Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Stop explaining everything. Really. Stop it!

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Jim Connolly marketing, Curious

One of the most common marketing challenges facing business owners is also one of the most serious. I’m referring to a lack of regular client enquiries or sales leads.

Today, I’m going to show you a key reason why this happens, and how you can overcome it.

I need to start by asking you something: Why do prospective clients call you, email you or ask you questions?

The answer can be summed up in just one word. Curiosity.

It’s their curiosity that motivates them to get in touch with you. This means it’s their curiosity that provides you with business enquiries. So, if you want more enquiries, your task is to make them more curious.

Hold that thought for a moment.

Now, do a quick review of your marketing materials and just look at how many questions you answer about the services you provide. This is really, really important.

Why?

Because with each question answered, you reduce a prospective client’s curiosity. You make them less likely, then unlikely, to contact you with an enquiry. You proactively lose yourself the super-valuable sales leads your business needs.

The balance you want to strike, is to give them ‘just enough’ information to make them curious. Just enough information to motivate them to contact you for answers or advice.

Just enough information, so you get all those sales leads or client enquiries that you’re currently missing out on.

The marketing power of ‘Style Over Substance’

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marketing style

The following statement will sound counter-intuitive. That’s because you’ve been lied to for years. Okay. Here goes.

In marketing, there’s a case for style over substance.

It’s a strong case, too.

Just think about this for a moment.

  • The top political commentators get paid a ton of money, to deliver their take on the news for major networks.
  • The also-ran commentators get paid peanuts, to deliver their take on the news, for small, local networks.

Here’s the thing. In both cases, the news (substance) they comment on is the same. Here’s why one of them is earning 10 times or 50 times more than the other. It’s their style. The style with which they work.

For example:

  • Their courage, when choosing to take, or avoid, a controversial stance.
  • Their ability to communicate with confidence.
  • Their vocabulary.
  • Their energy.
  • Their effectiveness when injecting their personality (style) into their work, so that it’s truly theirs.

Here’s my point: When it comes to business, the substance should be there by default. Every qualified consultant, coach, lawyer, adviser, etc., knows what their service (substance) is and how it works. It’s their style that sets them apart from the crowd.

Style over substance in marketing

The newsletters, blogs, Facebook groups, YouTube channels, Social media accounts and podcasts, which people take notice of, all have their own style.

And the ones that fail to grow, fail to get noticed, fail to make an impact… well… they don’t.

Instead, they follow the cookie-cutter approach to marketing. They bought into the lie. The lie that says; ‘Just market your stuff this way, like everyone else, and it works. Follow the steps. 1-2-3’.

That’s bullcrap.

You can certainly learn substance that way. However, your style, the very thing that gets you noticed, by default, can’t possibly be learned from a marketing seminar, a course, a book or any other generalized form of information.

Why?

Because your style is all about you.

Where are you right now?

Okay, you obviously understand the services you provide extremely well. So the substance is there. You know what you’re doing. You’ve got the substance part covered.

But what about the style?

When it comes to your marketing, when it comes to the story behind your service, are you telling it from your perspective? Are you sharing the substance of your knowledge, using your voice, your perspectives and your experiences? Because these help form your style and your style is what people connect with.

  • It’s your style that sets you apart.
  • It’s your style that makes you approachable.
  • It’s your style that inspires people to share your message.
  • It’s your style that gives value to your substance.
  • It’s your style that motivates people to want to hire you or buy from you specifically.

And none of that can be copied from a book, seminar or course. Because it’s you.

In fact, with so many competitors trying to get the attention of your prospective clients, your style is the most powerful tool in your arsenal.

Photo: Shutterstock.

Marketing that sticks, is marketing that sells

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marketing that sticks sells, marketing spreads sells,

Marketing that spreads does exactly that. It spreads from one person to another. And from a sales perspective, it can be a total waste of your time, energy and focus.

REALLY?

Yup!

That’s because marketing that merely spreads isn’t necessarily marketing that produces bankable results. Clickbait headlines, cute / outrageous / funny videos, provocative images, newsjacking, etc., can all be used to make a marketing message spread like fire.

Without generating a single enquiry or lead, let alone a new client or customer!

Marketing that produces bankable results; (creates sales, attracts new clients, grows your market share, boosts your revenues and profits), is marketing that spreads AND sticks. Most business owners pay way too little attention to that last part.

Marketing that sticks?

Marketing that sticks makes the prospect pause for a moment to take action, before they spread it.

