Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

The marketing power of association

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It’s a fact; before someone becomes a client or customer of your business, they need to trust you.  One of the fastest ways to create an image for your business, which people in the marketplace will trust (and desire), is to make “the power of association” a part of your marketing mix!

Marketing and short cuts

People are programmed to look for short cuts when it comes to making decisions!  This is why the recommendation of a friend is so powerful.  If there are 10 equally good print companies in your area and you need to pick one, the one that has been highly recommended to you by half a dozen of your friends will win your business every time!

The recommendation of your friends quickly and powerfully reduces the level of risk you feel about using the recommended company.

In marketing, you can ‘leverage‘ the power of association to create a similar decision making short cut in the mind of all your prospective clients!

The marketing power of association

If your prospective clients associate you or your business with a highly respected person or organisation, they mentally link you and them together.  This instantly elevates your reputation in the marketplace!

For example, an unknown designer can make a fortune, simply by having Brad Pitt say he loves wearing their clothes!  Yesterday, he or she was an unknown designer – today they are a super-cool designer to the stars!   Their designs are no better or worse than they always were, but their new association with Brad Pitt means there will now be massive demand for their work.

Brad Pitt’s praise created a short cut, by showing people these designs were ‘cool.’  His comments would also generate a stack of invaluable free publicity. That’s the power of association!

How the power of association helps me

If, for example, someone has never heard of me, they might be cautious about using my free marketing advice.  However, when they learn that I have contributed to The BBC or CBS or their favourite newspaper – they instantly see me in a different light.  My work takes on a totally different perspective, because of my associates.

How the power of association can help YOU!

More importantly, the power of association can be used to massively improve YOUR results!  If you want to benefit from the power of association, you need to do two things.

  1. Firstly, you must be extremely selective about who and what you associate yourself and your business with.  You need to deliberately target people and organisations that will increase your reputation in your marketplace.
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    For example, phone your local radio station and ask if they need a newspaper reviewer for their early show.  (That’s how I got my first coverage on The BBC!)Think of the people and organisations that are most respected in your profession and form associations with them.
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  2. Secondly, you must make sure that everyone knows about your high calibre associations!  It’s not enough to be linked to some great people and organisations; you need to make sure the marketplace knows.

The power of association can also work AGAINST you!

I spoke with an accountant recently, who told me he had wasted over £1,000 sponsoring a business event.  The event was a free-to-attend lunch and seminar; hosted by a well-known UK business development organisation.

Although he got a handful of leads from the event, they were a total waste of time.  He explained; “they just picked my brain for free accountancy advice!”

The reason his sponsorship could never have worked is simple.  He had just associated his accountancy practice with an organisation well-known across the UK for providing free, low quality business advice! Also, the people attending the event were those who are looking for FREE, generic advice.  These are the very worst people to market his premium accountancy service to, because advice from a qualified accountant is neither free nor low quality!

So, it’s extremely important to be selective, regarding who you associate your business with.  The right associations will attract business and the wrong associations will lose you business even faster!

Avoid this common problem

As I mentioned earlier, a personal or professional recommendation CAN be a wonderful source of new business.  The problem here, is that very little is ever said about the DAMAGE that can result from having your business recommended by people who lack credibility or are unprofessional!

For example, I was emailed by one of my newsletter subscribers, who runs a small law firm.  He had been a member of one of those networking groups; which meet for breakfast once a week to swap referrals.  To remain a member of this network, you have to provide leads every week.

He found that a few of his fellow networking associates were using the same ‘high-pressure techniques’ to generate leads for him; as they were using to generate leads for their own direct sales businesses.

Two years later, his law firm’s professional reputation is still tarnished; because of the hard sell approach used by his former networking associates!

What next?

Every association you have is either helping you gain credibility and trust within the marketplace or it’s bringing your reputation down!  Take time to list and then evaluate the credentials of everyone whose name or logo you use in your marketing.

Next, decide which side of the scales they are on!  Are they helping you or hurting you?

If they are not improving how the marketplace views your business, you should seriously consider disassociating from them immediately.

Good marketing advice?

