Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Google and me!

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As any of my regular readers will know, me and Google have a very strange relationship!  I decided to write this blog exclusively for people and develop it’s readership via ‘social media marketing.’  As a marketing professional, I wince when I see blogs, which are clearly written primarily to score SEO points; with the actual readers needs placed second.

So, I decided to develop this blog around a ‘100% human-focused approach’ – rather than writing for SEO and then relying on Google to provide me with a readership.

This saw me break a few SEO rules. For example, I provide do-follow links to people who comment here, even though I was strongly advised NOT to, because it would harm my Google ranking (It didn’t by the way!) I also decided to only write posts when I have something I want to share – rather than posting every day just to keep Google happy with the “regularly updated content” we are often told it needs.

Google rewards quality content

When I announced how I was going to build jimsmarketingblog.com‘s community, a few SEO professionals said that because I was focusing on providing good quality content, Google would actually still provide ‘targeted traffic’ to the blog. They said that Google was getting a lot better at identifying high value content.

After looking at the stats for the past month, I can confirm that these SEO professionals were 100% correct!  Even though I write in my natural style and often don’t blog for a few days at a time, Google now sends legions of people to this blog every day, with very relevant search enquiries.  Moreover, it has given the blog a revised PageRank of 4 (up from 3), after just 4 months of blogging and with me offering do-follow links.

Writing for Google and SEO

The lesson here is that despite what some might tell you, it seems that there is no real need to “write for Google” in order to attract new visitors via their search engine.

My experiences have shown that if a blog is SEO friendly and well written, lots of people will link to it. Once you get the links and you keep your focus on high quality content, it seems Google will figure the rest out!

It also shows the effectiveness of good SEO and the importance of the work provided by SEO experts, like those who have guided me in recent months.  I especially want to thank Gregor Spowart from MMD.

A new year or the same old year over again?

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For most businesses, the first week in January is not the start of a New Year – It’s simply the chance to live the same old year over and over and over again!

They carry on investing their time and money in all the wrong places and thus, they get the same kind of results.  Such businesses reach a plateau after a few years and tend to stay there.  Like a truck that’s stuck in the mud, the harder they try the deeper they seem to get trapped.

The owners of these businesses complain about their lack of results, but fail to make the changes required for success. This fear of change is what psychologists refer to as The Homoeostatic impulse.  It’s best demonstrated in the human desire for things to “be the same – but better.” However, as we all know, improvement can only come as the result of change.  Things don’t “just magically get better” – we have to make them better.

If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got!

So, as we enter the first full working week of 2009, let’s embrace the opportunity to learn from what we did in 2008.

Marketing in a recession

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Last month, I interviewed some business owners, who not only survived the last recession but actually grew their businesses; whilst those around them saw their businesses shrink or go broke.

I wanted to know what their secret was, so I could share it with you!

It became apparent very quickly that there was a single, common thread, which was shared by each of the successful businesspeople from the last recession.

Here’s what they told me

The successful businesspeople continued to invest in the key areas of their business, whilst their competitors stopped investing in those same, key areas!

Marketing lessons from past recessions

During the last recession, many of the businesses that went backwards or went broke, decided to invest as little as possible in anything.  They chose to hunker-down and wait for the recession to finish. As a result, they cut back on things like service contracts for their cars, office equipment etc.  They also stopped most or all of their marketing.

Even in a good economy, a business with creaking infrastructure and no marketing is really going to struggle. In a recession, that approach is going to make it almost impossible to survive!

Recession marketing

During the recession, your prospective clients / customers are looking for the best value for money possible.  This requires super-effective marketing, as you will need YOUR message to stand out and then convince people, more powerfully than your competitors, that YOURS is the best value for their money!

Your existing clients / customers will be hurting financially too.  They will be looking for better deals and for ways to reduce their outgoings.  You need to make sure they don’t go to a competitor or simply drop your service, thinking it will save them money.

This is clearly not the time to forget about your marketing.

Marketing opportunities

I believe 2009 will present some amazing opportunities.  The months ahead will be a time of great change and those with the vision and courage to adapt to these changes, will get the rewards.

Use the challenges of the year ahead to position yourself in your marketplace as a provider of answers. During times of flux, people want answers and we are attracted to those who we believe have the answers we need.

Listen to what your marketplace is saying to you.  Keep in regular dialogue with your clients / customers and also your prospective clients / customers.

Find ways to match the benefits of your products or services to their changing needs and ensure that you and your business are an essential resource for them!

Movement or progress?

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As we move into a brand new year, I would like to share one of the simplest, yet most valuable pieces of advice I know with you.

Don’t mistake movement for progress!

Progress is not the result of hard work. If hard work were the secret to success, our grandparents would have been millionaires!Progress only comes when we work hard doing the right things. However, if we keep rowing that boat in the wrong direction, no matter how hard we row; we will never get where we want to be.

