Jim Connolly Marketing

What leaves your kitchen?

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One of the characteristics of the very best Permission Marketing, is that the message is so valuable to you that you would miss it, if it stopped.

I encountered a superb example of this yesterday, when I noticed myself checking a couple of my favourite a number of times, to see if a new post had been published yet.  For the 3rd day running there were no updates and that mattered to me.  I missed it.  My day was less, because their contribution was missing.

THAT is the way you want people to feel about your blog posts, newsletters and social media updates.  Not as an intrusion, but as a welcomed experience.  BTW: It was an RSS issue and I grabbed all the missing posts, later.

What leaves your kitchen is what matters

A great chef knows that nothing should leave their kitchen, unless it is worthy of them.  In marketing, we need to apply a similar screening process before we press the send or publish button.  We need to think if what we are about to share is likely to add value to those who receive it or not.

If we get that balance right, when we offer our audience a business proposition, they will listen.  We will have earned their valuable attention.

This contribution focused approach is a world away from pestering people with sales pitches.  It’s all about engaging with your marketplace by being seen as a source of value.  Pestering people with sales messages, on the other hand, simply trains them to ignore you!

Bloggers: How to write something interesting every day!

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blogging

If you would like to learn the secret behind those amazing bloggers, who somehow manage to publish interesting content every day, here it is!

Drum roll please…

They have simply figured out that writing is a lot like talking and that talking is easy.  Everyone says something every day that is interesting, to people in their niche.  Prolific bloggers simply write those thoughts down and publish them.

So, unless people tend to fall asleep when you speak with them about your subject, you already have all the content you need.

Some wonderful ideas never become blog posts

A common example of this can be seen when you look at the great comments on social networks, blogs and forums, from people who seldom update their own blogs.  I get comments here often, where the commenter shares an idea or insight, which is as good (sometimes better) than my original post.  I then check their blog out and find it’s had nothing added to it in weeks or months.  They clearly don’t lack ideas for content, they simply choose not to share them as blog posts.

If people listen with interest when you speak, they will read with interest when you write; especially if you just be yourself.

But first, you need to get your ideas out there and in my experience, blogging is the finest possible way to do that.

So, what’s holding you back?

Your blog and doing it your way!

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When it comes to developing this blog, I don’t do a lot.

  • I don’t do guest blogging.  I’ve written just 1 guest blog post; when approached by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, to help with American Small Business Week.
  • I don’t write a newsletter.  A growing list of thousands of people, already read this blog via email each day.
  • I don’t attend blog conferences.
  • I don’t use auto-responders.
  • I don’t use SEO software.
  • I don’t use landing page software, either.
  • I don’t use special commenting software.  I object to you having to give your details to some Internet start-up, in order for you to leave a comment here.

However, I do a few things too.

  • I show up here regularly and write.
  • I make my own rules.
  • I reply to every comment, where someone directs their comment to me or mentions me.
  • I write useful posts, rather than great posts.  I’d rather be useful, than a smartass!
  • I write independently.
  • I continuously strive to be of as much service to you as possible.

I am not saying that this is the way to develop a successful blog, because IT ISN’T!  It’s just an insight into my approach.

That’s my point!

Be cautious of anyone telling you that their way is the way or that you need to buy their stuff in order to succeed.  Both are factually incorrect.

Here’s a great place to start: Produce useful content and put it where people will see it.

Doing work that matters

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Pro development topics r

Last week, I wrote one of the most popular posts ever on this blog.  It was about the difference between doing normal work, and doing work that matters.  I recommend you read it, before continuing with this post.

One of the many emails I received following that post, was from Giles Payne in Canada.  Giles asks an excellent question, which echoed what the majority of you asked me.  Here’s the question along with my answer:

I know it’s impossible to tell each reader what we, individually, should do in order to switch to the work that matters model, but can you help us with some ideas on where to start, Jim?

Your craft

The best general advice I can give, regarding where you should start, is with your craft.

  • Your craft is the element of your work, which is uniquely you.
  • Your craft is the creativity you inject into what you do.
  • Your craft is about creating something fresh, which then touches the lives of other people.

If you give 100 people a pencil and paper and ask them to draw a bridge, you will get 100 unique drawings.  Each of these drawings shows how that person sees and depicts a bridge.  No one is right.  No one is wrong.  Everyone is unique.

In business, those who successfully apply their craft, accept the fact that they are unique and allow their uniqueness to touch everything they do.  Commercially, the magic begins when your craft produces something, which others see unique value in.  Doing work that matters is what I call the development and delivery of your craft.

The majority of business owners struggle, because they focus on being like their competitors, but just a little, cheaper, faster or better.  By being too similar to their competitors, they render themselves almost invisible.  They get into the numbers game.  They find themselves selling on price, not value.

How doing work that matters can be a game changer

Imagine you are looking to buy a tablet device today.  For most people, they are faced with the following question: Do I buy an iPad or one of the other devices?  In reality, that is not the correct question.  There are dozens of choices and some are very good indeed.  The thing is, Steve Jobs’ approach to doing work that matters, means Apple produced a game-changing device that has so far, eclipsed everything else.

