Marketing tips, marketing help and advice

Acres of high profit, easy business wins!

By Jim Connolly | June 5, 2021

On a purely commercial level, something has continued to baffle me since the start of the pandemic.

It’s simply this:

Why have so few small and medium-sized businesses collaborated with one another?

There has never been a greater need for businesses to collaborate or a greater opportunity for commercial collaboration. Reaching out to another business, which offers a complimentary, non-conflicting service to yours is so easy. Joint ventures, endorsed relationships and many other forms of mutually beneficial opportunities are available.

Yet at a time when so many business owners are really struggling, they’re isolating themselves from acres of exceptionally profitable, easy wins.

I don’t know all the reasons why this is happening, but I believe it’s partly caused by focusing so much on survival, that business opportunities are not on their radar. If you’re hunkering down until things go back to ‘normal’, your mindset is all about how to survive, when it should be on how to thrive.

I’d like you to consider that thriving right now is not only possible, it’s highly probable, so long as you do the right things correctly.

Commercial collaboration in action

If you’d like to very quickly start attracting great new clients (or customers), try this.

Consider for a moment who your ideal client is.
Now think about non-competing providers who have access to your ideal profile of client AND who offer a service that in some way compliments yours.
Do some research and identify those who have a professional reputation. And reach out to them.
The way you reach out will depend on your industry or profession, whether you’re both local businesses, whether you’re members of the same association or group… and a ton of other things. There’s no one size fits all approach.
Find a suitable way to get the ball rolling. And roll with it!
Now identify the next collaboration partner and repeat the process.

If you’re not proactively developing commercial collaborations you really should. The opportunities are there. Just waiting for you.

Does your marketing look needy? Find out now

By Jim Connolly | June 4, 2021

Image: Alexis Fauvet

No one wants their marketing to be seen as pushy or needy. It turns people away and hurts their brand. Why then are we constantly bombarded by that exact kind of marketing?

The answer is that it almost always happens by accident! In this post, I’ll explain why, PLUS I’ll show you how to avoid making the same mistake.

Marketing messages fall into one of the following broad groups.

Pushy: I want you to buy my stuff. And I want you to buy it now.
Helpful: You have a problem, and my product or service can solve it for you. This is how it works.

Here’s the challenge

Lots of great business owners who are in that second group, accidentally market their services, as if they were in the first group.

In other words, their marketing looks needy or self-serving, but that’s NOT what they are like! They’re great people. Dedicated, hard-working professionals and they genuinely want to help you.

So, why does this costly confusion happen?

Here are the 2 main reasons I have identified, plus how to avoid this from happening to you.

Misunderstood passion

When you’re eager to serve your marketplace, your passion can easily be mistaken as needy. You’re ready, willing and extremely capable. However, because you really want to help, because you really want to make a difference, your motivated message can wrongly appear to be self-serving. Maybe even desperate.

The irony in this scenario, is that the same passion that prospective clients value so much, is now actively working against you.

The way to avoid this from happening, is to be very intentional regarding your marketing messages.

Go through your marketing. But read it from the perspective of your marketplace. Think about the words you use. Make sure that everything is “them focussed”.

Tip: I give 2 examples here, which explain exactly what I mean.

Copying the wrong approach

Many, (perhaps most) small and medium-sized business owners use the wrong marketing strategy and tactics for their industry. This example from one of my readers gives you a powerful insight into how devastating it can be. It demonstrates why you need to be really careful about the tactics you use. It also shows you the specific, and common, errors that were losing her a fortune. I strongly recommend you read it.

There’s no shortage of marketing tips and advice out there. As you’d expect, the quality ranges from rock solid, to average, to toxic. And even when the advice is rock solid, it needs to be in harmony with your industry, your reputation and your business development goals.

I hope you find those ideas useful. More importantly, I hope you do something with them.

Steve Jobs, money and success

By Jim Connolly | June 3, 2021

It’s an interesting fact that very few of the world’s most successful businesspeople, set out with money or success as their primary target.

They aimed to be valuable.
They aimed to make the world or the marketplace a better place.
They aimed to make a difference.

However, money or success was not their primary focus.

Here’s how they did it!

Steve Jobs famously said:

“I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money”.

If Jobs was focused primarily on the money or success, he’d have been able to cash in when he was in his 20’s… super rich and exceptionally successful.

When Einstein said, “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value”, he showed where his focus was. Again, it was about the value. Einstein carried on working until his death, even though he could have quit decades earlier with his reputation set in history forever.

To understand how the most successful and wealthy business owners achieved their success, we need to look at why most business owners struggle.