Before you invest your time or money on any marketing activities in 2009, make sure you are doing the right kind of marketing for your business – before you worry about doing it correctly.  For example; you ‘might’ be doing a mail shot correctly – yet by using email marketing instead of paper-based mailings, you can see better, faster results for a fraction of the cost and time of a traditional mail shot.

You might be doing that mail shot correctly, but it may not be the right form of marketing for what you want to achieve – your outcome!

Making progress

I suggest you look at all the marketing activities you currently engage in and then, one by one, find out if there isn’t a better, higher-leverage alternative for you to use in 2009.  There’s a list of marketing ideas here, which are extremely effective, just to get you started.

Over to you

What have you found to be the most effective forms of marketing for your business over the past year? Share your experiences and leave a comment below.

Blog marketing tip

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If you want to achieve great results with your online marketing, I believe you need to become a really good observer.  This means developing the ability to see what other people miss; to observe what someone is doing in order to get a result.

For example, I received an email recently from someone who made the links on his blog ‘do-follow’.  He said he did this, after seeing me offer these ‘special links’ here and the huge response it got.  He wanted to know why it hadn’t generated any extra traffic or comments to his blog when he added it there.

The bigger picture

marketing vision bigger pictureA good observer would have seen the bigger picture.  For example, he would have checked jimsmarketingblog.com out on alexa.com or compete.com and seen that it already had a large readership. The readership of my blog did not just grow magically overnight, after that single post.

Secondly, a good observer would have seen that I have a great online network of people around me; via my newsletter subscribers, readers of my website and the 14,000 people I network with on twitter.  This means there was an existing marketplace for these special do-follow links before I decided to add them to jimsmarketingblog.com.

The point?

You can learn a lot more about how to market your blog or website, by observing what marketing professionals do; as well as reading what we write.  If you just read the posts, you are missing half the picture!

Your marketing map!

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In this post, I am going to show you a very simple way to make your marketing massively more powerful.

Most small business owners / entrepreneurs have only a vague idea of what they want from their business.  They tend to be highly-motivated and launch themselves like a rocket into their work.  However, with a little more forward planning, it’s possible to totally transform your sales results!

marketing planImagine setting off on a journey; from where you live to an unknown destination 300 miles away.  How would you prepare for that trip? You would probably check the route on a map, so you knew where you were going and how to get there.

You might also check the weather and traffic conditions and ensure you had enough fuel.  With all this in place, you stand a 99.9% chance of getting where you want to be!

If that journey had been ‘planned’ ahead the way most small businesses plan ahead, it would have been very different!

There wouldn’t be a clear destination, so it would have been impossible for them to plan a route.  In other words, they wouldn’t even know if they are heading in the right direction or not! With no idea of where they’re going and no route to follow, they could end up anywhere.

Marketing and planning

If you study any successful business, you will see that they deliberately plan what they want in advance.  As a result, they can spot immediately if they are on target or heading in the wrong direction.  They are also able to anticipate potential hazards and even identify the people; whose help they will need in order to succeed.  Because they know where they are going, every step takes them closer and they can plan ahead with far, far more confidence than the average business.

How to smash your sales targets with a little planning!

Here’s a quick way to find exactly what you need to do, in order to reach your annual sales target. It also gives a quick insight into the power of using firm figures.

List your desired turnover & profit figures

You need to know what you are aiming for in real terms. This means writing down what you want to ‘get’ from your business financially.

List the number of sales needed in order to hit those figures

Once you know how much money you want to earn, you need to identify how many sales you must make in order to reach that figure.  This then becomes your annual sales target.

List the number of enquiries needed to generate 1 sale

How many meetings, calls, emails, letters from prospective clients / customers do you need on average, to generate a sale? If you need 100 sales to hit your sales target and each sale requires 3 enquiries, your initial focus should be on generating those 300 enquiries as inexpensively and quickly as possible!

Divide the number of enquiries needed by 12

In the above example, you would need to generate 25 enquiries a month in order to hit your annual sales targets.  This means you would now have a very clear picture of the kind of marketing activity you need to invest your time / money in, if you want to succeed.

What next?

Now that you have a good idea of ‘the numbers’ required for you to hit your sales targets, you need to start generating those sales / enquiries! To help you, here’s a list of 10 of the most effective forms of marketing for small and medium-sized businesses that I know.

Over to you!

What forms of marketing have you found to be most and least effective for your business? Please share your experiences with us and leave a comment below!

Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

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We have all heard those stories, where someone has used PhotoShop to make themselves look younger, more handsome or thinner – right?

Well, what I am about to share with you here is what I call photo-shock!

It’s the shock someone experiences when they meet someone for the first time, who they have previously only seen very heavily PhotoShopped pictures of.

