Marketing tips Marketing help

Flip your business

By Jim Connolly | November 17, 2023

Did you know, the massive majority of small businesses are built on an ineffective, upside down model?

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 the wrong way round. The most effective business owners do the exact opposite.

Here’s what they do

They decide the kind of clients they want to work with. For example, clients who are happy to pay a premium fee for a premium service, clients who demand the fastest possible service or maybe clients who value a no-frills service.
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. And it works like a magnet!
They then market this service exclusively to these targeted prospective clients. They shun everyone else.
And it works spectacularly well.

If you struggle to attract the right kind of clients, I strongly recommend you consider flipping your business model around.

Focus on the kind of clients you most want to work with. Then, consider rebuilding your services so that those ideal clients will find it extremely attractive. Delight these ideal clients and not only will they hire you, they’ll tell their friends.

On a personal note: I built my own business on this model. As a result I work with fantastic clients every day. And over 90% of them come from client referrals.

It’s far, far, far more effective than trying to sell people a service that wasn’t specifically built around their needs, and is similar to what your competitors are already offering them.

Photo by John Fornander

All New!

By Jim Connolly | November 9, 2023

When it comes to creating a powerful marketing message and attracting customers, the word ‘new‘ is overrated. Worse still, it’s a very loaded word and can absolutely ruin your marketing results.

There are 3 broad reasons for this.

The newest product or service is always a riskier bet. At best, it’s a bigger gamble than the trusted alternatives. At worst, the customer feels like a paying guinea pig.
The newest product or service is seldom the best. It lacks the improvements that come from years of feedback. It lacks the robustness that comes from stress-testing.
New doesn’t last for long. This makes it a short-term marketing message. Anything that’s new is only new for now.

A dozen better alternatives

Given the challenges of using the word new, I recommend you replace it with something more compelling. More motivating. More attractive.

To get you started, here are 12 alternatives.

A faster way.
A professional way.
A cleaner way.
A proven way.
A stylish way.
A profitable way.
A premium way.
A relaxing way.
A friendly way.
A safer way.
A reliable way.
A smoother way.

What next?

Take a look through your marketing and search for opportunities to replace new with a better alternative. This is usually in situations where new is used as the only adjective.

Also, you can apply this to your presentations, negotiations or meetings. For example, if you’re trying to sell a new product, service or idea to someone, they’re more likely to pay attention when you tell them about your ‘more profitable way’ of doing something, than your ‘new way’ of doing something.

Finally, in situations where you need to use the word new, such as a press release or product launch, always combine it with another word or words. For example, new and improved.

Did you see what those liars are saying?

By Jim Connolly | November 7, 2023

Have you ever looked at the marketing promises made by your competitors?

Your most unreliable competitors will promise to deliver on time, every time.
Your lowest quality competitors will promise premium quality at low prices.
Your least competent competitors will promise a highly professional service.

And they’ll all have testimonials. Testimonials that are often the opposite of what a real client or customer will experience from them.

It’s horrible. It sucks. But it makes sense

After all, they’re hardly likely to admit that working with them or buying from them is a total nightmare. You see, the mindset that says it’s okay to produce low quality work and charge over the odds for it, has no problem being dishonest in other areas of their business.

What does this have to do with you?

Everything!

It has everything to do with you. And here’s why.

Your prospective clients or customers have been lied to before. This means the claims you legitimately make in YOUR marketing will only be treated seriously, if you back them up.

Here are a couple of tips to help you make the truth of your marketing a lot more believable.

One way to add credibility, is to link from your website to external sources. For example, link from your website to external reviews or positive media coverage. Similarly, if you’ve been accredited by a respected organisation, link to the page on their website, where you’re mentioned.

Another way to add credibility, is to turn up regularly with useful information, via a newsletter, a blog, a podcast or on social networks, etc. By providing genuinely useful, informed advice, you demonstrate your knowledge. By doing this regularly, you show your reliability. This also gives you an opportunity to show your personality. By demonstrating your knowledge and allowing your marketplace to get to know you, you create a potent marketing mix that really helps you to build trust.

Please don’t just find this advice interesting.

Do something with it.