In it just for the money

You can usually tell pretty fast, when you encounter someone who is primarily in it for the money. That’s because it’s both obvious and extremely unattractive. And this makes it very hard for them to succeed.

Here are some examples we see all the time, which you will recognise instantly:

They are the salespeople, whose eyes light up like a wolf when they spot a potential sales victim.
They are the ill-informed marketing gurus, who STILL say the money is in the list, because they haven’t figured out the value is in the community.
They are the affiliate marketers, who leave spammy links and comments on blogs and Facebook.
They are the pests, who send us unwanted spam email.
They are the pushy business owners, who corner us at events. The ones who pretend they want to know about us, when we know it’s just an old, cringe-worthy networking tactic.
They are the struggling restaurant owners, who use slightly lower quality ingredients and hire slightly lower quality chefs, and end up with a low quality restaurant that no one recommends.

They are the kind of business owners you thought of, as you were reading those examples!

The way forward for smart business owners

Focus on value. Create products or services that are meaningfully different from the competition. Solve better problems. Create work you are proud of. Offer remarkable service and outstanding quality. And delight your customers at every opportunity.

Persistently create value and use marketing to make it visible. People are extremely attracted to value and they pay a premium for it too. Just ask the owner of any high priced Apple product, the owner of a luxury car or the client of any leading service provider.

Get this right my friend, and the money and success will surely follow.

I hate selling

By Jim Connolly | June 2, 2021

It’s interesting how many small business owners feel awkward, when it comes to proactively selling their services. If this is something you struggle with, here’s a very effective way to overcome it.

The facts

You know for absolute certain that you provide an excellent service. You know that you’re ethical. You know that you always put your clients (or customers) first. You know that you’ll be there when your clients need you. And you know you’ll deliver exactly what you promise.

Now consider this.

You have no idea what kind of service your competitors will offer. You don’t know if your competitors are ethical. You don’t know if they put the needs of their clients first. And you don’t know if they’ll deliver on the promises they make.

This means

The only way you can possibly know for certain that your marketplace will be well looked after, is if they hire YOU!

All it takes for the worst providers in your marketplace to thrive, is for ethical people like you, to quietly work hard in the background, unnoticed.

Be sure to remember that, the next time you feel awkward or uncomfortable about marketing your services.

Here’s how I helped a coffee shop owner boost sales and profits in just 7 days

By Jim Connolly | May 27, 2021

Image: Danielle MacInnes.

I had an interesting marketing chat with a business owner yesterday. I think you’ll find the core of our conversation really useful, as it’s all about maximizing average sale value and profits. And fast.

So here it is.

I spoke with a coffee shop owner last Monday, who had recently reopened her shop after lockdown. She explained that due to restrictions on capacity, the business was now only able to serve 45% as many people, as before the pandemic. I asked what her strategy was, to increase the average sale value. She said she’d increased prices slightly, but was more focused on keeping her overhead down than anything else.

Increasing your average sale value

Maintaining a sensible overhead is always smart. But improving your average sale value and profitability is absolutely essential, when customer numbers have plummeted. It’s also an easy, highly profitable win. And increasing prices is just one (high-risk and pretty limited) way to do this. I shared some ideas with her, which could be implemented immediately with no cost.

I then popped in yesterday to see how she was getting on.

She’d already put two of my suggestions into place.

One was to move her impulse purchases to a more central location. Previously, these items were placed close to the counter, so customers saw them as they waited to pay. However, people now have to pay at their table. As a result, far fewer customers were focused for any length of time on her impulse items.
The other was my suggestion to change the language they used, when asking people if they wanted cake (or whatever snack) with their beverage. I said they should ask customers something along the lines of, “would you like to treat yourself to some delicious (whatever)?”. The key words there are “treat yourself“. Right now, with people feeling anxious or worried, treating yourself feels a lot like self care.

Those 2 suggestions increased her average sale value by around 18% – 20%. The shop owner explained it was tricky to be more accurate, as she had to reverse her price increase 3 days into the week. She’s introducing another of my suggestions next week, which should create an even bigger improvement for her. We’ll see how that goes.

Regardless of whether you sell products or services, online or offline, there’s a really good chance you’re missing out on windfall sales / profits, by failing to maximize your average sale value. Without generating any additional clients or customers, gains of between 15% and 50% are extremely common; with far bigger gains in many cases.

Make no mistake, this is an area you should really give some thought to.

Here are tons more proven ideas, yours now for free.

Unlock the secret to breakthrough results

By Jim Connolly | May 25, 2021

Image: Jametlene Reskp

The breakthrough result you’ve been waiting for is closer than you think. Here’s a trusted and proven way to make it happen.

