Jim Connolly Marketing

The marketing power of being first

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Photo: Shutterstock.

I’d like you to consider the following, seemingly unrelated facts. They’ll provide you with a really useful insight for your business.

  • Although it’s 2022, we still remember Sir Roger Bannister as the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes.
  • Apple became the world’s most valuable company, largely from the profits of its iPhone; the world’s first smart phone.

There are a couple of really valuable business lessons here.

When you are the first to do something, it’s talked about and it’s remembered for a very long time. We remember Bannister, even though Australia’s John Landy broke Bannister’s record just weeks later. Landy was faster, yet remained relatively unknown because he wasn’t the first person to go sub 4 minutes. The first person was covered worldwide in the media of the day. Landy was largely ignored.

Secondly, it doesn’t have to be perfect. The first iPhone was really buggy. It even lacked a basic copy and paste facility for over a year! However, it was extremely useful, compared to the so-called feature phones that preceded it.

You and your business

Here’s a highly valuable question to ask yourself: What useful adjustment or change to your product or service, could you be the first in your industry to provide (locally, nationally or globally), in response to the current economic challenges?

Here’s why that question is potentially of so much value to you.

You don’t need anyone to tell you that we live in very uncertain times right now, or that lots of business owners are struggling. However, other businesses large and small are innovating and inspiring their marketplace, just like they did at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Again, just as in 2020, the businesses that will thrive are the ones willing to adapt to the new, commercial realities.

It’s easier than you might think

Fortunately, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. For example, an idea that’s common in another industry may be unheard of in yours. It just needs to be new to your locality, industry, profession or marketplace.

And it absolutely doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be useful, based on the 2022 requirements of the market you serve.

Great ideas are not anointed

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marketing ideas

In business, great ideas are not anointed. They flop or fly based on feedback from your marketplace.

Sure, you can do a thought experiment. You can sketch an idea out and estimate what the possible outcomes might be.

The thing is, the only way to really know if that idea of yours will fly, is to try it. To put your idea in play.

Yes, do the research. Be sure to do the planning, too. But then you need to get moving. You need to take action and shift your idea from concept to reality.

Taking action requires courage, because once your idea is in play, it has the potential to flop. However, taking action is the only way to give your idea wings. And the best idea in the world can’t fly, without wings.

You should use information marketing. Really. Do it!

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Content marketing, information marketing

Today, I’m going to share the power of information marketing with you. It has the potential to sky-rocket your sales results. Actually, it has vastly more potential than that!

I was prompted to write about this, when answering a very common question from one of my readers. They wanted to know, how I find the time to write so many newsletters and articles.

It’s all about my information marketing strategy. And now you’ll see why you really need to start using it!

Let’s go!

Finding time or making time?

A business owner doesn’t need to find the time to go to work, or find time to look after their clients / customers. When a task is important to us, we make time for it. The time for it is set aside, in advance. It’s in our calendar. It’s high on our to-do list. And as a result it gets done.

Marketing is a top-level business activity for me. Not just for me, but for everyone serious about growing a successful business. I know that the information I create, (free marketing tips, ideas and advice) doesn’t always look like marketing.

But it absolutely is.

Some would call it content marketing, but content marketing is extremely limited in comparison.

I call it information marketing

And here’s what it does.

  • It reminds those who choose to follow my work, who I am and what I do.
  • My newsletters, website articles and social media updates showcase my knowledge.
  • My content also provides people with a checkable body of work, which proves that I show up regularly with helpful information AND that I’ve been doing this for decades.
  • This means people know who I am. They know my work and that I’ve reliably provided it for a very long time.
  • The marketing pay-off is that I’m earning their trust, long before they even contact me. And they’re sharing my work with even more prospects!

Now, imagine your prospective clients already had that kind of relationship with you and your business. Consider how much more likely they would be, to buy from you or hire you.

