Email marketing & mail shots Archives - Page 11 of 32

Let’s make your marketing totally irresistible

By Jim Connolly | December 26, 2017

If you want to enjoy massively better marketing results in 2018, you’ll find this really useful. It starts with an important question.

Do you ever wonder why some businesses push dull sales messages at you, over and over again?

The answer is simple: It’s because they are getting a poor response. Then, rather than improve the quality of their message, they increase the volume. Their thinking looks something like this: ‘Maybe if I send another marketing message out, SOMEONE will respond?’ They get another poor response. So they repeat the process.

We need to be smarter than that. You see, more volume isn’t going to help. In fact, it usually does the total opposite. Allow me to explain.

The volume problem

It’s not that people can’t hear what these small businesses are saying. The challenge is that the message isn’t interesting enough. It doesn’t motivate prospective clients to get in touch. It doesn’t grab people’s attention or interest. It doesn’t get people eagerly telling their friends about the product or service. And it’s losing these businesses a fortune.

Increasing the volume of ineffective marketing isn’t just ineffective. It’s also toxic! That’s because it not only fails to generate business, it also damages the reputation of the sender.

Overcoming this challenge

Here are some better places to look, when people are ignoring your marketing messages:

Check that your message is reaching the right people. Know who your ideal client or customer is. Then focus your message exclusively on what matters most to them. Don’t try to be of wider, general interest. That will make your marketing message way too vague. And vague marketing won’t motivate anyone to buy from you or hire you.
Make sure your database is up to date. Always use clean data.
If it’s an advertising message, check that you’re using the correct medium and media.
Then, before you publish your next marketing message, be certain that it’s motivating enough. Ensure it has the power to inspire the reader to take the action you require. Without a powerful message, nothing will happen. This is true, no matter how great your product or service is.

The message here is simple. If you want to massively improve your results, increase the quality, not the volume.

Alternatively, I can do it all for you. And do it really, really well. Here’s how it works.

Would people miss you?

By Jim Connolly | December 21, 2017

So, would people miss your marketing if it stopped?

That’s a tough question. However, it’s an important one. The reason it’s so important, is that the most effective marketing is value driven. Value driven marketing focuses on the needs of the prospective client or customer. It provides them with what they want and it does so, in an engaging, effective way.

In short, it’s something they want to receive, unlike most marketing, which is an annoying intrusion. I’ll give you 2 examples in a moment, of how people are creating valuable marketing for their marketplace. First, let’s look at what people are attracted to.

We know that people value marketing that delivers:

Useful, targeted information.
Solutions to their most pressing problems.
Helpful advice from trusted sources.
Genuinely special offers, which provide real value based on their wants / needs.
Truthful, honest engagement.

We know that people dislike:

Cold calls.
Being pestered on social networks.
Spam emails and junk mail.
Uninspiring sales pitches.
Selfish marketing pitches, poorly disguised as special offers.
Impersonal outreach.

Great marketing doesn’t really feel like marketing

I was thinking about this recently, after reading a blog post from Evernote. The post was all about how to be more productive with their app. As an Evernote customer, the more value I can get from their app, the longer I’ll remain a client. And not only that, by getting more value from their product, I’m massively more likely to recommend it. (Which I do).

But it goes even deeper.

I follow Evernote on Twitter. This means they have access to me whenever I check Twitter, with my permission. Why do I give them my valuable permission and attention? Simple. Their Twitter feed is filled with useful ideas, tips and advice on how to be more organized and productive. In short, I’d miss Evernote’s marketing if it stopped. Their marketing is useful. It’s permission based. It adds value.

Compare Evernote’s approach, to the usual push and pester style of marketing, used by small business owners. There’s no comparison. One is the opposite of the other.

It works for me too

I’ve used the value driven approach to marketing since the 1990’s. Initially via an email newsletter. Today, via my blog and the email version of the blog. And not only is it effective, it’s increasingly effective. That’s to say, it produces greater and greater results every year.

Plus…

I haven’t had to sell my services to anyone in over 20 years! Yes, people hire me all the time. But I never have to sell to them. The difference is huge. One is about attracting clients, the other is about chasing them.

If you’re not already doing so, make your marketing so valuable in 2018 that people would miss it if you stopped. Put a strategy in place to attract clients and customers. It’s more effective, more fun and less stressful than chasing them!

How to build a massively valuable community, without Facebook or any other network

By Jim Connolly | November 20, 2017

What do Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Linkedin have in common?

They’re relied on by millions of business owners, as a way to connect with their marketplace.
Plus, these same business owners have zero control over them.

Think about that for a moment.