I was prompted to write this, after someone emailed me with a request. His email opened with; “I need a major breakthrough, Jim!”.

In short, he wanted me to personally introduce him to someone who’s very wealthy and a friend of mine. The unknown emailer apparently has a proposal, which he’s sure my friend “will want to be in on”.

Let’s ignore the fact that the person he wants me to introduce him to is not a friend of mine, but an acquaintance instead.
And let’s also ignore why on earth I would personally recommend a total stranger to anyone.

Instead, let’s look at the mindset the emailer is using.

Because although his email was certainly unusual, a lot of business owners adopt a broadly similar approach.

Allow me to explain.

The thing about major breakthroughs

When looking for a major business breakthrough, the temptation can be to focus on a massive home run… a home run, which will save you years of effort and land you in the big time.

“If I could just get 20 minutes with (insert name of famous billionaire), maybe they would back my idea”.

That’s one way to succeed.

However, major business breakthroughs don’t tend to happen like that. There will be exceptions, but they’re called exceptions for a reason. They’re exceptional.

Instead, major breakthroughs are almost always the result of lots of mini breakthroughs. And the process is tried and tested. It follows the same, proven path.

You decide exactly what breakthrough you want to achieve and put a plan together.
You chunk your plan down into a series of steps (mini breakthroughs).
You then apply intelligent activity to each step.
You carry on taking steps forward, until you’ve achieved your major breakthrough.

Recommended reading: How to know if you have a winning idea.

It’s far less glamorous than scoring lunch with Jeff Bezos or Mark Cuban and being handed their full financial backing. But it’s far more likely to actually happen.

Exposed: The great BIG leadership lie!

By Jim Connolly | May 20, 2021

Leaders lead. That’s what they do.

They don’t tell us they are leaders. They don’t self-proclaim to be leaders in their social media profiles or on the about pages of their websites. Instead, they lead.

Leaders are easy to spot

When everyone else is flapping, looking for someone to lead the way, the leader is the one who steps up. The leader commands our respect.

We all know leaders and in every instance, they don’t need to tell us they are leaders. They literally lead by example.

Leaders are courageous. They stand up for what they believe in. They inspire others by what they do. They’re massively valuable and extremely rare.

Fake leaders are even easier to spot

Instead of leading, the fakers tell us they are leaders and hope no one notices. But we do notice. We see them acting like sheep; sharing leadership quotes on social sites, having their photo taken with leaders… yet never actually leading.

For fake leaders it’s about telling, not showing. It’s about talking and bluster, not action. It’s about self-proclaimed titles, not the respect of their marketplace or community. It’s about following the flock, not leading.

Don’t fall for the great leadership lie

The lesson here is simple. Be suspicious of anyone who self-proclaims that they are a leader. Instead, decide for yourself based on what a person does and what they fail to do.

Leaders lead.

They don’t talk about it.

They do it.

Making the required effort

By Jim Connolly | May 13, 2021

marketing lies, liars

… is underrated.

However, it’s essential. Regardless of what the gurus tell you about life-hacks, success-hacks, growth-hacks and marketing-hacks, no one can succeed without applying the required effort. That’s why it’s required.

Work smart.

Work efficiently.

Work carefully.

And rest!

But be sure to do the required work and the required hours. Because when you do, you’ll find yourself making more progress, and faster, than the person who wastes their time seeking elusive short-cuts to success.

Just think

Interestingly, when we look at the work output of the gurus selling the hacks, we find they’re working their butts off!

The videos they shoot, their always-on social media presence across multiple platforms, their podcasts, their interviews, the book they’re writing, their newsletters, their speaking engagements, etc., etc… these combine to create a massive workload.

Do what’s required.

Avoid what isn’t.

Because short-cuts to success are almost never short-cuts and they never lead to success.

Are the results you want right under your nose? Take a look

By Jim Connolly | May 12, 2021

Marketing results ideas

Image: Michael Kilcoyne

Important: Today’s post is not about email marketing. You won’t believe that at the start, though. So stick with it for the plot twist.

Just think.

You can make the offer in your next marketing email more compelling and get a far higher conversion rate.
You can improve the subject line of the email and get a massively higher open rate.
You can figure out the most effective time (and day) to send that email and get an even better open rate.
You can also send it a little more frequently and greatly multiply the impact of those previous increases.
You have now dramatically expanded the number of people reading your marketing message. And all those additional, prospective customers are far, far more motivated to buy from you.

You can get to work on all those things. If you’re not sure how, there are lots of people around who can do it for you. Even an average marketing consultant or freelancer, using the above model, should have no problem whatsoever increasing your sales.

