Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Stop explaining everything. Seriously. Stop it!

by

marketing tips

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.

Growing your list

by

list building

I get a lot of questions from business owners, about how to grow their lists. And I usually start by explaining the absolute cornerstone of list-building, which is very seldom mentioned.

It’s simply this.

The idea of growing your list is based on a lie. You can not possibly grow your list or build your list.

That’s because your list is never yours. You simply borrow it. You don’t own the attention of subscribers, viewers, listeners, followers or contacts. You have to earn their attention… and then keep re-earning it.

When you stop thinking of subscribers as your subscribers, and readers as your readers, you’ll find you retain more of them and they’ll proactively recommend you to their friends.

The pay-off is huge.

With greater retention, plus a faster growth-rate, your lists will expand like a snowball. It’s the list building equivalent of compound interest.

Upside down?

by

Marketing tip

Did you know, the massive majority of small businesses are built the wrong way round?

It looks like this.

  • The business owner decides the type of service they’re going to offer.
  • They then try to find clients for their service.

That’s nuts!

It can’t work in any meaningful way.

Why? Because it’s literally (yes literally, not figuratively) the wrong way round.

The most effective business owners do the exact opposite.

It looks like this.

  • They decide the kind of clients they want to work with. For example, clients who appreciate quality, clients who are happy to pay a premium fee for a premium service, clients with the right mindset, etc.
  • Then, and only then, they decide what services to offer. The service is based around the things, which their ideal profile of client will value and desire.
  • They then market this service exclusively to these high value clients. They shun everyone else.
  • And it works spectacularly well.

If you struggle to attract the right kind of clients, consider reviewing your current strategy.

Focus on the kind of clients you most want to work with. Then, consider rebuilding your services so that those ideal clients will find extremely attractive. Delight these ideal clients and they’ll tell their friends.

It’s way more effective, than trying to sell people a service that:

  1. Wasn’t specifically built around their needs.
  2. Is similar to what your competitors are offering them.

I built my business around this model. As a result, I work with fantastic clients every day and get 93% of my new clients, via client referrals.

Competition time

by

Competition is good for business. More importantly my friend, competition is good for YOUR business.

Here’s why:

  • Competition motivates you to raise the bar and set higher standards.
  • Competition inspires you to innovate.
  • Competition compels you to leave your comfort zone.
  • Competition encourages you to differentiate yourself, so you stand out.
  • Competition leads to better products and better services for the marketplace.

As business owners, the decision we face is simple: Do we wait for an agile competitor to force us to do better, or do we take the initiative?

In other words, do we wait and react or take the lead and act?

Our response to that question is hugely important.

Why?

Because it will determine whether we give ourselves a winning advantage and achieve our full potential or find ourselves constantly playing catch-up.

How did I miss that opportunity?

by

Today’s post is especially for those business owners who want to take their business up a level or two. It’s a tricky subject, but really important.

Let’s go!

Have you ever noticed how EVERY genuinely great business opportunity looks like a risk?

It’s only afterwards, when the risk has paid off, that a risky decision looks like a no-brainer. How did I miss that opportunity when I saw it?, we cry. We missed it because we focused on the risk of a possible loss.

Hold that thought.

Conversely, every low return product or service, and every scam, is skilfully designed to appear highly valuable AND risk free (or very low risk). It’s little wonder the masses eagerly lap them up.

What this looks like to you and me:

  • Common consumer examples include those flat stomach machines and fad diet books that make millions, even though they never work.
  • The most obvious business example right now is the absolute flood of ‘digital courses’, being sold by influencers and internet marketers. Many are now selling digital courses… on how to sell digital courses. Good grief.

The challenge small business owners face is two-fold.

  1. Great business opportunities almost always look risky.
  2. Things that waste our time and money almost always look low risk.

That’s why it’s essential for us to get the balance right.

This can help you

Thankfully, our decision making leaves clues that help us identify if we need to improve things. The most obvious clue is if we find we’re dodging something we know we need to do, fearful it could go wrong, thus guaranteeing it can’t go right. Another clue is if it’s been a long time since we last made a major decision where there was risk attached. It’s also a clue if we find it a little too easy to buy products or services that promise amazing results, for very low risk, which never quite work out as promised.

It’s relatively easy to identify how good our decision making is.

The tricky part is accepting we need to improve, and then recalibrating our attitude to risk so it works for us and not against us.

How to be number one, in a category of one!

by

It’s tough being a service provider. There are so many of us in every industry. Not only that, a prospective client can find lower priced alternatives to us, on Google, in seconds.

With so many competitors, what can we do?

  • We could try and out-spend them on advertising. Of course, this eats into our profit margins.
  • We could try being the lowest priced. Of course, this almost eliminates our profits.
  • We could try joining a networking group. Of course, we’d be relying on fellow group members to provide us with leads… the very same people who need to attend the group because they can’t even get enough leads for their own businesses.

There are better alternatives though. And one that works extremely well, is to become number one in a category of one.

It’s the strategy I follow for my own business and one that could be just as effective for you and your business.

It works like this

Let’s imagine you’re an accountant. (You could equally be a mentor, financial advisor, lawyer, designer, trainer, marketing consultant or whatever). Anyhow, unlike your fellow accountants you choose to work exclusively with creative professionals. This immediately places you as number one in a category of one.

  • The fact you understand their profession at a super-deep level, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand their terminology and speak their language, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand the threats and opportunities specific to their industry, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand their unique requirements, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand the creative mindset, sets you apart from the rest.

And because you’re set apart from your former competing providers, your prospective clients will see you as massively more relevant to them and their business!

It’s hard to think of a service provider in any industry, who couldn’t transition themselves into being number one in a category of one.

Including you, my friend.