy.

From rags to riches?

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rags to riches, richard branson, self made, rags to riches story, 2025

This article gives you a behind the scenes look at those rags to riches stories we love. Plus, why they’re not always quite what they seem!

People love a good story. So much so, that facts are often changed in order to make the story more compelling.

Now, with some types of story, it’s unlikely to cause us any problems if the story we hear has been embellished. If that prince was a little less hunky in real life than in the story, it’s okay. Similarly, if the fish Bob caught wasn’t quite as big as he told us, that’s fine. But what if it’s a fact that Sir Richard Branson was actually born into a very, very rich and influential family?

Rags to riches… really?

Where we have a challenge, is when the stories we hear are intended to provide us with a business lesson, yet they have a key piece of information missing. Like the rags to riches stories, which contained no rags!

2 Types of business story

There are 2 types of story, which are commonly highlighted in business books, self improvement seminars and business blogs:

  1. The first kind of story is by far the most popular. It’s where we hear about the kid, who is born into poverty, yet goes from rags to riches. We love these stories, because many of us start off with nothing and aspire to make a success of our lives. As the son of penniless immigrants, I know I found these stories inspirational. They helped me believe anything was possible, even starting from zero.
  2. The second kind of story is also powerful and used as a warning. It’s the story of those wealthy business owners who self destruct.

However, there is a third type of story – a story which is seldom told, because it seems to lack the obvious impact of the other two.

Today, I’d like to salute a third group of people, whose stories don’t neatly fit into either of those 2 popular stereotypes. I’m talking about those who come from a super-wealthy or privileged background, but elect to use it as a springboard for something even greater.

Wealth to extreme wealth

Such is the demand for rags to riches stories that many riches to greater riches stories have been incorrectly retold, usually for the sake of emphasis.

I remember listening to the charismatic Easyjet founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou being introduced on a radio program as ‘a poor kid who did good‘. Stelios politely interrupted the interviewer, to remind her that he was in fact, the son of an extremely wealthy shipping magnate. Stelios’ father gave him £30MILLION to start up his shipping business.

However, our desire to believe that hard working people like Stelios, must have come up the hard way, means these stories often mutate into one of rags to riches.

Sir Richard Branson is no rags to riches story. FAR from it!

Like Stelios, Sir Richard Branson’s success story is often referred to incorrectly, as rags to riches. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sir Richard was actually born into a wealthy, extremely influential family. He is the grandson of The Right Honourable Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson and the son of a leading UK barrister. Sir Richard’s story is one of wealth to extreme wealth. His achievements have been impressive, but we gain nothing in learning from his achievements, if we change the facts to make the story sound better.

Back in 2020, Sir Richard Branson’s family home was valued at over $5Million. Even that was a low, pandemic valuation. His parents bought the home in 1963 from a viscountess!

Sir Richard Branson childhood home
Sir Richard Branson’s childhood home

As we all know, many people born into that kind of wealth, choose to sit on their butt or self-destruct. Others spend their lives travelling the world spending their trust fund and then their inheritance, which is their prerogative. Few have done as Branson did (starting at age 16) and put their unearned assets to work for them, to grow multiple successful businesses, in many different industries worldwide. That should be a good enough story, without story tellers inventing a rags to riches beginning to the storyline.

Seth Godin is no rags to riches story

Seth Godin’s business career started with a superb business education at the best place possible. Seth’s late father, the highly-respected businessman William Godin, was the multi-millionaire owner of the largest business in its niche, in the whole USA. This saw Seth educated at the world famous Stanford Business School (see Stanford Graduate School for Business). For those who don’t know, Stanford is regarded by many as the finest business school in the world. Seth’s fellow Stanford students went on to become CEO’s of; Microsoft, eBay, Paypal, Trader Joe’s, Gap, Nike, Wells Fargo, Ford and countless other multinational corporations – plus at least 1 President of The United States. It’s a great place to get a world class business education and build a priceless network of super-influential, super-wealthy contacts.

Seth started his blog with a bang, thanks to super-influential contacts. For example, he wrote his first blog post, sitting next to Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin – a fellow Stanford student. Seth’s story is regularly shared as one of rags to riches. The reality is very different, with Seth enjoying access to many of America’s most influential people and starting off with the support of his extremely wealthy family.

We learn nothing from incorrect information.