Ask them nicely, pay them accordingly and they may do the same again and again and again.

Here’s the plot twist

After reading the above, at what point did you notice yourself finding reasons why it wouldn’t work for you?

It may have been right at the start, when you thought your email list was too small. It could have been when you thought that any changes might result in a backlash from some people of your list. Perhaps it was when you thought you’re just too busy right now, too busy to do the work and too busy to find someone to do it for you.

This isn’t about email marketing

As I said at the start, the lesson here is not about maximizing your email marketing results. Though that basic email model works really well.

It’s about the stories you and I, as business owners, tell ourselves regarding the marketing activities available to us.

Here’s the thing.

You will have current activities you feel comfortable doing, which produce predictable results. Some will work really well.
However, and really importantly, you very probably have other marketing activities and investments that you choose to avoid, which would improve your bottom line beyond recognition if you deployed them.

Today, I recommend you consider looking at one marketing activity that you know works for others, but you have (until now) chosen to avoid. Challenge your past assumptions. Make sure they’re accurate. Do a little research. Ask around.

If you do, experience assures me that it’s entirely possible you’ll find at least one activity, right under your nose, which is absolute marketing gold dust. So take a look!

How doing less can get you more

By Jim Connolly | May 2, 2021

One of the best kept secrets in business, is something I call reduction. It’s a strategy I share with my clients and today, I’m going to share some of it with you.

Less can be more

Ineffective business owners strive to do more and more.

They focus on productivity hacks, growth hacks, life hacks and short-cuts. As an unavoidable result, they become increasingly busy, increasingly stressed, increasingly frustrated and increasingly disappointed.

Thankfully, there’s a smarter way forward.

The most effective business owners use a very different approach. They’ve discovered that the biggest wins come from doing fewer things. Less is more.

For example:

Fewer unfinished projects, leads to more clarity.
Fewer social media interruptions, leads to more focus.
Fewer repeated errors, leads to more progress.
Fewer dodged decisions, leads to more respect.
Fewer missed deadlines, leads to more trust.
Fewer hours wasted, leads to more productivity.
Fewer angry words, leads to more happiness.
Fewer broken promises, leads to more belief.
And fewer excuses, leads to more achievement.

If you find yourself stressed, working long hours and making too little progress, don’t add even more to your workload. All it will do is create additional stress.

Instead, focus on reduction. Because with the right strategy, less can be more. So much more.

The pandemic: Why your marketing needs to change

By Jim Connolly | April 17, 2021

Obviously, the marketplace you serve has changed during the coronavirus pandemic.

So in today’s post, I want to help you successfully adapt to these changes, so your business absolutely thrives.

Let’s go.

Ask most business owners how they’ve adapted to the pandemic, you’ll hear very similar replies. They’ll tell you they’ve switched as much of their business online as possible. If they’re in hospitality, leisure, offline retail, construction, etc, they’ll tell you about social distancing measures, too.

Whilst those are important considerations, they’re missing a HUGE part of the picture. And it could lose them a fortune.

I don’t want that to happen to you.

Feelings

The big brands have a very different and more effective focus. Agile owners of small and medium-sized businesses do too.

Their focus is on the dramatic change, in the way their clients and prospective clients are FEELING during these most difficult of times. As feelings are what drive decisions (and sales) far more than logic, this is something you need to be aware of. And focused on.

With that in mind, think for a moment about your clients and prospective clients. Consider how they have been impacted by the pandemic. Now ask yourself, how has the past 13 months changed things like:

The way they feel about their immediate and long-term future?
The way they feel about money?
The way they feel about credit, debt, investments?
The way they feel about the people in their lives?
The way they feel about risk?
The way they feel about the value of their time?
The way they feel about their health?
The way they feel about travelling?
The way they feel about donating to causes?
The way they feel about long-term results?
The way they feel about short-term results?
The way they feel about various types of loss?

Take a moment to think about the current focus of your marketing. Include things like your messaging, promises, guarantees, benefits, deals and payment options, etc.

Then ask yourself the following question.

Is it speaking to the need and wants of your pre-pandemic marketplace or their ACTUAL, current needs and wants?

Because if you’re using your pre-pandemic marketing strategy, (with Zoom calls and social distancing bolted on), your agile competitors could suddenly sound a lot more attractive.

However, by aligning your marketing with the way your clients and future clients now feel, you cut through the noise. Your messaging will strike the right chord. Your words will be more compelling.

And your products or services will sound a great deal more relevant to their exact needs. That’s marketing gold dust, right there.