A twitter connection

I spoke with a friend last week, who told me about her shock at meeting a man for the first time; whom she had only previously communicated with via twitter.

They agreed to meet in person; as this guy is a designer and my friend had some design work, which he wanted the chance to quote for.  So, they decided it was best to meet in a public place and chose Starbucks. My friend arrived a little early, grabbed a coffee and waited.

Noticing her twitter friend was about 20 minutes late, she decided to give him a quick call, just to make sure he was OK. The weather was extremely bad and she was concerned he may have had an accident.

Imagine her surprise, when he answered the phone and told her he was already there; sitting upstairs enjoying a coffee!  Now, my friend had sat downstairs, close to the door and she watched each person come in. She told me:

“At this point Jim, I just assumed he must have arrived before I did; because I watched the door like a hawk, so that I could welcome him and ‘break the ice’.”

Even after being told where he was sitting, she STILL couldn’t spot him – until he called over to her!  Suddenly she figured out what had happened!

The picture used by her twitter friend had been so heavily PhotoShopped that it was basically a different person! As a professional designer and an expert with PhotoShop, he was able to create an amazing set of pictures of himself for his website and twitter profile; which look great – but are nothing whatsoever like he really looks.  She was genuinely shocked!

Most noticeably, the man she met seemed to be around her age (she’s 52), yet the pictures he uses online look to be closer to someone in their late twenties. He had doctored the images to change his age by around 25 years.  As she told me;

it’s one thing to pick pictures of yourself that show you in your best light or to remove the odd zit / spot; but this guy looked like the father of the guy I was expecting to meet. It instantly destroyed any trust I previously had in him.

Although this might sound like a funny story, there’s an important issue here.

What about trust?

Before someone will do business with us, they have to trust us.  They need to believe we will deliver on the service we promise or that the product we supply really will do whatever we claim it will.  If someone starts off a business relationship, behind a heavily doctored picture of them self, is it REALLY going to impress a prospective client when they learn it’s a fake?

Over to you!

If you met someone for the first time and saw that they had been using heavily doctored images of themselves online – would it create a ‘trust issue’ for you?

Do you believe, as my friend does, that this is a form of dishonesty or is it OK to use software to make yourself look as good as possible? Is there a limit, beyond which it’s unacceptable, if so, where’s that limit in your opinion?

Let us know what you think!

Unsexy blog posts can be valuable too!

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A blogger recently told me how his analytics software was unavailable for several days.

He went on to say how much more he enjoyed blogging and social networking his business during that period; without the pressure of checking ‘the numbers’ after everything he did.

Freedom to blog and connect

He kept saying how he enjoyed the freedom to really connect with his readers and those in his network; without the worry of whether his last blog post, tweet or facebook entry was driving visitors to his blog or not.

Although (like me) this blogger sells a service via his blog and not a product or advertising, he says he is obsessive about checking his statistics. It guides everything he does.

Like many service providers, I monetize jimsmarketingblog.com by attracting enquiries from people who read my work and then contact me, when they want someone to help them market their small business or boost their profits.

As a result, I only write posts if I believe people will find them useful, but I base the decision on what to write exclusively on whether I feel the post has value – NOT it’s potential to go viral or attract hits!

Because of this, you will see posts here like this one, which I know in advance will only get a small number of comments, next to the previous post, which currently has over 70 comments. You will see other posts here with over 250 comments, next to posts with 20 or so.  The reason this happens, is that if I believe a post like this one, is offering a valuable message, I will write it – even though it’s not a sexy marketing topic.

Give everything you believe your readers need

I believe that it’s important for everyone, but for service providers especially, to write posts based on what we believe to be valuable to our readers; even if it’s not always going to be a viral post or get hundreds of comments.  The irony, is that this approach has helped this blog grow from it’s launch a few months ago, to a couple of thousand unique visitors a day (often far more.)

The numbers are important for every commercial blog, but they should not be the only driver of what we decide to say!  After all, some of your least populist output, can be the most interesting to a section of your blog’s community.

Link love, Google and spammers

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The results are in and I can now let you know what’s happened since I started this exciting marketing experiment!

As many of you already know, jimsmarketingblog.com offers everyone who comments here a special reward; something called a do-follow link.  This is great for my readers, as it means when you comment here, your link actually tells Google to visit your website or blog; which can help boost your Search Engine Optimization.

link love google spam internet marketingSadly, over 99% of blogs and almost every well-read blog, offers the exact opposite – they offer ‘no-follow links’; which tell Google NOT to follow the link to your website or blog.

The 2 main reasons people give for not offering do-follow links are as follows:

1. Google ‘penalise’ sites like mine, which offer them, by lowering our page rank.
2. Blogs offering do-follow links are more likely to be targeted by spammers, because links from do-follow blogs are so much more valuable to them.