Podcasters, influencers, YouTubers, authors and trainers don’t need to pretend these inspirational people grew up in poverty, in order to make their journey an inspiration for us. The stories behind the success of people like Stelios, Sir Richard and Seth Godin, contain lessons we can learn from. My point, is that these stories do not need to be repackaged. They stand up as they are. There’s no need to pretend these inspirational people grew up in poverty, in order to make their journey an inspiration for us.

On a more serious note, by repackaging those stories, so they sound like rags to riches, the stories can become toxic. New entrepreneurs often find themselves stuck, wondering why they are not seeing the kind of results that their inspirational, rags to riches role models did; unaware that their role model may have started off with a world-class business education, the most influential contacts imaginable, the support of wealthy family and friends – or all of those assets. For instance, it’s easier to sell a company for millions, when you have contacts who have budgets worth millions, which they need to invest.

In short: Be careful measuring your progress against anyone, but especially people you do not know. Rags to riches stories are often not what they seem.

Tiny tweaks. Huge wins

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small business, marketing tips, business development,

One of the quickest ways to improve your results, is to spot and fix the tiny things that can make a big difference to your business.

Here are some ideas to quickly get you started.

Sham spam

In 2024, I almost lost two, high-quality enquiries from people who became new clients. It was down to what I call sham spam.

Here’s what it is and how to avoid it.

Yes, I know you check your spam email folder. I’m specifically referring to the anti-spam folder on your website, designed to filter spammy messages from reaching you. Genuine business contact form enquiries are sometimes wrongly filtered as spam and you never see them. I learned this one the hard way! It doesn’t happen often, but often enough to justify checking occasionally.

Why not check your spam folder after you’ve finished reading this? It takes very little time.

Customer connections

Regularly make time to connect with at least one of your clients. This incudes former clients. Not to sell them something. Simply to ask how they’re doing and catch up with them. Business relationships become stronger, when they’re based on more than just selling.

Ongoing communication with your clients also helps you to better understand their challenges, their needs and their wants. This understanding makes it easier and less risky, for you to successfully create new services or products.

Pathway planning

If you don’t know where you’re going, every path will take you there. That’s unproductive. It scatters your focus. It leads to dead ends. It’s also why I recommend you plan your days, your weeks and your months in advance.

After all, how can you know if things are going according to plan, if you don’t have a plan?

Flakey forms

This idea takes no time and might stop you from losing important sales enquiries. Go to your website and make sure your contact forms and subscriber forms are working. Often, a form will look perfect when it’s not functioning correctly. So, test your forms by filling-in the required information and make sure everything is okay. It only takes a few minutes, but it could help you avoid missing-out on valuable leads or new subscribers. This is especially the case, whenever you update the software on your website or have any work done on it. 

I hope you found these ideas useful. If you did, remember to share them with your friends.

Working in. Working on

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work your plan, an image of an arrow pointing right, white on a blue background

I shared an idea recently with some entrepreneurs, which I think you may find useful. It’s a powerful, yet very simple difference in how the most successful business owners run their day.

I’ve also included a tip, which you can use to accelerate the growth of your business.

Let’s go!

It starts with an observation

When I speak with business owners who are frustrated with their progress, I find they spend a lot of time reacting. Specifically, reacting to the demands of their customers and colleagues. As such, they spend too little time developing their own business.

This scenario is most commonly expressed in that often-repeated business advice; You need to spend more time working on your business and less time working in your business.

Of course, every business owner needs to respond to the needs of their business. What I’ve discovered is that the most successful business owners respond differently from their average counterparts.

It looks like this.

The most successful business owners remain focussed on their plans. This means they do what’s required for their clients, colleagues etc., BUT they then refocus like a laser on their own plans. They plan their work, and work their plan. As a result, each day brings progress. Some days more than others. The key thing is they move their business forward every single day.

The average business owner also has a plan. However, they find their plans are often derailed by the demands of others. This means that although they start their day correctly, their plans go out the window. They work hard, but make little if any progress on their plans. Before they know it, a day of too little progress becomes a week of too little progress, a week becomes a month… repeat.

What’s the answer, Jim?

The short answer is that we need to plan our work and work our plan. It’s the second part that’s tricky. As I mentioned a moment ago, most business owners have a plan of some description.

The challenge is sticking with the plan, when the day-to-day needs of their business come along.

A valuable reminder

Here’s what worked for me, to ensure my focus always returned to my plan for the day. I set a reminder on my phone, which went off every 3-hours during the work day. When the alarm went off, a message would appear saying work your plan.

