Jim Connolly Marketing

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

When you enter Attract Mode, people will hire you

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Here’s a marketing tip, which is based on attracting clients. Yes, they come to you. I’ve done this since 1995 and today, I’ve given it a name. Attract Mode.

When you do work you enjoy, to the highest standard you can, and make it visible to prospective clients, you enter Attract Mode. And people will hire you.

This holds true for every type of service I can think of.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

marketing attract mode, attract mode, show your work, show your knowledge, marketing tip

Last week I spent around 6 hours, spread over a few evenings, working on the hedges that surround my house. It’s great exercise, I love doing it and the weather was perfect. After about 30 minutes, someone came over, complimented my work and asked if I would give him a quote, to tidy up his garden hedge. I thanked him and explained my situation, that I’m the homeowner, not a gardener. He said, “Okay” and went on his way.

In total, 4 people asked me the same thing in that 6 hour period. Because without even knowing it, I was in Attract Mode.

What does this have to do with you, your business and the way you market your services?

Show your work, where prospects will see it

You can enter Attract Mode and reach thousands of times more people than I did, with the service you provide.

How?

By sharing your knowledge, the way you work and your passion for what you do, where your prospective clients will see it.

How will they see it?

It works like this.

  1. You choose a digital marketing platform to create and publish with. I love newsletters and WordPress. You might prefer YouTube or podcasting, whatever. The key is to find a space where you can demonstrate your knowledge, the way you work and your passion for what you do. Along with how to get in touch with you.
  2. You then need to determine where your prospective client’s attention is. This might be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or a more industry specific social platform.
  3. Then, when you’ve published a ‘piece’ that demonstrates your knowledge, the way you work and your passion for what you do, you share it on the social platform (or platforms) used by your prospective clients.

After a while, if you get the value, focus and balance right, you’ll be able to ignore the second and third step. By then, people who have discovered your newsletter, YouTube channel, podcast, blog or whatever, will be sharing it for you. In my case, I publish marketing tips and ideas, which are shared by my newsletter subscribers and those who visit my site.

Welcome to Attract Mode

By including easy ways for people to contact you, interested prospects will reach out. You won’t need to push. Which is good. Because pushing only causes people to push back.

Instead, you’ll be in Attract Mode. People will come to you. You won’t be selling to them, they’ll be hiring you. This changes the whole dynamic of how you grow your business.

Will this work for everyone?

No.

  • Partly because some business owners won’t be able to resist turning what they publish into a series of sales pitches. No one is attracted to sales pitches. No one.
  • And partly because they’ll quit too soon. This isn’t magic. It’s marketing. Real world marketing, which your audience (prospects) will take time to discover. It also takes time for them to develop a connection with you and to identify what you do with what they need.

Attract Mode has been a cornerstone of my marketing since 1995. And it works spectacularly well, when done correctly.

Empathy: It’s far more important than you think!

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How interested are you, regarding the challenges facing your prospective clients or customers? That may seem like an odd question, but your answer is spectacularly important.

Why?

marketing empathy, marketing with feeling

Because the most effective marketing, and strongest business relationships, are all built on a foundation of empathy: The ability to understand and share in the feelings of another person.

Think about it for a moment.

  • The vendors you are most loyal to, are those you feel have a connection with you.
  • The vendors you tell your friends about, are those you feel confident recommending.
  • The vendors you feel closest to, are those who understand your wants and needs, because they took time to find out.
  • And the vendors you appreciate the most, are those you feel you actually ‘know’.

Conversely, the vendors you have no interest in are those who have a mostly transactional relationship with you. These are the vendors that don’t really give a rat’s ass about you or what matters to you. Their focus is cold and based on how to maximize their yield from you.

Show your empathy through your marketing

Despite the value of demonstrating empathy and the damage caused by a transactional focus, most marketing lacks feeling. Instead we’re hit with needy messages transparently designed to milk us like a cash cow; sales pitches, killer deals, special offers and marketing gimmicks. It’s stripped of empathy, yet that human connection is the most valuable part.

Here’s the thing:

Business is all about people. And marketing is about how those people feel.

That’s because our feelings are what drive the decisions we make and the actions we take. Feelings are what cause people to hire you, buy from you, recommend you and remain a loyal customer. Without those feelings there’s no connection.

And without that connection, you and your business lose.

You know that you care about your customers and the community you serve. So, don’t keep it a secret. Instead, make empathy a visible part of the way you do business and the way you market your business.

Look for empathy opportunities

Proactively look for ways to demonstrate empathy.

Yes, demonstrate!

Words have amazing power. But when you show someone, it has massively greater impact, than when you merely tell them.

