Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Build your ideal business. No selling required. None. Zilch!

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marketing, no selling

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I’m going to share a powerful marketing idea with you today. It’s all about how to attract high quality clients (or customers). With no selling required.

These leads will come from people who already know you, who already value your work AND who really want to work with you.

Let’s go.

I need to start by asking you a question: Over the past 6 months, how much valuable, free information have you given to your prospective clients?

I’m specifically referring to things like newsletter articles, blog posts, videos, Zoom sessions, podcasts etc., which offer useful and valuable information… rather than thinly-disguised sales pitches.

Here’s why that question is critically important to building your ideal business.

No selling required

If you want an endless stream of high quality clients or customers, you need to be front of mind when they have a requirement. You need them to be thinking about you. This means you need to regularly give them something, which they will value. Something useful. Something that makes them interested in what you have to say.

Most small business owners waste their time, trying to get their marketplace excited, using sales messages and special offers. They haven’t figured out yet, that they need to develop a relationship with their marketplace, in advance, if they want to attract the very best enquiries.

Notice I said ‘attract‘ enquiries?

That’s right.

When you stop selling and start helping, your prospective clients come to you. I haven’t sold my services to anyone in over 20 years. But people hire me all the time. And the difference this makes is huge.

Engage and inform: Don’t just sell

The secret to attracting high quality inbound sales leads, is to focus on engaging your marketplace. Educate them. Inform them. Inspire them. Help with their problems. In short, become a valuable resource. And do this before they even need you.

By engaging in this way, you’ll quickly begin to build relationships and credibility with the people who pay for the exact kind of service or products you offer. And if you tailor the information you provide, so that it’s directly relevant to your IDEAL prospective clients, that’s who you’ll attract enquiries from. (Note that word attract again?)

Through the distribution of valuable, free information, you position yourself as an authority in your field. You also build a relationship with your prospective clients, where they naturally think of you as the source of the help they need. This makes you a safe pair of hands. It also makes hiring you or buying from you way less risky when they need a new provider.

Make no mistake, if you embrace this marketing idea and do it correctly, the results can be breathtaking. You can build your ideal business, working with great clients who value you.

And with no selling required.

15 Powerful ideas to help you grow your business

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ideas grow business, marketing ideas business

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It’s said you are often just one idea away from the breakthrough you have been looking for.

So here are 15 powerful business development ideas, to help you achieve the breakthrough results you need.

  1. If you write a blog or newsletter, ask yourself, if you’re building a tribe or simply writing drive-by content? Almost everyone gets this wrong. Here’s why this is so important.
  2. Embrace brevity. People are busy and their attention has never been in more demand. Keep your marketing messages as short and useful as possible.
  3. Do at least one thing each day, which your future self will thank you for.
  4. Remind yourself that the process of giving and receiving starts with giving. Making selfish demands from strangers doesn’t work. It also damages your reputation. Bring your seed, not your need.
  5. Fail more often this week than you did last week. Why? Because if you’re not failing often enough, you’re sticking to things you already know. This means you are no longer growing. This is why Steve Jobs famously reprimanded members of his team, if they were not failing regularly enough. Then, fail more often next week than you did this week… repeat.
  6. Stop aiming for perfectionism. It will stop you getting started, kill your creativity and block your progress. The next time you find yourself blaming perfectionism for your lack of progress, call it out for what it is: a stalling tactic.
  7. Stop doing work purely because it pays the bills. Start doing work that makes a difference. This post explains why.
  8. Get expert help in any area of your business, where you are under performing. Things don’t just change for the better because you hope they will. Hope is essential, but it’s not a business strategy.
  9. Remind yourself that you pick your clients, they don’t pick you. This is true of 100% of the most successful business owners and consultants I know. Pick clients who value you and allow you to do your best work. Build your client base deliberately. Here’s what you need to know.
  10. Get serious about the value of your time. No one ever lay on their deathbed, regretting they hadn’t spent more time watching TV. Throughout the day, ask yourself, is this the best use of my time right now? If it isn’t, go and do something more productive.
  11. Make the decision to do the tricky stuff. Every business owner claims to give their business 100%. What they REALLY mean, is that they give their business 100% of the stuff that they are comfortable with. Decide to get less comfortable with the limitations of your comfort zone. This will help you.
  12. Learn to embrace your inner freak.
  13. Get the most from your creativity. There are hundreds of free, creative thinking ideas here.
  14. Believe that almost anything is possible. No matter how bad things may be right now, with courage, hard work and passion, you can achieve almost anything. This post gives a great example of what I mean.
  15. Build a great reputation by setting deadlines and delivering on them. Think about it: Telling a client that their project will be ready “by the end of the week” is far less powerful, than telling her it will be ready “by 9am Thursday”. Keeping your deadline promises is a superb way to earn trust and build an excellent reputation. I explain this in more detail here.
  16. Give people more than they expect. Don’t under-promise though. Instead, over-deliver.