Did you notice how the previous paragraph is in the past tense?

That’s because after a couple of weeks, I didn’t need the alarm. I learned to automatically refocus on my plan for the day, as soon as I’d completed an off-plan activity. It’s hard to overstate what a huge, measurable improvement this can make for you and your business.

Give it a try.

How to own your competitors. It’s easier than you think

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A cute dog holding a sign that says "marketing tips"

When you own a high-profit chunk of your marketplace, everything improves. You’ll have no meaningful competitors. Growing your business will become easy. You’ll attract the ideal type of client or customer every time. And you will never again have to compete based on price.

I’m going to show you how to make this happen. I’m nice like that.

Let’s imagine someone is the owner of a small marketing agency. Ironically, that’s one of the most common industries with this problem. Now let’s assume they know that there are lots of ideal prospective clients in need of a new agency. But their agency isn’t getting a big enough share of these wonderful, prospective clients.

By the way, let’s assume this agency also has a well-designed website, nice branding, some kick ass testimonials and experienced team members. As well as all the services you’d expect.

Given there are lots of outstanding prospects out there in need, why doesn’t this well-equipped provider get a really big slice of their market?

Yes, there are lots of wonderful prospective clients out there with a very real need. But unless those prospects want to hire YOU to fulfil their need, they’ll go elsewhere. And because the vast majority of businesses in every niche look similar, they each end up with a small slice.

You see, prospective clients expect a well designed website, nice branding, kick ass testimonials and experienced team members. They expect to see a familiar list of services. As such, nothing there creates ‘want’. Nothing. Even the most beautifully crafted branding is no match for a predictably dull range of services/products and promises.

The answer?

The providers who win the best clients or customers, refuse to be just another superb, well branded example of a professional provider in their industry.

Instead, the winners get intentional. They choose an edge, based on the exact profile of client they want. Then they absolutely OWN it. Their edge gives them their unique voice and allows them to develop a very specific strategy, with which to attract and utterly delight their ideal profile of client.

This gets them noticed by prospective clients who want a provider with that edge. Prospects are powerfully drawn by the connection they sense, when they encounter a 100% relevant provider. It cuts through the noise and almost instantly commands their attention. 

So choose your edge. Then make it the cornerstone of all your marketing.

It’s how the prospect’s want is hatched.

It’s how you capture their eager attention.

And it’s what motivates ideal prospects to get in touch, who really, really want to hire you. Allowing you to own a huge, highly-profitable slice of your marketplace.

Four questions that helped a subscriber boost sales by 68%

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building business contacts, better contacts

When I ask a business owner who their ideal customer or client is, they almost always reply with demographics; average age, location, income level, etc. 

Whilst demographics are certainly useful, they’re just a piece of the picture.

Demographics will tell you who to target with your marketing.

However, to get that demographic to buy from you, you need to know what matters to them. That’s their motivation. That’s what drives their decisions. That’s what drives their actions. That’s what determines whether they buy from you… or don’t.

Demographics alone can be problematic. There are wealthy people who spend the lowest possible price for a reliable product. They’d happily buy a £5 pen, but wouldn’t dream of buying a £500 pen. There are also those on low incomes who would take a loan out, just to own that £500 pen. Income level is only part of the picture.

I was inspired to share this with you, after learning that one of my newsletter readers increased her revenues by close to 70% last year, partly by focusing on 4 of the questions I shared in one of my newsletters. By honing in on the right things, she was able to improve her marketing, so that it spoke directly to what matters to her marketplace.

These are the 4 prospective customer questions that worked for her.

  • What improvement are prospects looking for, from my services or products?
  • What do they primarily place their security in?
  • Which do they value the most, quality they can rely on or low-prices.
  • What do they give most of their attention to commercially?

By talking with current and former customers, we can get a good idea of what matters most to our typical buyer. Often we don’t even need to ask! For example, if our customers tend to wear designer names, quality and style are more important to them than the lowest-priced/reliable alternatives. 

Through observation and conversation, we can get a clear picture of what our prospects are attracted to. That’s an essential part of attraction marketing; marketing that attracts sales and enquiries from our ideal customer. 

I hope you found that useful.

Ignore the uninterested

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an animated image of someone looking uninterested.

This is a foundational truth of marketing: You can make a fortune if you market to the right kind of people. However, you will waste time and money, if you market to the wrong kind of people.

So, who should you be marketing to? And why?