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I have just been reading some dreadful marketing advice; given by a self-proclaimed ‘marketing guru,’ to the owner of a small business. The advice was in answer to a question posted on Twitter.  The advice was totally incorrect and showed that this so-called marketing ‘guru’ didn’t even possess a basic understanding of marketing.

I checked-out the guru’s website and…

Because the advice was so obviously given by someone with no marketing background, I was curious and decided to check out her website.  In seconds you could see that this lady was clueless when it came to marketing!

Her website was horrible.  It lacked even basic Search Engine Optimisation, the copy writing (wording) was shockingly poor and the site looked really ‘cheap!’

The site was littered with marketing buzz-words, and as you would expect, there were the obligatory links to various affiliate marketing programs promising to make you RICH RICH RICH!!

Bad marketing advice can kill a small business!

We live in an age where anyone can set up a website or blog and claim to be an expert on anything!  That’s why, as a respected name in marketing, I decided to start a website a couple of years ago – www.jimconnolly.com – that just GIVES AWAY FREE MARKETING information to anyone who wants it. No, you don’t even have to subscribe to anything or register – it’s ‘just there’ for you to read, listen to and enjoy the results!

Small businesses and those just starting out, rely heavily on free advice.  I wanted to make sure there was a 100% free, reliable marketing resource for them, which they could use to massively improve their sales results. Because I base all the marketing information at jimconnolly.com on ideas I have used to generate millions in sales for clients and myself, people know they can trust the advice there.  Of course, it’s also the reason I launched this marketing blog!

Jim who? – Never heard of you!

If you don’t already know who I am, I have been a marketing professional for over 20 years and I have run my own successful, international marketing business for the past 13 years.  I have generated many, many millions of pounds and dollars worth of sales and my marketing material now reaches millions of people each year, spanning over 70 countries.  My newsletter is read by thousands of people on every continent and my audio programs are used all over the world.  I have also contributed to programming on The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 in the UK and CBS and CNN in North America.

I hope you find this blog useful. I am adding new material all the time and I encourage you to leave a comment and share your thoughts with other readers. Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, using the buttons below!

Spot opportunities and improve client retention!

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As the owner of a business or someone involved in marketing, you should regularly ask your clients for feedback.

2 REALLY GOOD reasons why YOU need client feedback:

Firstly, it allows you to spot opportunities that you would have missed AND avoid problems before they happen.  For example, if you ask your clients what additional services they would like you to offer, and a uniformed reply comes back – you have just identified a whole new income stream for your business!

Secondly, it can help you spot if a particular client is unhappy or thinking of leaving!  Clients who are disgruntled are often among the first to reply to feedback requests!  By listening to their problems and resolving them, you can reduce the number of clients you lose. This is an excellent way to quickly improve client retention. Client retention, sometimes called ‘attrition’ should be a part of every business’s marketing mix.

A simple email, asking clients what they think about some of the key elements of your services is all you need. Ask them to score each section on a scale of 1 to 5 and see what comes back.  Always provide a section for them to leave a comment, idea or suggestion.

The answers are often very illuminating – AND ALWAYS useful!

What’s your competition like?

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At the recent Olympic Games, every athlete knew exactly what the ‘personal best’ figures for each of their competitors was.  That’s because it’s almost impossible to succeed at anything, unless you know what you are competing against!

Equally, to compete successfully in business, you need to research what you are marketing against!  We call this research Competitor Analysis.  So, I have a question for you:

“How much do you know about your competitors and what they offer?”

In my experience, most small and medium-sized businesses know very little about the quality of their competitor’s services.  They will often believe that their own service is very good, but when you accurately compare it against their competitors, it’s generally no better than average.

I am convinced this lack of Competitor Analysis is why there are so many average services out there!  After all, no one sets out to be ‘just average’.

Businesses then market their services, thinking that what they offer is great value – and wonder why they get very little positive response! It’s not always the quality of a small business’s marketing that’s letting them down, but the ‘attractiveness’ of what they are offering!

In order to motivate someone to switch from one provider to another, there must be a compelling reason for them to do so.  This means you need to know what your competitors offer, so you can make YOUR services more valuable than theirs!

