Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

How to create marketing that works

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Marketing that sells

I have a very effective marketing idea to share with you today. I’m going to show you how to create marketing, which people will value and that’s powerful enough to inspire them to hire you or buy from you. It’s based on the work I do with some of my clients and includes a brief case study, which you can learn from.

So, let’s get started.

Receiving attention or paying attention?

It starts with understanding that there’s a huge difference between someone receiving your message and someone paying attention to it.

For example, TV viewers are sent targeted marketing messages (commercials) during TV shows. What do most of us do? We fast forward through them or if watching the show in real-time, we go and make a coffee. Just because they send their messages, doesn’t mean we are paying attention.

For your marketing to work, you need to get a great message in front of the right people. In order to get this correct, here’s the key question we need to ask ourselves:

If I stopped my email marketing campaign or I stopped publishing my blog posts, newsletter etc, would people really MISS them?

As a quick look at the marketing you receive every day confirms, for most people the honest answer to that question is NO! We get bombarded with dull, uninspiring sales messages all day and see them as an intrusion, rather than something of value.

Of course, for that tiny minority of small businesses who DO produce marketing, which people genuinely value and would miss if it were to stop, the sky is the limit.

I’m going to share the process required to make this work for your business later in this post.

First, we need to understand why there’s so much dull and ineffective marketing out there.

Dull is cheap. Dull is fast. Dull is easy!

It’s cheap, fast and easy to create a dull marketing message and push it to a lot of people. As a result, there’s no barrier to entry today.

Things were very different 15 years ago. Back then, if a small business owner wanted to send a mail shot to 50,000 people, she’d have to spend some serious money.

  • She’d have to cover the cost of the mailing list.
  • Then she would need to pay for all that paper and the printing.
  • Next she would need to pay a company to get the letters folded and inserted into the 50,000 envelopes.
  • Then there’s the huge postage costs for those 50,000 pieces of mail.

All in all, it would cost many thousands. She would need to think long and hard about the value of what she put into those envelopes. Get it wrong and she would pay a hefty price.

Today, everything has changed

That same business owner today, can hit 50,000 people using cheap email software and her laptop. It costs just a little of her time. If it fails, maybe tomorrow’s one will work.

In short, it’s never been cheaper or easier to push dull, uninspired, poorly thought out, selfish marketing out the door.

So, that’s exactly what millions of people are doing. This is why there’s so much junk in your email inbox and on your social networking accounts.

How to get it right

There is an alternative approach I want to share with you, so people welcome your marketing, share it and hire you or buy from you. It requires that you take the exact opposite approach, to 99% of the marketing you see out there. 

It’s about shifting the focus of your marketing, so that it’s primarily of benefit to the people who receive it and secondarily of benefit to you.

It’s about producing content (audio, video, articles, blog posts, newsletters, social networking updates etc), which provide independent value to those who receive it. This means they get genuinely valuable or useful information from it, independent of them needing to spend a penny with you.

An example of how this works, based on one of my clients

Imagine you are a dog owner and after a trip to the vet, you subscribe to their dog owner’s newsletter. It gives you useful tips and ideas, to help you keep your dog healthy, fit and happy. At the bottom of each email are their contact details, so you can call them when you need a vet.

You find this free information so valuable and interesting, that you send it to 10 of your dog-owning friends.

  • They subscribe and then do the same.
  • Then these new subscribers share it too, and on and on it goes.
  • The amazingly valuable, highly-targeted readership just keeps on growing!

Soon, that vet (a former client of mine) was talking to thousands of local dog owners and positioned themselves in their marketplace, as THE place to take your dog for all its veterinary needs.

Their newsletter was eagerly anticipated by it’s readers. Yes, people wanted to hear from them and valued what they had to share.

Compare that vet’s approach to the typical marketing messages we see.

  • That vet doesn’t need to run expensive radio ads.
  • They have no need to waste time on Facebook. They own the communication channel with their prospective clients (by using email)!
  • They have no need to buy mailing lists.
  • They don’t need to waste valuable hours at networking events.
  • They certainly don’t need to pester people on social networks or ask strangers for recommendations on Linkedin.
  • They don’t need to invest in anything, other than the creativity required to produce a genuinely valuable newsletter, with useful content.