Ignore the uninterested

No matter how great your service is, people who are delighted with their current provider are highly unlikely to switch to you. That’s because they’re not looking for a new provider. They’re simply not interested in dumping a service, which they trust and are extremely happy with.

We call the people who are not in the market for your services, the uninterested. Whilst it is possible to sell to those with no interest, it’s an extremely low leverage activity.

It’s also totally unnecessary.

Focus on the unhappy

It makes a great deal more sense to focus on those who are eagerly looking for a new provider. We call these people the unhappy. They are actively in the market for what you’re offering. They’re ready to make a purchasing decision. They are the exact type of motivated buyers your business needs. I wrote this post about how to get your prospects’ urgent attention and immediate action, which you might find helpful.

Certainly, build an awareness of how great your service is. Make it easy for people to find you, when their relationship with their current provider sours. That goes without saying.

However, if you want to instantly connect with people who will give you their full attention AND who are ready to hire you or buy from you now, create a marketing strategy that focuses on attracting the unhappy.

You’ll be very glad you did.

Does your business pass the coffee shop test?

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marketing tip, coffee shop marketing, feelings over logic

Almost all small business marketing relies too much on logic. If your business is one of them, that logic is already hurting your sales results. Let’s fix that right now!

Here’s an example of how to get it right, which you already know extremely well. I’m talking about coffee shops. Consider the following.

  • People don’t visit coffee shops for the coffee.
  • They already have their favourite coffee at home.
  • They pay between 300% and 750% more for coffee at the coffee shop, because of how the experience makes them feel.

Logically, they’d save a ton of money by drinking their coffee at home, sitting in their own super-comfortable chair.

But people, including your prospective clients or customers, don’t make purchasing decisions based on logic. We largely make them based on feelings. I explain how emotions drive decisions, here.

If your marketing message is based around facts, numbers, graphs, percentages… that’s way too logical. And it’s losing you sales. Your service or product may be less expensive, more premium, faster, or better designed. All those things are valid reasons why you should gain a huge chunk of your marketplace.

However, unless you’re also, clearly explaining how your service or product will make them feel you’re leaving money on the table!

Think of it like this: logic tells. Feeling sells.

In his book “How Customers Think“, Harvard Business School professor, Gerald Zaltman, confirms that emotions/feelings contribute far more to decision making than conscious, rational thought.

The switch from logic-based marketing to feelings-based marketing can be a massive win for you and your business. Here’s a suggestion: give it a try. Then, measure your results and see for yourself.

Photo by Jon Tyson

It’s back to normal for you and your business

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business as normal, get back to normal

I’ve heard numerous business owners ask the same question recently. They want to know when things will go back to normal.

They’re asking the wrong question. Things can’t go back to normal.

  1. Time only moves forward. There’s no going back.
  2. Even if we invented a time machine, normal means something different to every person who asks the question.

But that’s okay. You can get things back to normal for you and your business. You won’t need a time machine. You only need to know what normal means for you and your business.

Back to normal

So, what does your version of normal look like? You’ll typically find it was the way things felt for you at a certain point in the past. Usually this is a sense of stability or security. Plus, a feeling that things were more predictable and consistent, less volatile.

Whatever normal means to you, write it down.

things return to normal, marketing, biz dev

Once you have your very own, unique picture of what normal means for you and your business, you can start to build it. Your picture becomes the equivalent of an architect’s drawing. You use your picture to guide you, as you put the pieces into place, so your sense of stability, security and predictability are back to normal.

How?

While your competitors are waiting for the impossible, you get to work. You start by thinking what structures you will need to have around you, to create your feeling of normality. Here are some suggestions to get you started.

Stability and security: These are radically improved when you have the required finances in place. So, decide what’s your figure… how much would it take for you to have the same feeling of stability and security, as you had when things were normal? For extra security, add a zero! Next, get the best advice you can regarding building your wealth. Then, make a plan. How many additional sales do you need to make, or how many new clients do you need. Even better (because it’s faster and easier), what new products or services could you develop for your existing customers or clients.

Predictability: Even when things were normal for you, you couldn’t predict everything. No one can. However, you can predict your future even better than before, by making it happen. This means planning for it and following your plan. So, what would you love to happen over the next 30-days, 6-months, or the next year, 5-years or decade? Write it down. Make a plan.

This isn’t difficult. Seriously. You’re smarter, better looking and your jokes are funnier than people who’ve already done this.

