Jim Connolly Marketing

This blog gets listed on the Adage Power 150!

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It’s always great to be recognised for your work isn’t it?

That’s why I was delighted, when I was emailed this morning by Advertising Age; telling me that this blog has just been listed in their Adage Power 150!

power150badge_blankAdvertising Age is a very popular and well respected weekly publication and online resource; for people interested in marketing, advertising and the media.  As one of their regular readers for many years, this recognition means a great deal to me.

It’s also humbling to listed along with the likes of Seth Godin, BrandRepublic and Mashable.

News!

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In 2005, I wrote and developed a massively popular audio program called; The Motivation Master Class – available at the time exclusively as a 3 CD box set.

MMC CDsThe program sold all over the world and is based around a set of powerful motivation skills, which I used in order to transform my sales results and thus my income and business results.

Stocks of the CD’s sold out over and over again.  So, I decided to turn the program into a downloadable, full length audio program.  Of course, I have also been able to slash the price!

The great news is that now, for the first time, you can get yourself a copy of The Motivation Master Class right here on the blog.

How will it help you and your business?

The easiest way to see how this program can help you and your business get better results, is to take a look at the product page.

I’m genuinely excited to be able to share this program with you via the blog for the first time and for such a great price too.

Check them out!

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I saw someone on FriendFeed recently, who described himself as a “medical expert.”
Turns out he isn’t. When I asked him what his medical qualifications were, he told me he had none, but he had, “read some great books over the years.”

I read a blog last week, written by a lady who claimed to be an “SEO expert.”
Turns out she isn’t. Her website is very poorly optimised and lacks some of the most basic forms of SEO.

I saw someone on Twitter earlier, who describes himself as a “social media expert.”
Turns out he isn’t. He simply using Twitter to ReTweet other people’s posts and post links to the tunes he’s listening to. No conversation, no connection – not very social.

When someone isn’t getting the results they want, it’s often simply because they are taking the wrong advice.

Right message, wrong person!

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You can waste a LOT of time trying to give the right message to the wrong person.

I have a book in my office, which was given to me a few years ago, by an employee of one of my clients. This man was very likeable, yet totally demotivated.  He was doing the same job at age 45 that he has done all his working life and earned less than anyone of similar age within the company.

He handed me the book one day, telling me that it would be “just my thing” because “it’s all about motivation and success.”  I asked him how come he didn’t want it.  He explained that he was not into that kind of stuff.

I then asked him why he bought the book in the first place and he told me he didn’t buy it – but that his wife had given it to him; though he had no idea why.  He went on to say she often bought him books like that, which he never read. “You’d think by now that she would realise I prefer novels,” he said.

No matter how great your message is, you are wasting your time sharing it with the wrong people.

Marketing and value

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Here’s a quick marketing tip that can help you produce amazing sales results on an ongoing basis.

If you have read my blog for any period of time, you will know that I am passionate about the importance of pumping as much value into your products or services as possible.  The marketplace is sick and tired of ‘average’ products and services – so when something comes along that represents great value, they LOVE it.

By making your offering as valuable as you can, you will never have to sell based on price again – even in a recession.

Really?

Oh yes!

Apple Inc’s recession beating profits

For example, Apple Inc sells hardware that’s typically far more expensive than their rivals.  However, their sales have grown impressively throughout the current economic recession.  Impressively? Yes – Whilst PC sales have fallen during the recession, Apple Inc has posted record profits.  Although Apple has great marketing, what sets it apart from its competitors is the value its products bring to the marketplace.

The good news is, small and medium sized businesses can use the exact same approach as Apple, to achieve great results too!

I have a client, who’s a UK based accountant and his company has experienced phenomenal growth during the past 18-months – a period where many good accountancy practices have really struggled or gone under.  Accountancy Extra specialises in helping its clients develop their businesses and improve their profits; (rather than just processing columns of numbers for them and keeping the tax man happy).  As a direct result, people have flocked to their services, rather than pay a similar or smaller fee for a more limited accountancy service.

Your prospective clients are attracted to value

The marketplace is attracted to value – The bigger the value, the more attracted they become.

Now, one way that many smaller businesses try and increase the value of their offering, is to lower their prices or fees.  Whilst this can be effective, it can also drag you into a price war or what I call a race to the bottom.  Additionally, we know from years of research that customers attracted to bargain basement prices, are the most likely to leave as soon as someone beats your price.

In my experience, it’s far better to find ways to pump massive value into something (like Apple do), and sell your offering for a great, value for money price, than to offer an average product and sell it cheap.

The most successful companies I know of, are always looking for ways to add more value to whatever they do.  They say that; “success leaves clues,” and I believe the ongoing pursuit of genuine value is something we can all benefit from enormously.

Marketing that makes you cringe

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This week, I have already received several, ineffective “old school” marketing messages, based around the same tired, generic format.  I wonder if you get these sales pitches too?

The person introduces themselves to you and then asks, “how can I help you?” The subtext here, is that the person wants you to believe that they are offering this help out of the goodness of their heart and not as part of a commercial transaction.  Money, prices or fees are never mentioned – Just the mysterious offer of help, from a stranger who knows nothing about you or your business or your needs.

They want you to think of them the way you would, if your car had broke down miles away from anywhere and they kindly stopped to offer you a lift.

Of course, in this case, they were not just driving by – you were deliberately targeted for marketing purposes. They know and you know that in reality, they are actually looking to make you a customer.

Like most people, I cringe when someone tries to market to me under this kind of false pretence.  I also wonder what they believe they will achieve, by starting off a commercial dialogue, with both parties aware that there’s an unspoken, yet blindingly obvious ulterior motive in play.

If you want to help someone, that’s great. If you want to market to someone, that’s great too. But please, don’t pretend to be doing one thing when in reality, you are doing the other. The marketplace is not stupid.