It’s worth remembering that Apple were not first to market with a tablet by a LONG way!  Toshiba and others were producing tablet devices many years before Apple; yet they failed to produce anything that excited the marketplace.  They simply produced what were essentially laptops, with a touch screen.  They failed to use their craft to develop something fresh and compelling.

Sharing your craft

It takes courage to share your craft with the marketplace, rather than do work that’s expected.  That’s because the more unique you are, the more visible you become.  If there are 10,000 people standing in a stadium, wearing white shirts, and you are standing in the middle, wearing a red shirt, you will draw more attention than any of them.  That’s because people’s attention is drawn to that, which is different.

Here on this blog, I share my craft with you very publicly.  I try to write useful material for you, based on my unique experience and my particular approach to marketing and business development.  Everything I do here is visible.  Every idea I share is open to debate.  However, as a direct result of sharing my craft, every day a subset of my readers contact me, to see how I can help them develop their business.

Whilst I’m sharing my craft here, there are marketing providers all over the world, attending networking groups, pestering people for business leads.  Many of those marketing providers are talented.  However, they need to ask people for referrals, because they focus on doing what’s expected, rather than applying their craft to doing work that matters.  I have helped dozens of fellow marketing professionals to overcome this challenge and the first step always, is to focus on your craft.  That is my suggestion to you too, regardless of your industry or profession.

That’s a pretty long answer to that initial question, but the subject is way too important to dismiss with anything less.

I hope you found this post useful!

How to become a prolific writer

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content marketing

Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?  If you do, this post is just for you!

I received a note from a reader today.  He said how impressed he was that I managed to have a series of posts ready to be published whilst I was away last week.  He went on to say he’d love to be able to write as much valuable content as me, one day.

Many people seem to be waiting for some magical flash of inspiration to strike them, before they will start to write.  In my experience, you get a lot further, a lot faster, if you decide not to wait for inspiration to strike, but to proactively seek it out.

Writer’s block and bricklaying

My late father was a bricklayer and never once suffered from bricklayer’s block.  However, if he spent a while away from laying bricks, when he returned to work his back and shoulders used to ache and he found it harder.  You may have experienced something similar, if you start exercising again after a week (or 3) away from the gym; everything aches!  Interestingly, something similar happens when you write.  If you write regularly, it becomes easy.  If you write infrequently, it’s a lot harder.

I use a similar approach to writing as my dad used for laying bricks and have never had any issue with writer’s block.  I get to work at a set time every day (before my family wakes up is best for me) and lay one word down at a time, like my dad did with bricks, until I have the piece written.  I don’t wait until I feel like it, in fact, I’m not even sure how it’s supposed to feel!

Writer’s block and perfection

Many people tell me they have a perfectionist mindset, which means everything has to be perfect before they can write and that the actual writing itself has to be perfect too.  The challenge with perfectionist writers is that they seldom get started, because perfection is in very short supply.  I strongly suggest you drop the perfectionist mindset when you write, as it is both high-pressure and low output.

I decided a long time ago, to give myself permission to write imperfectly.  I am happy to say that I have stuck by this and have never written a perfect piece of work in my life.  I have, however, developed one of the most popular blogs in my niche and helped clients to make millions in sales, from copy I have written for them.

Something that helped me massively, was this quote from Ernest Hemingway:

For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can.  Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.

In short: Get started, write often and give it your best shot!

Photo: Wiertz Sébastien

Are you ready, willing and able? Then show me!

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For your marketing to work, you need your prospective clients to know that you are ready, willing and able to service their needs.  The challenge here, is that many small business owners only demonstrate 2 out of those 3 requirements.

Here’s what I see time and again with small business marketing:

  1. I know you are ready to attract more clients, because you are marketing your services to me.
  2. I know you are willing to work with me, because you have targeted me with a marketing message expressing your willingness.
  3. I have no idea if you are able, though!

Yes, you have testimonials on your website but so do all your competitors.  These testimonials provide me with little real insight as to your ability, because we all know they are usually written by the best case clients; so not as representative as I need them to be.

I see you have some badges on your website, brochure or letter head, but they mean nothing to me.  I’m not an expert in your industry and have no idea if they have any credibility.  Even if they are credible, I am likely to see them on your competitors sites and marketing materials too.  In other words, I still know zero about your knowledge or skills.

Show me

So, if you want me to find out how awesome you are, show me!

Start writing blog posts or newsletter articles, which demonstrate your knowledge to me.  Show me what you know and how valuable your information is.  Use your marketing messages to deliver information to me that has value; something I can use rather than just a sales pitch.  Educate me.  Cause me to position you in my mind as an expert in your field and the logical person to call, when I need paid-for help from someone in your industry.

Show your prospective clients that you are ready, willing and able.

The good news? Very, very few of your competitors are doing this right now!