There’s a fast and extremely valuable additional benefit from working on getting things back to normal. Very shortly after you begin making your plans, you’ll start to feel less stressed and more positive. You’ll have a greater feeling of control, because you’ll actually be in control. That feeling of positivity and being in control is invaluable. It provides you with increased optimism, greater enthusiasm and more energy.

Exactly what you need in order to succeed. (Hey, that rhymes)

Main image by Visual Tag Mx

Marketing 101: Vigorous, written marketing

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vigorous written marketing, marketing copywriting, content marketing

Most of the marketing copy I see is at least 75% too long. Overlong copy lacks impact. It also lacks clarity and fails to motivate prospective customers or clients.

I want to help you avoid this expensive mistake, which is why I wrote this for you.

Vigorous, written marketing

And it starts with one of the best-known quotes on the subject.

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that he make every word tell“.

Professor William Strunk Jr. – The Elements of Style.

The vigorous writing referred to here, is writing that is strong and full of energy. That’s the kind of writing that moves people to take action; to contact you, buy from you or hire you. It’s the kind of writing that gets the results you need.

How can you and your business benefit from the power of vigorous, written marketing?

The answer comes from understanding why the problem exists.

Google usually gets the blame

That’s because Google’s search algorithm rewards overlong, written content. It prefers 2500 words to 250. So, for over 20 years, online marketing writers have been rewarded for high word counts. That’s certainly not what’s needed for vigorous, written marketing.

But Google isn’t responsible for the wider problem.

Email marketing and off-line media is just as ruined by overlong content. Neither of those formats have ever required the writer to dance the Google dance.

The problem exists because most written marketing is created by people who lack sufficient training. It’s either written by business owners who ‘dabble’ or by below-par copywriters.

The solution?

The business owner wishing to switch to vigorous, written marketing has two options.

  1. Learn how to do it effectively.
  2. Pay someone who already knows.

How to decide?

  • The cost (in time) of learning is considerable. It takes years of practice. However, you’ll start seeing improvements relatively quickly.
  • The cost of hiring an expert is lower. And it’s a lot faster.

The price you pay for starving your business of vigorous, written marketing is far higher than either of those options. So pick one of them and run with it.

Photo by Cherrydeck on Unsplash

The horrible truth about marketing

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There’s a balance required if you want to rise above the competition. Yes, you should strive to be the best provider you can be. But that’s only one side of the scales. You also need to be the best marketed.

Think about it. There’s a world of difference between being the best… and the best selling.

  • The best selling album is never the best recorded album. It’s the best marketed album.
  • The best selling movie at the box office is never the best produced movie. It’s the best marketed movie.
  • And the best selling sportswear brand is never the best quality sportswear brand. It’s the best marketed sportswear brand.

You already know your best selling competitor is not the best quality competitor. It’s just their marketing that’s better. Note: this doesn’t mean their marketing is outstanding. It only means that they do more of the right things than their competitors. So, they get noticed more than you and/or they’re better at converting that attention into paying clients or customers.

Give your business the advantage

If you’re sick of watching competitors doing better than you, you need to decide to outperform their marketing, the way you already outperform their service. Because an average service that has great marketing, will always beat a great service that has average marketing.

The great news: If you decide to fight back, you’ll have better marketing and a better service. That’s an unbeatable combination. I’m telling you, your competitors won’t know what’s hit them.

I have no clients. Seriously. Not even one!

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It’a true. I don’t have any clients.

I also don’t have any customers, newsletter subscribers or readers. Oh, and I don’t have anyone connected to me on social media either.

I don’t have them. They’re not mine. Instead, I borrow them.

Brace yourself…

The same is true for YOU

Once we’ve earned the attention and trust of a new client, a new customer, a new subscriber or a new social media contact, it’s just the beginning. We must then work to keep on re-earning over and over again. The moment we begin to think otherwise, we risk becoming complacent. 

Then we find out the hard way: complacency causes casualties.

For decades, sales trainers talked about the importance of closing the sale. Some still focus on it today, though only in high-pressure sales environments. Closing the sale was all about using psychological tricks to motivate someone to make a purchase.

Once this was achieved, the deal was closed.

Today, we know better.

Today, we know better. The most successful business owners don’t focus on closing the sale. Instead, they focus on opening the relationship. This is the mindset that says when a sale has been made, a new client acquired or a new subscriber gained, it’s only the start. It’s the mindset that compels us to continuously seek better ways to delight them. It’s the mindset that inspires us to raise the bar on what we deliver. 

