Jim Connolly Marketing

How to create attractive, memorable marketing

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marketing tips, marketing ideas, sales

When you market your business just like your competitors, you fade into the background. You lack impact. You become predictable and easy to forget.

For example:

  • Over the years, I must have had thousands of pushy strangers hand me their business card. How many of them can I remember? None of them.
  • Every day I receive impersonal marketing emails from people. How many can I remember? None of them.

That’s because superficial interactions wash over us. They leave no lasting imprint.

The human touch

What we do remember, are the people who sincerely reach out to us with something meaningful to share. We remember the people who recommend us to their contacts and friends. We remember the handwritten notes. We remember the people who respond, when we need feedback or support.

Business is all about people. If you want people to remember you, do something useful and memorable. Something that touches them. Something that requires thoughtfulness.

Hint: You can’t do this with copycat marketing or by automating your business relationships.

Recommended reading – How to make your business more human and far more successful.

How to make your business more human and far more successful too

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Whether you sell B2B or B2C you’re ALWAYS selling P2P (person to person).

It’s extremely important to remember that.

Why?

Because people will only listen to you, if you have something valuable to share with them, which matters to them. And no… a vague, poorly targeted marketing message is not going to work.

Here’s what we know

The more focused your marketing messages are, the more effective they will be and the more business they will generate for you.

  • A focused marketing message speaks directly to the reader (viewer or listener), in a language they understand. It connects with them at a far deeper level than a poorly targeted message.
  • A focused marketing message makes the reader feel as if you knew exactly what they needed. This makes you relevant to them, which is extremely powerful.
  • A focused marketing message captures the reader’s attention. This is of huge value to you today, when people’s attention has never been so scattered.
  • A focused marketing message has the power to motivate people to take action… to buy from you, call you, email you or visit you.

In short, a focused marketing message has the power to inspire and compel people in a way that vague messages can’t.

Review your written marketing

Look for opportunities to make it more focused, so that it’s only relevant to your ideal profile of client. Be less inclusive. Talk directly to them.

Business is all about people and people really notice, when you’re speaking directly to them, in their language, about what matters to them!

PS: Here’s some advice on how to build a successful business, using a more human approach.

How to get better results without working harder

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I have a business development tip for you today, which is essential to the success of your business.

Most small business owners are busy people. They work hard. They work long hours, too. Yet, very few make the kind of progress they would like. All that movement and hard work isn’t getting them where they want their business to be.

That’s because there’s something missing from this picture… something that transforms movement into progress.

So, what’s the answer?

The answer can be found, when we look at those business owners who are making real progress, often working fewer hours than those who spin their wheels.

It looks like this: Those who make progress learn from every experience. Then, they invest what they learn, to make better and better business decisions.

Here’s how you can do the same!

Here are a couple of examples, which show how this works in practice. The same approach can be used to massively improve your success in every area of your business.

Example 1: What was the last marketing email you opened and started reading?

Dig it out and spend some time studying its subject line (or title). Learn what it was, which motivated you to open it rather than trash it like all the others. Then, invest what you learned from that email, so that your next marketing email gets a great open rate.

Example 2: What was the last service you received, which impressed you so much that you had to tell everyone?

Think about that exceptional service, from start to finish. Now, look at what it was, which made that service so different from what you were expecting. Then, look for a way to incorporate something similar into the experience you give to your own clients or customers. Congratulations… you’ve just massively improved the volume and quality of the word of mouth publicity you receive!

In short: Don’t just get through the day. Get from the day.

It shouldn’t matter

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No, it shouldn’t matter that your website has a typo.

It certainly shouldn’t matter that your latest newsletter uses an apostrophe incorrectly.

It shouldn’t matter, but it does matter!

Making judgements

A prospective client who doesn’t know you, starts making judgements on you based on the limited information in front of them. If they’re reading a piece of your marketing and spot a typo, it adds to the mental picture they are building of you and your business.

It’s heartbreaking to lose sales because of a typo or misplaced apostrophe. Thankfully, it’s totally avoidable with just a little extra attention to detail.

Marketing 101: Make it more attractive. Not more annoying.

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Marketing Tips, marketing advice, ideas

Around 50 people email me every day with some kind of unsolicited sales pitch. They spam me because they think that their email is somehow special. They think that it’s only spam when other people do it.

It isn’t.

The rules apply to all of us

No matter how important or valuable we believe our message is, the rules of effective marketing still apply to us. Spam is spam, even if we do it.

If you want people to take notice of you, do something worthy of their attention and make it easy for them to share. When your message is genuinely of use or interest, the first 10 people who hear about it will get you another 10, who will do the same, and so on. That’s how every successful product or service spreads.

If you constantly need to pester people, either with spam, cold calls or at networking events, it’s time to improve your strategy.

A better approach

It’s as simple and as challenging as this — focus on making what you do more attractive… not more annoying.

Your headlines are promises, which your content needs to deliver

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content marketing, marketing tips

Using sensational headlines to trick people into opening emails or reading content, is a super-fast way to lose the trust and respect of your marketplace.

People hate being taken for a fool

If the content of a blog post, article or newsletter, etc., fails to deliver on the promise of its sensational headline, the author has just broken a promise to the reader.

Headlines and titles are important. Extremely important. A great headline will attract attention and encourage people to start reading. However, the headline needs to accurately reflect what the content delivers.

Otherwise, any success gained from getting more traffic will soon be lost, as people realise they were duped.

People respect honesty

With Content Marketing, using honest, well crafted headlines is the only way to attract and retain the attention of your marketplace.

It builds trust. It earns credibility. It’s worthy of you and your business.

Tip: Read this – Are you building a tribe or writing drive-by content?