Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing ideas to help you grow your business

Before you publish, hit pause!

by

internet marketing, optimization, digital marketing

I want you to think about the following for a moment:

  • The last tweet you sent.
  • The last newsletter you published.
  • The last snap you shared.
  • The last Facebook update you posted.

Each of those actions could easily be a prospective customer’s first exposure to you (and your business). If so, it will help form their first impression of you.

Here’s the thing. First impressions count.

  • First impressions count, even if you are having a bad day.
  • First impressions count, even if they are inaccurate.
  • And first impressions count, because if you screw it up, you often won’t get a second chance!

So, what’s the solution?

Well, here’s something that can certainly help you.

Drum roll please…

Pause… for thought

It pays to pause for a few moments before you publish anything. That’s because most of what you publish is easy to find via search engines or the social networks you use. And we know that the vast majority of people now check providers out, before deciding to hire them or buy from them.

Think about the wider, longer-term implications of what you are saying. Never underestimate the impact of an angry tweet, a needy Linkedin post or a spammy Facebook update, etc. Once it’s published, it’s out there. It’s in play. It’s carrying your name. And it’s carving your reputation!

Tip: Read this » How To Build a World Class Reputation.

21 Tips to build a better business

by

business tips

In no particular order:

  1. People buy what they want. Not what they need. You need to understand this and adjust your marketing accordingly.
  2. The word ‘Webinar’ carries a huge amount of negative baggage. It’s purely toxic. If you want to use video marketing, call it something less sleazy.
  3. People buy for their reasons. Not yours.
  4. You don’t have any clients, customers or subscribers. Instead, you borrow them. You need to earn and then re-earn their custom, attention and trust.
  5. When you want to generate high quality cash flow fast… find new products for your customers. It’s way quicker and far more profitable, than finding new customers for your products.
  6. Your brand is either working for you or against you. Tip: If you haven’t intentionally created a brand for your business, it’s working against you. It’s losing you money. Fix it.
  7. Low quality customers or clients are the unavoidable result of bad marketing.
  8. Keeping your promises is a proven way to build a great reputation.
  9. Everything your business does, is marketing. The way you answer the phone, your payment terms, the suppliers you choose, they way you reply to emails, your location, the way you write, the design of your website, your prices or fees, your guarantees, your social network updates… it’s all marketing.
  10. Build an email list of prospective clients or customers. Don’t rely on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter or any 3rd party, for your communication channel. It’s like building a house on rented land. Attract people via 3rd party platforms. Then, encourage them to subscribe to your email list.
  11. A confused mind always says no. So keep your marketing as brief and clear as possible. Fewer options. Fewer words.
  12. Businesses with a small marketing budget tend to go broke. They dabble with DIY marketing, whilst their savvy competitors eat their lunch.
  13. The most powerful marketing is permission based. When people subscribe to your list, your message is treated very differently, than an unsolicited email from a stranger.
  14. Don’t lower your prices or fees. Increase your value. Here’s how.
  15. Stop waiting for the right opportunity. Make it happen. Create it.
  16. Learn how to make your marketplace curious. Why do prospective clients call you or email you? It’s because they need to know something and their curiosity motivates them to get in touch. So, you get a sales lead or client enquiry. And a chance to convert them into a new client or customer. Don’t explain everything in your marketing, unless you want very few sales enquiries.
  17. The more your services or products resemble what your competitors offer, the less visible your business is.
  18. Embrace brevity. Shorter messages are more powerful. Most marketing I see is at least 75% too long.
  19. Avoid using buzzwords. Those who don’t understand them will be confused. Those who do understand them, will cringe.
  20. Tell the truth. It’s the easiest, least stressful way to build a great business and your marketplace will respect you.
  21. If your business isn’t attracting regular sales leads or client enquiries, your marketing is broken. The very thing that feeds your business isn’t working. It’s costing you a fortune. Needlessly. Why are you allowing this to happen? Think about that for a moment.

How to make your Content Marketing massively more compelling

by

content marketing

Which of these approaches do you find the most compelling?

  1. I wrote this blog post, now I want you to read it.
  2. There’s an idea I believe your business will benefit from, so I wrote this post for you.

And which of these 2 do you prefer?

  1. I made this audio program, now I want you to buy it.
  2. Business owners struggle with this challenge, so I created an audio program to help you.

Your marketplace is far more attracted to the second approach in those examples. Despite this, almost every small business marketing message is based on the first approach. They market from a self-focused mindset, rather than concentrating on the needs (or wants) of their marketplace. And it loses them sales and client enquiries… all day every day.