Give your best ideas away for free. Here’s why

By Jim Connolly | April 16, 2021

What I’m about to share with you may sound a little counter-intuitive. It isn’t. In fact, it could help you achieve breakthrough results.

Allow me to explain.

I come across the following problem a lot. Mainly from service providers, who are struggling to attract new clients with their content marketing. Their primary concern looks something like this:

I know I need to provide good, free advice via my content. Surely if I give my best ideas away for free, no one will pay to hire me?

I’ve already explained why you should be stingy with your time, but not your ideas. However, there’s another, excellent reason why you should provide outstanding, free advice.

And it’s this…

Think for a moment about the alternative. Imagine you publish a newsletter, videos, a blog or a podcast. Now let’s also imagine that instead of sharing great advice, you share weaker information. Average free stuff. Nothing special. Nothing that really stands out.

Guess what?

You’ve just given your marketplace a weak, low-impact insight into your work. You’ve painted a lousy picture of how good you are. So, not only will people be highly unlikely to hire you, they’ll also be unlikely to share your newsletters, videos, podcasts, blog posts or subscribe to you. That’s a huge lose, lose. (Actually, that’s wrong; it’s a lose, lose, lose, because you’ll also be damaging your reputation as a knowledgeable professional. Ouch!)

Here’s what really happens when you give great free advice

Yes, freebie hunters will certainly gobble up all your free advice. But that doesn’t lose you a penny. Why? Because they were never going to hire you anyway. Freebie hunters are the dabblers. The DIYers. So, they were never a prospective client.

Yes, a subset of genuine prospective clients who take your free advice will do (whatever) themselves. Of course, if they find your ideas so powerful that they actually use them, they’re highly likely to subscribe to you and share your work. That’s how every successful resource spreads. Also, I know from experience that many of them will later hire you.

However… there’s also a hefty subset of prospective clients who will find your high quality advice extremely valuable. Now, this subset of prospective clients are the ones who value their time. They love the peace-of-mind that comes from getting expert help. They value professionalism.

These prospective clients will hire you, so you can do the job properly for them. And yes, they’ll also share your newsletters, videos, podcasts, blog posts and subscribe to you.

How do I know for 100% certain that this works?

Simple: It’s how I grew my own business!

It’s why I get enquiries from prospective clients, multiple times, all day long, every day. And if it works for me, it can work for you too. Just make sure to offer as much value as you can, as often as you can. Hold nothing back.

How to know if your business idea will succeed

By Jim Connolly | April 14, 2021

Image: Toa Heftiba

Yesterday’s post attracted a lot of feedback. People wanted to know how to tell in advance if their business idea will succeed (product, service, opportunity, etc.,) is likely to spread and succeed.

To answer that question, let’s look at what happens when you share a truly exciting idea or opportunity with someone.

They lean forward as you’re talking. You have their attention. They’re listening intently.
Then they try and find a way to get involved with it. They can sense the promise of the opportunity. So they want in. For example, they’ll ask you if they can tell their friends about it or place a pre-order; you won’t have to ask them. That’s because great ideas have legs.

Reaction to an average or below average idea looks VERY different.

People nod politely.
Many will tell you they think you’re onto a winner.
But that’s about as far as it goes. Because average ideas lack legs. More about legs in a moment.

Why am I sharing this with you?

I hear from small business owners regularly, who’ve wasted time and money developing dud ideas, after misinterpreting the feedback they received. This need not happen to you, so long as you know what to look for.

How to know if your business idea will succeed?

Start by filtering everything!

Never make a commercial decision based on surface-level thinking. Filter everything for accuracy.

Before you accept any feedback, remember that people often tell you what they think you want to hear, rather than what they actually think. Their intentions are good. They want to encourage you or be supportive. But their misplaced kindness can lead you into a huge commercial loss if you accept it on a surface level.

As I said yesterday, it’s what people do that counts. Focus 95% on what they do when you tell them about your idea… and 5% on what they say.

Here’s how: Look for how eager they are to get involved, without prompting from you to take action. Just explain the idea clearly. Then watch!

For example.

If your idea is a business product or service and includes a pre-order option, did they want to pre-order without you asking?
Did they ask you for a second meeting?
Did they request a sample of the product?
And did they ask if you’d like to demo the idea or give a presentation to their colleagues, boss or friends?

The key is to be guided by what they do, far more than what they say. It’s a proven, time-tested way to see if your idea has legs or not.

Why are legs so important, Jim?

I’ll use the example of an idea for a new product or service.