THAT’S what makes information marketing so effective. It provides you with a regular, predictable flow of exceptionally high quality new clients or sales. It also means you never have to sell your services to a stranger again. Because they will already know all about you and your services or products. Information marketing works beautifully.

Okay, now let’s look at just how easy it is.

Information marketing is ongoing

All successful marketing is an ongoing business activity. It’s about becoming, and remaining, visible to your marketplace; so your name, company name, branding, logo, face, etc., is familiar to them.

Almost every small business and many medium-sized businesses get this wrong. They tend to only market their business when there’s a problem; like when they’ve lost a major account or they’ve seen a worrying drop in new clients.

They then, suddenly start marketing to their prospects… even though they’re total strangers to these prospects. It’s extremely ineffective.

And it’s avoidable when you use information marketing.

information marketing, content marketing

It requires way less money than you think

Actually, information marketing takes less money AND less time than you think.

Allow me to explain.

Less money than you think?

Yes. If you market your services the way I do, you don’t need to buy ads. I haven’t paid to advertise my service in over 20 years. Not a penny.

That’s because when you publish useful tips, ideas and advice, which your marketplace will value, they’re attracted to it.

And you’ll be really easy for them to find.

Here’s a quick look at how that works.

  • If you write an article like this, or even something as short as a tweet, your prospects can find it on a search engine. Yes, tweets are findable via Google. Just be sure that when they find your information, it’s very easy for them to contact you and subscribe to your newsletter list. That’s really important.
  • If you write a newsletter (and you REALLY should), people will share it. This is especially the case when you answer common problems for people in your target market. That’s because people tend to know lots of similar people; (those who live in the same area, or are in the same profession, or have the same type of problems, or are in a similar income bracket). So, your initial subscribers will share your newsletters for you, and you’ll be organically building a bigger and bigger, targeted list.

That’s right.

You’re not only connecting with a growing number of prospects. Your growing number of prospects are sharing your work, for free, with even more prospects.

That kind of personal recommendation is massively more effective than an advertisement.

information marketing, get noticed, content marketing

Less time than you think?

Oh yes. Way less time.

Whereas content marketing is known for being about producing a high volume of often low-quality ‘content’, information marketing is focused way more on the quality of information you share. This means you have zero need to ‘pump stuff’ into every social network on the planet every day.

Note: I only use Twitter, my website and my newsletter. That’s it!!!

The information marketing strategy I use with my clients, allows most of their work to be used in multiple ways. So, you invest time creating one piece of useful information, and it can provide you with multiple marketing opportunities.

For example, if you write a useful article for your website or a blog post, it can be:

  • Published as a newsletter. Longer pieces can be published as a 2 or 3-part newsletter series.
  • Published on Linkedin.
  • Published on your Facebook Page or in your Facebook Group
  • Published on a forum your marketplace uses.
  • Extracts can be published as short-form content.
  • And visuals can be published on sites like Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.

So, you create once and yet produce many, many marketing *assets. (*Things you can use, to attract, help and engage your prospects).

Some all-new information marketing material takes minutes to create. It can be as simple as taking a photo, related to the prospective clients you want to work with. For example, photos of events you’re attending, or photos that show people how you work. These help your prospects to better understand what you do, and they make you more ‘real’ to them. These photos can be really interesting and shared on multiple platforms.

But that’s not all.

After a very short time, as you become more used to creating and sharing useful information, you’ll notice the process takes less and less time.

Information marketing isn’t a time suck

Remember, you don’t need to share something new, multiple times a day, or even every day, as with content marketing.

Information marketing is about producing information that’s useful enough, for people to share your work for you.

It’s all about quality, not quantity. Value, not volume!

You could create just one useful article like this, every 10 – 14 days. By using it in the various ways I explained a moment ago, this would give you something useful and new, to share every 2 or 3 days for a few weeks, to attract the attention of new prospects and start building a valuable connection with them.

Consider again the marketing potential of growing your very own, huge, targeted audience, of extremely high quality prospects. Then measure it against the effort required for information marketing.