That example shows how a business can grow a massively powerful marketing asset, by sharing real value, rather than pushing unwanted messages. If you want to thrive in today’s exceptionally volatile economy, this is the kind of marketing you need.

The kind of marketing that increases in value every day.

The kind of marketing that requires zero advertising spend.

The kind of marketing that connects you with prospects in a way they actually look forward to and share with their friends.

In fact, the exact kind of marketing I have been creating for my clients, since the mid 1990’s. It works. And it works in every economy.

Using an asterisk can ruin your sales results

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asterisk, small print, marketing copywriting, copy writing

You’re reading about a product or service.

It sounds amazing.

Then you spot it!

You spot the dreaded *asterisk. And your heart sinks.

You know you’re about to be disappointed. You’re about to discover the exclusions, restrictions and conditions, which means that offer isn’t as good as they said it was.

They could have told you the truth without hiding it behind the asterisk. However, they deliberately chose not to. They intentionally concealed it from you. And in a split second, they’ve totally changed how you feel about them.

You wonder what else they’re hiding from you.

Your guard is up.

You’ve switched from eager buyer to sceptic.

Eliminate the asterisk risk

If a business owner feels they need to hide something behind an asterisk, there are always better alternatives.

The most effective alternative, is to make the product or service as good as you said. This eliminates the need for an asterisk. Plus, it simultaneously pumps more value into your offering, making it more attractive and giving you a huge competitive advantage.

Another powerful alternative is to state, in honest and clear language, exactly what you’re offering. And include whatever would have been behind the asterisk, out in the open.

For example.

Imagine it’s an introductory deal, offering your service at a reduced price for the first 3 months. Rather than quote the introductory price (and hide the fact it increases after 3 months, behind an asterisk), tell them up front. Let people know that you’re so confident they’ll love your service, you’re offering it at a super-low discount, so they can discover for themselves, why it’s outstanding value at the regular price.

Everyone has a social media megaphone

Social networks give your prospects a powerful voice. That voice can either be used to tell everyone how great you are, or how disappointed they are. Thankfully, you get to choose the kind of experience that’s being shared.

That’s why the smartest brands aim for honesty and transparency at every opportunity. It’s also why they refuse to hide the truth behind an asterisk.

How to get people to take action, right now

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Marketing motivation, take action

Here’s the foundation of all successful marketing. In just 7 words.

It motivates people to take action, now.

Let’s break that down and also see how it works.

  1. It motivates people: It gives them a compelling reason. A reason, which is powerful enough to grab their attention and generate enough desire within them that they’re ready for the next step.
  2. To take action: It makes a direct request. It asks them to; call us, click here, proceed to checkout, visit us, read this, subscribe, etc.
  3. Now: It asks them, whilst their motivation is high, to take the action required. Right now. Straight away. That’s because even if they love what you said and are genuinely interested, their attention will soon jump onto the next thing. This could be a notification on their phone, a delivery person might arrive with a package for them or they suddenly notice it’s time to meet their friend for lunch… and you’ll lose them. They tell themselves “I’ll do it later” and later becomes never.

The marketing from most small and medium-sized businesses is missing at least one of those essential steps. It’s either not motivating enough, lacks a direct call to action or doesn’t generate sufficient urgency. And it’s losing these businesses an absolute fortune.

We have to be smarter than that.

How to overcome the problem

Take a look at all your marketing messages and check you have all 3 of those steps fully covered. Try to be as open-minded as possible. Make sure it’s motivating, action driven and urgent. If you think any of those areas can be improved, improve them. Repeat this process until you have fully maximized everything.

Then remind yourself that you’ll always be able to wrestle another few percent improvement… and do it again. It’s hard to overstate what a massive, positive impact this will have on your marketing and sales results.

3 Tips to help you regularly create great Content Marketing

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content marketing tips

If you’ve ever wondered, how some people are able to regularly produce effective content marketing; (newsletters, blog posts, articles, podcasts, etc), and how you can do the same, this post is for you.

I’ve divided it into 3 core tips.

1. Is this useful?

There’s a sign on the wall in my studio. It’s a small sign, containing just 3 words: “Is this useful”. That’s the mark I set for everything I create. Nothing gets published unless I believe you’ll find it useful. I don’t try and be clever. Just useful. And as long as I think you’ll find an idea or observation useful, I share it.