So, what REALLY happens when you offer do-follow links?

I have seen no drop in traffic from Google. This blog’s only a few months old and it gets around 50 – 60 unique visitors each day via Google. When I started the experiment, I was getting around 40 a day. There are lots of reasons why this number has gone up – but for a very new blog that only posts a few times a week, that’s an ‘ok’ response from Google. I can’t see that I am being punished for offering the links; not yet anyway!

Spam? Well, 99.9% of the spam here is the kind of automated spam that every blog gets and it goes straight into the blog’s spam filter.  There has been no increase in this kind of spam at all.

Spam from people using my comments section to pimp their website/blog has increased very slightly – but mainly because spammers know how well read this blog is. They see posts with over 200 comments and that’s like a magnet for comment spammers.

Thus, I can say with a high degree of certainty that the blog has suffered no ill effects from Google or from spammers, because of my use of do-follow links!

So, I am going to keep offering them to you – every time you comment here!

Benefits of offering do-follow links?

There are a lot of very compelling reasons to offer do-follow links. If you look at the kind of comments I got here when I announced what I was doing, you will see how warmly it was welcomed by the online community.

This blog is all about developing a community, based around our mutual interest in marketing and social media. So, what better way to show my commitment to our community, than to reach out and help promote everyone who comments here?

I have also seen a massive surge in visitor numbers, RSS subscribers and in the number of people who contact me via jimsmarketingblog.com. I believe a big reason for this, is that people really embrace the concept of a blog that actually gives them something tangible every time they comment.

We live in an age where marketing and social media guru’s keep on talking about how important it is to connect and share – yet they do so behind blogs that deliberately tell Google NOT to visit YOUR website or blog!

I really like the phrase that’s used to describe do-follow links.  They call it Link Love. As we approach what is sure to be a very challenging year for small businesses in 2009, I hope more people reach-out to THEIR readers with links that are actually worth having.

Over to you!

So, what do you think about ‘Link Love?’  Do you find yourself more likely to comment on blogs that show they value your comments?  Do you offer link love to your readers already – if so, what has your experience been? Whatever your thoughts are, share them here (and get some Link Love too!!)

Stand out from the crowd and boost sales

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Would you like to gain a massive marketing advantage and boost your sales? Then find a way to market your services, which is NOT already being used by your competitors!

marketing stand out from crowdTake a look at the businesses in your local area and you will notice something interesting.

You will see that businesses in the same industry, advertise in the same places, to the same potential clients, using the same kind of marketing messages and the same kind of promises!

As a result, their marketing pretty-much cancels each other’s out. This is a shocking waste of money and extremely low leverage.

Creative marketing

To gain a competitive marketing advantage, you should think of ways to creatively market your services, which are not already being done-to-death by your competitors.

A great way to find new marketing ideas, is to look at the marketing methods common in other industries, which are not being used in your own. Then, think how you can adapt those forms of marketing for your business!

For example, a number of stores are now paying bloggers to write posts about their stores and their ‘special offers.’  Regardless of your industry, if your competitors are not already doing this, it could be well worth considering for your business!

Just imagine a well-known blogger, who has the respect of your future clients, telling them how brilliant you are – that’s powerful!  Before you ask, I don’t offer this service myself.

If you provide a service that has a national or international client base, like; web design, copy writing, SEO, coaching, consulting – or you sell products via a website, you might want to consider sponsoring a podcast aimed at your core prospect group.  This can be extremely powerful and yet, it’s a form of marketing that’s totally overlooked by most small businesses – including your competitors!

The bottom line

If you want your business to ‘stand out from the crowd,’ stop marketing it where all the competition is!

Comment spam doesn’t work!

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People hate spam! But not as much as we hate spammers! I mean, they are the kind of people we all avoid at any cost. We would never do business with a spammer or risk having our good name associated with a spammer, right?

So why do businesspeople leave comment spam on blogs?

Comment spam is the name given to those comments you see on blogs, which are just thinly disguised sales pitches.  They add nothing to the other comments or the blog itself and are regarded as totally unprofessional, just like email spam.  Sadly, you see comment spam on every well read blog, including jimsmarketingblog.com.

In this post, I explain the dangers of posting comment spam, PLUS share a few tips on how to use the comments section of a blog professionally, to help you and your business!

Comment spam doesn’t work

The primary reason not to use comment spam is that it just doesn’t work! In fact, it will simply damage your reputation and hurt your business.  By the way, the kind of comment spam I am talking about here are comments posted by people – not those that get caught in your spam filter and are sent by spambots.

Comment spam: Counting the cost

Just 30 minutes ago, I spoke with a business owner, who highlighted the danger of posting comment spam.  In fact, our conversation is what’s prompted me to write this post.  He told me that he had spoken with a business consultant last week and was really impressed, so impressed that he was going to hire him.