Competitor Analysis explained

Competitor Analysis is where you analyse what your competitors are offering to the marketplace.  This allows you to see how YOUR services stack up against the other services being offered to your potential clients (and existing clients!).  As part of your Competitor Analysis, you will need to find out things like; what kind of guarantees your competitors offer, their payment terms, their prices, the range of services they offer and their opening hours etc.

I spoke recently with the owner of a recruitment company, who told me that his main competitors all offered a very poor service, compared to his.  I asked how he knew.  He replied that whenever a client moved from a competitor to him, they always said what a poor service they had just received!  He was basing his ‘research’ on what these non-typical, disgruntled people said!

You cannot build your competitor research, based on the jaundiced opinions of anyone!  You need to know what the reality of the situation is, because THAT’S what you will be marketing your services against!

I have a friend who sells homes in London, which market for over £2,000,000.  She found her clients were often hesitant about improving their home before marketing it, thinking it was already ‘good enough’ to quickly attract a buyer.

So, she started taking new clients to view a selection of homes in the same price range as their own – so they could clearly see what their home was competing against.  Universally, this totally changes their opinions and they are happy to make any required improvements.

Most businesses are like the home-owners who think that their home is already great value, without knowing what the others are like.  This can prove commercially fatal – especially in today’s challenging economy!

Some ideas to start your competitor analysis

Competitor Analysis on the Internet

Depending on the industry you are in, you can often get a mountain of extremely valuable information by visiting a competitors’ website.  If you are in retail, for example, you will immediately be able to see; their product lines, prices, delivery times, guarantees etc.

No matter what industry you are in, most websites will have an ‘about’ page, which tells you all about the company.  You should also be able to tell very quickly what each company thinks it’s best at – because people sell their services based on their strengths!

You will also be able to tell in seconds, if they have had their website professionally copy written or not.  This is a key indicator as to how seriously they take their marketing.

Conversations with THEIR clients

Whenever you meet someone, who is using the services of one of your competitors, ask them how well they are being looked after.  This is a more accurate measurement of the quality of a competitor’s services, than the earlier example; where people with an axe to grind were relied upon.

An existing client is someone who can generally, be seen as having an ‘average’ or ‘typical’ experience of a service provider.  If they say their service provider is great or awful – ask them; “In what way?”  Then listen!

Avoid conversations with suppliers

I have found conversations with suppliers, who also supply one’s competitors, to be close to worthless!  Also, be extremely careful what you say to anyone who gives you too much information.  As my mother used to tell me; “those who bring news, carry news!”

After your Competitor Analysis – What next?

After your Competitor Analysis, take a good close look at your own business and find ways to beat them!  Don’t just try to match them – look at how you can go one better.  If you cannot offer a better service to someone than they already get – why on earth should they switch to you?

For example, would YOU go through all the hassle of switching from your current; accountant, insurance broker, bank or recruitment provider; for a service that’s no better than you already receive?

Of course not – and NOR WOULD ANYONE ELSE!

Only when you have developed a service that you know, with confidence, is better than your competition, are you ready to market it. When you have a great service, and you get that message in front of potential clients with compelling marketing, the sky’s the limit.  You can achieve anything!

The power of a great marketing statement

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I saw a piece of marketing earlier today, which clearly demonstrated the power of a well-written marketing message. It was an advertisement for an Internet hosting company.  It makes what ‘sounds’ like a very positive statement; regarding the quality of their service – until you think about what they are actually saying!

Here’s what their marketing message said:

“We guarantee that websites hosted on our servers, will be working 99% of the time!”

However, 99% reliability for an Internet hosting company is AWFUL!

The promise of your website being online 99% of the time, if you select them to host your website MIGHT sound like a great deal – but it’s not!  It’s shockingly poor!