On Friday, the popular Unilad Facebook Page was removed from Facebook. It has over 34 million likes and reaches billions of people. The page came back after a couple of days, following a huge media outcry.

The whole thing served as a timely reminder. A reminder that outsourcing the communication channel between your business and your marketplace, to an unaccountable 3rd party, is really risky.

Of course, if you or I have our main social account deleted, there’s unlikely to be a huge media outcry. Click… and we’re gone, along with the community we built.

The answer?

The answer is to take control away from social networks.

How?

My recommendation isn’t sexy. It’s not fashionable. It’s certainly nothing new. But it works. And it’s of massive value.

I’m referring to email!

Sure, use social as a way to connect with prospective clients / customers, if you really want to. But encourage those people to give you permission to contact them via email.

Pushing ads isn’t community building

Many small business owners fail with email, because they make their emails little more than a series of advertisements. Every email should contain what I call Independent Value. This means the reader should get something of value, independent of whether they spend money with you.

So no, a series of emails from you all about special offers isn’t going to cut it. That’s advertising, not community building.

Here’s what works: Only contact people when you have something useful to share. Show up regularly. You’ll then be building your very own permission-based community (what Internet marketers refer to as “your list”).

Yes, make it easy for people to get in touch with you, when they want to hire you or buy from you. Just don’t make that the focus of your emails.

Get it right and you’ll never be reliant on any social network.

I don’t have the time, Jim

A couple of interesting things happen, when you no longer need to spend all that time every day, feeding your business’ social networks.

You’ll rediscover the time you lost. This will give you more than enough time to build your own email community. I’m a dad, husband and I run a successful marketing business with clients all over the world. Plus, I work out for over an hour every day. However, I spend less time on social networks than anyone I know. That’s not a coincidence.
You’ll also find it massively easier to focus. It’s difficult to concentrate on anything, when you’re being constantly distracted by social media updates.

These benefits combine to provide you with a far more productive working environment.

They also “gift” you the additional time and clarity required, to create useful content for your email community.

Business and personal

An important distinction needs to be made, between business and personal use of social networks.

I’m not suggesting you stop connecting with family and friends.

Far from it! I myself use Twitter socially. The vast majority of my contacts and tweets are not connected to my business. It’s a leisure activity for me, which I really enjoy.

My point is the importance of building your business community on a platform, which YOU control. It’s about highlighting the risks of handing the main communication channel between you and your marketplace, to a 3rd party, over which you have zero control.

How effective can building an email community be, when a small business handles it correctly? Well, despite Jim’s Marketing Blog being one of the most popular blogs in its niche, 12 times MORE people read the email version of the blog. My email readership is also, easily my biggest source of new clients and enquiries.

Outsourcing the communication channel with your marketplace, to any social network, is extremely risky. It’s also 100% avoidable.

Here’s what you need to know: This is a proven example, which shows you how to get it right. It includes how I helped a client build a massively valuable reader community. You can read it here.

How to get your marketing in front of people at exactly the right time

By Jim Connolly | September 27, 2017

When is the best time to market your services to someone?

That’s what today’s post is all about. I’m going to show you how to get your marketing message in front of people at exactly the right time. It’s based on my newest client.

I was prompted to write about this, after Jennifer joined my Marketing Mentor Program. Jennifer’s experience shows the importance of timing. She explained how she’d reached a tipping point. She wasn’t prepared to waste another year, working hard and making too little progress. So, she decided to get in touch with me on Friday and hire me.

There’s a lesson here for you and the way you market your business. And it becomes obvious, as you look behind Jennifer’s actions.

What does this have to do with timing?

Jennifer’s desire to own a better, more profitable business is what motivated her to take action. However, in order for her to consider me as the obvious choice, I needed to be where her attention was, at the point where she was motivated to take action.

You need to do the same. You need to be where your prospective client’s attention is, when they need what you have to offer.

Most small business owners only market their services intermittently. There’s usually weeks and often months between their marketing efforts. And because of the importance of being there precisely when their prospective clients need them, this stacks the odds against them.

If you’re getting low response rates from your marketing, you’ll already know exactly what I mean. Because no matter how great your services are, if you catch people at the wrong time, they won’t hire you.

Thankfully, this doesn’t need to happen to you ever again!

Here’s a proven, extremely effective alternative.

It works like this

Instead of seeing marketing as something you do occasionally, start treating it as an ongoing part of your business. This is how you ensure your name is front of mind, when a prospective client needs you. This is critically important, if you want people to hire you.

For example, Jennifer had been a reader of mine for months, before she hired me. She already knew who I was and she knew my work. So, she trusted me. Then, one of my posts landed in her inbox at the point when she was looking for help.