Smarter marketing

Your marketing needs to be smarter than that, if you want people to hire you or buy from you.

Remember: Every business exists in order to solve problems. Your prospective clients or customers don’t care what you want. They care about answers to their problems.

What next?

Spend some time reviewing your marketing. Shift the emphasis of any self-focused material, from what you want to what they want. Show them how passionate you are about helping them. Show them you care. And make solving their problems the cornerstone of your marketing messages.

Sure, pushing sales messages at people may be easy. But it’s spectacularly ineffective.

Bonus tip: How to build a massively valuable community, without Facebook or any other network.

7 Naked truths about marketing

by

marketing advice, marketing help

  1. Embrace brevity. Your marketing content is almost certainly 75% too long. Fix it. Your prospective clients or customers are being bombarded with emails, texts, social media updates, phone calls. Their time (and attention) has never been under so much pressure. So get to the point. And quickly.
  2. Most marketing advice is toxic to your business. Be especially cautious of anyone offering tricks or short-cuts to marketing success. Short-cuts to success are seldom short-cuts and they never lead to success.
  3. In business, everything you do is marketing. Yes, everything. From the way you answer the phone, reply to emails and the design of your website… to your ability to meet deadlines, the customer service you offer and your opening hours. It’s all saying something about you. Either positive or negative. Nothing is neutral. Everything counts.
  4. Great marketing is no match for an average product or service. You are not ready to market anything, until you have pumped a massive amount of value into it, first.
  5. Don’t expect professional marketing results from amateur marketing. If you’re serious about growing a successful business, stop treating your marketing like some DIY project. It’s the life-blood of your business.
  6. If you need to attend networking events, to try and get people talking about your business, ask yourself “why”? Why aren’t people automatically talking about you? Spend more time creating a business worth talking about and less time pushing what’s broken.
  7. You will never be one webinar away from marketing success. Ever.

Hopefully, you will find at least 1 thing on that list that will stop you from wasting your time or money. The question now is, what are you going to do about it?

**News Update: There are currently just 6 spaces remaining. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

How to create urgency and massively boost your sales

by

marketing advice, marketing help

When it comes to marketing, deadlines are extremely powerful.

Here’s why:

  • They capture attention.
  • They focus the mind.
  • They create a sense of urgency.

People hate to miss out. They want to get it before it’s gone. So, when they know they have to take action before it’s too late, it significantly increases how urgently they treat the message. It’s why deadlines are used by every successful brand.

So, look for opportunities to add a deadline date to your marketing messages. Then see how all that increased attention, focus and urgency improves your response rates.

Turn your website into a client generating machine

by

content marketing

Is your website a sales machine for your business? Well, it should be and it could be! Here are 3 places to focus on for better results in 2018.

1. Does your website look professional?

When people arrive on your website, what they see is either building trust in your business or destroying trust.

Think of it like this: A powerful marketing message on a poorly designed website, is like a beautiful meal served on a dirty plate!

Your website is creating a powerful, immediate impression in the mind of your prospective clients. Get it right and prospective clients will hang around long enough for your content to connect with them.

2. Did you write the marketing content of your website?

I’m talking primarily about the sales pages, where you want people to take action; to hire you, buy from you, call you, email you, etc.

If you did write these pages yourself, I have some great news and some bad news for you.

  • The great news is you can improve your conversion rate by hundreds (or thousands) of percent, by hiring a professional copywriter to write your marketing pages correctly.
  • The bad news is that it’s losing you a fortune in missed sales or client enquiries, every day that you delay.

If your site gets visitors, but very few convert into customers or clients, the answer is simple. Hire a proven professional to make your marketing message as irresistible as possible.

Problem solved.

3. Do you sell, sell, sell on your website or blog?

If you do, stop it. Seriously.

Here’s why: If your website is largely just selling, people will regard it as one big advertisement for your business. And people don’t like ads! That’s why we skip through the ads on TV. It’s why people pay apps like Spotify to remove the ads.

Instead, use YOUR website to build trust. Use it to provide education, related to your services or products. Use it to provide useful information.

In other words, use your website to position you as an authoritative expert… by showcasing your knowledge, experience and the value you provide.

Tip: Put the marketing pages of your site where they can be seen. Link to them from pages or blog posts, which provide free, useful information (like I do in the final paragraph of this post).

Finally, I hope you find this information useful my friend. More importantly, I hope you make 2018 the year you get serious about the potential of your website.

Make no mistake, it can be a sales or client generating machine for your business, so long as you market it correctly.

FREE marketing tips and advice

Get new articles direct to your inbox. Just add your email below. I respect your privacy.