If your idea has legs, it means it will spread from person to person by itself. Every viral product or service works this way. People learn about (whatever it is) and tell their friends. Their friends do the same… repeat. These products or services require far less marketing and are massively more profitable.
If your idea doesn’t have legs, growth only comes when you tell people about the product or service. It goes from you, to the marketplace. Ideas that lack legs require lots of advertising, promoting, networking and are drastically less profitable. Growth is slow, expensive, frustrating and time consuming.

So, get feedback from people. Especially those in your target market for the product or service. Look closely for signs that the idea has legs, by focusing on what people do. Are they leaning forward? Do they want to get involved? And remember that actions speak louder than words.

I know what you’re thinking…

At this point, business owners ask me whether it’s possible for their existing product or service, which lacks legs, to be transformed into a runaway success.

The answer is yes. Of course!

I do it every day, helping my clients pump massive extra value into their products or services, which gives it the legs required.

3 Business ideas I shared with a Zoom group today. In just 70 words

By Jim Connolly | April 12, 2021

If you’re struggling with a new challenge, you probably need a new strategy. If you’re struggling with an old challenge, you absolutely need a new strategy.
Your competitors work hard and are passionate about building their business. Not all of them. But enough of them to destroy your business, if you underestimate them.
If you have a business challenge and you can’t talk about it, now you have two challenges.

Every List: Discover my super effective list writing technique

By Jim Connolly | April 11, 2021

list writing, creativity lists, list technique, every list, jim connolly

Image: Shutterstock.

If you ever find yourself struggling with a business challenge and want to get it resolved, here’s one of the fastest and most effective ways to do it. I use this daily and have taught it to thousands of people.

It’s about making a list… but not just any old list. I’m specifically referring to what I call an every list.

If you’ve never used an every list before, here’s a quick look at what they are and how they work.

How to use an every list

In this example, let’s imagine you want to improve your email marketing open rates. You’d start with a list called something like:

Every way to increase my email open rates.

Then, you would begin writing every possible way to increase your open rates.

When you start, you find the first things on your list come easy.

Write subject lines that are more compelling, so people are really curious about what’s inside.
Make sure my subject line doesn’t contain trigger words or characters, which are blocked by some junk mail filters.
Use fewer images, as these can also trigger junk filters.
Identify the best time of day and best day of the week to send my emails, by testing new times / days.
Try different gaps between emails – increasing or decreasing how often I send them.
Improve the content. If my emails have become less useful or interesting, my readers will be less inclined to open them.
Use professional email marketing software, from respected providers. They are experts at getting emails delivered and bypassing the kind of hurdles that block emails. They also use clean IP addresses, which increases delivery rates.

Then it gets trickier, because you’ve listed the most obvious things. However, you still find some more.

Put fewer links into my emails as this can be a red flag for some email servers.
Use fewer merge tags.
Check the meta data in the images I use.
Clean my list, so abandoned (hard bounced) email addresses are removed.
Make my emails look more like regular email.

Now things get really tough. You’ve already listed the obvious and the less obvious ways to increase open rates. Plus, you now have a number of options to look at, so it can be tempting to start working on those.

Here’s where the real benefit comes from

It causes you to dig deeper. Because you know there must be more possibilities. This additional commitment to keep going, even though it can be extremely frustrating, pushes you to the edges. And it’s at the edges where we find the innovative, creative answers.

So, you keep going. And find one more possibility.

Look at my open rates over the past 12 months and see if there’s a point, where open rates started to drop. If so, there’s probably a clue right there.

The example used here is based on a marketing professional I’ve mentored, and her experience using the every list technique with one of her clients. In this case, the 2 things that created 75% of her client’s improvement was cleaning the email list… and the very last possibility; examining historic open rates and looking for clues.

Had they stopped after the first 8 or 10 items on their list, they’d have missed the answers they needed. And they wouldn’t have massively increased their open rates.

When we’re faced with a pressing challenge, we need to invest the time and energy required to solve it. And the every list helps us do just that.

Einstein famously said, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” Well, he was “so smart”. He was a genius. Yet his core point is solid. If a man like Einstein is willing to dedicate more time and dig deeper, when solving problems, then surely we should too.

Use an every list and keep looking for ideas even when (especially when), you think you’ve exhausted the possibilities. Because you almost certainly haven’t.

10 Important things to ponder, before the weekend

By Jim Connolly | April 9, 2021

In no particular order.

