Jim Connolly Marketing

Gain 2 powerful, unfair advantages over your competitors

By |

small business marketing, advantage, jim connolly

Photo by Alejandro Pérez 

Today, I’m going to give you an unfair advantage over your competitors. Well, two, actually.

I was in my twenties when I started my business. So, I made darn sure to seek out as much advice as possible, from those with lots more experience and a track record of success. That’s when I discovered what I’m about to share with you.

It came from my first accountant, back in the 1990’s. He suggested I work 1-hour a day longer, than the average for my industry. This is what he himself did, and it gave him what he called “a powerful, unfair advantage” over his competitors.

I did as he suggested and the results were amazing.

Grab your unfair advantage

Here’s how it works, in just 3 steps.

  1. I’m an early bird, so I chose to start work an hour earlier than others in my industry. You can equally add your hour to the end of the day, or add 30-minutes to the start of your day and 30-minutes to the end.
  2. I would finish around the same time as them, so I just worked 1-hour more.
  3. The pay-off? Over the period of a working year, this gives you an additional 6 weeks (based on the typical working week). That’s an amazing one and a half months worth of extra, highly-productive time, to produce, create and deliver for your clients or customers.

The positive impact on my results came fast and were easy to measure.

But that’s not all.

You automatically get another unfair advantage

Yes, it genuinely helped me get a lot more done. But it helped in another way, too.

By thinking I was working while my counterparts were not, it provided me with an instant, mental advantage. It made me feel that I was more committed, more motivated and more driven than them. This may not have been true, but the inspiration it gave me, and still gives me today, is absolutely true.

If you’re in a tight spot right now or just want to give your business a sustainable, measurable lift, I strongly recommend you give it a try.

How to have zero competition in 2026

By |

no competitors, zero competition, niche marketing

One of the things I work on with many of my clients, is the development of a valuable niche for their business. A highly profitable niche, with literally no competition.

Here’s a quick look at the approach I use, plus some ideas you can adapt into your own business.

The niche model I use is based on the strategy I developed for my own business. Here are just 3 of over 70 processes I’ve developed.

Enriching my competitors

Instead of focusing on crushing the competition, I focused on enriching the competition. When I started my business in 1995, my strategies were so different from the other providers in my industry, they were no longer competitors. This gave me the freedom to enrich, connect and promote their marketing businesses. That remains to this day.

The following is from a previous article I wrote on this subject – the full article is here.

“I chose to proactively seek out opportunities to help my competitors flourish, to open doors for them, to share new ideas and strategies I’d developed with them, to connect them with useful people, etc. I was in my twenties at the time and many in the industry said I was young and naive. I saw things very differently…”

Tip: If you found that interesting, I strongly recommend you read the full article.

Closing sales replaced by opening relationships

Instead of focusing on closing sales, I focused on opening relationships. It has always struck me as odd that good salespeople are referred to as good closers. So, I decided to focus on opening instead of closing.

Opening relationships, to be precise.

Whilst sales closers have a toolkit of psychological closing techniques, I didn’t. Instead of seeing the sales process as a game of chess, pitting me against the prospect, I wanted to be on the same side of the table as the prospect. In their corner. Looking out for their best interests, exactly as I would if they were already my client. This transforms initial meetings with a prospective client. It switches things 180 degrees, from the usual chess game.

Yes, it does mean being willing to openly, honestly tell a prospective client if you don’t think you can help. When this happens, you’ve still planted some amazingly positive seeds.

You’ve just demonstrated to a prospective client that you can be trusted. You’ve also demonstrated that you offer an exceptionally professional service. In my experience, these same prospective clients often go on to become regular sources of high-quality referrals.

This approach has set me apart and allowed me to further develop my reputation as a trusted adviser. That’s because it’s in such stark contrast to the usual strategy, of closing tricks and needy follow-up emails.

Building an influential network, not a big network

People in the marketing industry are known for the size of their networks. They’re at every networking event. They’re amongst the most active people on Linkedin. I took a very different approach. Instead of focusing on growing a large contact network, I focused on growing a small, but influential network.

Even when I was starting out, I never saw the value of what’s usually thought of as ‘networking’. For example, I think I had my last lot of business cards printed around 2002.

Oh, and I’ve never had a Linkedin account or had any need for one.

Why?

Business is all about people and the depth of the relationships you have with them. I chose to intentionally develop strong, meaningful relationships with people who I believed to be the best fit.

