Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

It’s time for you to get edgy. And here’s why!

By

commodity marketing

Today, I have a quick, yet really effective marketing idea to share with you. It’s simply this:

Success comes to the business owners, consultants, freelancers and trainers, who embrace the edges.

Allow me to explain what this means for you and your business.

Why it pays to embrace the edges

Clients will eagerly hire you if your service is measurably better than the competition. The best providers are few in number. They are always in demand. This means they earn the best fees.

Other clients will buy from you if you’re cheaper than the competition. If you know how to scale your business correctly for the low price model, you can make a fortune. And many business owners have.

Some clients will eagerly hire you if your service is measurably faster than the competition. The fastest providers in some industries are always in demand. The 2 hour dry cleaner. The express delivery service. Providers like these are always busy and can charge more, because they solve a problem fast.

  1. Better.
  2. Lower priced.
  3. Faster.

Did you notice what those 3 all have in common?

They avoid the middle ground

Most business owners choose to cling to the middle ground. They’re neither better or lower priced or faster. And as a direct result, they make it impossible to grow their business in any meaningful way.

Impossible?

Think about it: There’s nothing to motivate a prospective client to hire a middle ground provider. Nothing. They’re just average. Average and immediately forgettable. Average and unremarkable. And it’s spectacularly hard, if not impossible, to succeed in an average, forgettable, unremarkable business.

A far, far better approach

One of the first things I do when I work with a new client, is to show them how to get their business from the middle ground to the edge. Once we have done this, we have a massively more motivating proposition for their marketplace. It becomes far easier for us to market their services. Plus, because they’ve chosen an edge, my clients also attract a regular flow of referrals and recommendations.

So, they no longer struggle to attract clients or customers. Instead, they become a magnet to those who value the edge they have chosen to embrace. I recommend you do the same with your business, my friend.

Every one of us needs to intentionally decide where we position our business. I strongly recommend you embrace the edges… and avoid the overcrowded, unremarkable middle.

Tip: This will help you get it right.

How to go viral, in a surprisingly powerful way

By

pay it forward, contribution

Think about it: Business is all about people and the relationships we have with one another. So, it makes perfect sense to invest in people.

It’s easy, too.

Think about it.

  • We can connect people, who can assist one another or do business together.
  • We can share resources with people. This can be something as simple as forwarding a useful article or newsletter to them.
  • We can inspire people, by setting an example with our deeds.
  • We can give people recognition. A simple thank you or sending a thank you note can have a significant positive impact on someone.
  • We can help people to develop or grow, by sharing ideas with them.
  • We can encourage people. The world already has enough pessimists. People who encourage others are always in short supply.

Investing in the success of others is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things you can do. It gives you a tremendous sense of contribution.

Plus, something wonderful happens

When you invest in others you set a virtuous cycle in place. It’s powerful too. Really powerful.

What happens is that a hefty subset of those you invest in, will be motivated to invest in others. And yes, many will reciprocate to you directly. Make no mistake, the act of contribution is viral and highly contagious.

Where does the cycle start? It starts with you, my friend.

When does the cycle start? It starts today. If you want it to.

A powerful business lesson from an absolute genius!

By

marketing, hustle, productive

Today, I’d like to share with you, one of the most valuable lessons in business. It comes from an unusual source: Andy Warhol. And it starts with a quick look at the story behind his masterpiece, Campbell’s Soup Cans!

Here’s the story!

When Warhol’s collection was first exhibited in 1962, very few people attended. The exhibit was arranged by West Coast art dealer, Irving Blum. It was Warhol’s first solo exhibition.

Those who attended the exhibition at the Ferus Gallery either made fun of the art, dismissed it or ignored it. Very little art was sold. It was a huge failure.

Blum decided to buy the Campbell’s Soup Cans canvasses. He paid Warhol $100 a month for 10 months. Just $1000. Though many believed it was $1000 more than they were worth.

Of course, despite his disastrous, first solo exhibition, Warhol refused to quit. He kept on creating his art. He also kept on hustling (getting his art in front of people), believing that if the right people saw it, they’d see it for what it was. Art that would change the landscape for ever.

Here’s what happened.

Warhol hustled

He worked hard. Damn hard.

Instead of working from a studio like every other artist, he worked from what he called The Factory. This was a very deliberate strategy. He created as much art as he could and took every opportunity to showcase his work.

As you know, his belief and hustling finally paid off. Warhol became one of the most important names in art of the 20th century and his work is even more valued today.

Irving Blum’s $1000 investment in the Campbell’s Soup Cans, which people laughed at, was sold to New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1996 for $15MILLION.

This was seen partly as a gift from Irving Blum, as the art is valued at well over $100MILLION.

Warhol without the hustle?

Without hustling, there would have been no Andy Warhol. Certainly not the internationally respected artistic genius we know today.

  • Had Warhol decided to quit after his initial, disastrous exhibitions, a genius would never have flourished. At that time, he was being rejected by his peers and his work was being insulted.
  • Had Warhol created the same great art, but refused to work hard promoting it, both he and his art would have remained undiscovered.

Instead, Warhol hustled. Creating and promoting great art.

Business without the hustle

How many great business owners have worked hard without recognition, because they failed to promote their work correctly? How many business owners reading this post, are struggling because too few people know how amazing their products or services are? How many business owners are not putting their ideas into action, because they allow fear of failure or ridicule to stop them?

I honestly don’t know.

What I do know is that some amazing people, providing great products and services, fail to get the rewards they deserve. Why? Because unlike Warhol (Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Walt Disney and every successful business owner in your area), they resist the hustle.

Instead of doing 100% of what’s required, they do 100% of the things they’re comfortable with.

They fear the idea of marketing their work correctly. So, in one of the fastest-changing economies in living memory, they dabble. They refuse to do what’s required, opting instead to stay in their comfort zone and do what’s familiar – even though it’s failing them. I find that fascinating.

There’s a proven, better way.

Embrace the work. ALL the work!

The alternative is simple. By simple, I mean everyone reading this can do it. Anyone reading this can turn an average business into a successful business or turn a successful business into an even more successful one.

So long as… you embrace all the work required in order to succeed.

This means changing things. You can’t improve without change. It means giving your business 100%. It means working hard and working smart. It also means doing work worthy of you and hustling the value you bring, so people get to know how amazing you and your business are.

You can do it. How do I know? Because I see my clients doing it every day. And it’s easier and massively more rewarding, than suffering with the stress and frustration of an under-performing business.

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Whose business are you building, yours or someone else’s?

By

attract sales leads, attract clients

Today, let’s look at one of the key factors in building a remarkable, profitable business.

Malcolm Gladwell was once asked how to write a best selling book. His answer was as follows:

“The moment you write a book hoping it will be a best seller, your chances of it becoming a best seller go downhill. […] You write the book you would want to read.”

Gladwell went on to explain that Steve Jobs never brought a product to market, because he thought the marketplace wanted it. Jobs developed products that he wanted to own.

Think about that for a moment:

  • Gladwell writes books that he would want to read. They are unlike any other books in his niche. His books are also among the best selling non-fiction books of the last 2 decades.
  • Jobs created products because he thought they were beautiful. Jobs’ success with Apple led to his company being the most highly valued in the world.

The lesson here?

If we want to create remarkable products, remarkable services and deliver remarkable experiences, we should deliver what we believe is valuable. What we believe is right. What we believe in.

Think about it: The only way we can hope to build a meaningfully different business is to tap into our uniqueness. To give the marketplace what we would value, if we were the customer or client. If we simply look at what our competitors do, then find a way to do it a little faster or a little cheaper, we become unremarkable.

When Roger Banister broke the 4 minute mile barrier, he was remarkable. The next guy, who ran a little faster than Bannister, wasn’t.

Business becomes a lot more rewarding, when you offer a meaningfully different product, which you believe in and your marketplace values.

Tip – This will help you get it right.

How to unlock your amazing creativity

By

marketing help, marketing blogs

Would you like to become a creative thinking powerhouse? Would you like to be able to come up with answers, to the challenges facing you and your business? If you would, then today’s post may be just what you need.

I used to work with a guy who had a thinking cap. He said that when he needed to be creative, if he put his thinking cap on, it would help him generate the ideas he needed.

Did it work? Yes. Absolutely!

But here’s the thing: If you wore his thinking cap, you may not find it so effective. That’s unless you too believed all the things he did about that old cap. Otherwise you’d quickly figure out that it was, in fact, just a normal cap and that he generated all those ideas himself.

Similarly, if you used the same tools as me for generating ideas (coffee, long walks and music), you’d be unlikely to get the same creative flow that I get from them.

It’s not platitudes: You truly are unique

You think like no one else who has ever existed. Your unique mind and all those experiences you have lived through, have created an astonishing, unique, creativity machine.

If you want to tap into that creativity, do what feels most natural to you. It may involve a thinking cap. However, it’s just as likely to involve meditating or using a mind map or getting on an exercise bike or dancing to James Brown!

Sadly, many people wrongly believe that they are not creative, because they followed a creativity strategy from a book or a course, which didn’t work for them.

Ironically, the very fact that generic “how to get creative” bullshit doesn’t work for you, only confirms how original your own mind truly is!

Here’s a suggestion: Try 1 new way to inspire your creativity each day. Rule nothing in or out (and that includes having fun!) Then, put the ideas that worked together, to build YOUR very own creative toolbox.

Tip: I recommend you read this, What Is Inspiration?

Uncovering the pattern for success

By

business development, biz dev

There’s an interesting pattern, which predictably repeats itself in business. Once you see it, you can’t un-see it. And you wouldn’t want to, because it points to a valuable business lesson.

Here’s a tiny sample of the pattern in action.

  • Just a small minority of business owners look for opportunities to encourage others.
  • Just a small minority of business owners genuinely go the extra mile.
  • Just a small minority of business owners are prepared to invest enough in their ongoing education.
  • Just a small minority of business owners are willing to lead.
  • Just a small minority of business owners can be bothered to make tough decisions.
  • Just a small minority of business owners are motivated enough to eat well and exercise regularly.
  • Just a small minority of business owners care enough to share a useful blog post.
  • Just a small minority of business owners are willing to truly stand out from their competitors.

That pattern matters. It matters because it’s also just a small minority of business owners who succeed in any meaningful way.

And that’s no coincidence.