What they are ACTUALLY saying, is that if your business has it’s website hosted with them, you can expect it to be down, off-line and unavailable for the equivalent of THREE FULL WORKING DAYS EVERY 100 DAYS! So, over a period of little more than3 months, your potential clients or customers will be unable to find your website for a combined period of 24 hours – (that’s three working days, based on the 8 hour working day model)

There are 2 marketing lessons here

  • Firstly, the power of a well-crafted marketing message is enormous.  You can make something sound irresistible and inspire people to contact you and buy from you in their droves – even if your service actually sucks!
  • Secondly, even with great marketing, unless your service is excellent, you will lose clients just as quickly as you gain them – perhaps even faster!  When I searched for this company’s name on Google; it generated page after page of people complaining about the service they received. If only this company was as devoted to service, as it seems to be with its marketing, it would be massively more successful.

Marketing success

Marketing success comes only when you are able to win AND retain high quality business.  Looking after your clients and providing them with more than they expect, every step of the way, is not only great customer service; it’s extremely good business practice too!

Increase sales & profits quickly

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Here’s a powerful marketing tip, which will show you how to massively increase your sales very quickly.  It’s also a super-fast way to boost your cash flow and sky-rocket your profits!

In order for us to begin, I need to ask you something:

“What additional, valuable products or services ‘could’ you offer to your existing clients, which they would be happy to pay you for?”

This is a key marketing question; because selling additional services to an existing client is easily, the single fastest way to MASSIVELY increase your sales and profits! It’s an exceptionally high leverage marketing activity, because the return you get is totally disproportionate to the amount of time and effort required.

The reason the results are so amazing, is that you already provide a GREAT service to your clients and they already trust you.  This means that buying an additional product or service from you is a VERY easy decision for them to make. There’s no risk attached because they already know how brilliant you are!

Selling additional services to existing clients

Here’s a recent example, based on a client of my marketing program. This particular client came to me because he needed to quickly and dramatically increase his cash flow and profitability.

His company provides IT maintenance services to around 120 local, small businesses.  I suggested he find another service to offer his existing clients – before thinking about winning new clients.  He said that a few of his clients had asked if he provided an online data back-up service; which he did not.  So, he looked for prices, to see how much it would cost to provide the service and found that he could make an average profit of around £500 a year, per client, by offering this service.

I sent out a well crafted marketing email to his clients and in just 48 hours, we generated £21,000 of pure profit for him! Because this is an annual service, payable in advance, the end result was an immediate, MASSIVE cash flow boost!

Leverage the potential of your existing clients before looking elsewhere

Before you spend a penny seeking to win new business from new clients – make sure you are not missing out on a windfall profit opportunity from within your existing client base!

Selling additional services helps retain clients too

Not only does offering a wider spread of services to your clients make them more profitable to you, they are also far, far less likely to leave you for another provider.  To replace the provider of one service is relatively simple, but to replace a service provider who looks after 3 or 6 or more of your needs is a very different matter.

When you provide more services to a client, you also provide more value and the marketplace ALWAYS rewards value!

Selling additional services to existing clients is easy and extremely profitable, so what’s stopping you?

Premium rate phone numbers KILL sales!

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If you run a business and you want people to call you to enquire about your services or buy from you – NEVER use premium rate numbers for your sales phone line or main phone line!

Here in the UK there are some misguided small businesses who (unbelievably) only offer a premium rate number for people to call them on!

NUMBERS THAT BEGIN WITH EITHER 087* OR 084* are a VERY bad idea for your business – as they place a hurdle between your potential clients / customers and your products or services.

Why are premium rate numbers such a bad idea?

Because, no one wants to pay a premium rate to call YOUR business to enquire about your services!  Why should they have to pay you, to be sold something – come on, get real!

I have variously heard it estimated that using any premium rate number for your main phone line or your sales / enquiries line, can lose you between 60% and 80% of ALL enquiries and sales.

Not only will people like myself refuse to use these rip-off numbers, many companies have these numbers barred from their phone system – so their employees can not actually dial these numbers, even if they wanted to spend money with you.

Also, if you call these numbers from a UK mobile phone, it can cost a fortune (hardly likely to encourage people to enquire about your services!  Everything your business does should make it as EASY and attractive as possible for people to call you.  The message you send out by using a premium rate number is 100% negative – it’s a money-grabbing scam.

Some people REALLY HATE premium rate numbers – Look!