Initially my main focus was senior media people, marketing experts and mentors. I was 29 when I started my business, no one knew who I was and I needed to be around people who were able to help me get known and develop. If you followed the link I shared earlier, you’ll have seen how my first 6-months in business went.

As with every person I have shared this selective networking approach with, I too have found that you automatically get many of the benefits of a large network. Such as massively expanding the reach of your work, your opinions and your ideas.

For example, you’ll find that from time to time, your influential contacts recommend you and your work to their audience. An audience that respects their endorsement. Another example is media coverage, something I have professionally benefited from enormously. Lots of journalists have known me for years. They trust me and are comfortable enough to contact me, and cite me, when they need expert opinion.

Tip: One way to get started is to think who would be really useful for you to know in 12-months or 18-months time. And today, start to look for ways to earn their attention and then their interest. It’s not by cold emailing them or pestering them. It’s about being useful to them. Gently. Over time.

I hope that quick look at 3 of the 70+ processes I’ve developed, has encouraged you to seriously consider a more niche approach to the growth of your business in 2026.

Ultimately, you can choose to compete against the masses or develop your own, wonderful niche. You can choose to blend in or stand out. You can choose to be ‘yet another’ or uniquely you. It’s always a choice. And a really easy one, if you think it through.

Stop losing clients to AI: Here’s how!

By |

risk taking, risky thinking

Photo: Matt Reiter

A rapidly increasing number of readers are emailing me, worried about the impact AI is having on their business, or the impact it will have.

Let’s see if I can help you turn this into an opportunity to grow your business. Or at least, eliminate/greatly reduce any negative impact on you.

I need to start by showing you how not to respond.

Don’t carry on as you are, relying on explaining to prospects that your work is better than AI. Annoyingly, that answer is correct. But it will fail the majority of the time. For at least 2 reasons.

  1. AI completes tasks in minutes and costs maybe 5% of a service provider’s fees. That 95% saving is extremely compelling.
  2. Most people are not experts in the services they buy from providers. They’d struggle to see the current flaws in AI’s output or even know when AI is screwing up.

How to win today and for years to come

My first idea should work extremely well for at least another 5-years. Then carry on working, albeit to a lesser degree, for another 5-years or more. 

I want you to consider creating a version of your service, which is aimed at a specific group. I’m referring to people who are the least likely to want to use AI, and the most likely to value a human connection. Who? People aged 50 or over. Better still, those aged 60 or over. 

Why?

Since the boom in AI use started, we’ve seen that the least engaged users are those over 50. And it drops considerably the higher the age is. A Pew Research Center survey published in June 2025 showed that the majority of people in the US aged 50 or over, use AI infrequently or not at all. That AI usage then drops considerably for those 65 or over. Note: The Pew data is based on ChatGPT usage as it’s the most commonly used AI in the US.

By marketing a version of your services, which speaks directly to those who are not looking for an AI alternative, you are:

  • Putting the minds at rest, of all those people who long for a traditional service provider
  • Providing your business with a very profitable niche market to serve

As AI becomes better, and daily users of AI get older, the door of this opportunity will slowly close.

However, by then, those service providers who benefit now, while the market is fertile, will have the time and money to adapt to whatever happens next.

Here’s another idea.

Change the playing field, so it’s easy for you to win

Here’s what we know: AI wins against small businesses, whose business model is based on charging for tasks that are automatable via AI. Not tasks that are well-automated by AI. Just automated.

The answer? Pick a strategy for your business, where you’re selling what AI can’t automate.

The word strategy is usually misused. For the best understanding of what a strategy is, I always refer people to the amazing Professor Roger Martin’s definition.

“Strategy is an integrated set of choices that positions you on a playing field of your choice, in a way that you can win.” 

Picking your playing field

Here’s an example.

AI can write a resumé. It can prompt us for the details it needs, then quickly provide us with a resumé. If we notice any errors, it will strive to correct them. Boom. A resumé is created. 

A playing field for a resumé writer to win on, would be based on some of the limitations and weaknesses of AI’s automation. 

Here’s just one massive AI weakness.