If you found these ideas useful, remember to subscribe using the box below to get new updates direct to your inbox.

How to get the best, free marketing advice

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marketing research

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There’s a lot of free marketing advice available online. Some is good. Sadly, most is ineffective. Today, I want to help you identify the best marketing advice and show you how to avoid the worst.

A new client with a familiar problem

I was prompted to write this after my initial session with a new client. I went through some questions with her, as I do with all my new clients. I quickly noticed that she was making a number of serious marketing mistakes. During our session, I asked her where she got those marketing ideas from and she named around half a dozen marketing sites.

I soon figured out what had happened.

Today, I want to help you avoid making the same, expensive mistake. I need to start by drawing your attention to 2 types of marketing blogger.

1. The marketing blogger, who doesn’t have a business

Many marketing blogs are written by people who are career employees, paid to produce lots of content. Others are employees, who were previously entrepreneurs, but they failed to build their own business and are now paid to produce “content” for their employers.

Think about that for a moment: On sites like these, you’re taking marketing advice from someone, who has either never marketed their own business or whose own business failed.

2. Guest bloggers on popular marketing blogs

The vast majority of top marketing blogs rely very heavily on unpaid, guest bloggers. Guest bloggers are people who write for free, in return for access to a popular blog’s readership.

None of the guest bloggers I checked on the sites my client mentioned, had the assets you’d expect from a competent marketer. In other words, they were unable to market their own brand.

Think about that for a moment: Their readers are taking marketing advice from bloggers, who feel forced to work for free. Bloggers who still haven’t figured out how to grow their own valuable readership, community or tribe. Bloggers who still have no idea how to market their own brand, other than by guest blogging. Taking advice from them lost my new client a fortune.

Check the source

No, not every employee / guest blogger who writes about marketing is clueless. Some will be knowledgeable. At least a little.

My point is simply this: Always check the credentials of those offering free marketing advice, before you act on what they tell you.

They should have an about page on their site, (like this one). See if they’ve achieved what you need to achieve. See if they have a proven track record at the highest level. If not, then find a better source.

Well-written and sincere

Lots of bloggers write extremely well and make a compelling point, when what they’re telling you is incorrect or ineffective. They may be sincere, but it’s possible to be sincerely wrong.

I estimate my new client has lost at least 5 years worth of business growth. And probably missed out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenues. All because she followed the same, ineffective marketing advice as thousands of other small business owners.

Don’t let it happen to you.

Before you invest your time or money on marketing, check the source.

Always, always check the source.

You’ve been lied to for years

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marketing style

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The following statement will sound counter-intuitive. That’s because you’ve been lied to for years. Okay. Here goes.

In marketing, there’s a case for style over substance.

It’s a strong case, too.

Just think about this for a moment:

  • The top political commentators get paid a ton of money, to deliver their take on the news for major networks.
  • The also-ran commentators get paid peanuts, to deliver their take on the news, for small, local networks.

Here’s the thing. In both cases, the news (substance) they comment on is the same. Here’s why one of them is earning 10 times or 50 times more than the other. It’s their style. The style with which they work.

For example:

  • Their courage, when choosing to take (or avoid) a controversial stance.
  • Their vocabulary.
  • Their energy.
  • Their ability to communicate with confidence.
  • Their effectiveness when injecting their personality (style) into their work, so that it’s truly theirs.

Here’s my point. When it comes to business, the substance should be there by default. Every qualified consultant, coach, lawyer, whatever… knows what their service (substance) is and how it works. It’s their style that makes all the difference. It’s their style that sets them apart from the crowd.

Style over substance in marketing

The newsletters, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, Facebook groups, Medium publishers, etc., that people take notice of, all have their own style. The same is true of the most successful email marketing, advertising, marketing campaigns and copywriting.

And the ones that fail to grow, fail to get noticed, fail to make an impact… well… they don’t.

Instead, they follow the cookie-cutter approach to marketing. They bought into the lie. The lie that says, “Just do things this way and it works. Follow the steps. 1-2-3”.

That’s bullshit.

It doesn’t work. In fact, it can’t possibly work. Because your style can’t be found in a book.

You can certainly learn substance that way. However, your style, the very thing that gets you noticed, by default, can’t possibly be learned from a marketing seminar, a course, a book or any other generalized form of information.

Why?

Because your style is all about you.

Where are you right now?

Okay, I already know that you totally understand your subject. So the substance is there. It’s taken care of. That’s covered. You’re good.

