Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

1 Word that can destroy your marketing, plus 12 better alternatives

by

Marketing words, power words

Photo: Shutterstock.

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 this happens.

  1. A new product or service is always seen as a risky bet. 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.

Thankfully, you can totally avoid this problem.

Use better alternatives

Instead of relying on ‘new’, offer your marketplace something more compelling. More secure. More attractive. More motivating.

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

So, instead of a ‘new’ way, you could offer them one or more of the following 12 alternatives.

  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.

So, use words that paint better mental pictures. Pictures that build trust and inspire people to take action.

For almost 25 years, I’ve helped business owners worldwide to achieve their best results ever. Today, I’m offering you the same opportunity, on my Marketing Mentor Program. Read this. It’s the most popular and the most valuable service I’ve ever offered.

Wanted

by

What is your marketing doing to motivate people to want your services?

Let me expand on that a little.

  • Your prospective customer may need to relax, but unless he wants to relax at your coffee shop, the place down the street gets his custom.
  • Your prospective client may need a new service provider, but unless she wants to hire you, someone else will get her custom.

If you’re not attracting enough new clients, start by looking at how big a ‘want‘ your marketing is creating, compared to your competitors.

And if you REALLY want to be WANTED, and enjoy your best results ever in 2020, join me on my marketing mentor program before the January rush!

Minimum or maximum can make you a fortune

by

marketing, minimum maximum

Photo: Shutterstock.

There are two business models, which have proven time and again to be extremely successful.

They are:

  1. Focusing on the minimum you can deliver.
  2. Focusing on the maximum you can deliver.

In today’s post, I’ll show you how both of these work, PLUS how to keep your current business model and open up a whole new marketplace!

Let’s start by looking at those 2 models.

The minimum model

The business owner who takes the first option, will focus all their smarts and creativity on cost efficiencies. They’ll embrace automation and AI. They’ll search for ways to lower their overhead on a weekly or daily basis. They’ll know exactly what the minimum required is and they’ll deliver on it.

There is a huge marketplace willing to pay for a stripped back product or service. We see them everywhere; no-frills airlines, feature phones, late booking websites, low price stores, etc.

The minimum model works. Really, really well.

The maximum model

The business owner who takes the second option, will focus all their smarts and creativity on excellence. They’ll place a premium on exceptional customer service. They’ll set the highest possible standards and achieve them. They’ll need to unceasingly focus on delighting their customers at every opportunity.

There is a marketplace who are desperate to be treated this way. And they eagerly, willingly pay a premium. It’s an exceptionally profitable marketplace, too.

The middle of the road

The problem comes if you fail to choose… and end up somewhere in the space between those 2 successful business models.

For example.

  • Better than the minimum quality, but not premium either.
  • Less expensive than the premium brands, but not inexpensive enough for the price-sensitive.
  • Products or services that are fine, but not remarkable enough for people to tell their friends.

By failing to choose, you fall into the anonymous middle of the road; where there’s very little interest and where it’s really, really hard to get noticed. There are of course some established brands who successfully plug the middle ground.

However, it takes a ton of resources (and a MEGATON of money) to stand out, when by default, a business is doing middle of the road stuff. No one talks about the unremarkable. No one. So, these businesses need to push their message via paid advertising.

Middle of the road businesses are also why networking groups exist. They have to push for referrals, because their message doesn’t (can’t) spread organically. They’re stuck in a frustrating, unending and very expensive fight for attention.

Your highly lucrative, new income stream

You can enjoy all the benefits above, whilst still retaining your existing model.

How?

By developing an additional new brand, dedicated exclusively to either the maximum or the minimum edge of your marketplace.

Think about that for a moment.

This gives you the safety net of your existing model. Plus, it provides you with all the amazing opportunities that come from serving one of those highly lucrative edges. It opens up a lot of potential, yet with relatively low risk.

Yes, it takes planning. But I’ve worked on this with many clients over the years, and the results can be spectacular. It will allow you to open up a whole new legion of prospective customers or clients. I’ve seen what’s possible and it’s definitely worth considering, as part of your 2020 business development.

7 Things that will grab the attention of your marketplace (and how to use them)

by

markeing, get noticed

Photo: Shutterstock.

I’ve talked a lot lately, about the importance of being useful with your marketing. A number of you have asked me, if I can give you some specific topics you can use, which your prospective clients (or customers) will be attracted to.

And that’s exactly what I’ve done for you today.

So, for Ashley, Hasan, Thomas, Noah, JJ, Padraig, Ben, Melissa, Calvin and Georgia (and you, dear reader), here are some almost-universally useful topics. Each one represents something, which your clients and future clients are attracted to or extremely attracted to.

Start off by thinking about the services you provide or your product range. Then, consider the following topics and how you can incorporate them into your content marketing or general marketing messages. Each topic ends with a question, to help you focus on how it applies to your business.

  1. People have an inbuilt need to feel connected: What are you doing, to connect them with useful contacts? The Wall Street Journal wrote about how I achieved this, for one of my clients – 4 Marketing Strategies That Paid Off For Small Companies
  2. Everyone is trying to succeed at something: What are you doing, to help people achieve their targets, goals or dreams?
  3. We all need security: What are you doing, to help people reduce risk or feel secure and safe?
  4. We also share a common need for a sense of belonging: What are you doing, to create a community?
  5. Everyone wants to avoid wasting time: What are you doing, to help people maximize their time, or help them complete certain tasks, faster?
  6. People want to improve and expand their knowledge: What are you doing, to share useful information with them. This is the cornerstone of successful content marketing.
  7. Everyone wants to avoid unnecessary stress: What are you doing, to help people feel more relaxed and assured?

Are any of those topics missing from your marketing messages or content marketing? If they are, look for ways to incorporate them. Whatever industry you’re in, you should be able to benefit from all 7 topics. And if your business doesn’t do anything to address one or more of these needs, look for a way to add it to your services.

3 Ideas to help you create content, which your marketplace will love

by

content marketing

Photo: Shutterstock.

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.

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 try and 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. But maybe 1 in 5 or 1 in 10 are good enough, to be turned into a valuable 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 lower-value 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 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 6 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 your content marketing in 2020; focus on being useful, see your average ideas as necessary steps to your useful ideas, and give your work the respect you deserve.

How to use fear as your compass

by

marketing fear, fearless

Photo: Shutterstock.

As a business owner, the fears you have are largely the same as your competitors. This presents you with an amazing opportunity for 2020 and beyond.

Really, Jim?

Yes. Really.

You see, when you avoid doing the things you fear, you also avoid doing the things your competitors fear.

In other words, whatever you’re avoiding, they’re avoiding too.

This means whatever it is, is going to be in very short supply!

Here’s why this matters to you and your business:

  • Lack of supply = scarcity.
  • Scarcity = value.

If you want your business to be in demand. If you want to get your business noticed. And if you want to avoid selling based on price (and you do), learn to embrace the things you fear.

Because that feeling of fear is often your inner compass, confirming that you’re on the right track.