However, before deciding to hire the consultant, he decided to check the consultant out. Part of this was a simple Google search on the consultant’s name and business name.  After 5 minutes, he quickly changed his mind and decided not to hire him!

Why?

Because he found a number of comments this person had made on blogs, which were clearly just spam; comments that were cheesy sales pitches for this consultants services.  As he put it to me;

“Jim, why would I hire a spammer, I hate spam!  This man clearly has no idea about business or the importance of acting like a professional.”

Comment spam = Self-generated bad publicity!

The reason people post comment spam is simple.  They believe that by getting their spam in front of the readers of a blog or forum, they will increase the number of people who are aware of them, and that this is universally a good thing for their business.  It isn’t!  Comment spammers are simply telling everyone who reads their spam that they are spammers – something to avoid! It’s nothing more than self-generated bad publicity.

Comment etiquette

If you want to use commenting on blogs as a way to build your reputation and increase your reach and influence, use the opposite approach to the comment spammers.

Here are a few tips, based on comment etiquette:

–  Only comment if you have something to say that’s worth sharing.

–  Remember that the comments you leave on a blog will be searchable by potential clients / customers, so only leave comments that you are happy for them to read!

–  Don’t include your website or blog’s URL in the comment. It’s already included in the link where your name is. Adding a SECOND link is generally regarded as looking cheesy (at best) or just plain desperate! It’s not easy to negotiate your fees with a potential client / customer if you give the impression of being broke.

–  Most blogs (like this one) have anti-spam software that automatically removes any comment with more than one link.  If you do link to something in the comment you leave, make it relevant to the other comments or the original blog post.

–  Avoid OTT self promotion. It’s fine for you to show your brilliance with the value of your comment, but people are turned off by blatant self promotion.

I believe that if a comment spammer could see themselves the way you and I see them, they would stop instantly.  I read somewhere that when a businessperson spams a blog, they think it’s okay – that when ‘they‘ do it it’s different; because ‘they‘ don’t see themselves as spammers.

There are many ways to professionally position a person and / or a business as a valuable must have for one’s target market. Comment spam is not one of them.

What are YOUR thoughts on comment spam?

Share your thoughts or experiences regarding comment spam – Plus, do you have any tips you would like to share on how to get the most from commenting on blogs?  Let us know!

13 years this week since…

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It’s 13 years this week, since I got my first ever email address!  At the time, even though I only knew a few people who used email, it was clear to me that email had massive potential for me and what was then, my new business.

email marketing newsletter salesNow that pretty-much everyone uses email, it’s interesting to me that so few businesses and entrepreneurs use email marketing effectively!

For example: Buying email lists & sending ads

When you buy an email database, it’s often just a list of people who are getting SLAMMED with junk mail and spam. Why?  Because the same people, who are on the email list that YOU just bought, are on all the other lists too!  As a result, they will have either changed their email address or they will only accept email from their ‘white list’ of approved contacts.  In either case, your latest offer is NOT going to reach them!

By contacting a stranger with an advertisement, you miss the point totally!  That’s because the ‘average’ person these days is not as stupid as some marketers seem to think – far from it.

In fact, the marketplace has never been better informed or more hacked-off at the amount of advertising they receive, than they are today! If you want to gain the trust of a prospective client or customer these days, you need to engage them first; rather than just throw more adverts at them.

If you want to REALLY succeed using email marketing, it’s my experience that the best route is to build your own list of subscribers, and contact them using an informative, valuable newsletter.  In fact, I have a few tips for you here; based on my own newsletter, which is read by thousands of people from more than 100 countries.  This newsletter generated over a hundred thousand pounds for my business in its very first year – starting with an initial readership of just 29 people!

By the way, the free newsletter guide I mentioned earlier is part of a series I am planning. If you have any questions regarding newsletter marketing, either contact me here or leave a comment.

No advertising or sponsors!

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I’ve mentioned previously that this blog was never intended as a tool to generate advertising, sponsorship or affiliate income. I said at the time that the only way I would have any kind of paid ads here, was if it was for a product I use, love and endorse. 

On review, I have decided not to take those ads either – In fact, no paid advertising of any kind!

Why?

Advertising and sponsorships can be great business models for a blog,  when done correctly; but they are inappropriate for what I am trying to achieve here. Advertisers have been attracted to me because of the tremendous level of interaction here between my readers and myself. For example, my last post currently has over 200 comments.

This shows the kind of connection between a blog and its readers that advertisers love AND it is also the EXACT reason why this blog will NEVER carry paid advertising or sponsorships!

jimsmarketingblog.com IS a commercial blog, but its commercial value to me, is that it allows me to connect with more people, through my work.  It does this extremely well and I get enquiries every day from people, who want to find out more about how I can help them and their business achieve great sales results.

