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Frequency

January 15, 2020 by Jim Connolly

Here’s a quick idea, to help you attract the attention of prospective clients AND motivate them to hire you and recommend you. It’s all about one word. Frequency.

Allow me to explain.

I was prompted to write this after 2 emails I received.

The first was from a long time reader (Sophie). Sophie got in touch to find out why I hadn’t published quite as many posts recently.
The second email was from a former reader. He emailed to say he’d unsubscribed from the blog, because I publish too often.

Here’s what this has to do with growing your business.

Frequency

Clearly, I’ll never be able to keep everyone happy with the frequency of my posts. For some it will be too little and for others, it will be too much. If I keep Sophie happy, I lose Rick. If I keep Rick happy, I lose Sophie.

So, here’s what I do.

Rather than try and get the frequency right for everyone, I use a different kind of frequency. A frequency that works. Every. Single. Time!

More importantly, it’s the kind of frequency, which YOU can use to attract more clients or customers and build your business.

The other type of frequency

There’s another kind of frequency. The kind radios use. If you tune your radio into the same frequency as a radio station, you receive their signal. You’re (literally) on the same wavelength as them.

When you’re on the same wavelength as your marketplace, you’re in harmony with them. And they’re in harmony with you. Sophie and I are on the same wavelength. If you’re a long time reader, you and I are on the same wavelength, too.

In short: I write for you and Sophie.

Now, that won’t be the right frequency for everyone. But I don’t write for everyone. And there’s a very good reason why. It turns out you can’t keep everyone happy. And the harder you try, the weaker your signal becomes. Before you know it, no one’s on your wavelength.

Though I used the example of blogging for this post, the exact same strategy works for every kind of marketing.

Supercharge your marketing

If your marketing isn’t resonating with your marketplace, it’s entirely possible your signal is too weak. This happens when you try to be relevant to as many people as possible.

By being vaguely relevant to as many people as possible, you become directly relevant to no one. And it’s only directly relevant marketing messages that motivate people to take action.

So pick a frequency. Shun the masses. Embrace the community you wish to serve. Focus on them, their needs and their wants. Be generous. And be generous as often as you can.

Pretty soon, you will have a community of people on your wavelength.

People who will value what you do.
People who will miss you when you’re not there.
People who will hire you.
People who will recommend you.
People who will talk about you.

Just imagine how valuable that would be for your business in 2020.

How to protect your business from damaging advice

January 8, 2020 by Jim Connolly

Photo: Shutterstock.

In life there are certain people who you absolutely need to avoid. The same is true in business.

Some are easy to spot

The web designer whose website is a piece of crap.
The marketing expert, who embarrassingly needs to attend networking groups because their own marketing doesn’t work.
The business guru who claims to be in high demand, yet offers free consultations.
The copywriter whose content is poorly-written and lacks impact.
The leadership expert who’s just like all the other leadership experts. (Think about that for a moment).

Others are trickier to spot

The social media guru, who used tricks to attract half a million followers.
The accountant who understands numbers, but can’t clearly explain what they mean to their client’s business.
The strategist whose own strategy is failing.
The business development coach who has never built a successful business of their own.

Protect your business from bad advice

The personal recommendation of a trusted friend is usually the least risky way to find an expert provider. Just make sure the friend has recent, first-hand experience of the quality of the provider’s work.

Another option is to find someone, whose work you’re already familiar with. For example, if you subscribe to a provider’s Podcast, YouTube channel, blog or newsletter and they regularly share useful information, they’re giving you some powerful clues.

The fact they have turned up consistently, demonstrates a degree of reliability. This is especially the case if they have many years worth of material available.
You get to experience first hand, how knowledgeable they are from the quality of information they provide.
In addition, you’ll know in advance if they share information with the clarity you need.
You also gain an insight into their personality, which can help you determine if they’re the kind of person you work best with.

With an attractive looking website and some testimonials, anyone can claim to be an expert at anything. And that’s why we, as business owners, need to look deeper. Because the cost of hiring a bad business provider is far, far higher than their fee.

Content Marketing: Use short sentences. Here’s why!

January 2, 2020 by Jim Connolly

Photo: Shutterstock.

Here’s a quick copywriting tip, to help you improve your content marketing results.

Your prospective clients prefer to read short sentences. This is especially true when explaining detailed information. For example, how your service works.

I’m not suggesting you use fewer words than required. Far from it! Use as many words per sentence as you need. Don’t remove a single, necessary word. Just don’t use more words than you need.