Some small business owners are put off creating content, because they over-complicate things. They dig into minute detail. And try to make everything as close to perfect as possible.

The thing is, your prospective clients or customers want something useful, not perfect.

Once you stop aiming for perfection you’ll find it a lot easier. You’ll also get massively better results.

2. Don’t let crappy ideas block you

If you’re anything like me, you’ll find that most of the ideas you get are pretty average. Most of mine are bloody terrible! But maybe 1 in 5 or 1 in 10 are good enough, to be turned into a valuable (useful) piece of content marketing.

The challenge is that in order to get that 1 useful idea, you need to allow yourself to have the crappy ones… without getting disheartened.

The way I overcame this, was to deliberately give myself permission to think of lots of crappy ideas, knowing that something useful would come from it.

When you view the duff ideas as essential steps in the development of better ones, they switch from being disheartening to highly motivating.

3. Give your work the respect it deserves

We often overestimate the ideas and the work of others and underestimate the value of our own. Here’s a great example of what I mean.

A business owner told me how she was taking some files off a computer for archiving, when she discovered an old documents folder. It contained loads of articles, which were really interesting. She looked to see who wrote them and found they were all her own work, from 9 years earlier!

She didn’t publish them at the time, because she thought they weren’t good enough. It was only when she thought they were written by someone else, that she saw them for what they really were. Your work is almost certainly way, way better than you think.

So get it out there!

In short, if you’re looking to improve the quality and quantity of your content marketing, focus on being useful. See your crappy ideas as necessary steps to your useful ideas.

And give your work the respect it (and you) deserve.

It’s the biggest lie in business

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Biggest lie in business, marketing motivation

Are you tired of prospective clients (or customers), who don’t get back to you when they say they will? If you are, here’s something you may find extremely useful. It’s all about the biggest lie in business.

Here’s the thing. Whenever a prospective client tells you they didn’t have the time to meet you, return your call or consider your offer… they’re lying.

The biggest lie in business is…

They had the time!

And you already knew this.

You already knew full well that.

  • They had the time to do all the urgent or important things. Obviously.
  • They also had the time to do stuff that interested them; check the news about that big story, text a friend, share a funny TikTok video.
  • Oh, and they definitely had enough time to check their social media accounts. Multiple times.

What they lacked wasn’t time.

No.

What they lacked was… motivation.

Specifically, the motivation to do whatever you requested. They just didn’t want to tell you. They thought they were being nice. The truth is that as far as they were concerned, whatever you requested wasn’t important or urgent enough. So, they didn’t consider it a priority. And that’s why it didn’t get done.

Okay Jim, how do I stop this from happening, and massively improve my results?

That’s a great question!

Here’s an answer…

Motivation, attraction and deadlines

To motivate your prospective clients and customers to take action, you need to do the following.

  • Make your offer as attractive as possible.
  • Start by looking at what you’re asking your prospects to do and make it sound more captivating. More interesting. More compelling. Remember, motivation comes from the words Motive and Action. When the motive is powerful enough, the action follows. So, use all your creativity to make whatever you’re offering as compelling as possible.
  • Then give them a deadline. Deadlines focus the mind. They create urgency, which is exactly what you need in order to motivate prospects to take action!
  • Note: Here’s another example of how to use deadlines.

Make no mistake, the most powerful way to motivate your prospective clients to take action, is to provide them with a highly compelling offer, which is attached to a deadline.

Get those 2 steps right and you’ll find the marketplace will make time for you. You’ll also enjoy a dramatic improvement in your sales and marketing results. And you’ll become pretty-much free from the biggest lie in business!

Publish the process: How I write almost everything

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ia writer, distraction-free, writing

I thought it was about time that I shared another Publish the process piece with you. These are where I publish (or share) the process behind my work, including tips I have learned along the way.

Today, I’m sharing the app I use for writing my newsletter, my articles, my posts, my client’s marketing copy… every digital word I produce.

Let’s go!

The above image is taken from my Mac. It’s an app called iA Writer and you can visit their site here. It’s available for Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android and it’s surprisingly inexpensive, especially as it is sold as a one-off purchase, with no annual or monthly fee. For example, the Mac version is currently $29.99.

Why do I use it for everything?

Simple.