When the economy is in bad shape, people think a lot harder before making any investments. This includes investing in the services or products you provide. Showcase your credibility and make the decision to invest in you as easy as possible.

Small adjustments. Low risk. Amazing sales results

By Jim Connolly | October 6, 2023

From a sales and marketing perspective, which of the following do you think gets the best results?

A sign on your customer entrance that says “We’re open”, or a sign that says “Come in”?
A message in your marketing, which gives your “opening hours”, or a message in your marketing that gives your “drop-in hours”?

The second option in both those examples always performs better (sometimes by factors of hundred’s of percent) in tests.

There are 3 important points from that short exercise.

1. Small adjustments can produce massive improvements

Minor adjustments to your sales or marketing can create breakthrough results.

In the above examples, tiny changes to the text were made. However, by increasing the number of prospective clients (or customers) who take action, those changes can result in a very tangible, positive impact.

For instance, a client of mine made a change I suggested, live on our first Zoom meeting. He was able to see a clear, measurable improvement with a tiny textual change to a call-to-action button on his website that same day. He then rolled it out to all his relevant pages the following day, with equally outstanding results, but this time across his entire range of services. We tested, measured and adjusted until he squeezed out close to a 175% increase in the click-through rate from those pages, to his sales pages.

Test, measure and adjust?

Yes.

If you’ve followed my work for any period of time, you’ll know that every marketing adjustment you make needs to be tested and measured.

Tested: Put into play in a real world setting.
Measured: Results compared against past performance. If it improves things, you keep it and then seek to further improve it with your next adjustment.

That process is then repeated until you see no further measurable improvement. Then, you move on to the next marketing element to adjust and improve.

2. Low risk

The type of subtle adjustments I’m referring to here, either cost nothing or very little for you to put into play. This means they can be deployed quickly.

So, you now have the freedom to make adjustments to each part of your sales and marketing. In fact, that’s exactly what EVERY professionally marketed business already does.

3. One size does not fit all

Different marketing adjustments, tactics and strategies work differently in different industries. And even within the same industry, there are dozens and dozens of things that will determine how effective any change to your marketing will be, for your specific business.

Some of the most common factors include.

The profile of client you sell your products or services to.
Your pricing; whether it is higher, lower or around average for your industry.
How well, or poorly, any changes you make, work alongside your current branding.
Your location.

Small, low risk adjustments that are specific to you

You don’t need to make major changes.

You don’t need to spend major money, it usually takes just a little of your time.

But you do need to find out what works best for you and your business.

You can waste a massive amount of time focusing on the wrong things to adjust. You can waste even more time, making the wrong adjustments. And in both cases, you’ll be leaving a potential fortune on the table.

This is one of those areas of marketing where it makes no sense to dabble with it yourself, unless you absolutely have to. So, if you can afford to invest in expert marketing help, do.
Note: I explain why in more detail here.

When done correctly, this strategy will give you a huge spread of improvements that will combine to increase your sales. It’s a proven, low risk, highly effective and exceptionally robust way to grow your business in any economy.

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

Get sharp. Get ahead. Then stay there

By Jim Connolly | September 23, 2023

small business marketing, sharp, accurate

When I was a kid, my dad taught me that a sharp bladed knife was safer to use than a blunt one. He explained that blunt blades cause us to use too much force to cut something. This renders the blade inaccurate and hard to control.

Sharpness in business is equally important.

For example.

If our communication skills aren’t sharp enough, prospective clients will struggle to understand what makes our products or services perfect for them.
If our creative skills aren’t sharp enough, we’ll fail to develop the compelling new products and services our marketplace needs.
And if our motivational skills aren’t sharp enough, we’ll be unable to get people excited about those new products and services.

You get the idea.

Of course, when you run a busy business, the temptation is to keep your head down and plough through the work ahead of you. You have deadlines to keep. Clients to delight. People to see. Places to go. And only so many hours each day to cram everything in.

However, when we review the most successful business owners, we find they make time to sharpen their skills. They continuously invest in their professional development; doing the reading and the studying, getting the coaching and always improving.

Where to begin?

Take time out to identify the area of your business, which you would benefit most from improving. Something that would help you overcome a current challenge. Then, put some time aside to learn more about it.

Photo by Elena Kloppenburg on Unsplash