If you can see the full potential, you’ll want to get started.

What next Jim?

The best time to start information marketing: building this kind of connection, relationship and trust with your prospects is 10 years ago. But the second best time is now.

If you’re not already marketing your business, by sharing useful information, which you know your prospective clients value, please give it some serious consideration. I have used this model since the 1990’s. And I’ve helped countless business owners transform their sales results with their own information marketing strategies.

I’m telling you, not only does information marketing work better than any form of marketing I have ever used or studied, it works better today than ever before.

Photo: Shutterstock.

How to avoid arguments with clients or customers

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how to avoid arguments clients, customer arguments

Photo: Shutterstock.

I was prompted to share this tip with you, after recalling an argument between a business owner and one of his customers. It was noisy, public and lost the business owner at least one customer. As you’ll see, the whole situation could have been avoided. Here’s what happened, along with a valuable business lesson.

First, here’s a quote from the 1936 classic, How to win friends and influence people.

The book’s author, Dale Carnegie, said; “Show respect for the other person’s opinion. Never say, you’re wrong! to them.”

You are right. They are right too. Maybe!

When someone disagrees with us, it’s easy to think that they are wrong. This is especially the case when we truly believe that our opinion is right.

Here’s the thing: It’s entirely possible that their opinion and our opinion are both correct, even when we see things very differently.

For example:

  • I really dislike the taste of anchovies. In my opinion and in my experience, anchovies taste disgusting.
  • You may love the taste of anchovies. In your opinion, they taste absolutely delicious.
  • If we went through a lie detector test, we would both be proven to be telling the truth — even though our answers were 100% different.

That’s the thing about opinions. When an opinion is given as an answer, it’s usually one of dozens, maybe hundreds, of possible correct answers.

How one retailer got it VERY wrong

I was prompted to write this post, after listening to a business owner arguing with one of his customers. The argument took place in a cycling shop.

Here’s what happened.

The customer asked if the retailer stocked a particular brand of tyre. The retailer asked why the customer wanted that brand. The customer explained that in his experience, it was the best on the market. The retailer then insisted the customer was wrong. He even went so far as to get his iPad out and show some negative Amazon.com reviews of the tyre, which the customer asked for.

Incidentally, I would have picked a different brand of tyre than either of those picked by the customer or the shop owner. That’s because depending on our experience with different brands of tyre, we will have formed different opinions.

Anyhow, the customer walked out of the shop, shaking his head in frustration. After the confrontational stance the retailer took, and his raised voice, I doubt the customer will ever return — especially as he now knows he can get the tyre he wants, for less, on Amazon!

The retailer had a smug grin on his face, assuming he’d won the argument. What he’d actually done, was lose a customer by showing zero respect for the customer’s opinion and turning a sales enquiry into a heated argument. I’m not sure any business owner can sustain too many victories like that.

How to avoid arguments with clients, arguments customers,

Turning a difference of opinion into a valuable opportunity

We don’t have to agree with everyone. What we should do, however, is learn to respect their right to their opinion.

Indeed, we can use our difference of opinion as a way to create a useful dialogue. We can even use it to deepen our relationship with customers, clients or contacts.

For example, here’s an effective way to handle a business situation, when your opinion is different from the other person.

  • Explain that all you’re interested in, is finding the best solution for them. This places both of you on the same side. The difference this makes to the tone of the conversation is huge.
  • Give the other person the opportunity to say what they want to say, without butting in. By allowing them to get their point across, they will feel less tense and feel more positively toward you, for showing them respect and recognition.
  • If you believe they’re incorrect or about to make a mistake, you should offer them another perspective. Note: You’re not arguing with them. You’re offering them your perspective based on your experience and expertise.
  • Then, offer an example of how your suggested approach has worked in the past, for people with similar challenges. This is massively more effective than looking for holes in their position and bombarding them with reasons why they’re wrong.
  • Ask them what they think… and listen again without butting in.
  • Because there’s no confrontation, no argument to be won or lost, the other person is free to consider your opinion. They can now agree with you, without losing face.