For example, if it’s online, at the very least, they’ll bookmark it or save it, so they can go back to it later and place the order, make the enquiry, fill in the form, call the number… and THEN pass it on.

Yes, marketing that spreads is marketing that sells, but only if it sticks. So be sure to include a direct request (or call to action) in all your marketing. And especially anything designed to be passed around and shared widely.

Your opinions, voice, uniqueness and AI

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human opinion, ai, chatbots, marketing

Opportunity is knocking. It’s knocking loud and it’s knocking clear.

The best part? To benefit from this spectacular opportunity you just need to be yourself.

Allow me to explain.

It starts with a statement of fact: Your opinions are exactly that. They’re yours. They’re as specific to you as your unique blend of life experiences and lessons.

Conversely, artificial intelligence doesn’t have an opinion. Everything about its knowledge base is artificial.

Instead, AI is fed with masses of data. And it’s trained by groups of AI experts. One of the primary tasks of AI trainers, is to keep their AI as neutral to everyone as possible. And in seeking not to offend anyone, AI lacks even an artificial opinion.

In stark contrast

No person who has ever lived is neutral. Unlike AI, we not only have an opinion, we have countless opinions. This includes the opinions and feelings we have regarding the way we do business. And it impacts everything, including:

  • The business tactics we rule in or rule out.
  • The atmosphere we create for our clients or customers.
  • The way we sell or negotiate.
  • The value we place on our products or services.
  • The baseline quality of service or products we provide.
  • The type of staff we hire and the way we look after them.
  • The suppliers we choose.
  • The profile of customers we want to attract (and those we want to avoid).
  • The type of promises and guarantees we provide, etc., etc.

Your business, opinions, voice and uniqueness

Your opinions matter. They always have. They’re what give you your unique voice in the marketplace.

I firmly believe that today, and for the forseeable future, that uniqueness is a powerrful way, maybe the most powerful way, for your business to gain your biggest ever slice of the marketplace.

How?

A growing number of your competitors are switching to AI for their voice. For example, AI tools are creating and guiding their business plans; what to do and what to avoid. Chatbot apps are handling their frontline customer service. Chatbots are also guiding or shaping (and in many cases providing) their; newsletter content, blog posts, video / podcast scripts, advertising copy and social media interactions, etc. In short, everything that prospective clients or customers use in order to judge these businesses, is bland and lifeless.

I’m suggesting that you adopt a very different aproach to AI.

The most savvy business owners I know are also using AI. But the way they use it, excludes every area of their business that carries their DNA. Their opinions and their voice remain 100% human. It’s what guides their messaging, their priorities, their values, their commitment, their customer service and their willingness to go the extra mile. Their businesses have a pulse and personality. They are extremely easy to connect with. They are easy to relate to. And on a very human level, they’re easy to trust. Because they are human. And so is their brand. Not dull and lifeless like the previous example.

Very soon, you’ll be able to stand out and get noticed, in a way that wasn’t possible before. The opportunity is knocking. But only for those who choose to take notice of it.

A genius marketing idea from a 19th century artist

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Back in the 1800’s, Edgar Degas said: Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

The same is true of great marketing

Successful marketing paints a compelling picture in the mind of a prospective client. It doesn’t list a series of facts or features. Instead, it talks directly to the needs and wants of your clients. It paints a picture of how you can help them. It illustrates how you’re passionate about helping them. Everything is rooted in what’s best for them. Everything.

Ineffective marketing paints a picture of the provider. It’s all about their business and the products or services they offer. It’s dry. It’s dull. It’s forgettable. And it fails to motivate people to take action.

The message, my friend, is simple. If you want to attract better clients, paint better pictures.

Let’s take a look at your website

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website copywriting, web copy

Your website looks great, but you’re not getting the marketing results you need from it. If that sounds familiar, today’s post is written specifically for you. 

Let’s go.

Your site is either working for your business or it isn’t. In order for it to work, it has to do 2 things extremely well.

  1. Prospective clients or customers need to find what they’re looking for, quickly. 
  2. When they’ve found it, your site must motivate them to take the required action. 

That’s where your focus has to be. 

Occasionally you’ll find an amazing designer who totally gets this. But they’re rare in the typical, small business price range. So, you’ll end up with a cool looking website, but the copy / messaging will be ineffective.

Your site’s task is to be a sales generating machine for you and your business. Period. It should be, and it could be, one of your most valuable business assets. 

