Misfits Archives | Jim's Marketing Blog

Your road to better clients, higher fees and less competition

February 19, 2021 by Jim Connolly

Are you struggling to get noticed by great prospective customers? Are you attracting too many price-sensitive enquiries? If so, you’re not alone. This easy to fix issue is one of the most common in marketing.

Easy to fix?

Yes. We know exactly why it happens and how to fix it.

Here’s what you need to know, along with 10 examples to get you started.

Here’s why it happens

When competing products or services seem similar, price becomes the obvious way to determine value. As such, there’s little, if any, motivation for someone to pay more. In this common scenario, the lowest price looks like the best deal.

Sure, they “may” go for the 2nd or 3rd lowest price, hoping to insulate themselves from scammers or super-low quality goods or services. The key thing is that at this point, they’re price shopping. And you’re now competing on price.

Here’s how to fix it

A proven way to totally overcome this problem, is through developing something I call meaningful value.

Meaningful value is when you take what the marketplace expects from someone in your industry, and then improve upon it in a radical, meaningful way.

By default, any product or service with meaningful value has to be radically different from what’s expected. That’s what gives it meaning and elevates it from being average. This automatically places you in a unique position. A position, where you’re no longer competing on price, because your offering has no comparative competition!

What might this look like?

A service that comes with a 125% money-back guarantee.
A product that’s provably safer than anything in its category.
A product that’s 50% lighter than the industry leader.
A service that’s designed from the ground up, around the unique needs of each client.
A product that’s the only one in its class, to be made from 100% renewable sources.
A product that’s part of a numbered, limited edition.
A service that’s 3 times faster than the industry leader.
A product that’s far longer lasting than anything in its niche.
A service that’s massively more extensive than anything else available to your marketplace.
A product that’s clearly the most energy efficient in its class.

Those ideas are just food for thought. They’re simply examples to demonstrate the ‘base line’ required, for your products or services to stand out as being of meaningfully more value, than your marketplace expects.

Be sure to invest the time and effort required, to create something special. Marginal improvements have marginal impact. They won’t elevate your offering to the point where you have no comparative competition.

So let your creativity run wild. And aim for maximum impact.

How to be number one, in a category of one!

February 8, 2021 by Jim Connolly

It’s tough being a service provider. There are so many of us in every industry. Not only that, a prospective client can find lower priced alternatives to us, on Google, in seconds.

With so many competitors, what can we do?

We could try and out-spend them on advertising. Of course, this eats into our profit margins.
We could try being the lowest priced. Of course, this almost eliminates our profits.
We could try joining a networking group. Of course, we’d be relying on fellow group members to provide us with leads… the very same people who need to attend the group because they can’t even get enough leads for their own businesses.

There are better alternatives though. And one that works extremely well, is to become number one in a category of one.

It’s the strategy I follow for my own business and one that could be just as effective for you and your business.

It works like this

Let’s imagine you’re an accountant. (You could equally be a mentor, financial advisor, lawyer, designer, trainer, marketing consultant or whatever). Anyhow, unlike your fellow accountants you choose to work exclusively with creative professionals. This immediately places you as number one in a category of one.

The fact you understand their profession at a super-deep level, sets you apart from the rest.
The fact you understand their terminology and speak their language, sets you apart from the rest.
The fact you understand the threats and opportunities specific to their industry, sets you apart from the rest.
The fact you understand their unique requirements, sets you apart from the rest.
The fact you understand the creative mindset, sets you apart from the rest.

And because you’re set apart from your former competing providers, your prospective clients will see you as massively more relevant to them and their business!

It’s hard to think of a service provider in any industry, who couldn’t transition themselves into being number one in a category of one.

Including you, my friend.

This is unreasonable, right?

August 3, 2020 by Jim Connolly

I’ve had an idea that could help your business in multiple ways. It’s an unreasonable idea. Yes, I know that sounds weird.

Allow me to explain.

If a product or service is only reasonably good, it’s nothing special. It’s just okay. It’s certainly not good enough to motivate people to buy from you, hire you or tell all their friends about you.

So… this got me thinking

The opposite of reasonable is unreasonable.

What if someone decided to embrace an unreasonable mindset to their business and the services they provide?

I believe it could lead to some significant improvements. Improvements that would encompass their whole business. Here are just a few examples of what an unreasonable approach might look like, which immediately came to mind.

A business owner could choose to:

Be unreasonably committed to customer service and the total happiness of their clients or customers.
Show unreasonable persistence when it comes to delivering projects on time and keeping their promises.
Have an unreasonable attitude to life long learning and developing their potential.
Set the bar unreasonably high on the quality of work they’re willing to ship. (This will help you) get it right.
Have an unreasonable passion for helping others to succeed.