Here’s a suggestion. Do a review of the way you communicate with your customers and prospective customers. Are you creating empathy? Are you building them-focused relationships? If not, put it right.

Because when you do, it will radically improve the way they feel about you. And those feelings are what drive their decisions and actions.

How to thrive during the cost of living crisis

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cost of living crisis, marketing recession, marketing cost living crisis

Today, I’m going to share some ideas regarding how to thrive during the cost of living crisis. I’ll focus on just 2 of the main issues. Plus, I’ll share an amazing opportunity that’s waiting for you.

Let’s go!

What your prospective customers need from you is changing fast, as the global cost of living crisis takes hold. No one seems to know exactly how long it will last, which adds uncertainty to the mix.

Your marketing has to adapt to this radically different economy. This is especially the case, if you sell to small or medium-sized businesses, or to consumers outside the top income brackets. That’s what I will focus on today.

Here are a couple of major ways things have changed from a marketing perspective, plus some ideas to counter the negative impact.

1. Your prospects are thinking harder

You’re now (or will very soon be) marketing to people who are thinking a lot harder, before they spend their money or their budget.

People shop around a lot more whenever affordability becomes a greater priority. We see this on a small scale when an individual loses their job or an individual company goes through a serious downturn. We see it on a mass scale when the world economy is severely hit.

Here are some ideas for how to overcome this challenge.

More of the same isn’t a smart move

The focus of your marketing needs to address the new reality of your prospective customers. More of the same is not a smart move, because things are absolutely not the same. For example, the level of marketing motivation required will need to increase, as your prices or fees become a far bigger issue.

Timing is more important than ever

There is an important timing component to the marketing improvements you make. And it brings a huge, potential opportunity with it. (Not the AMAZING opportunity I mentioned at the start… you’ll get that in a few moments.)

The business owners who adapt first (and best), to the new requirements of their prospects, will be the net winners. They’ll gain the market-share lost by their competitors who sat on their hands.

We saw this during the pandemic and we’re already seeing it again now.

2. Your prospects hate uncertainty

The way people make decisions when faced with uncertainty is very different than in more stable times.

They are massively more aware of risk and the potential for loss. They also tend to put decisions off for as long as possible, even relatively small decisions. An uncertain mind tends to say ‘no’ regarding a purchasing decision, rather than risk making a mistake.

Here are some ideas for how to overcome this challenge.

Risk reduction and risk reversal

As well as the above recommendations, your marketing needs to include powerful, visible, risk reduction messages. In some cases, there are ways to very successfully offer full risk reversal on products or services; “total satisfaction or your money back” guarantees. I have one service that has always carried this offer.

Clearly, full risk reversal is not suitable for some products and services. But if there’s a safe way for you to reduce the risk, fully or partly, give it a go!

Long-term purchases need to be VERY compelling

The uncertainty over just how bad things will get and how long this will last, means people are now especially hesitant regarding any medium or long-term purchasing decisions. Making a decision that will be with you for a long time, is a great deal harder when you’ve no clear idea what the future holds. Again, your marketing needs to account for this and adapt.

This means placing a far stronger focus on highly compelling reasons for your prospects to take action now.

  • You believe in your products or services.
  • You know they are of outstanding value to your prospective customers.
  • You DON’T know if another provider will take care of the prospect.
  • This means you owe it to your prospects, to make sure they buy from you or hire you.

Now transfer your passion into powerful marketing messages, which will inspire your prospects!

Trust: Get your stars out

Your marketing also needs to build as much trust as possible. This is always extremely important, but in times like these, it’s essential.

One proven way to do this is to get your stars out. In other words, if like me you’ve been trading for a long time (27 years in my case) or have impressive accolades / achievements, these need to be far more prominent in your marketing.

If you would like to see an example of getting your stars out, here’s how I do it and it works extremely well.

Limitless potential and opportunity

The commercial potential ahead of you right now is incredible.

The opportunity is immense.

What?

Yup!

You’re facing incredible potential and immense opportunity!

History assures us that EVERY time we encounter a major economic crisis, literally every single time, there are business owners who win huge… business owners who win huge, in industries where their same-sized competitors floundered.

These are the business owners who focused on thriving, when their competitors focused on surviving.

How did they do this?

Well, here’s the most important factor I know.

They followed the direction of travel

Let me explain that. It’s the most important message I have for you today.

If you want to know the way things are heading, you need to closely observe the current direction of travel. This was a key philosophy of mine, as I successfully led clients through the pandemic. It’s the same concept Wayne Gretzky shared when he said; skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.

The business owners who thrived previously, paid very close attention to what their prospective customers were doing. They also studied social media channels, to learn what their prospects wanted and needed. They got a very valuable snapshot of the future.