The pandemic has impacted everyone, to a lesser or greater degree. Factor this in. If someone’s being more unreasonable than you expect, cut them some slack.
A business can only be as successful as the weakest link in its leadership. Many potentially great businesses never achieve the results they should, because one senior team member’s influence is holding them back.
When opportunity isn’t knocking, it’s time to build another door.
To earn better fees, or charge better prices, solve better problems. This is also foundational in retaining more clients (or customers).
To get more word of mouth referrals, give your clients an experience worth shouting about.
Check your assumptions. One of the easiest ways to massively improve your business results, is to make decisions based on the most accurate feedback or data possible.
Take mini vacations, before you feel forced to take them. This could be a 30 minute break or a long weekend, depending on your unique circumstances.
Always leave people better than when you found them.
You can’t eat low quality food and expect to have high quality energy.
Create a new and utterly compelling reason, why someone should buy from you… and not a competitor.

Stay safe.

Get things done, like a productivity superstar

By Jim Connolly | April 3, 2021

Things are moving fast. We’re already a few days into April 2021, the so-called bounce back year.

If you’re one of those business owners who has some ideas you’re waiting to deploy or a project you’re almost ready to launch, today’s post is especially for you. It’s based on an email I received from a reader and contains a very valuable lesson.

The reader said that they were almost ready to start a new business. That everything is in place and they’re now waiting for the right time.

Here’s an excerpt from the email: “[…] I’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on a new business since 2014 but things have been hectic to say the least. I’m hoping things settle down now so I can get started. I’m a perfectionist so things need to be just right.“

Now 7 years later, that new business is still just an idea.

The perfect time to start

The problem with waiting for the perfect moment is that it never comes. Perfection is elusive and fleeting. That’s because business, and life in general, is a series of challenges. Challenges that we need to overcome. As these challenges are resolved, we learn from them and are better equipped to resolve the next one. And even if you were to find a magical moment where everything was just perfect, one unexpected phone call or some unexpected news and everything changes.

Whether people are aware of it or not, the decision to wait for the perfect time is a stalling tactic. An excuse. Albeit a super-effective excuse. Super-effective? Yes, it gives us permission to do nothing, indefinitely, because the perfect time never comes.

The solution?

Here’s what we know: The most successful people in business are those who take action. Not the talkers, not the tellers, but the doers. That’s great news. Why? Because whilst many things in business are out of your control, taking action isn’t one of them.

So.

Do the research.
Check the numbers.
Seek out the advice and feedback you need.
Put a plan together.
Then set a launch date.

And stick to it.

Meet the 2 friends I work with on every project

By Jim Connolly | April 1, 2021

One of the cornerstones of successful marketing, is to retain as many great clients (or customers) as possible. Otherwise, growing your client base is like trying to fill a bucket that has a hole in it.

When I started out in business, I identified 2 things that guaranteed a new client project would start off, and progress, in the best possible way. I’ve used them with every client since. These 2 components create a super strong foundation for outstanding client retention and marketing results.

When I share this marketing idea with clients, I begin by introducing them to the 2 friends I bring with me to every project. Their names are; availability and willingness.

Availability

It’s essential to have enough time available to absolutely delight your clients or customers.

Many business owners work on too many projects simultaneously. They overload themselves. This approach fails the client. It fails the business owner too. In fact, it fails all round. When a service provider is unable to respond to the needs of their clients in a timely way, the client is left waiting. When a service provider has too little time to provide the level of service required, the quality of the service plummets. The reputation of the service provider plummets, too. This leads to low levels of client retention. And very few, if any, referrals.

The most successful business owners know how to avoid this from happening. Here’s what they do.

They charge a fair fee / price, which allows them the time needed, to provide the availability and quality of service required, to delight the client. They then develop outstanding client relationships. They enjoy exceptionally high client retention and are inundated with great referrals.

That approach sounds obvious. But just look at how few service providers get it right!

Willingness

Being available is absolutely essential. But it isn’t enough.

We need to inform people of our willingness. And then demonstrate it. After all, a disinterested person who contributes nothing to a project is technically available. We call those people RHINO’s… Really Here In Name Only.

What’s the best way to establish our willingness?

I’ve found the most effective strategy is to let everyone on the project know you’re willing, from the start. Right at the beginning. So don’t keep it a secret. Tell them you’re eager, motivated and happy to help.

Here’s a very recent, real-world example of what this looks like.

I joined a new client’s Basecamp group this morning. The very first thing I did was introduce myself to the team and encouraged them to bring me their problems and ask me questions. There’s no ambiguity there. I made my genuine willingness clear, so they can feel 100% comfortable asking me anything.

As things progress, we demonstrate our ongoing willingness to delight our clients by being consistently proactive.

Many service providers are reactive. They wait until a client contacts them. Some even see it as a win, if they don’t hear from a client for a long time! That’s a short-sighted approach to building a successful business.

