Jim Connolly Marketing

37 Marketing ideas in 140 characters

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As you may already know, I am passionate about helping as many people as possible to massively boost their sales and profits. This means I’m always looking for great marketing ideas, which I can share with people – and today, I have enlisted the help of 37 amazing professionals, who are going to each give a single, short marketing tip!

What 1 piece of marketing advice would you give to a start-up business?

My question was; “What 1 piece of marketing advice would you give to a start-up business?” Now, the reason the following answers to this question are so focused, is that they were given by people who only had 140 characters in order to get their answer across!

Twitter

twitter networking micro blogging marketingYes, each of the answers you are about to read, were submitted by people I do not know, but who follow me via my favourite social media website Twitter.  The end result are 37 diverse and often-powerful answers, from 37 incredibly clever people, who wanted to pass on their ideas to help you and your business!

I am posting the answers exactly as they were sent, with the abbreviations etc, so you can see for yourself just how much value someone can get into such short messages!

It’s also worth considering that these answers come from a brilliantly rich group of people, from many different profiles of businesses, and this is reflected in their answers – which really helps!

I think the end result is amazing and would like to personally thank everyone who was kind enough to offer this advice here for my readers.  Obviously, I do not endorse and am not responsible for, the content of the external sites listed in this post!

After you read the answers below, see if you can offer some great advice yourself, using 140 characters, in the comments section!

So, what 1 piece of marketing advice would YOU give to a start-up business?

Here’s 37 answers in 140 characters or less!

Marketing is like a snowball. You have to keep rolling to see results. You can’t start and stop and start and stop.
Cynthia Powell www.ChicksAndCubs.com

Innovation in marketing is as much imp as innovation in product itself. think different in marketing it.
Sushrut Bidwai www.sushrutbidwai.com

Invest in the right marketing people, both leaders & executers. People w/ vision + desire / workethic to make vision happen.
Chris Hoppel Samsung www.samsung.com

Think, do you need your product to succeed or do your customers need your product to succeed?
Aronado www.LuckyStartups.com

1. I laid every biz card I had across a table, picked up the phone & started calling ea. contact.
2. Held in-person meetings to tell our story.
Lisa Cruz

Help others link to you by writing articles, link swaps, donate products for prize giveaways, send products for blog reviews.
www.MyPreciousKid.com

Take small steps toward big goals every day, don’t climb the mountain all at once or you’ll get discouraged. Discipline counts.
Juliann Grant http://blog.telesian.com

Communicate possible outcomes. Start-ups are driven with passion. Visualize potential outcomes so clients get excited.
Jeff Cook www.digitalriver.com

Don’t try do everything yourself, outsource tasks that don’t directly make you money. Ex: accounting, website design.
Kim Cornwall Malseed www.marcomink.com

Focus, focus, focus!
Lance Ulanoff Editor-in-chief with www.PCMag.com

Be clear about what you do, focus on it and be as good as you possibly can at it!
David Rosam http://dangerous-thinking.com

Establish an ad budget first thing. 5% of sales should be saved for marketing and decided upfront where to spend.
Joe Gauder http://supersonicstandstill.blogspot.com

Brand representation is every experience the customer has in affiliation with the company.
Christina Wehry www.coloradoshakes.org

Blog for SEO. Human, affordable, & allows in-bound marketing
http://blogging.compendiumblog.com

Define yourself and be true to that definition in everything you do. You cannot be “all things to all people
Kathleen Morse

Work, work some more, keep going, keep trying and be patient – take extra care of your users.
CJ Jenkins http://scienceforseo.blogspot.com

Relationships matter most. Emotional connection+status w brand. Offer MORE value that what u get. Participate in community.
Lisa de Bruin http://winedivergirl.wordpress.com

Do not compromise your fees. Charge by project, not hourly. Don’t waste money on brochures. Have a clear vision of your business/market.
Joanne Victoria www.JoanneVictoria.com