Surely, any business operating from that kind of unreasonable mindset, is going to get noticed. They’re going to retain their clients for longer, too. And yes, they’re going to give their clients and their marketplace something interesting to tell their friends about. That’s a lot of important boxes checked, as a natural consequence of being unreasonable.

In short, if being reasonable isn’t working for you, you now have an unreasonable alternative to consider.

What is inspiration? Find out and get inspired!

July 24, 2020 by Jim Connolly

So, what is inspiration and how can you tap into it when you need to become inspired?

In today’s post, I’m going to share one of the ideas used by Pablo Picasso and Steve Jobs, when they were looking for creative inspiration. I’m also going to share a couple of tips of my own, but first, let’s take a brief look at the definition of inspiration.

What is inspiration?

The Oxford Dictionary defines inspiration as:

“The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative”.

Commonly we think of people being randomly struck by a flash of inspiration, so we see inspiration as a feeling that occurs almost by accident. However, as the start of that dictionary definition states, inspiration is a process. We become mentally stimulated (inspired) to do something. For those who want to feel inspired, the key is to learn how to create an inspired state when we need to.

What is inspiration? Part 2: How to feel inspired

There is no single, set way to make every person feel inspired. That’s because we are all different and are inspired by different things. You need to learn what works for you and one of the best ways to do this, is to think about what you were doing the last few times you felt inspired. Consider where you were and what you were doing, etc. Look for any common factors and incorporate these the next time you need some inspirational ideas or answers.

Here are just a tiny number of situations, which trigger creative inspiration:

Some people find inspiration in books.
Some find inspiration in music.
Some people are inspired when surrounded by nature.
Some people grab a pad and some colouring pencils and start doodling.
Some people become inspired to create, when an internal or external deadline approaches. This one is really interesting, because it shows how creative inspiration can indeed be self driven.
Some find inspiration through affirmations or positive self-talk.
Some find inspiration comes when they are doing some type of physical activity. For me, it’s walking that works best.
Some find inspiration in the design of an everyday item. (More on that in a moment.)
And others find all of the above work to a lesser or greater degree.

What is inspiration? Part 3: Become inspired on purpose

As well as being potential sources of inspiration, each of the scenarios above has another thing in common. Can you guess what it is?

They are all under our control!

That is to say, we can decide to take any of the actions above when we want to feel inspired. We don’t need to wait to be struck by inspiration. We can find the things that work best for us, then build a strategy that uses them. So, when we ask ourselves what is inspiration, part of the answer is that inspiration is something under our own direct control.

I found that I often got my best ideas when I was walking. This Stanford study agrees. So, I incorporated a daily walk into my routine. I always carry an audio recorder with me, then when an idea comes I can record it. I write thousands of words every day, most of which are inspired by ideas captured during my walks. I also find that I get lots of creative ideas when I am in the company of other creative people, [problem solvers].

“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at 9:00 every morning.” Peter De Vries.

That quote from Peter De Vries makes a great point. We can choose to help ourselves become inspired or we can be a servant to inspiration. We can wait for the fictitious muse to arrive or we can take control and direct our own mind.

What is inspiration? Part 4: Great artists steal

Many people believe that in order to create, their inspiration needs to come from a wholly unique idea; something no one has ever thought of before. However, when we look at the creators of the most amazing art, inventions and ideas, we find the opposite.

Pablo Picasso famously said:

“Good artists copy, great artists steal.”

This phrase became popular again in 1996, when the late Steve Jobs repeated it in a PBS documentary called Triumph of the Nerds. In that interview, Jobs went on to say:

“We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”

What Jobs was talking about, was not ripping off a piece of work and claiming you created it. Far from it. He went on to explain that he and his team would “expose ourselves to the best things that humans have done”, and then try to incorporate them into something unique of their own.

A well known example of the kind of inspiration that Steve Jobs was talking about, comes from the creator of roll on deodorant.

Helen Barnett Diserens was inspired by the way ink flowed from a ballpoint pen and saw how the process could be applied to any liquid with similar properties. As you know, the roll on deodorant went on to become one of the most popular hygiene products in history. This was around 80 years after John J. Loud invented the ball point pen, which inspired her.

An even better example is the invention of the tablet computer. The idea behind the tablet devices we see today, was inspired by at least 2 existing ideas: The clay tablets used 3,000 years ago and the modern notebook / laptop.