So, whilst I am VERY pro advertising and sponsorship – as you can see, it’s just not appropriate for what I am trying to achieve with this blog.

Thanks for taking time to read this. Please feel free to let me know what you think.

Building your twitter network

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If you want to develop a high quality, large network of ‘followers’ on twitter; you will find what I am about to share with you extremely interesting!

As you know, the best way to build any high quality network, is to make sure you are connecting with the right kind of people for you and your business.

And now, through jimsmarketingblog.com I am going to help you do EXACTLY that!

As of right now, every time you leave a comment here, you will be able to add your twitter user name to your post, using the comment form!

This will automatically link straight to your Twitter profile – so potential new ‘followers’ will be able to follow you in seconds!

How will it help you?

I network with over ten thousand people on twitter and as a result, a massive percentage of this blog’s readers are twitter users.  By reading the comments you leave here, people can decide if you are the kind of person that’s right for their network. 

My goal is to help YOU develop a great network of ‘twitter associates‘, by making it easier for people with shared outlooks and objectives to connect with you!

Commenting ‘Twitter Style’

In true twitter style, I would like to offer you the chance to tell my readers about yourself, in 140 characters or less!

One comment per user please – enjoy!

Quick Marketing Tip – Strategic marketing

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One of the common factors behind all successful businesses, is that they use a strategic approach to their marketing rather than a tactical approach. So, what’s the difference?

Strategic marketing

marketing tactic strategyIn short, businesses that take a strategic approach to their marketing, think ahead and plan ahead.  They ‘compound’ many marketing activities together to leverage the best possible sales results.

Tactical marketing

Businesses that take a tactical approach, tend not to plan their marketing in advance. As a result, each individual marketing activity is done in isolation and therefore, lacks momentum. Tactical marketing decisions are usually made either on a whim or (most commonly), in reaction to a sales problem.

For example, a business owner will wait until sales are down – and then decide to ‘do something’ about it.  They then do one single thing in isolation, (often a mailing, advertisement or an email blast) and typically get a very poor response.  Often, I see a business with a single marketing letter or advertisement, which they use whenever ‘business is bad’ – rather than using a series of letters or advertisements, which build upon each other strategically, to create a compound leverage effect!

What is compound leverage & why do you need it?

Compound leverage is when you do a series of marketing activities, which compound to create a result that’s greater than the sum of the individual parts.

For example:
If you have a marketing email and you send that same marketing email, to the same list of people 6 times – you will see your results drop after each mailing.

However, if you decide to do a series of 6 different marketing emails; with each email building upon the previous one, you will see the power of the 6th email massively leveraged, because of the foundation created by the initial email and all the curiosity / desire created by the 2nd-5th emails.

By switching from a tactical approach to a strategic approach, you can massively improve the success of your marketing without having to invest a penny extra.  In fact, many people see far better results AND are able to cut their marketing budget at the same time!

The switch from a tactical approach to a strategic one, requires a shift from having a short-term focus (tactical) to having a medium or long term focus (strategic.) Every successful business I have worked with or studied, thinks and plans ahead with a long term focus.

If you want your business to not only survive but thrive during 2009, don’t wait until 1st January to do something – make a plan today! Put a strategy together, which consists of a series of marketing activities that compound to provide you with the kind of forward momentum you and your business will need in 2009!

Here’s a list of things to consider adding to your marketing strategy – from the most popular page on the blog!

Chunking it down!

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credit crunch marketingIsn’t it strange how people think about money? There are people who happily spend £3 a day on a coffee at Starbucks, but who wouldn’t dream of investing that same £60/£70 a month on SEO for their website / blog or even a private health plan or gym membership!

For those of us involved in sales and marketing, there’s a valuable lesson here!  It’s all down to the way people perceive money.

If you sell a service, which has an annual cost of, let’s say £500 – you are asking people to make a £500 purchasing decision.

However, if you tell people they can have that same service for the equivalent of just £42 a month, you are helping them to focus on a far smaller, more manageable figure.

By further chunking that figure down to a weekly investment of just £9.62 or a daily figure of just £1.30, you change their focus completely. Especially if you use something like the Starbucks example I gave earlier, in your marketing.

In today’s economic climate, your prospective clients are thinking REALLY hard before spending their money. This is why it’s important for you to put the cost of investing in your service, into terms that show it’s relative value.

For example, an SEO provider might say:

“For half the price of your daily cappuccino, your business could be getting stacks of targeted leads & enquiries through your website!”

The bottom line?

To a business owner, worrying where her next sales lead will come from, it’s clear that the cost of the SEO service above is infinitely more valuable to her; than the coffee she is currently paying twice as much for!