Have money and plan set aside for 2 yrs of no-to-next-to-no profit; of course aim for better and sooner
Christian Markley; www.blu3digital.com

Follow up with clients and potential clients on a consistent basis, create simple systems to maintain the follow up!
Alan Underkofler www.followupsuccess.com

My advice: Social networks do not magically bring people to your product you have to engage in the community to see any results.
Tony Colvin http://ireflectm.com

Define your niche market, stay away from paying big bucks for ads that don’t target your niche.
Denise Russos http://posolutions.wordpress.com

First marketing money should be spent on the web – highest accountability & returns.
Darryl Parker www.parkerweb.com

All action is a response to a felt need: find the need, appeal to the need at least 7 times, and offer a solution!
Bill Collier http://blog.freedomist.info

Do your research first! Make sure you have a market for your product or service. Separate your emotion from the facts.
Wendy Limauge www.businessbloggingguide.com

Make sure you know your purpose, identity & audience. 100% focus & clarity is key to success in a fragmented world.
Damien Basile www.thecauseisthehabit.com

Just get it out there. It doesn’t have to be perfect yet. Don’t let analysis paralysis set in. You can always fine tune later.
Christopher Thiede www.buildcommunications.com

Don’t overestimate your own ability to market yourself. Get an expert. Their objective view and knowledge is invaluable.
Tony Roberts www.inhumanbeings.com

Build your network, both online and in person. these are your foot soldiers, resources, etc. help them and they will help you.
Jon-Mikel Bailey www.woodstreet.com

Be honest. Under promise and over deliver.
Brian Johnson www.konnects.com

Be authentic and truly desire to help people with your business and success will come to you.
Kim Fenolio www.americasbestcompanies.com

Do NOT skimp on your web presence. Regardless what product or service you sell/provide most research begins online.
Charles Lauller www.bizzuka.com

Monitor activity and track time/resources invested vs returns. Change one aspect at a time to understand impact of the change.
Reeta Luthra www.paradoxofreality.com

Shamelessly leverage who you know to seed word-of-mouth marketing. your network is your most valuable asset
Maxine Teller http://mixtmediastrategies.com

Talk to your customer. constantly. don’t assume you have what they need. confirm it with them.
Julie Lenzer Kirk www.JulieLenzerKirk.com

There are “bug” days and “windshield” days. Be the Windshield and ready to travel lonely dirt roads to reach your destination.
Tim Hayden www.gpexperience.com

Truly love what you do or you won’t stick with it long enough to succeed!
Karalyn J. Eckerle http://cardinalpointva.typepad.com

Conclusion

The marketing tips above were sent to me within just thirty minutes of asking the original question.  This means that there are not only a lot of extremely helpful people ‘out there’ – it also shows what a great marketing and business development tool Twitter can be for your business.

OK – Now it’s YOUR turn!

In 140 characters or less, please share YOUR answer to this question;
“What 1 piece of marketing advice would you give to a start-up business?”

I look forward to reading your replies!
.

New blog theme

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As of today, Jim’s Marketing Blog has a whole new look – I hope you like it!  For me, content is everything – but people need to be able to find that content easily and read it without any fuss. So, how did I come up with this new blog design?

The importance of user opinions

After the initial draft of the blog was done, I asked my readers and contacts for THEIR opinions of the new design.  In total, almost 500 people emailed me, messaged me, Tweeted me or called my office – and their feedback has been invaluable in shaping the look and ‘feel’ of the blog!

I believe a blog or website should be designed for the people who read it; NOT the person who writes it!

This means if there are certain recurring suggestions being made by lots of people, there’s a good chance that’s what the wider readership will also want!  In each case, I acted on these suggestions.

For example, the initial draft of the blog didn’t have a picture of me on the homepage, because as you can see, my looks are not by best asset! :)  However, it became very apparent from your feedback that people wanted to be able to see the ‘person’ behind the blog.  So, my picture was added.