If your site isn’t delivering a predictable, continuous flow of sales or new clients, fix it. Make the content more compelling. Use words that inspire prospects to hire you or buy from you. 

A good place to start is by finding a new copywriter. This is especially the case if you wrote the current copy yourself. Your new, motivating copy will start working for you as soon as it’s live on your site. It’s one of those areas where immediate marketing results happen. 

This is a powerful, fast-acting improvement you can make to your marketing. Something that can quickly increase your sales figures. So, what are you waiting for? 

AI created content: Big changes ahead

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AI created content, ChatGPT

People have been asking me lots of questions lately about AI. Specifically, regarding AI created content. And rightly so. Everything is going to change. Those asking me can be split into two groups.

  1. Business owners wanting to switch from paying content writers, to using AI.
  2. Content writers, who are worried that AI created content will wipe their business out.

Here are some thoughts, observations and ideas for those in either of the above groups.

Switching to AI created content?

It was 2016 when I first wrote about AI as a content creation tool, in a post called Don’t let the robots kick your ass. I’ve followed AI content developments very closely ever since. And yes, things really have improved.

However, for a business owner thinking of replacing their content writers with AI, you’ll have some small issues to contend with. That’s because it’s not currently a like-for-like swap.

In my opinion, AI content isn’t good enough to use without some editing. Here’s a piece I created in around 10 seconds using ChatGPT, with no edits, so you can see for yourself. I simply asked the software to write an article for me about the limitations of AI writing. Here’s what it produced, including the article’s title: Limitations of AI in Writing: Context, Tone, and Nuance.

Whilst the spelling and grammar are fine, the content doesn’t flow naturally as you read it. This is a common problem and means the business owner needs to know what to edit and how to edit it, so that it reads correctly and is ready to publish.

Editing takes time, if you’re not used to doing it. And quality is an issue, because the quality of the content you end up with, will be determined by your editing skills… not AI. Yes, the quality of AI content will improve to the point where little, if any editing is required. But in the short-term, it’s not quite there.

AI and content writers

Content writers who operate at the higher end of the market have nothing to fear from AI content. You’re a proven writer. You can connect with readers, engage with them and deliver the results your clients need. You’ll be absolutely fine for a very, very long time.

High quality, human crafted content, which engages the reader, with things like nuance, irony, passion and compassion, will always have a market.

The challenge, I believe, will be for content writers who serve the middle of the market.

Why?

I’ve been testing the research version of ChatGPT for some time and right now, it can create a piece of content on any subject, thousands of words long, in seconds. Scan it with a plagiarism checker and it will pass as unique. Note, in the example I gave earlier, I just pasted the text from the software, formatted it and added an image. An experienced writer will be able to edit it and turn it into an average quality piece in under 30 minutes.

That’s exactly what a lot of content-based service providers have been doing for years. They’re able to charge a low fee and earn massively more than those charging 5 times as much, because they’re producing 20 times as much content.

Soon, AI will create content that’s already as good as the average piece that’s human created. Some in my profession say it’s already possible. Either way, it won’t need human editing. It will be ready to go. And the software is already extremely simple to use, so there’s nothing to stop those with average budgets from bypassing content writers, and doing it themselves.

I think that’s the point were the ‘real’ disruption will happen.

Some thoughts

Not much is likely to change in the very near future. Though with Microsoft and Google / Alphabet now investing billions in the battle for AI supremacy, and advertising their offerings everywhere, this will change. I think a wider, general awareness of AI content will see a surge in content service providers using it, which will force fees down. It should also result in more people switching from hiring content creators, to doing it themselves with AI. As I said earlier, it’s already very easy to use.

Content providers who charge industry average fees, to clients who’ll pay industry average rates, always find it hardest to thrive. And it’s about to get even harder. Because those who currently hire them will be able to create their own content, and create as much of it as they wish, for pennies or free. Those who sell content services into the middle will need to switch to a new content service model, which is built to thrive in the age of AI. More of the same isn’t a viable option.

As with every disruptive technology, there will be winners.

Maybe a useful way forward, is to ask yourself what a winning model for your business will look like, now AI content creation is going mainline. Consider how you might put the amazing power of AI to work for you, rather than have it work against you. There’s no reason for you not to prosper mightily from the disruption.

What they want, not what you want

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Marketing focus

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 recorded a business podcast, now I want you to subscribe to it.
  2. Business owners have some pressing challenges, so I created a podcast 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 about 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.