Why is that Jim? Because from a marketing perspective, long sentences lack impact and clarity. Those are essential components of effective marketing.

Tip: One way to shorten content, without losing anything important, is to remove extraneous words. Look at the 2 examples below.

People should exercise on a daily basis.
People should exercise daily.
We have no news at this point in time.
We have no news currently.

A whole story in just 6 words!

It’s amazing what can be achieved using fewer words. Ernest Hemingway once wrote a story in just 6 words. It’s a powerful story, too.

“For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn”.

Inspired by Hemingway’s brevity, look for opportunities to keep your sentences as short as required. Aim for clarity. Remove the fluff. And keep sentences confined to one thought.

It’s not as simple as it sounds. But your prospective clients (and your business), will appreciate the additional effort.

7 Things that will grab the attention of your marketplace (and how to use them)

December 10, 2019 by Jim Connolly

Photo: Shutterstock.

I’ve talked a lot lately, about the importance of being useful with your marketing. A number of you have asked me, if I can give you some specific topics you can use, which your prospective clients (or customers) will be attracted to.

And that’s exactly what I’ve done for you today.

So, for Ashley, Hasan, Thomas, Noah, JJ, Padraig, Ben, Melissa, Calvin and Georgia (and you, dear reader), here are some almost-universally useful topics. Each one represents something, which your clients and future clients are attracted to or extremely attracted to.

Start off by thinking about the services you provide or your product range. Then, consider the following topics and how you can incorporate them into your content marketing or general marketing messages. Each topic ends with a question, to help you focus on how it applies to your business.

People have an inbuilt need to feel connected: What are you doing, to connect them with useful contacts? The Wall Street Journal wrote about how I achieved this, for one of my clients – 4 Marketing Strategies That Paid Off For Small Companies
Everyone is trying to succeed at something: What are you doing, to help people achieve their targets, goals or dreams?
We all need security: What are you doing, to help people reduce risk or feel secure and safe?
We also share a common need for a sense of belonging: What are you doing, to create a community?
Everyone wants to avoid wasting time: What are you doing, to help people maximize their time, or help them complete certain tasks, faster?
People want to improve and expand their knowledge: What are you doing, to share useful information with them. This is the cornerstone of successful content marketing.
Everyone wants to avoid unnecessary stress: What are you doing, to help people feel more relaxed and assured?

Are any of those topics missing from your marketing messages or content marketing? If they are, look for ways to incorporate them. Whatever industry you’re in, you should be able to benefit from all 7 topics. And if your business doesn’t do anything to address one or more of these needs, look for a way to add it to your services.

3 Ideas to help you create content, which your marketplace will love

December 7, 2019 by Jim Connolly

Photo: Shutterstock.

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.

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 in 2020; 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 add credibility to your marketing and why it’s now essential

October 21, 2019 by Jim Connolly

Photo: Shutterstock.

Have you ever looked at the marketing promises made by your competitors?

Your most unreliable competitors will promise to deliver on time, every time.
Your lowest quality competitors will promise premium quality at low prices.
Your least competent competitors will promise a highly professional service.
And they’ll all have testimonials. Testimonials that are often the opposite of what a real client or customer will experience from them.

It makes sense.

It’s horrible, but it makes sense.

After all, they’re hardly likely to admit that working with them or buying from them is a total nightmare. You see, the mindset that says it’s okay to produce low quality work and charge over the odds for it, has no problem being dishonest in other areas of their business.

What does this have to do with you?

Your prospective clients or customers have been lied to before. So, the claims you legitimately make in your marketing will only be treated seriously, if you back them up.

Here are a couple of ideas, to help the truth of your marketing stand out.

Adding credibility to your marketing

One way to add credibility, is to link from your website to external (preferably independent) sources. For example, link from your website to external reviews or positive press / media coverage on news sites. (Here’s how I do it). Similarly, if you’ve been accredited by a respected organisation, link to the page on their website, where you’re mentioned.

Another way to add credibility, is to show up regularly with useful information, via a blog, vlog, podcast or on social networks. By providing genuinely useful, informed advice, you demonstrate your knowledge. You also have an opportunity to show your personality. By demonstrating your knowledge and allowing your marketplace to get to know you, you create a potent marketing mix, which helps build trust.

In short, be aware that today’s marketplace is highly sceptical of unsubstantiated marketing promises. And use as many credibility assets as possible.