Ditto, the sign-up box for my free ebook and also the sidebar headings were all changed, based on popular suggestions.  The net result is hopefully, a blog that’s easy to use and simple to navigate around – with lots of useful information for you and your business.

To all those who have helped me over the past few days, “Thank You!” There are way too many to mention individually, but your feedback has been of huge value to me.  I would also like to give my thanks to Mark White of Better Business Blogging for doing all the technical stuff behind-the-scenes.

What NOT to do!

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Over the past few days, I have read a few different people giving the same piece of extremely damaging advice!

Stop your marketing!

Believe it or not, there are people out there right now, suggesting that because there is an economic downturn, credit crunch or recession (take your pick), businesses should avoid investing in marketing!  This could not be further from the truth. In fact, during tough economic times, it’s far MORE important to market your services effectively than during a stronger economy.

Why?

Because when times are good, even poorly marketed companies will make some sales – just by being there at the right time or getting their message in front of enough people.

However, when money is tight, people and businesses have to REALLY THINK before they buy anything.  They also become far more attracted to products and services that offer great value. So, they spend money on the things that sound the most valuable and compelling – and that’s the goods and services that are best marketed!

I shall be writing some posts over the coming days, to show you how you and your business can thrive during a weak economy.  Make sure you don’t miss a thing, by subscribing to my RSS feed using the orange button on the top left hand side of this page!

Blog update – almost there!

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Almost there….

Just a very quick post, to let you know that I am in the process of having a brand new theme applied to this blog.  As a result, I have not posted anything for a few days (while the theme is being tweaked).  However, I have some GREAT stuff waiting for you when the new theme has been added!

How to make sales the easy way!

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Generating high quality sales on a regular basis can be either really hard and stressful or really exciting and enjoyable.  Sadly, for most businesses, making frequent high calibre sales is a struggle.  It’s easy to see why, when you look at what they do.

They make life as hard as they possibly can for themselves, by replicating what their competitors are already doing!

How to make sales the HARD way

sales and marketing tipsMost small and medium-sized businesses offer the same kind of service as their competitors, for the same kind of price as their competitors, to the same potential clients as their competitors.

Then, they market this service in the same way as their competitors.  The net result is that AT BEST, their service seems just the same as all the others!

For example, there are over a dozen, equally-qualified law firms in my local area – but I could not give you one valid reason to pick one of them rather than another!  In fairness, the same could be said of most service providers in most areas.

How to make sales the EASY way

To regularly generate high quality sales, you need to start by putting all the odds in YOUR favour! You do this by:
1. Offering the marketplace something it wants.
2. Being the only provider of this product or service – so there’s no competition.

Break away from the pack

To achieve sales success in a competitive industry, it is essential for you to break away from the pack and design your business and marketing around what the marketplace wants.

Most businesses wrongly assume that because their competitors are doing things in a certain way, they should too.  However, as we have seen, when you follow the pack you simply blend into the background.  How do you break free from the pack and ensure you are moving in the right direction?

Listen to your marketplace

The first thing you need to do is identify a genuine need within your marketplace, which is either not being serviced by anyone or not being serviced correctly. Most businesses will listen to their clients and the prospective clients they meet and then use this tiny, unrepresentative group to base their picture of the marketplace on. This is too small a section for you to accurately read what the market for your services REALLY wants from a provider.

If you want to make the right decisions, you need to listen to the needs of the wider marketplace.  This is where all your future clients are, after all.

Fortunately, this has never been easier, thanks to the Internet!  From the comfort of your desk, you can find out what your prospective clients are worried about and what problems they have.  Armed with this information, it’s easy to spot opportunities for your business.

Remember, whatever industry you are in, you are always a professional problem solver.  If you are a dentist, you solve the problem of tooth-ache – if you are a web designer, you solve the problem of ugly or poorly-functioning websites etc.