Who pays for a professional resumé? Someone who wants to land a great job in a certain industry. And if they go to a resumé writer who specialises in that industry, they’ll get high-value, effective benefits. Specialist resumé writers not only know exactly what type of resumé is working best right now, they’ll also be deeply aware of what’s happening in that industry. Not based on the news or anything published online (which AI can access). But from their vast network of industry contacts. This can equip the resumé writer with advanced knowledge of openings at the type of companies or organisations, which their clients are interested in. They may even know the key attributes their client’s industry is most interested in hiring for right now.

So, if I’m a resumé writer, I’ll choose to focus on those AI weaknesses. Things AI can’t automate, which humans are fantastic at. This becomes the central thrust of my marketing.

In short

Stop telling people you’re better in your field than AI is. They lack expert knowledge of what someone in your industry does, so they have no idea if AI is creating a pile of junk.

Instead: Pick a playing field that AI can’t touch, but YOU can easily win on. That’s a position you can market very successfully from for the foreseeable future.

If AI services are negatively impacting your business, or if you can see it becoming a problem, consider one, or both of those ideas.

A bias for action

By |

bias for action, what bias for action means

Photo: Shutterstock.

One of the big business mantras out there today, is that it’s smart to have “a bias for action”.

That’s not only wrong. It’s dangerously wrong.

Why a bias for action is dangerous

On a surface level, the advice seems to make sense. It sounds positive after all. However, if you think about it for a few minutes you’ll spot the obvious error. You’ll notice that many of the most ineffective people you’ve ever met had a bias for action.

These include.

  • The people who embody the ready, fire, aim mindset
  • The people who enthusiastically climb a ladder that’s against the wrong wall
  • The people who jump from project to project, because they’re action focused and get bored fast
  • The people who keep themselves busy doing what’s comfortable, rather than what’s effective

A bias for action can work directly against us. Unless we first develop a bias for highly productive activity. Then it pays off in a VERY BIG way! 

This means using our time and energy as effectively as we possibly can. These are fast-changing times. That’s for sure. So, we need to be at our productive best. We need to get strategic and very specific about exactly what we want to achieve.

It looks like this.

  • Do the research
  • Get the advice
  • Look at the numbers, with close attention to the medium and long-term

And if everything stacks up, take action. That’s when a bias for action is needed and richy rewarded.

This means planning first, then acting. Using your time and energy as effectively as you possibly can.

These are challenging times and we all need to be at our productive best. So get specific about exactly what you want to achieve. Do the research. Get the advice. Look at the numbers. And if everything stacks up, take action. That’s when a bias for action is needed.

Marketing: Smoke and mirrors

By |

Marketing, Smoke and mirrors

Photo by James Adams on Unsplash

Friends, today’s post is longer than usual from me.

It’s an extremely important subject that is costing/losing small business owners a fortune. To get the full benefit from what I’m about to share, the estimated read time is 4-minutes. I know you’re busy, so if you don’t have time, skip to the paragraph below titled TLDR: You and your business.

Let’s go.

The success of your marketing relies on you identifying, then stopping, and marketing that isn’t producing the results you need. Then, replacing what doesn’t work, with effective marketing that produces maximum results.

A major reason why small business owner’s find their marketing efforts don’t work, is that the vast majority of marketing tips, tactics and strategies out there (around 95% in my experience) are ineffective or damagingly ineffective. They either don’t help your business grow, or they cause your business to shrink. Go back 20-years, that number was around 20%.

As someone who has devoted 30-years of my life to serving small business owners, I kills me to see so many small business owners unknowingly adopting toxic marketing advice. That’s what this article is all about.

Here’s what you need to know.

Here’s why this is happening & how to avoid it

This problem is growing because bad advice used to be very rare in comparison to today. The smoke and mirrors required for fake experts to create the illusion of success or wisdom used to come at a high financial cost. 

Today, all they need is a YouTube account or social media account, knowledge on how to feed/play the algorithms, and the motivation to work extremely hard until they pull it off.

Around 15-years ago, working behind a smoke and mirrors illusion was a lot harder. Here’s an example I remember from the 1990’s in London, which shows the kind of financial barrier to entry for fake experts.

For example.

There was a gallery that was sold to a charismatic guru in his mid twenties. It contained a lot of expensive items and he used the gallery as a base from which to sell coaching to artists, on how to make a fortune selling their artwork. He threw lavish parties in the gallery and looked to be financially successful for someone so young. And apparently he was very convincing. His place remained open for around 2-years.

The smoke and mirrors? 