But what about the style?

When it comes to your marketing, when it comes to the story behind your service, are you telling it from your perspective? Are you sharing the substance of your knowledge, using your voice, your stories and your experiences? Because it’s your style that people connect with.

  • It’s your style that sets you apart.
  • It’s your style that causes people to return for more.
  • It’s your style that makes you approachable.
  • It’s your style that gives you a voice.
  • It’s your style that inspires people to share your message.
  • It’s your style that gives value to your substance.
  • It’s your style that motivates people to hire you or buy from you specifically, rather than a cheaper alternative.

And none of that can be robotized. Or automated. Because it’s you. It’s your authentic experience. It’s your greatest marketing asset. In fact, with so many competitors out there, with so many people trying to get the attention of your prospective clients, your style is the most powerful tool in your arsenal.

So, give your style the oxygen it needs.

2 Powerful tips from marketing that stinks!

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marketing that stinks

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I’d like to share an example of shockingly bad marketing with you today. In fact, you could say this marketing stinks! However, there are 2 powerful marketing lessons to learn from it, which you can apply directly into your business.

Here’s what happened.

I’ve used the same brand of deodorant for years. Recently, my brand wasn’t in stock, so I looked for another brand and noticed for the first time that they all claim to offer 48 hour protection.

Think about that for a moment.

Thankfully, there are very few people who only shower or clean their body every 2 days; whose armpits remain unwashed for 48 hours. And if you’ve ever stood close to someone with such bad hygiene habits, you’ll know these people don’t buy deodorant!

Here’s the thing: The ridiculous 48 hour claim on the packaging has nothing to do with deodorant. It has everything to do with ineffective, uncreative marketing.

Allow me to explain.

Here’s how it happened

The marketing team behind one of the brands decided to use a bigger number on their product (48 instead of 24), to make it look like better value.

The other brands followed suit. So, the number remains, even though it’s now meaningless and totally ineffective. No one needs 48 hour protection and having that number no longer generates additional sales, because they all use it.

As a marketing tactic, it stinks. It fails on every level.

There are 2 useful tips here

Firstly, if you want to make your product or service stand out from the competition, make it meaningfully different. Provide something that adds genuine value. Something your marketplace will get additional utility from.

Secondly, if you want to really stand out and stay in front, get creative. Because the first deodorant brand simply moved the dial from 24 to 48, every competitor could easily follow suit. Any marketing advantage was wiped out super-fast. So, choose something that’s harder for others to copy.

Better still, consistently strive to keep improving the value you bring. It’s hard to beat a business that operates from that mindset.

Some useful ideas. Plus an outstanding opportunity for your business

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marketing idea, marketing opportunity

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I have a couple of important ideas to share with you today, regarding your competitors and some things you need to look out for.

Then, I’ll tell you about an outstanding opportunity that could be right under your nose.

Are your benefits as powerful as they were?

I’d like you to think about the major benefits of hiring you or buying from you. That’s because it’s possible those benefits are not as strong or attractive as they were, before the coronavirus pandemic.

For example, if you were one of the only providers in your industry offering client sessions via video, that won’t be the case any more. If people found your fees or prices were attractive or competitive, that may no longer be the case either. We’re seeing providers in many industries lowering their prices and others aggressively price-slashing. So make sure your strengths are as strong as they were, by paying attention to your competitors.

That leads on nicely to the next idea I’d like to share with you.

Fewer, but stronger competitors

One thing we’re likely to see accelerating over the coming months, is the number of businesses that are either merging with, or being acquired by, better-resourced competitors. This would result in a smaller overall number of competitors to your business, but stronger competition. We saw this a lot during the last recession.

Take some time today to research what your direct competitors are doing. All of them. Even those who have been slow to change over the years. They too are now being forced to adapt.

The more you know about the current shape of your competitors and wider marketplace, the better equipped you are to make decisions. Crisis always brings change. It’s up to you to adapt accordingly. Because doing more of what used to work may not be an option for much longer.

And on a much brighter note…

The opportunity you need could be right under your nose

Amid the challenges out there, it’s really important to be aware that there are also outstanding opportunities. I see examples of this every day. Some are from business owners in the industries most effected by the coronavirus.

Where do I start, Jim?

Be part of the solution, my friend!

This means looking for one of the gaps in your marketplace. These gaps are newly created wants or needs. And they usually present themselves as problems that need solving. They may not be obvious, but they are there.

When you identify a gap, test it. Do the research. Get the numbers. Ask for feedback. If everything stacks up, get to work on how to service that need (solve the problem), in a way that’s valuable to the community you serve and profitable to you.

Is it easy?

No.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely.