Jim Connolly Marketing

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Viral marketing 101

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viral marketing

Every piece of viral marketing you’ve ever experienced, consisted of 2 things.

  1. It went to you. (You received it).
  2. It went through you. (You shared it with your friends or contacts).

For both of those to happen, your marketing message or story, needs to be easy to share and remarkable in some way.

How easy is it?

The marketing message from Kentucky Fried Chicken is simple. Just 3 words long. Finger lickin’ good. That’s easy to remember and easy to share. Regardless of what you or I may think of their food, they’ve given their most dedicated customers a simple message, which speaks powerfully about the taste of their food.

The marketing message from Apple is even easier to share. When someone is using one of their products in public, there’s a highly visible Apple logo pointing at everyone who can see them. Until recently, the Apple logo on MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models was illuminated on the lid. Today, those logo’s are (like those on their phones) highly polished mirrors.

How remarkable is it?

Remember Jennie? I wrote about her recently. Jennie knows I take lots of handwritten notes. When she discovered a note-taking app that did everything she wanted, and more, she emailed me. She also told all her friends about it. Jennie’s remarkable experience turned her from a customer into a raving advocate.

When Greg recommends my services to his friends, he tells them; “Jim doubled our turnover in 5 months”. Greg’s success was remarkable to him, so he shares it. His experience of my work is what motivates him. And his message is just 7 words long, meaning it’s easy to share.

Why not take some time today, to consider how you can make it easier for your message to go to people and through people. Consider how clear your message is. And how remarkable it is. Then look for ways to improve it as much as you can. It’s impossible to overstate the power of clear, easy to share, remarkable stories.

The amazing truth about you

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marketing blog

You’re amazing.

Those are not just kind words. It’s not an empty phrase, designed to make you feel good. It’s based on fact.

And I’ll prove it

Take a moment and remember how amazing you’ve been in times of emergency… how you’ve come out winning, against the odds. And don’t forget the amazing courage you’ve summoned, when things looked bleak. Or the amazing kindness you shown people, when they were in need. Not to mention the amazing resourcefulness you’ve shown, again and again and again.

My point?

It’s so easy to be in awe of others and the amazing things they’ve done, whilst forgetting the amazing thing’s you’ve achieved.

Remembering that you’re capable of amazing things helps you raise the bar on what you expect from yourself. And when you’re going through tough times, it’s REALLY helpful to remember that you have amazing resources, on tap, ready to be used.

There are certainly some amazing people out there. Just remember that you’re one of them.

Get specific. Really specific

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marketing competitor, competition

As a business owner, there are 2 ways you can choose to market your services. One works extremely well. One doesn’t. And most people are choosing the wrong option. I don’t want that to happen to you.

Here are both options, along with how to make the right choice for you and your business.

  1. Try and appeal to as many people as possible.
  2. Intentionally choose the type of customers or clients you want to service. And ignore the rest.

The first option seems to make sense

The thinking looks like this: If we try and appeal to as wide a range of people as possible, we’ll have more prospective customers. This should mean we’ll make more sales (or attract more clients).

The reality is different. Very, very different.

By trying to be relevant to almost anyone who could have a need for your services, you end up being directly relevant to no one.

Here’s the problem: Only a directly relevant message has the power to motivate a prospective customer to take action.

Vague, diluted, semi-relevant messages are ignored.

Here’s a far better approach

The most successful business owners get specific. They decide exactly who they want to serve. They then intentionally focus on communicating with this section of their marketplace. They learn what matters most to this group. They uncover their main challenges. They then connect with them in a way that’s directly relevant and therefore exceptionally powerful.

That kind of specific, directly relevant marketing is what’s required, to inspire people to buy from you or hire you.

The step by step guide to marketing your business

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Lawrence from New Jersey emailed me with a great question. He wanted to know why I don’t provide any step-by-step marketing guides.

Here’s my answer. It contains an exceptionally valuable marketing tip, which I hope you find useful.

The thing about cookie cutters

Cookie cutters are extremely effective when you’re making cookies. They let you produce lots of identical looking cookies, very fast.

Conversely, a cookie cutter approach to marketing is of very little value.

Why?

Because by using the same marketing approach as your competitors, your marketing becomes identical to theirs. You become camouflaged. This makes it very, very hard for prospective clients to find you. And when they do find you, you’ll seem way too similar to your competitors, so there’s no reason to contact you. Oh, and if they do contact you, they’ll be price sensitive.

Throwing away the cookie cutter

Successful marketing is about standing out. It’s about being noticed by the right people and giving them a compelling reason to hire you or buy from you. And for that you need an individual approach.

  • You need marketing that sets you apart from your competition, so you are the one who gets hired.
  • You need marketing that gets you noticed for all the right reasons, by all the right people.
  • You need marketing that’s specific to you; your unique business, your unique situation and your unique goals.

However.

The marketing guides available via blogs, websites, seminars, webinars, and books, etc., are designed to be used by a wide range of business owners. This means you end up with the same generic marketing ideas as everyone else.

That’s the recipe for how to be ignored! It’s also the total opposite of what you need. And it explains why I don’t provide step-by-step guides.

Instead, I strive to encourage you to stand out. To get specific. To take your marketing seriously. Because that’s the only way to get the attention you need, the sales you need and the results you need.

Outstanding service… isn’t!

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What was outstanding last year, isn’t outstanding today. And what seemed like great value, now isn’t. As a result, people’s expectations are constantly rising.

This is great news for that tiny minority of small business owners, who continuously seek to raise the bar.

But not for the business owner, who thinks it’s okay to just work hard doing the same old things, the same old way.