The cool young artisan marketing guru had:

  • Never successfully marketed art
  • Never successfully sold art

He was gifted the company by his very wealthy parents, along with the building and the stock. He also had all his running costs paid for the 2-years he ‘traded’ there. 

The goal was for his parents to position their son as a successful business guru. They finally pulled the plug when their son started getting complaints, which led to legal proceedings against him and the whole illusion unraveled.

Now to the most important part.

TLDR: You and your business

It’s the exact opposite in 2025. The barrier has been removed. Anyone can do it. Which is why YouTube and social media are packed with thousands of charismatic, confident pretenders, offering dangerously incorrect marketing advice.

Let’s stop this happening to you.

Here are the most common red flags to watch out for, before you pay for, or take free marketing advice, from anyone. Yes, even if (especially if) they have hundreds of thousands or millions of subscribers or followers.

  • Their advice is already commonplace. Any widely used marketing activity will provide you with absolutely no competitive advantage. 
  • They didn’t seem to exist until 5 or 10-years ago. They came from nowhere, despite claiming years of success. Check people out. 
  • They offer easy to create/fake vanity metrics to ‘prove’ their ability. Traffic increases, clicks, leads and enquiries, etc. All these can be faked using software.
  • They’re under 35 and lack the lived experience required, to know the long-term impact of their advice. Such as how their advice would work in different economies. 
  • Their subscriber numbers or follower numbers are huge and it happened in a suspiciously short time. Bots can be purchased to subscribe to, or follow accounts. This is usually done in batches and added carefully over a period of time, in order to avoid being identified as fake. Once a significant number of bots have subscribed or are following them, real people start joining because those numbers suggest the pretender has value. 

One thing which hasn’t changed over the years, is that if we take the time to think it through, it’s not too hard to spot some of the less polished fakes. So, before parting with your money for membership of mastermind groups (insider groups, premium groups/clubs) marketing software or webinars etc., think carefully.

Give yourself time to make the best decision you can. This is especially the case if you’re being rushed to act quickly to avoid missing out or to get some kind of early bird discount.

They know that the faster you decide, the more likely you’ll be to pay them.

Marketing 101: The power of extra

By |

marketing, extra value, small business

Let’s look at how to apply the marketing power of extra into your business, for massive wins with very little effort.

When making a buying decision or a decision to hire someone, prospects look for the best value. Just like we do. They want to make the decision that they feel offers the biggest bang for their buck. Something that similarly priced alternatives don’t provide.

In short, they’re looking for the extra value, which makes the price so attractive that they proceed and make the purchase.

Note: it’s not the lowest price they want.

Imagine two competing products (or services) that are same price. One of them them offers something extra, which people in the market for this type of product value. The other doesn’t. Naturally, the product with that extra value will win almost all the sales.

That’s pretty obvious.

But here’s the idea I want to share with you today.

Imagine two competing products that are priced differently. One is priced 50% higher than the other. If this higher priced product has enough extra value, the price still sounds like it’s worth every penny. It will carry on outselling the less valuable, cheaper competitor. Maybe by only 20-30%.

That extra value is doing something amazing.

It’s causing the product to outsell the competing product… and these additional sales are made at a meaningfully higher price.

You and your business

With very little effort, that extra value product will become something you provide. You’ll make more sales or attract more clients than your competitors. All these additional sales will be at an increased price.

Very little effort?

Yes. Actually, very, VERY little effort!

The marketplace already provides us with countless examples of exactly what to do. You simply need to look at the extra value that people in somewhat similar industries to yours offer… adapt it for your specific, target customer… then offer it.

You get bonus points (and a lot more sales and money) if you put some time into it and discover the most attractive, extra value.

Then, you need to kick your extra value offering out the door. That’s the only tricky part. Lots of small business owners worry about what will happen, to the point where they choose to do nothing.

Note: Those same small business owners are not risk averse!

They can’t possibly be.

Never, ever assume that a small business owner is scared to take a risk.

Why?

  • These same people started a business in the first place. That’s something only a fraction of the population have the tenacity to do.
  • These amazing people had the guts to employ themselves. And some have a team working for them.
  • These brave people were courageous enough to leave the ‘safety’ of a regular pay check.

This is why I love and respect small business owners so much. 

Important

For those small business owners reading this who have forgotten how resilient you are, reread the 3 lines above. Not just today, in relation to the idea I shared with you today. Read it again if you ever doubt exactly what you’re made of.