The app massively increases my productivity and dramatically improves the quality of what I produce. It gets out of the way. Allowing me to focus exclusively on whatever I choose to write about.

iA Writer and distraction free writing

With iA Writer there are no distractions.

None at all.

The moment you start to type, the screen goes blank. Except for a flashing cursor. The app uses something called markdown. This means you don’t need to use a mouse. You don’t need to access a menu.

Formatting text, adding links, inserting images, in fact everything can be done without taking your hands off the keyboard!

Once you have text on the screen, you can set iA Writer to focus only on the sentence or paragraph you’re currently typing. The remainder of the text fades into the background. It’s there, but fainter. This helps me remain 100% engaged with exactly what I am thinking / typing in that moment.

It’s a feature that by itself, has been of huge benefit to me.

The lack of distractions provides a very productive writing experience. An experience that for me, and many others, has radically improved our writing.

There are a number of distraction-free apps out there. I’ve tried a few, but none can match the level of focus I enjoy with iA Writer.

Is iA Writer what YOU need?

As regular readers will know, I don’t do reviews. However, there are lots of iA Writer reviews available if you do a quick search. This video review is amongst the best. It also has lots of handy tips if you already use the app and want to get more from it.

Yes, as you can see I love iA Writer.

That said, it’s one of those tools that people tend to either love or fail to see any reason to use it. So do your research. Because it might, just might, give you the same kind of productivity boost that it has given me over the past decade.

Update:

Since writing this, iA Writer 6 has launched. It includes additional features. Read more here.

Here’s 1 word that can destroy your results. And 12 better alternatives

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marketing, copy, content marketing

When it comes to creating successful marketing, the word ‘new’ is overrated. Moreover, it can critically damage the effectiveness of your marketing, losing you sales or client enquiries in the process.

There are 2 main reasons why this happens.

  1. A new product or service is thought of as risky. Untested. Less robust. At best, it’s a bigger gamble than the existing solution. At worst, the customer feels like a paying guinea pig. Ouch!
  2. A new product or service is seldom, if ever, the best. It lacks the improvements that come from years of customer feedback.

Yes, when you have an announcement to make (like moving to new premises), people expect to see ‘new’ and they understand the context.

The challenge comes when a key part of your marketing message is that you offer a new way to do something. Even some big brands struggle to sell ‘new’ to people, despite multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. Who remembers ‘New Coke”?

Thankfully you can totally avoid this problem.

Here are some far better alternatives

Instead of relying on ‘new’, offer your marketplace something more compelling. More secure. More attractive. More motivating. And a great deal more appealing.

For example, rather than offering your prospects a ‘new’ way to (whatever), look at the core benefit of your product or service. Then market that benefit to them instead.

Here are 12 alternatives that I have used very successfully over the years. All of which offer the prospect a more attractive benefit.

  1. A faster way.
  2. A secure way.
  3. An enjoyable way.
  4. A greener way.
  5. A stylish way.
  6. A stress-free way.
  7. An original way.
  8. A premium quality way.
  9. A proven way.
  10. An ethical way.
  11. A guaranteed way.
  12. A cost effective way.

The key is to intentionally use words that paint better mental pictures. Pictures that build trust and inspire people to take action. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen this simple adjustment lead to radically better marketing results.

So, do a review of your current marketing and look for opportunities to replace the word new, with a better alternative.

Discover how the top companies keep getting the best referrals

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In today’s post, I’m going to show you a powerful way to get more, great people talking about the services you provide. But that’s not all. I’m also going to explain how to overcome a major problem: how to get people to say the right things about you.

KFC image

I’ll even throw in a world-class example of how it works.

Okay let’s go

The starting point, is to decide exactly what you want people to say. Otherwise, you’re relying on them making something up on the spot. And usually, when someone is asked if they can recommend a provider, it will be a generic, weak message.

For example, if you ask someone if they have an accountant they’d recommend, the reply is usually something like; “Sure. We’re happy with the (Whatever) Accountancy Firm”.

That’s nice.

But all it really says, is that this particular person is happy with the service they receive. It’s the bare minimum. It’s vague. It says nothing about the service this accountancy firm provides. And it’s certainly not compelling.