Little, if anything, is truly new. We should understand and embrace this idea, if we want to remove one of the biggest barriers to creative inspiration. We just need to remember that there’s a big difference between stealing ideas to create something new – and copying or ripping off an existing idea. Remember that Picasso quote from earlier: ‘… great artists steal’. They don’t copy!

What is inspiration? Part 5: Creating your inspiration strategy

It starts by deliberately monitoring the things that inspire you the most. Write them down. Then, incorporate them into your work flow, so that you can get into an inspired state when you need to, rather than just when it randomly occurs.

What works for me?

I incorporated a walk into my work flow when I discovered that it was how most of my best ideas came to me. I also learned that if I read my email first thing in the morning, it took my focus away from creating. So, my workday starts with a walk, followed by the commitment to write 500 words or solve a problem, before I start on my email.

Just as Peter De Vries made sure to be inspired at 9am each workday, we too need to stop waiting for everything to be perfect and proactively seek inspiration – doing what works for us.

Build a recipe that works for you, then use it every time you need to do some creative work or find a creative answer. Don’t wait for inspiration. Deliberately encourage it.

What is inspiration? Part 6: Doing the work

As well as inspiring ourselves to create, we also need to motivate ourselves to put what we have created into action. It’s one thing to have a great idea sketched out on paper – it’s something else to actually use that idea.

We need to learn to give our ideas the chance to fly. We need to give our answers the chance to make a difference. This means we need to back them up with intelligent activity.

So, what is inspiration? It’s something you control, which enables you to produce your best work.

TIP: If you found this information useful, you can get my best tips and ideas delivered direct to your inbox, for free. Just click here.

Steve Jobs photo Copyright: Albert Watson

Don’t underestimate the power of being first

March 30, 2020 by Jim Connolly

Photo: Shutterstock.

It’s 2020, yet we still remember Sir Roger Bannister as the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes.

Apple became the world’s most valuable company, largely because of profits from the iPhone; the world’s first smart phone.

There are 2 useful lessons here:

When you are the first to do something, it’s remembered for a very long time. We remember Bannister, even though Australia’s John Landy broke Bannister’s record just 6 weeks later. Landy was faster, yet remained relatively unknown because he wasn’t the first person to go sub 4 minutes.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. The first iPhone was really buggy. It even lacked a basic copy and paste facility for over a year! However, it was extremely useful.

This begs the question

What useful adaptation to your service, could you be the first in your industry to create for your marketplace, in response to the current crisis?

We live in very uncertain times right now. Lots of business owners have almost mothballed their business. Whilst others are innovating and inspiring their marketplace, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Fortunately, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. For example, an idea that’s common in another industry may be unheard of in yours. It just needs to be new to your industry, profession or marketplace.

And it absolutely doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be useful, based on the new requirements of the market you serve.

The misfit who owned his competitors

January 10, 2019 by Jim Connolly

I spoke about the importance of creative marketing yesterday. I also promised to give you some examples.

This one is an absolute gem!

It’s all about Edwin and how he owned his marketplace. Plus, the secret of his success. A secret which can be applied to your business.

Edwin was the busiest and best-known photographer in the town where I grew up. He had a very unique sense of fashion, often wearing an elaborate hat and super-bright jacket, with contrasting waistcoat and the weirdest shoes you can imagine. He drove to meet his prospective clients in a classic 1950’s Ford, or riding his equally old motorcycle (complete with goggles). He stood out a mile. He looked like an artist. And everyone hired him, despite his high fees.

Did you notice something missing from Edwin’s description?

At no point did I mention how good his photos were. Having seen his work, it certainly looked professional… just like the vast majority of experienced, professional photographers.

What set Edwin apart from the competition, was that he used creativity to stand out. He built a brand around his services. And in doing so, he developed a whole experience around hiring him. His customers would get bragging rights, just because THEY hired Edwin for their wedding, family photos or corporate work. He gave them a story worth sharing, and they told everyone.

If people wanted to hire another local photographer, capable of equally good work, there was a ton to choose from, and for far lower fees. However, when they wanted to hire Edwin, Edwin got hired and he was paid Edwin rates.

The takeaway from Edwin’s story

The most commercially successful; accountant, lawyer, architect, coach, consultant, designer, photographer, hair stylist, doctor, etc., is very seldom the best or the most qualified or the most experienced.

That’s because there’s a HUGE difference between being the best-selling, and being the best.

So, step away from the pack. Stop marketing your services like your competitors and apply real creativity.

Because every piece of marketing you do, which falls in line with your prospective customer’s expectations, is simply camouflaging you and hurting your business.