How to get all the information you need

Without doubt, the fastest and least expensive way for any small or medium-sized business to learn what their marketplace really wants or needs, is to follow their marketplace ‘online’.  The best way to quickly collect all this information, 100% free, is to find some blogs, websites and forums that your marketplace read / comment on and then READ THEM!

The easiest way is via RSS (you can find out about RSS here.)

For example, let’s assume Bob runs a commercial insurance brokerage and he specialises in working with hotels, based within a 100 mile radius of him.  He would subscribe to the RSS feed of each blog in his area, that’s focused on the hospitality industry.  He would then take time to read the questions that hoteliers ask in these blogs, as this is a good way to learn about their concerns or problems.

Bob could also start his own blog and use it as a way to communicate with the marketplace.  Unlike a website, a blog allows you to have a dialogue or conversation with all your readers and everyone can join in.  This is a superb way to get the essential feedback you need and to learn what your marketplace wants.  By the way; it’s also very effective as a way to make new contacts.

Bob could also use his blog to share useful resources with his readers, so they start to think of him as a problem solver; giving him a massive competitive advantage over his competitors.

Creativity and marketing

Once you learn the problems and challenges facing your marketplace, you now need to get creative!  You need to either think of a way to adapt one of your existing services, so that it solves these problems or you need to create a new service.

For example, I did this exercise with one of my clients a while ago.  He owned a successful accountancy practice and we found that in his area, local businesses were crying out for a professional lunchtime networking event.  So, we developed a free networking event every month and the results were stunning.  Not only did he manage to generate stacks of new clients and contacts through these events, he found a second, even more valuable benefit.

When he or one of his staff met with a potential client, because they were the only practice in the area offering this free facility, they were seen as the accountants who not only ‘did the numbers’ – but helped their clients make money too!  This set them apart from all their competitors and led to some amazing results.

Is it time you broke away from the pack?

Whatever area of business you are in, you will always find it hard to win new clients or make more sales, if you are replicating / repeating what your competitors are doing.  Find out what your marketplace really wants and then focus on delivering it in the most effective way possible. It’s a lot easier to make sales when your product or service is the answer to a problem, that no one else in your area / region is solving other than you.

That’s how to make sales the easy way!

Save time & spot opportunities with RSS

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An idea for you and your business – From Jim Connolly
With the advent of the Internet, there has never been more information available to you.  Although this has created an unbelievable number of opportunities for you and your business; it has also created a problem:
THERE’S JUST TOO MUCH INFORMATION OUT THERE!

So, how do you make sure you get the information you need – without missing anything important or wasting your precious time, trawling through stacks of websites?

RSS

RSS marketing business time managementRSS (Really Simple Syndication), is a simple tool that allows you to receive all your important Internet content in one place! If, for example, you like to keep up to date with the new posts on this blog, RSS will send you my posts once they have been written! No need to keep checking back here – you will automatically receive all my new stuff and can then read it whenever you like!

OK, I clicked the RSS button – now what?

Most Internet Browsers have their own built in RSS reader.  Firefox uses something called Live Bookkmars and Internet Explorer has it’s own built-in RSS reader as well.  So, once you have clicked the RSS button on this blog or any other website that provides an RSS feed, you can simply look in the RSS section of your browser and get the latest from all your favourite sites!  The only proviso here is that the site or blog needs to offer a ‘feed’ – almost all blogs do and all news websites.  Pretty much every regularly updated website offers ‘feeds’ these days.

Are there any other benefits to RSS?

Oh yes!  There are news sites like Google News, which will let you receive news stories about your industry or local area as soon as they break, via RSS.  This is a GREAT tool for competitor analysis! You can even set it, so that whenever someone posts information about you or your company, you will be the first to know!

The benefits of RSS are massive!  This article from Mark White clearly explains everything you need to know and points to some useful resources.  However, none of this will help you unless you decide to start using RSS!  If you want to save time and become the best informed person in your industry or profession, you really need to start using RSS!

Are you an existing RSS user?

If so, please leave a comment here and let us know how RSS has helped you or your business!