Attract more clients with The Fine Print

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the fine print, marketing, the small print

I have something a bit different for you today. It’s a marketing tactic that helps influence people to buy from you or hire you, by destroying preconceptions about the fine print we often find in marketing messages.

Here’s what we all know about the fine print, before we even read it. It’s going to be some kind of disclaimer, informing us that the product or service they just told us about, isn’t as good as they made it sound.

This got me thinking.

What if my clients were to do something amazing and flip the fine print, so that it was a marketing asset for them?

I developed the idea in full. Then, I tested it and measured the results. Finally, I rolled the tactic out to my clients.

Here’s what happened.

Flipping the fine print

My idea was to create a big and positive impact on their cautious prospective clients [or customers]. The kind of prospects that read the fine print. Those who made bad purchasing decisions in the past, or who just like to be thorough.

Anyhow, what I did was to add fine print to my client’s marketing material. But instead of it containing a disclaimer, it gave their prospective clients an additional, motivating reason to make the purchase.

Think about that for a moment: The prospect is braced for a disclaimer, but they find a powerful benefit of my clients product or service, instead. That’s marketing dynamite!

  • It shattered negative preconceptions that their prospective clients might have had.
  • It was memorable for all the right reasons, with prospects often mentioning that they spotted it and it made them feel more reassured.
  • It built trust in my client’s services or products.

And this all combines and compounds, to make the buying decision that much easier.

Hold that thought.

Your prospective clients

Now, let’s think about your prospective clients.

How do you think they would feel about your services, if you added fine print to your marketing, which contained the same kind of preconception-shattering, motivating benefit?

Could it have a similar, positive impact on how your prospects feel about hiring you or buying from you?

Based on years of seeing it work in my client’s marketing, if you do it correctly, I believe it absolutely could.

Your sales figures. Going up!

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elevator pitch

Did you know that you can increase your sales in multiple ways, by using a great elevator pitch? Well, you can. It will work for you online and face-to-face. It will open doors for you and help you get noticed. It will help you be remembered by prospective clients or customers, too.

Here’s how you and your business can benefit mightily from this powerful, often misunderstood marketing tool.

It’s not actually a pitch

There are lots of variations, but a common definition of an elevator pitch will go something like this.

A sales pitch that can be delivered in a short period of time [the time it takes to ride an elevator].

That is incorrect. It’s a narrow, literal interpretation of what an elevator pitch is. You are never going to sell anything of value to a stranger in 20-30 seconds. What you absolutely can do, is give a compelling introduction to someone, which will motivate them to want to know more.

In other words, an elevator pitch is a pre-pitch. It’s a short, well-crafted message that inspires the person(s) listening to become interested. Interested enough to give you more time, where you can actually pitch your service or products.

Why you need an elevator pitch

Here are the core business benefits of having a short, well-crafted sales message.

You’ll create a great first impression, fast

When you connect with a prospective client for the first time, you need to be able to make a positive impact quickly. This is true whether it’s face-to-face or online. A motivating elevator pitch will allow you to do exactly that. People are busy and your pitch will ensure they hear what they need to know, with clarity and without delay.

Preparation

It takes time to develop a great elevator pitch. By the time you have it down, you’ll know it by heart. And because it’s a short message, it’s also an easy message to remember. That means it will stick. It also means that whenever you’re in a situation, where someone asks you about your business, you’ll have the perfect answer to hand.

And that’s not all. The feeling of being prepared and knowing you have a powerful message to share, boosts your confidence. And that confidence is then transmitted to whoever is listening, which makes your message vastly more compelling.

How to write your elevator pitch

I strongly recommend you don’t write one from scratch by yourself. Instead, find a free one from a credible source online and refine it, so that it’s directly relevant to you, your services or products. There are hundreds of free examples and templates for you to choose from via your search engine of choice.

Why refine an expertly written elevator pitch, rather than write your own? The toughest form of written marketing is what’s known as writing short. Even professional copywriters struggle with writing short. That’s because you have very few words and every one of them needs to count. You’re trying to motivate, educate and leave a powerful first impression, within those tight confines.

If at all possible, find an industry-specific example to refine. That’s because a different approach is required for every industry. Here’s what I mean. The pitch used by a family law firm will need to be different from that of an oven-cleaning franchise. The pitch used by that oven-cleaning franchise will need to be different from that of a private school.

It’s reasonably easy to create an effective elevator pitch and the benefits massively outweigh the time it will take you. Start with a good quality example or template to work from and you’ll be good to go in no time.