There is so much resistance to businesses screwing people with these rip-off numbers that a wonderful website has come to the consumer’s rescue; www.SayNoTo0870.com If you need to dial a company hiding behind one of these awful numbers, check out www.SayNoTo0870.com and see if there is a regular price alternative.

If you are serious about winning business – drop the use of premium rate numbers for your sales line or your main phone number.

Clear marketing sells

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In marketing, clarity is extremely important!  Your marketing messages need to clearly state what you do, what the benefits of your services are and why a potential client should do business with you or buy from you!

Clear marketing

Clear marketing messages command a potential client’s attention with laser-like precision!

Sadly, most small businesses use a foggy, conversational approach to their marketing and as a result, they lose stacks of business unnecessarily!

Most small business websites lack clarity

When you read the wording (or the copy) on the homepage of a typical small business website, it rarely gives you the core information you need!  Instead, you usually find a welcome message and some general ‘blurb’ about the company.  There’s nothing there to motivate the visitor / reader to click anything or do anything. As a result, most people quickly leave these sites and stacks of potential sales and enquiries are lost. This vague, generalised approach to marketing is a complete waste of time and money!

For example

I recently saw a website for a company that had the following headline across its homepage…

“Providing integrated business solutions to SME’s.”

Apart from mentioning that they work with SME’s (Small to medium-sized Enterprises), I have no idea whether they are; business advisers, software developers, accountants, recruitment specialists, hr consultants or anything else!

To make your marketing message stronger- try this!

Take a look at your existing marketing.  Read your website, your sales letters, marketing emails and brochures or flyers etc.  Make sure that each of your marketing messages explains clearly:
1. What you do.
2. How it will directly benefit the reader.
3. Why they absolutely need it (right now if possible).
4. Why they should buy ‘it’ from you (and not someone else).

This simple exercise can produce immediate, measurable results!

Beating the credit crunch!

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Whenever times are hard and the economy heads south, people (and businesses) have to think a lot harder before they spend their money.  This is something we have seen time and time again during past recessions.

However, the ‘credit crunch’ has given us a MUCH BIGGER problem, because our potential clients not only have less money than before – they are finding it hard or impossible to access credit too.  As a direct result, generating sales or winning business is set to become increasingly harder, with potential clients understandably extremely cautious about spending their money.  Perhaps more cautious than ever before.

One thing we know with total certainty, is that the marketplace for YOUR services is about to become more and more competitive.

This means your marketing has never been more important

You must be able to get the attention of your prospective clients and then totally convince them that you offer the best possible option for them.  Any business today, whose marketing is ‘average’, is going to find the coming two years (some say three) increasingly painful. The only solution is to improve the way they sell and market their services.

Why is marketing so much more important now?

During a normal or strong economy, people don’t have to think too hard about making a purchase and are measurably less choosy.  As a result, until recently, even poorly marketed companies were able to generate a level of sales; just by ‘being there’ or contacting prospects at the right time.

However, during a bad economic climate, people think far harder before they buy anything.  As a result, we are seeing people and businesses now shopping around for the best offer before they spend a penny.  Thus, they end up buying from the best marketed businesses, because these are the businesses who know how to grab their attention and make their offer sound the most attractive or compelling.

Today, good timing and hard work is no longer enough. You must learn how to out-market your competitors if you want to survive – let alone thrive!

Marketing provides an answer – Thankfully

Amid the doom and gloom, there’s always a ray of light.  You see, as well as receiving a massive number of emails from readers who are really struggling right now – I have also received a small number of emails from readers who are experiencing their best year EVER.

When you understand why some businesses are doing so well right now, you will have an opportunity to do the same.  But first, you need to know what ‘the average’ business does when faced with an economic slump.  This is really important.

Most businesses do nothing

The ‘average’ business today will continue to sell and market their services as if nothing was happening.  Sure, they will moan about the economy and their lack of trade; but they will just keep on doing the same ineffective marketing they always did.

They pin their hopes on things ‘just getting better’ before they run out of money.

In essence, they will stay inside their comfort zone and refuse to move, as if they were a 60 foot oak tree.

But some businesses take action!