Let your competitors become complacent. Let your competitors assume that the people doing business with them, are their clients or customers.

But not you, my friend.

Instead, remain focused on opening relationships, being useful and constantly delivering better value.

Finish strong

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Finish strong. That’s solid advice for most things. But when writing persuasive marketing copy, the advice becomes explosive.

Most written marketing makes a powerful point, or a number of powerful points, but then fizzles out. The prospect is inspired to read past the powerful points. But when they reach the, fizzling-out copy, the impact on them is weakened. They go from hot to cold.

The key is to finish strong.

As Poynter’s  Roy Peter Clark said: “Shakespeare did not write ‘The Queen is dead, my lord’. He wrote ‘The Queen, my lord, is dead'”.

marketing, finish strong

By placing the emphatic word at the end of the sentence, the power of the overall message is greatly increased. It ends with a bang. That’s exactly the impact your marketing needs, in order to motivate your prospect, and compel them to take the next step; buy from you, call you, visit your store, make an enquiry, subscribe, etc.

Not just sentences

Finishing strong applies not only to your sentences. It equally applies to finishing the overall written marketing piece strong. This means making the last sentence in each paragraph as emphatic as possible, and the last paragraph itself, as emphatic as possible.

Think of it like this: You’re aiming for your words to build a crescendo of motivation, which inspires your prospect to take the next step.

What next?

Take a look at your written marketing and see if it finishes strong. Check the sentences, the paragraphs and the overall piece. If it doesn’t create a growing wave of desire, fix it. Otherwise you’ll continue to miss out on new sales or new clients. And none of us can afford that.

Read this and improve your advertising results, fast

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A lot of small business owners spend a ton of money on advertising. Often with pretty poor results. So, I put this post together, to help you avoid the most common advertising mistakes.

Here they are in no particular order.

  • You’re using brand advertising (ads that contain no obvious call to action), when you should be using direct response advertising (ads that contain a direct call to action). Almost all small businesses should use direct response.
  • You’re advertising on a platform your prospects don’t use / don’t pay attention to.
  • Your advertising is online, when it should be in print media. Or the other way around.
  • You’re buying advertising on platforms that people don’t trust, rather than advertising on highly trusted websites, podcasts, etc.
  • You’re advertising at the wrong time in your prospective client’s (or customer’s) buying cycle.
  • You’re advertising to get maximum click-throughs, rather than targeted click-throughs from actual prospects.
  • Your advertisements are not written by a proven copywriter.
  • Your advertisements are bought based on what they cost, rather than their potential effectiveness.
  • Your advertisements are in places where lots of your competitors are advertising.

There are lots more common reasons why advertising doesn’t work.

For example, your advertising message is irrelevant to your target prospect, or it’s lacking in targeted motivation, or it points to a poorly converting landing page, or it points to a landing page that loads too slowly, or the special whatever you’re offering isn’t as special as you think, or it explains too much, or it sounds too similar to an advertisement they’ve already clicked on, or it sounds too good to be true, or your target prospects are privacy conscious and your landing page requires cookies, or you are not bidding for your advertisements correctly, or your advertisement is reaching just a fraction of the number of people you think it is… seriously, I could go on and on, but you get the drift.

In most cases, small and medium-sized business advertising makes lots of these mistakes simultaneously. These simultaneous mistakes are more damaging than the individual damage each one causes.

That’s because they compound together. Think of compound interest, but working in reverse!

Do you even need paid advertisements?

For many small and medium-sized businesses, their biggest advertising mistake is that they’re buying them in the first place! I don’t buy advertisements. My clients have no need to buy them either. It’s an increasingly expensive, complex game. And you don’t need to play. It’s just one form of marketing. Nothing more.

I hope you found this useful, my friend.

Photo by Stas Knop on Pexels.com

Marketing 101: Get your prospects to buy now

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What keeps your prospective clients or customers awake at night?

There are 2 broad answers to that question.

  1. The things they’re worried about. Their fears, apprehensions, worries or concerns.
  2. The things they’re excited about. Their goals, dreams and the opportunities ahead of them.

Here’s why those answers are critically important to your business.

Urgent attention and immediate action

Anything that keeps your prospects awake at night, is an extremely high priority to them.

Why?

Firstly, it’s where their urgent attention is. Secondly, they’re looking to take action immediately. 

In order to help them, and for you to benefit from helping them, your task is extremely simple. Just 2 things are required from you.

