Jim Connolly Marketing

Mind your own business!

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marketing advice, marketing help, bizdev

If you want to rise above your competitors, you have a couple of options open to you.

  1. Destroy the competition: Bad-mouth them. Spread nasty stories about them. Call them out when they screw up. Try to ruin their reputation, so your business looks better in comparison.
  2. Mind your own business: Look for ways to improve what you do. Become a respected innovator.  Out smart and out care your competitors. Make your service so uniquely valuable that you have no competition.

The best way forward, is to focus on your own business. Pay attention to what you can control. Do everything you can with everything you have. If you mind your own business correctly, you’ll never have to worry about the competition again.

3 Great opportunities, which you can start on today

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marketing blogs

Here are 3 amazing opportunities, which you can invest in right now.

  1. Look for opportunities to make promises, and then keep them. This is a wonderful way to earn trust and build a great reputation.
  2. Look for opportunities to invest in others. Leave the people you connect with in a better position than when you found them. Even something as simple as a smile from you can make a difference to someone. It may be the only sunshine they see today!
  3. Look for opportunities to learn. Commit to lifelong learning. It’s one of the best investments you will ever make.
  4. Bonus: Look for opportunities to do more than people expect from you. There are no traffic jams on the extra mile, because although every business owner claims to go the extra mile, very few do. Be one of the rare few.

I hope you find these opportunities interesting. More importantly, I hope you do something with them.

Social media marketing: Why platform hopping is a bad idea

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I see a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs making the same, costly mistake with social media marketing. So, I wrote this for you. I hope you find it useful.

Are you platform hopping?

When looking to improve the bankable results they achieve from social media, many people hop from platform to platform. The latest destination for platform hoppers is Snapchat. That’s why it’s packed full of frustrated business owners, trying to be the next Gary Vee.

They think they need to be there.

They’ve heard it’s where all the buzz is.

However, they find it impossible to stand out, attract attention and drive sales. They’re already waiting for the next hot platform. In case that one works.

Here’s the thing:

Platform hopping is like going on fad diets. After a few months of hard work, you’re usually in a worse place than before you started.

Why?

Because the platform is seldom the problem. It’s far more likely that you need to change (improve) your strategy, rather than change your platform. On every platform there are business owners doing great and others who struggle.

The strategy is what makes the difference.

What next?

Decide what you want to achieve. Then, find the social media platform or platforms, which are the best fit. Without knowing your exact situation and what you want to achieve, I can’t give you specific strategy advice.

There is, however, one thing that’s universally true.

If you copy what you see others doing, follow step-by-step guides or rely on social media management software, you will always struggle. For you to get the best results from social media, you need to stand out… which is impossible, via copying, following a guide or using software.
(Here’s how to stand out — no guide required.)

In short, spend less time hopping between platforms and more time improving your strategy. It’s your strategy, which makes all the difference.

Are you ready?

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I help people grow amazing businesses and outstanding enterprises.

  • I work with artists… creative souls who are passionate.
  • I work with people who want to make a difference.
  • I work with entrepreneurs who want to build something remarkable.

If that sounds like you, read this. I have just made 4 spaces available.

(Update — These spaces have now been taken. Thank you.)

5 Things you must know, to take your business to a new level

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marketing blogs, marketing advice

  1. It’s your business. You’re in total control.
  2. Nothing can happen (good or bad), without your consent. Starve your business of the resources it needs and it will die. Give your business the resources it needs and it will thrive. It’s your choice. So decide.
  3. You can improve your strategy. You can start moving in the right direction. You can stop dabbling and get intentional. There’s no need to carry on working hard, for too little reward.
  4. By using a great strategy and backing it up with action, the potential of your business is limitless.
  5. And you can begin this process today. Right now.

So, stop worrying. Instead, take control. Give your business what it needs and it will give you what you need.

The 2 essential factors behind all successful marketing

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marketing blogs, marketing help

When you’re trying to attract the attention of your marketplace, you need to stand out.

You stand out, by being different. Meaningfully different. And that’s why most small business marketing fails. It’s very similar. It’s predictable. It’s unremarkable.

How do you stand out?

Here’s what we know. You don’t stand out by following a proven system. The very fact that you’re following a system, means you’re following. It means you’re doing what everyone else using a system is doing. It means you’re invisible, because you’re adding to the noise. And your marketplace tunes out the noise.

You stand out by being courageous and creative.

  • Courage is a choice. We all feel fear. It’s how we decide to deal with the fear, which determines whether we’re courageous or not.
  • Creativity requires courage. By default, creativity is about doing things in an uncommon way. It’s about breaking new ground. The exact things your marketing needs, if you want to be highly visible to the right people.

It doesn’t matter what software you use. It doesn’t matter what social networks you use.

What matters is that you elevate your business above the noise. What matters is that you have something meaningfully different to say, which captures the attention of your marketplace.

And none of that comes from marketing systems, growth hacking or software. It doesn’t come from doing what you’re told via seminars, online training courses or books, either.

It comes from the decision to market your business with courage and creativity. It comes from getting the individual advice you need, to set your unique sail and achieve your unique goals.

Do this and your business will improve beyond all recognition.