I became, in her words, “the obvious choice”.

Be there when they need you

Quit marketing like it’s a decade ago. Instead, turn up often, with something useful… not just a series of ads, offers and pitches. Consider newsletters, vlogging, blogging via email, podcasting etc, to share your expertise with your prospective clients. Demonstrate your knowledge. Share your passion. Build a connection with your marketplace.

If you do, you’ll be where their attention is, when they need your services.

IMPORTANT: None of those marketing suggestions cost you a dime, unlike; print ads, mailing lists, mail shots, networking groups, Facebook ads, Google pay-per-click, adwords etc.

In other words, so long as you do the right things correctly, there’s no financial barrier to continuously marketing your business. There’s no barrier to being where your prospective client’s attention is, at the point where they’re actively seeking the services YOU provide.

Think about that for a moment.

Is it easy? Yes. Once you know what to do and how to do it correctly, it’s extremely easy.

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5 Quick and easy wins for your business

By Jim Connolly | July 15, 2017

I shared 5 ideas with a business group recently, which they found extremely useful.

Here they are, in no particular order.

1: Offer something exclusive

Think about offering an elite or exclusive version of your services. There will always be a market for exceptional service and gold-standard products. It’s an extremely profitable market, too.

2: Never underestimate the importance of the human touch

So much of what we do today can be automated, from Facebook updates and tweets, to auto-responder emails. Whilst there is a place for some automation, you can’t automate your way to success.

Business is all about people and your competitors are forgetting that. You can gain a huge advantage over them, if you look for opportunities to interact with people. Keep it as human as possible. Never automate anything, unless it’s essential. The cost in lost business can be staggering.

3: Study the gold dust around you

If you find yourself reading a marketing email or mail shot today, stop! You have some potential gold dust in front of you. Examine it and look for what it was that compelled you to open it. Then, think about what caused you to start reading it.

Finally, consider how you can make your own marketing more effective, by incorporating or adapting what you have just learned.

4: Let people Pick Your Brain, commercially

If you get people asking you for free advice and you place any commercial value on your time, consider offering a Pick My Brain service. It has 2 enormous benefits.

Those who were purely intent on grabbing a freebie from you will vanish. The second they know there’s a fee, they go and look for another victim.
It can prove to be an extremely valuable service for those who really do value your advice (and for you, too).

Business is all about mutually beneficial relationships – not greedy people taking advantage of your expertise for their own selfish reasons.

5: Motivation alone is not the answer

When your business is heading in the wrong direction, you don’t need motivation to speed you up! You need guidance to get you on the right path. Working longer hours in an under performing business, just means you will go broke, faster. No matter how fast you row your boat in the wrong direction, you will still get lost.

I hope you found these ideas useful, my friend. More importantly, I hope they inspire you to take action.

How to attract your ideal clients in just 3 questions

By Jim Connolly | July 11, 2017

I think you’re going to find this extremely useful, so I had to share it with you today.

I have 3 questions for you to ponder. They’re simple questions. However, they can put you on track to attract massively more clients. Not only that, these will be clients who are an ideal match for you and your business!

Attracting your ideal clients

I want you to think about what happens when someone visits your website, sees your social media updates, reads your newsletter or consumes your podcasts or videos, etc.

Now answer the following 3 questions:

Does it tell them who you are?
Does it tell them what you stand for… the things that really matter to you?
Does it give them a reason to switch from their current provider to you?

The majority of small business marketing fails on not one, but all three of those questions. It fails to tell us who they are, what they stand for or why we need to leave our current provider for them.

And without those essential questions answered, there’s nothing whatsoever to motivate anyone to give a rat’s ass about them.

You have a personality. Your business has one too: a way of working, which is your way of doing things. You have things you care passionately about. These are also reflected in the way you work. You have, or can find, powerful reasons why someone should hire you or buy from you. And it’s that mix, which sets you apart, helps you stand out, attracts attention and inspires people to hire you.

So don’t keep it a secret.

Look at your marketing copy. Review your blog, newsletter, social media, podcast / videos… whatever. Then make sure they communicate all that’s meaningfully different about you. In other words, give your marketing your DNA. Your fingerprint.

When you do, your marketplace will have something to connect with. And those in your marketplace who value your message, will be drawn to you.

That’s right: You won’t just attract enquiries. You’ll attract enquiries from people who value the very things, which you and your business value. These are your IDEAL prospective clients or customers. Just think about that for a moment.

Tip: If you’d like to know how and why to stand out, even in an extremely competitive marketplace, read this.