  1. You need to determine exactly what they’re worried about or excited about. How? By talking to your marketplace, by listening to them on social networks. It’s easy.
  2. You need to clearly demonstrate how your services or products will help them in that key area. How? By providing a powerful message that talks directly to them and their pain or joy.

The vast majority of small business marketing doesn’t do this. This means the door is wide open for you. What an opportunity to thrive. I couldn’t be more excited for you.

Note: This approach works in every economy… BUT it works 10X better when times are uncertain.

This is one of the easiest and fastest ways to dramatically increase your sales or client acquisition numbers. It starts to work for you, the moment your prospects see your new, optimal marketing message.

Discover their need.

Talk to their need.

Provide for their need.

Everybody wins.

The persuasion gap

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Today, I’d like to show you a great way to make far more prospects hire you or buy from you.

Here’s what we know.

  • Testimonials from former customers or clients have limited persuasive effect on a prospect. Everyone uses them. And they’re always positive.
  • Samples of previous work we’ve done have limited persuasive effect on a prospect. Everyone uses them. And they’re always best-case examples.
  • Even being recommended to the prospect by someone they trust has limited persuasive effect. Everyone’s been let down by something recommended by a friend.

What’s left is what I call the persuasion gap: It’s the gap between how persuaded the prospect is, and how persuaded the prospect needs to be, before they will hire you or buy from you. 

So, how do you fill the persuasion gap?

We start by understanding a basic fact. When someone buys a product or service, they’re buying the future.

The future?

Yep!

It’s all about the future.

Think about it from the prospect’s perspective. Our product or service hasn’t been successfully delivered yet. It hasn’t worked as expected yet. It hasn’t provided the prospect with outstanding value yet. This is all future stuff. That’s what causes the persuasion gap. They simply don’t know if they’ll be delighted with buying from us in 12-weeks, 12-months or 12-years time.

To fill the persuasion gap, we need to convince them ahead of time. We need to convince them now, so they have a complete picture in their mind of a wonderful, future outcome. And to convince them, we need to confidently explain why we believe in the value of our product or service.

The more confidently we explain it, the better.

Why?

By confidently sharing the story of our product or service with prospects, and building their confidence in us, we help them fill their persuasion gap. That’s when they happily buy from us or hire us.

Photo by Cytonn Photography

Why email marketing doesn’t work in 2025

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A reader shared an interesting observation with me. She told me she had “found out the hard way that email marketing doesn’t work in 2025″.

She asked me for my thoughts on why email is so ineffective. I said I’d share them here, as I’m sure some of you will find it useful.

Email marketing works

Email marketing works. In fact, email marketing works extremely well. Better than ever.

Just ask any business owner who’s using it correctly. Whether it’s used for newsletters or promotions, the return on investment is off the charts.

Email marketing also works more predictably than just about any other form of marketing. And the tiny financial investment required for email marketing makes it the most cost effective form of marketing out there.

Email marketing doesn’t work when…

What doesn’t work is ineffective email marketing. Just ask anyone who’s doing it incorrectly.

Here’s the thing: ineffective email marketing can’t work.

why doesn't email marketing work, email marketing doesn't work, newsletter, email campaign

Here are just a few, very common examples of how small business owners get email marketing wrong.

  • A poorly written email won’t work. It will fail to motivate the reader to take action; to call you, email you, visit your website, make a purchase from you, whatever.
  • A professionally written email, sent to the wrong people, won’t work. It will fail to reach those with a want or need for your services.
  • A well written email, sent to the right people, with a dull subject line, won’t work. That’s because no one will open it. The subject line has to be compelling or no matter what your message is, it will literally be ignored.
  • A well written email, sent to the right people, with a compelling subject line, offering a generic product or service, won’t work. No one wants to switch to a service that’s no better then their current service.
  • A well written email, sent to the right people, with a compelling subject line, but sent on the wrong day of the week, won’t work. At least, it won’t be anything like as effective as it would be, if you research the best time of day and best day of the week, to send it.
  • Oh, and if you send your emails frequently, or not frequently enough… that’s right, your email marketing won’t work.

You get the idea.

In short, before you reject any form of marketing as ineffective, make sure you’re using it correctly.

So, instead of telling yourself that email marketing doesn’t work, ask yourself why YOUR email marketing doesn’t work. Otherwise, you’ll needlessly miss out on one of the most powerful forms of marketing on the planet!

Image: Shutterstock.