Find something that your prospective clients / customers already buy, which compares favourably with the cost of your product or service. Then, use it like in the above example – to showcase what GREAT value you offer!

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How to quickly boost your marketing results!

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Here’s a quick tip, which can help you MASSIVELY increase the effectiveness of your marketing!

It’s all about focus

Whenever you write any form of marketing material, it’s extremely important that your message is focussed 100% on your core prospective client base.

marketing focusMany small businesses use a scatter-gun approach to their marketing messages and as a result, they write copy, which is vaguely relevant to everyone who reads it but directly relevant to no one!

By diluting your marketing message, you always reduce it’s effectiveness.

For example, let’s imagine that Bob provides a ‘Virtual Assistant’ service.  He is particularly keen to work with  web designers, software developers and SEO experts.  Bob will get a far, far better response from his marketing if he writes a tailored marketing letter/email for each individual group – rather than a vague, generic one, which is aimed at trying to be relevant to all three industry types.

Bottom line

Vague marketing messages will not motivate people to respond to you!  However, a marketing message that clearly shows how your service will solve the readers problem, is extremely attractive and will inspire far more people to respond to you!

There are 10 GREAT marketing tips for you here!

How I attracted 8000 Twitter followers in 14 weeks!

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As this morning saw me attract my 8,000th ‘follower’ on Twitter, I thought it was a good time to share with you, how I have built my network of Twitter Associates thus far, (I don’t like the word ‘followers’.)

Some background

Whilst a few social media / marketing people have more followers than me, I have attracted almost all of my followers in just 14 weeks – NOT 12 months or 2 years!  I also did this without the benefit of thousands of blog readers, legions of ‘fans’ or famous blogging friends. 

I have also managed to build a targeted network of Twitter Associates, not just NUMBERS!  My network on twitter is composed primarily of; business owners, entrepreneurs, bloggers and those linked to marketing, PR or social media. (The exact same people who use my marketing services.)

I believe building a network of Twitter Associates is not just about attracting numbers!  It’s about attracting people, who are in your target group and then earning their trust.

The three key words here are people, attract and trust.

People

The people I associate with on Twitter are NOT my followers; they are my equals.  We are part of the same online network.  I refer to them as my Twitter Associates, because we associate with each other on a level playing field, using Twitter.  The only time I use the term ‘follower’ is (like in the title of this post), when I need to give people a quick point of reference.

You see, this is a two way deal with me, I follow all those who follow me, unless they are spamming me of course. With me there’s no tribes and no leaders – just people who want to connect!

Does an equality-focused approach actually work on Twitter?  Well, there’s anywhere between 1 and 3 million people using Twitter, (apparently).  As I write this, I am high in the top 1% of all Twitter users, based on ‘followers.’  I don’t say this to impress you, but to impress upon you the effectiveness of treating people as equals and with respect!

This means communicating rather than dictating.  It means engaging people and listening to what they say. It means taking time to help people no matter how many followers they have, just because you like their work.  It means becoming part of a network or community, without feeling the need to lead it!

Think of the people YOU buy from, enjoy the company of and recommend to people.  These will tend to be people you trust, people you like and people you value – NOT people who treat you like some dumb ass follower!

Attract

There’s been a lot said about the power of attraction, with some referring to it as the law of attraction. Whatever your thoughts on the subject, we know that cause and effect play a major role in every area of our lives.

If we want to attract people, we first need to make ourselves attractive to them!

On Twitter, the most attractive people are those who share – rather than just self-promote.  They are the people who take time to answer questions and engage people in dialogue.  They are the people who look for ways to connect others and help them thrive.

One of the fastest ways to attract the interest of another human being, is to show your interest in them first!  We all like to feel valued and when another person takes time to notice us, it makes US feel good!  Don’t wait for people to follow you – develop your network of Twitter Associates by looking for great people and FOLLOW THEM FIRST!

This means that you not only attract more people, you ALSO get to develop a network of associates who are the kind of people most suited to you and your business.

Use the Twitter Search facility to identify people who ‘tweet’ about things you are interested in, and follow them. Then, introduce yourself and add something of value to the conversation!

Trust

We live in an age where; diets promise we can lose 20lbs in a month, we can have rock-hard abs with just 3 minutes exercise a day and where we can become rich in weeks (if we just buy that $29 ebook!)

We expect results immediately, yet developing trust takes time!

Paradoxically, I believe one of the reasons my network grew quickly, is because I took my time!  I am simply not influential enough to develop a network that big, that quick, all by myself!  I rely massively on the help and co-operation of others and that only comes after people trust me enough to recommend me to their Twitter Associates.

I see people using auto-responders when I follow them, with links to sales pitches – because they come to twitter expecting immediate results! Who is going to recommend someone like that to their Twitter Associates?