Does this approach magically win around everyone, whose opinion is different from yours? No.

However, I’ve used this approach since starting my business with huge success. It has gained me many clients and many good friends too. Equally, it has never lost me a client, unlike the kind of confrontational approach, used by the store owner in my example.

Interestingly, I’ve always found this approach to be massively more effective at helping others see things my way, than attacking their opinion.

Respect never gets old

The technologies we use today are very different from those, which were used when Carnegie wrote that best-selling book. However, business is still all about people. Showing respect for others and their opinions, is just as important today as it was in 1936.

How to get immediate marketing results

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immediate marketing results

Photo by bruce mars 

Great news: you absolutely can get outstanding, immediate, marketing results and there are many ways to do it. I’m going to share some examples with you right here, right now. And yes, they work exceptionally well in 2026.

Oh, and none of them require paying for advertisements or buying attention.

Okay. Let’s do it!

Immediate marketing results from your website

Improving the call to action messaging on your website will provide you with immediate results.

For example, on a first marketing session with a new client, I suggested a quick improvement. He implemented my suggestion live during our session. Before the session ended, he was already looking at a higher percentage of people taking the action he required. That’s what I call immediate, measurable marketing results.

And from your email marketing

You will immediately improve your email marketing results, when you improve the subject line on your marketing emails. That subject line is what causes your emails to be eagerly opened, or instantly deleted. This is huge. Imagine sending out the same number of emails, and reaching another 20%-40% prospects. As promised in the title, this will immediately improve your marketing results.

And it gets better!

Bonus: You can see equally fast results, if the copy used for your offer in the email content is improved. Better still, I’ve see sales increases of over 100%, if you’re willing to get that copy fully optimal.

Double bonus: Those two improvements will compound when used together, which can result in spectacular marketing results. So, do both!

And from your retail outlet

Improving the messaging on your store’s window display can also have an immediate, powerful impact. For example, my friend’s wife owns a lighting store on a local high street. He asked if I could give her a few marketing tips, as things had been a little too quiet lately. One tip took just 5 minutes. I asked for a piece of card and a Sharpie pen. I wrote on the card, and asked if I could place it in her store’s front window.

She called me a few days later and said she’d seen an in increase in new customers. The first new customer came around an hour after I left. The marketing results were immediate. A more permanent version of that same message is still there, and still working today. The original sign simply had the word ‘open’ on it. My makeshift sign did something crucially important. It told prospective customers to ‘Come in, we’re open’. That’s a direct request.

Those were examples based on improving your existing marketing.

That’s absolutely great.

However, by ALSO introducing new, high-return marketing tactics into your strategy, you can achieve even more. And the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Here are some ideas to get you started. In no particular order.

Immediate results from Joint Ventures

The following examples, I could give you dozens, come from just one marketing tactic! I’m referring to Joint Ventures. As you’ll see, when you make them a part of your marketing, and do it correctly, you’ll regularly enjoy immediate, measurable results.

What is a Joint Venture? It’s an agreement between you, and a person or company whose products or services are complimentary and non-conflicting with your own.

What does complimentary and non-conflicting mean? I’ll use my business as an example.

  • I provide marketing services to business owners and marketing professionals, but I don’t provide web design services.
  • I could connect with a web designer who builds websites, but doesn’t provide marketing.
  • I write a newsletter that’s read by business owners and my fellow marketing professionals.
  • The web designer also writes a newsletter that’s read by business owners and marketing professionals.
  • Each of us could recommend the other in our newsletter, because our services are complimentary.
  • And because neither of us sells what the other one sells offers, there’s no conflict.
  • Note: I do not do this. It’s just an example to explain the tactic.

The following examples are designed to explain how to use Joint Ventures (JV’s) in your business.

Examples of how successful JV’s

Note: Look at the process being used, NOT the sector / industry of the examples. JV’s are applicable to pretty-much every industry.