Some businesses realise that there is a real opportunity here!  They know that when times are tough, prospective clients always look for value – and making your services look more valuable is all about GREAT marketing.  So, they decide to get serious about their marketing and thus they reap the rewards.  The rewards are far greater than you might imagine.

Marketing lessons from recessions

We know that during past economic recessions, the businesses that improved their marketing and marketed their services the most successfully, managed to gain a disproportionately large share of their marketplace.

Also, when the economy improved, they were in the perfect position to continue growing at a super-accelerated rate!  If you choose, you can turn the credit crunch into a springboard for your business. You can grow at the same time as your competitors shrink.  You can use the coming months to transform the future of your business and your life – but only if you take action and do the right things in the right way.

So – what next?

First of all – STOP!

If your business is currently finding it a struggle to generate the volume and quality of sales it needs – Stop whatever marketing you are doing immediately.

Because…

If you keep using the same kind of marketing, you will keep getting the same results.  Your sales, profits and turnover will not ‘just get better’.  In fact, as the credit crunch continues, your sales, turnover and profits will drop unless you improve things.

Five steps to beat the credit crunch

Step one

OK – as I mentioned above, the first step is to stop all marketing activities that are not making you money.  No matter how ‘comfortable’ you are with whatever you are doing, if it’s not working STOP doing it.  Either find a way to leverage better results from it or discontinue it completely.

Step two

Start getting tons of business through your website. It’s a fact; a fully-optimised website is both the most effective and the least expensive way to generate sales, leads and enquiries. Your website can (and should) generate leads and enquiries for you all day every day.

I know people in just about every industry who now get the vast majority of their leads and enquiries via their website.

You can reduce your annual marketing costs by 90% and increase your sales by 100’s% (or more) at the same time!  Almost all of all MY marketing is now done online.  However, before you start enjoying all those leads and enquiries from red-hot prospective clients, your website needs to tick two important boxes:

  • Firstly, it needs to look professional and have all the functions you need in order to collect enquiries, collect email addresses and make sales etc.  If you want to know why some businesses get leads from their websites on an hourly basis (or better), whilst most websites generate almost nothing, you need the second and most important element…
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  • Secondly, your website MUST MUST MUST be Search Engine Optimised.   The reason most small and medium sized business websites fail, is because no one can find them!  So, you will need to get an SEO expert to make your site the one that people find when looking for whatever type of services you offer.

This is the most important step, yet hardly any small business websites are professionally optimised.  Interestingly, 100% of all large company websites are optimised.

Getting a website optimised, is like picking up a shop, that’s located down an old dusty road with no passing trade – and placing it BANG in the centre of Oxford Street or 5th Avenue!

Step three

Read the sales and marketing posts and articles here on the blog.  Everything is written by me, based on what’s proven to work.  I put the blog together because most small and medium-sized businesses rely heavily on free marketing advice – and as a marketing professional, the marketing advice I found online was often pretty awful.  I found that much of it was either shockingly poor , or very out of date. Look at this.

Step four

Download and listen to this FREE audio program.  It will tell you how to get regular referrals, recommendations & leads.

Step five

There are some superb ideas waiting for you right now at TheIdeasBlog.com.  It has often been said that you are never more than one good idea away from achieving a massive breakthrough – so take a look.

The credit crunch is really hurting a lot of businesses right now.  If you have found this credit crunch marketing report useful, please forward it to as many people as possible.

Welcome!

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Welcome to my brand new marketing blog!

So, why a marketing blog Jim?

Unlike my website, when you read something HERE, you can share your thoughts, ideas and opinions with your fellow readers and myself.  Blogging is about communicating not broadcasting. It’s about 2-way or multi-way communication.  It’s about community and connecting with like-minded people.

When you see something here and want to get involved, your fellow readers and myself can respond to your comments and get a conversation going – something that’s just not possible via a traditional broadcast website.

As well as marketing tips and ideas, I will ALSO be using this blog to give you an insight into my day-to-day work.  The idea is to pass on anything I think you might find either useful, interesting or both!

So, why not say hello?

I would love to get as many of my website and newsletter readers as possible to leave a comment here in my ‘welcome post’, so please say hello.  Let us know your company name and where you are!

To leave a comment, just click the comment link below.