If we haven’t heard from a client in a while, we need to reach out. I do this by sharing useful information with them or simply ‘checking in’ to see how things are progressing.

In short, availability and willingness don’t get mentioned much. But they’re essential components for delighting your clients and developing a highly respected, successful business.

You said my previous post was weird. Here’s my response

By Jim Connolly | March 27, 2021

A number of readers noticed something ‘weird’ in a recent post and got in touch. They all had the exact same question too. Here’s the post. I thought I’d share it with you, along with my answer and a powerful marketing lesson.

Their question?

They wanted to know, how come a fellow marketing professional was attending, and asking me questions, at a marketing talk I gave to business owners. After all, she already knows how marketing works and we’re competitors. Right?

My answer

When I started my business in the mid 1990’s, I chose to adopt a zero-competition approach to my local marketing counterparts and embrace them instead. That’s to say, I intentionally decided to be as useful as possible to them.

More than this, I also chose to proactively seek out opportunities to help them flourish, to open doors for them, to share new ideas and strategies I’d developed with them, to connect them with useful people, etc.

I was only in my 20’s at the time. Many said I was young and naive.

I saw it differently.

My approach to marketing from day one, has been to help business owners achieve outstanding results, using creative marketing ideas… not marketing money. As a new business owner from a very poor background, I had no way to out-spend established marketing providers. If I wanted to get noticed, I needed to do things creatively. I needed to be meaningfully different. I needed to zig, when the ‘competition’ was zagging.

And it worked

Amazingly quickly, too.

The local marketing community was soon talking about me and talking with me. They were very aware that I’d only been around for 5 minutes, yet had gained a lot of what we used to call ‘buzz’. They wanted to know what I was about. What I was doing. Why I was doing it. Soon, this new kid on the block was being invited to speak at events by local banks, accountancy firms and government agencies. The clients quickly followed. Around 6 months after starting my business, it had reached my year 3 income goal. Without a penny spent on advertising. Without a single competing provider.

Throughout my career, massively more marketing professionals have hired me and recommended me, than people from any other industry. They’re also, by far, the biggest share of my readership. They can see that I do things very differently. For instance, they notice that I don’t use SEO in my blog posts. They notice that I don’t have (or need) a Linkedin account. They notice I don’t do guest blogging, attend industry events or send sales emails to my subscribers.

Marketing professionals notice all the signals. They notice them, because they’re trained to. They can see me walking the walk. So they follow my work, they ask me questions and the super-smart ones hire me.

You and your business

There are as many creative ways to market your business, as their are stars in the sky (well, maybe not quite that many, but I love the image it paints).

Throwing money at advertising is easy, but it’s expensive in a number of ways. Yes, there’s the cost of the advertisements. But there’s also the cost of suddenly losing your advertising sales leads, when agile competitors identify where you’re advertising, then wipe you out, with better ads or more ads. It’s very easy for them to do and you won’t know it’s coming, until it’s happened.

And as many of you will have already discovered, general marketing advice available via webinars and online marketing courses doesn’t work. It can’t work, because everyone’s already using those same general strategies and ideas. You’re simply camouflaging yourself amongst the millions of others.

That’s the exact opposite of gaining attention. It’s the opposite of what you need.

Embrace creativity

Why?

To start with, it’s very hard to copy. It sets you apart for all the right reasons. It gets people talking about your business, so you don’t have to. It stops you from needing to sell based on price. It gets you noticed. There are many other great reasons, but you get the gist.

And importantly, it’s also a spectacularly enjoyable way to build a fan-frickin-tastic business.

4 Important reasons to write regularly, which no one told you about

By Jim Connolly | March 23, 2021

As a business owner, there are many compelling reasons to write regularly. For example, newsletters and blogs can be hugely valuable marketing tools. The same is true of contributing articles to services like Linkedin, Medium and Facebook.

But you already knew that.

Here are 4 extremely valuable benefits of writing regularly, which seldom get mentioned. Here they are in no particular order.

Regular writing makes you a better observer. As a result, you notice more of the world around you. You experience more from life.
Regular writing helps you think with greater clarity. The process of getting ideas out of your head and onto the page, is a wonderful antidote for foggy thinking.
Regular writing is a powerful development tool. To write effectively on any subject, you need to know about that subject. Even better, to write about a subject regularly, you need to constantly learn more about it.
Regular writing is an act of contribution. When you share your ideas or stories with others, you invest in them. You connect with them. How might that help your business? Think about that for a moment.

By the way, if you’re uncomfortable about publishing what you write, here’s a suggestion. Don’t publish anything! Just write for yourself. You’ll still enjoy the first 3 of those 4 benefits.