And they ran with it!

They adapted their products, services and the way these were marketed, to perfectly match what their prospects were crying for.

The best overall advice I can give you right now, is to be willing to do the same. To be willing to adapt and improve. And sooner rather than later.

When was the last time you…

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when was the last time

When was the last time you tested different pricing models?

When was the last time you were contacted by a media outlet, for your professional opinion?

When was the last time you tested a new marketing tactic or strategy?

When was the last time you did something radically different from your competitors?

When was the last time you undertook detailed competitor research, so that you know what you’re actually competing against?

When was the last time you received a great referral from one of your customers?

When was the last time you updated your marketing materials?

When was the last time you took the lead in your industry?

When was the last time you took an idea that’s common and successful in a different industry, and applied it to your business?

When was the last time you seriously challenged one of your long-held business beliefs?

When was the last time you partnered with another business on a project?

When was the last time you updated your business goals and targets?

When was the last time you added a new product or service to your portfolio?

When was the last time you looked for new ways to solve problems, for your customers and prospective customers?

When was the last time you seriously asked yourself, if your business is growing as fast and as profitably as it could be?

When was the last time you saw a significant, sustained increase in profits, and what did you learn from it?

When it’s been too long

If it has been too long since you last did, or experienced, some of the above, now would be a great time to put that right.

Make a list. Then work your way through it. Some of these will be more challenging than others, but all of them are important enough to invest the effort required.

Your customer and your business are one

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customer focus, focused on customer, us and us

If it’s best for your customer, do it. Seriously, just do it! Because it will automatically be best for you, too.

What I am about to share with you is pure gold. And if you take a moment to read it, it can radically improve the success of your business.

It starts with this very simple idea.

You cannot develop greater value for your customer or deliver higher levels of service to your customer, without benefiting from it equally. Your customer and your business are one.

Now I’ll explain why.

There’s only us and us!

In business, when it comes to the vendor and the customer, there’s no them and us. There’s only us and us. You already know that customers are an essential part of your business. Logically, when you make things better for them, you make them better for your business, too. The customer and the business are one.

A common objection I get when explaining this to business owners, is a version of the following.

But Jim, if I go to that extra effort and expense for my customers, it will cost me in time and money. The customer will benefit, but I’ll lose out.

I totally understand that kind of reply. The idea of creating their business model around what’s best for the customer, is alien to them. It’s born of a very common attitude to business investment, which you experience every time you receive average customer service.

Average providers will look at the current numbers, subtract any extra time or financial investment, and it doesn’t add up. What they fail to see is that their current numbers are a fraction as high, and a fraction as profitable, as they could be if they improved their model.

Invest in your customers

You do this by developing your business, so that it’s transparently designed to be of massive value to your customers and prospects.

Here’s what we see from those rare business owners, already embracing this customer-focused attitude.

  • They attract the best customers.
  • They retain existing customers for massively longer.
  • They never need to sell based on price.
  • They have happier team members, who love what they do.
  • They always have a waiting list of candidates, for when a position is available.
  • They often have a waiting list of customers.
  • They are far more productive.
  • They thrive in every economy.
  • They attract investors.
  • They generate a buzz around their products or services, simply by doing what they do.
  • They enjoy a hugely valuable profile in their marketplace.
  • They attract endless word-of-mouth referrals.

All that (and more) can be yours. Yes, yours!

You can choose to accept that what’s best for your customers is best for you. Then free yourself to grow a great business, with more enjoyment, less stress, doing your best work, for customers who know you care… whilst attracting all the rewards that come from it. Because your customer and your business are one.

Do this correctly and you’ll be amazed at how quickly, and how dramatically, things improve for you.

8 Marketing ideas to ‘Crush It’, in the 2nd half of 2022

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marketing ideas, marketing tips, jim connolly

As we approach the second half of 2022, here are 8 marketing ideas and questions to focus on, so you finish the year stronger.

In no particular order.

  1. What are you doing today, which will attract high quality customers (or clients) 30 days from now?
  2. How can you make it easier for your prospects to experience your product or service, in advance?
  3. How can you improve what you offer, so it’s the perfect match for your ideal customer?
  4. How can you improve your customer experience, so people keep coming back and keep recommending you?
  5. What’s your plan, to identify and partner with the people who already have the trust and attention of your prospects?
  6. What marketing tactics will you choose, so that you stay front of mind with your prospects?
  7. Your customers are risk averse. What more can you do, to reduce or remove the risk associated with purchasing from you / hiring you?
  8. What lessons from the past 6 months can you learn from, to improve the next 6 months?

I hope you find these ideas and questions interesting. More importantly, I hope you do something with them.