Here’s why this matters to you: It’s entirely possible you’re already being regularly referred or recommended to great prospective clients. But you’re unaware, because, as in the above example, the referral is totally ineffective. And an ineffective referral is close to worthless.

Let’s see how the fastest growing companies overcome this problem.

How to get this right

Okay, let’s look at that accountancy firm again.

Only this time, they were professionally marketed and had already incorporated a short, memorable strapline in their branding. Something like “building stronger businesses”. If used correctly, that 3 word phrase would become an automatic part of their referrals.

So, instead of; “Sure. We’re happy with the (Whatever) Accountancy Firm.”

You get; “Sure. We’re happy with the (Whatever) Accountancy Firm. They specialize in building stronger businesses.”

That second referral is massively more powerful with far greater impact.

Think about it. If someone is looking for a new accountant, they’re clearly not happy with their current one. If we assume their existing accountant isn’t really interested in their business, a trusted referral about an accountant that focuses on building stronger businesses is exactly what they want to hear. Such referrals could be 2X, 5X or maybe 10X more powerful at encouraging people to call the accountant, than a simple “we’re happy with them”.

Here’s the thing: Most businesses make it too hard for their clients, customers or friends to know what to say when referring them. And it loses them a fortune.

Make it easier. Correctly integrate an easy to remember 3 or 4 word strapline into your marketing, so people don’t have to make something up on the spot. When you get it right, that strapline becomes part of the conversations people have about you.

That example took me 30 seconds to come up with. Now let’s look at a proven, world-class example of how this works.

How good is their food?

The marketing team behind Kentucky Fried Chicken wanted to give their diners a simple way to describe how delicious the food was. So, they made it very simple. They placed a short, powerful strapline on all their packaging.

It described their food as, “finger lickin’ good”.

And the rest is history!

Those who ate and enjoyed their chicken, now knew exactly what to tell their friends. Moreover, they were delivering an amazingly powerful, professionally written marketing message.

Regardless of whether you happen to like fried chicken, the mental image created with that message is powerful. The idea of people enjoying their food so much that they licked their fingers, would surely motivate their hungry friends to give KFC a try. Plus, because people who eat at fast-food restaurants know other people who also enjoy fast-food, it was pure, marketing gold.

So, the message spread. Millions or billions of times. Worldwide.

Try this

Take some time to think about want you want people to say about your business or the service you provide. Then, spend as much time as necessary crafting a powerful, extremely short strapline. If you don’t have the time or expertise to get this right, find a professional who will do it for you.

Just don’t keep missing out on great word of mouth referrals or targeted sales leads, because people aren’t recommending you correctly.

Boost your sales. With Time Wasters!

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deal time wasters, convert time wasters, marketing time wasters

How do you feel about people, who either ask you questions about your service or look around your products… then leave without buying?

Some business owners get angry. That’s understandable. They perceive these people to be time wasters. In doing so, they miss out on an extremely valuable opportunity. They leave a huge business asset on the table, untapped. An asset, which could help them massively improve their sales figures.

The asset I’m referring to, is the feedback that so-called time wasters can provide you with.

Allow me to explain.

You attract time wasters for a reason

If you’re attracting too many of the wrong type of enquiries, there’s a reason.

It’s usually a sign that:

  • Your marketing message needs to be improved.
  • You are marketing to the wrong people.
  • Or both.

It’s very easy to learn which applies to your marketing, so long as you ask for feedback. Armed with this information, you can then adapt and improve your marketing so you attract the right kind of enquiries from the right prospects.

Before they end the call or leave your premises, ask something like: What was it that prompted you to (visit or call) us today? This will give you some outstandingly valuable feedback to work with.

For example

  • If people often say they were looking for a low-priced whatever, (yet your prices are average or above average), you need to review your marketing message. Take a look and see if you are overstating how low your prices are.
  • If you are not overstating how low your prices are, then you could well be targeting your marketing message at people with too small a budget.

You get the idea.

The key is to get as much feedback as you can from those who fail to hire you or buy from you. It will help you improve your marketing message, improve your targeting and generate more (lots more) business!

So, reframe how you think about time wasters. Speak with them. Listen. Learn from their feedback. Then, make the necessary adjustments and improvements to your marketing. Don’t just assume that someone is a time waster and therefore of no value to your business.

Their feedback could be commercial gold dust.

In fact, it usually is.

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.

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