I get people I have never heard of, telling me to send a message to my Twitter Associates, recommending they follow them or visit their website/blog!  Who is going to recommend a person like that to their Twitter Associates?

I mentioned earlier, the importance of treating people with respect, as equals.  This is a great way to earn people’s trust and their good will.

When this happens:
– People will recommend you to their Twitter Associates.

Also…
– People will go and visit your site or blog.
– People will enquire about your products or services.
– And people will buy from you. I’ve recently sold over $30,000 in services / products via people I met on twitter.

Your tips, ideas and suggestions!

This post is based on my experiences and observations as a twitter user.  I’m certain there are many, many more ways to develop a valuable network via twitter…

AND this is where YOU come in!
What kind of things make you more, (or less), inclined to press someone’s follow button?  Share them here and please feel free to include your twitter username, if you would like new people to discover you!

…. and if you found this useful, don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed!

Seth Godin and Twitter

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A number of people contacted me yesterday, with a link to this post on Seth Godin’s excellent blog. In his post, Seth warns people about using Twitter. His argument is that it’s easy to be misunderstood, so you should avoid it for anything important or controversial, unless you want people to “assume you are an ignorant jerk and move on.”

Twitter would look very different to Seth Godin

I believe we have to look at this through Seth Godin’s eyes, if we want to understand his point and see why he doesn’t use Twitter.  Of course, Twitter would look very different to Seth, than it looks to you or me.  He hasn’t got hundreds of ‘followers’ – he’s got millions of ‘fans’ who would love to chat with him.

As you might already know, Seth Godin has banned people from commenting on his blog.  He says the primary reason he has banned comments is because:

I feel compelled to clarify or to answer every objection or to point out every flaw in reasoning.

If Seth is genuinely as obsessive about this as he suggests, with the huge following he has, he would find it impossible to use Twitter the way we do. People often disagree with what you say and it’s easy, as he points out, to be misunderstood.

Seth Godin is a very clever man and a superb writer too.  However, in my opinion, I think his reasons for not using Twitter and for warning people about it, are perhaps less relevant to the rest of us, than they are to him?

I believe Twitter is a great form of communication for 99.9% of us.  Believe me, lots of people get a great deal from Twitter; including me and most (if not all) the people I chat with there.

I also think that Seth’s good friend and business associate Robert Scoble @scobleizer, proves that you can be controversial on Twitter and people will not just ‘move on’ – As Seth stated.  Robert currently has over 40,000 followers and can be extremely controversial in what he says about business, politics and technology.

Over to you!

Have you found Twitter useful? If so, in what way has it helped you or your business?  Share your thoughts, and include your Twitter username, if you would like people to contact you!

Get your timing right!

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One of the fastest ways to dramatically increase the number of sales you make, is to make sure you ‘close the sale’ at the right point in the negotiating process!

Why is timing so important to your sales success?

marketing timing sales In any sales situation, there is a certain point in time where the prospective client or customer is most likely to agree to buy from you.  If you ask for the sale within this golden period, you stand a far greater chance of the prospective client saying “yes.”

Here’s why:
If you ask them to make a buying decision before they are ready, they will think you are either ‘pushy’ or desperate.  This will massively reduce your chances of making the sale, because people hate to feel pushed or pressurised.

If you ask them to make a buying decision after their interest has dwindled, they will be far less motivated to buy from you.  This will massively reduce your chances of making the sale, because without that all-important motivation to buy, there’s little reason for them to purchase. The moment will have passed.

Hot stuff!

A great way to remember the role of timing in the negotiating process, is to think about what you do when you boil some milk in a pan.  You start off with the milk at room temperature.  Then, once the pan of milk is placed on the hot stove, it slowly gets hotter and hotter until it starts to boil. Once you turn the heat off, the temperature slowly drops until it goes back to room temperature again.

In a negotiation process, you need to ask for a buying decision ‘when the milk is at boiling point!’  This is the point where the prospective client or customer is at their most motivated to buy.

How to improve your timing

No two people are the same.  When some people are at their most motivated to buy, they will lean forward with their eyes wide open, nodding their head in agreement.  Others will hardly change their physiology, but ask you lots of relevant questions, and some will do neither!  Whilst anyone involved in face-to-face negotiating should study the basics of body language, you need to combine this with additional resources.

For example, try asking the last 10 people who didn’t buy from you, what it was that made them decide not to proceed and pay attention to anything that suggests your timing was off.

If you regularly hear people say that “it all happened so fast” or their head was spinning from all the details, this might suggest you need to slow down a little.  If you regularly hear people say that they just “went off the idea” or they are going to “review it again next year,” this might suggest you need to speed up a little.

I have been in sales and marketing long enough to know that there are many, many reasons why people decide to use one provider over another provider.  However, by paying close attention to this often-overlooked area of the negotiating process, you can significantly increase your sales conversion rate.