JV’s provide outstanding results, when used in conjunction with public speaking. Here’s an example. I was contacted by the marketing director of an accountancy practice. He wanted help with client acquisition. I suggested they put on a Zoom talk for their clients, and invite someone from a complimentary, non-conflicting company to speak. They identified a company that did business with their exact profile of client. I wrote an email for my client, to introduce the opportunity to the potential JV partner. They agreed to give it a go. Two talks were lined up. Each of them had a chance to speak to the other ones audience. It worked really well. And the new client started flowing within an hour of each Zoom session! It’s another example of immediate marketing results.

One of the most popular uses of JV’s, is when YouTubers or podcasters invite other YouTubers or podcasters onto their show. The invited person gains exposure to their host’s audience, which can dramatically, and quickly, increase their own audience numbers. They then do the same for the person who hosted them. Both of them see immediate, measurable marketing results.

Immediate marketing results across the board

Once you understand how JVs work, you will see opportunities everywhere.

That’s why you need to forget about the industries I’ve mentioned here and the type of JVs used, and focus only on the process to create high-performance JVs.

When you do, you’ll see how companies that install new windows and doors can do Joint Ventures with home security providers, just by recommending one another.

In the same way, veterinarians can do Joint Ventures with artists who specialize in pet portraits, or pet photography. And sales trainers can do Joint Ventures with communication trainers. Tree surgeons with grass cutting companies, or locksmiths with carpenters.

I’m sure you get the idea.

Immediate results. No paid ads

Notice anything about the examples throughout this article? That’s right! None of them required you to buy advertising. You don’t need to buy the attention of your prospective clients or customers, AND ads are way less effective than the tactics I use.

You now have ways to immediately improve your sales figures or the number of new clients you attract. 

What are you waiting for? Go for it!

Word of mouth referrals: It’s never been easier

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word of mouth marketing, Word of mouth referrals, recommendations

Word of mouth recommendations open up an amazing opportunity, for you and your business. If you choose to embrace it, you can have an army of enthusiastic people successfully selling your services.

  • Without paying them.
  • Without even asking them.

There’s a little work required on your part. But once it’s done, you’re good to go! You can then watch extremely high quality sales leads / client enquiries roll in. Over and over and over again.

The work?

Get recommendations by word of mouth

It’s actually pretty simple.

I do it daily with clients.

It works like this.

Think of a product or service you’ve used, which impressed you so much, you told your friends. That’s all you need your offering to do. It’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s just making some adjustments, which stand out in a meaningful way.

This is what gets people telling their friends, associates and social media contacts about you.

People in your industry have already done this very successfully. In fact, there are countless examples from every industry.

It’s how we all prefer to find new restaurants, phone brands, bars, accountants, motorcycles, authors, marketing consultants, lawyers, professional photographers, financial advisers, software products, artists, fashion brands, doctors, … everything.

Seriously, you need to be a part of that list. You need word of mouth recommendations or referrals working for you and your business.

Word of mouth marketing has never worked better

How come?

The power of a recommendation comes from it being third party and independent. In other words, not from someone who works for the provider they’re recommending, or who is being paid to recommend the product or service. Until relatively recently, someone’s ability to reach people about how delighted they are with you, was restricted. Now, social networks allow anyone to instantly tell 50, 500, 5000 or 50,000 people how delighted they are with you.

Let that sink in for a moment and imagine what that would do for you and your business.

Plus, in many cases, these recommendations and wonderful comments about you, are findable by people using search engines. This gives your recommendations an even wider audience and an even longer life cycle!

Get daily word of mouth recommendations

I work with business owners every day, who are enjoying the massive benefits of free, word of mouth recommendations.

You deserve the same.

So take the time to recreate your products or services, so that people want to tell their friends and contacts about you. If you want to do this right, first time, get some expert help.

Either way, do not miss out on this amazing marketing opportunity to grow your business, from wave after wave of word of mouth recommendations and referrals.