Marketing tips, marketing help and advice

How a fee increase can attract more clients and boost your profits

By Jim Connolly | January 16, 2018

When marketed correctly, it’s possible to massively increase your fees and attract more clients, than you did at the lower fee.

It sounds counter intuitive. But it makes perfect sense. Allow me to explain.

I was prompted to write about this, after speaking with one of my clients. We talked about what’s happened since she tripled her fees. Yes, it took a lot of courage, however, not only is every client now massively more profitable to her, she has never been busier with new clients.

So, why did a 300% increase in her fees result in more clients, rather than fewer clients?

My client is highly experienced and provides an excellent service. However, her fees used to be around the average for her industry.

In other words, she was claiming to offer a top quality service for what sounded like a bargain basement fee. She was giving people a mixed message. Mixed messages create doubt. And doubt destroys marketing.

The kind of people who seek out excellent service and are willing to pay for it, would have ignored my clients former marketing. They would see the service being offered, compare it to her cheapo fee… and get suspicious. They’d assume she was another bargain basement provider making claims she couldn’t back up.

Of course, those looking for a cheap provider were not attracted to her either, as they shop around for the lowest fee and hers were close to average.

So, my client had previously failed to attract the best clients and the worst clients. She was left with the overcrowded middle of the market, where it’s exceptionally competitive, low profit, and very hard to stand out.

A lesson. A challenge and an opportunity

The lesson: If you genuinely provide an excellent service and want to attract lots of great clients, you need to make sure that your prices match your promises. Remember, people are told from childhood to avoid offers that sound too good to be true.

The challenge: You need to market this correctly. Simply increasing your fees is unlikely to achieve anything much. The value needs to be clear. The marketing needs to be compelling. It needs to inspire prospective clients to trust you and motivate them to hire you.

The opportunity: As my client discovered, if you get the marketing right the rewards can be huge.

Stop trying to build a great business, with low quality clients!

By Jim Connolly | January 12, 2018

marketing scale

You can’t cook an delicious meal with low quality ingredients.

You can’t construct a high quality building with low quality materials.

And you absolutely can not create a successful business, with low quality clients.

Work exclusively with the best clients

The definition of a truly great client will differ somewhat, depending on your industry. However, in general, the best clients are those who give you the freedom to do your best work. They pay you what you’re worth and they pay you on time. They are professionals themselves, so they value your professionalism.

Whilst every human being is created equal, their value to you as a client varies massively. Some are outstanding. Others are not just of zero commercial value… they’re of sub-zero value to your business. In other words, your business is worse off because of them. This includes clients who are late payers, insulting to you or your team, over-demanding, unreliable or dishonest.

This is why you have to be highly selective who you choose to work with. When I share this advice with young business owners, I often get the same reply.

“I hear what you’re saying Jim, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

I remind them that they’re not beggars. They’re business owners. I explain that if they think they can’t afford to turn low value clients away, it’s only because they haven’t seen the huge cost of working for low value clients.

No one sets out to attract low quality clients. It’s simply what happens, when a business isn’t using an effective, focused marketing strategy. Instead of regularly attracting high quality, targeted enquiries from their ideal profile of client, they get sporadic enquiries from a mixed bag of clients.

In short, their ineffective marketing leaves them feeling forced into accepting low quality clients. And that cycle continues, until they choose to take the marketing of their business seriously.

Make 2018 the year you refuse to settle for less than you deserve. Take your marketing seriously. And give yourself the freedom to work exclusively with great clients.

How to avoid low value clients. And you must avoid them. Seriously!

By Jim Connolly | January 5, 2018

Debbie is a freelance trainer. She emailed me with a great question. I said I’d answer it here, as I know many of you will find it useful.

Debbie wanted to know what to do, when someone enquires about her services… then says they don’t have a budget or almost no budget.

Here’s why it happens and how to totally overcome it.

Costs and investments

If a business owner tells you they have no marketing budget, or just a small marketing budget, there’s a reason.

It’s simply this: They believe the service / product you provide is a cost and not an investment.

Think about it.

When a business owner encounters a worthwhile investment, they invest.
When a business owner encounters a cost, they limit or avoid expenditure.

When I explain this to young entrepreneurs, I put it like this:

If Bob says, “I’d invest more in my marketing, if only my business was doing better”, we know Bob’s got things the wrong way around. Nothing in the world works like that. The world works through cause and effect… not effect and cause.

That same guy wouldn’t go to the gym and tell the fitness trainer, “If you transform my body, weight, fitness and health today, I promise I’ll come here regularly for the next 12 months and work really hard”.

So what’s behind this bizarre mindset?

Knowing and accepting are 2 different things

Every business owner knows the difference between an investment and a cost, on an intellectual level. However, many haven’t accepted it on an emotional level. And it’s a long, frustrating, usually fruitless task to try and convince them, when they just don’t get it.

If you have a lot of spare time and a great amount of patience, you could try and change their mindset. I don’t recommend it, though.

You see, even if you manage to change their world-view. Even if you manage to get them to pay you. You’ll almost certainly end up regretting it. In my experience, the end result will be a fear-focused client, who’s a complete pain to work with.

There’s a better solution

Much better in fact. The solution is to attract so many high quality enquiries, that you don’t have to waste time dealing with people who are not willing, ready or seriously interested in what you offer.

So, focus exclusively on marketing to your ideal profile of client. Do this correctly and you’ll build a great business, doing your best work for wonderful people.

In short: If you want to stop attracting low quality clients, you need to stop using low quality marketing.

How to feel inspired every day

By Jim Connolly | January 3, 2018

Though we have entered a new year, January is just another month.

That’s because the whole year presents us with the potential to improve. Every month is packed with possibilities, not just January. Every week is a chance to start anew, not just the first week in January.

Maybe the best resolution you can set for yourself, is to treat every day as a fresh opportunity.

Think about it. Just imagine how much more progress you’ll make, with 365 days to set targets and work on achieving them.

And consider how much more motivated you’ll be, fuelled with the inspiration that approach will bring you… all year long.

Turn your website into a client generating machine

By Jim Connolly | January 1, 2018

Is your website a sales generating machine for your business? Well, it should be and it could be! Here are 3 things to focus on, if you want to quickly improve your results.

1. Does your website look professional?

When people arrive on your website, what they see is either building trust in your business or destroying trust.

Think of it like this: A powerful marketing message on a poorly designed website, is like a beautiful meal served on a dirty plate!

Your website is creating a powerful, immediate impression in the mind of your prospective clients. Get it right and prospective clients will hang around long enough for your content to connect with them.

2. Did you write the marketing content of your website?

I’m talking primarily about the sales pages, where you want people to take action; to hire you, buy from you, call you, email you, etc.

If you did write these pages yourself, I have some great news and some bad news for you.

The great news is you can improve your conversion rate by hundreds (or thousands) of percent, by hiring a professional copywriter to write your marketing pages correctly.
The bad news is that it’s losing you a fortune in missed sales or client enquiries, every day that you delay.

If your site gets visitors, but very few convert into customers or clients, the answer is simple. Hire a proven professional to make your marketing message as irresistible as possible.

Problem solved.

3. Do you sell, sell, sell on your website or blog?

If you do, stop it. Seriously.

Here’s why: If your website is largely just selling, people will regard it as one big advertisement for your business. And people don’t like ads! That’s why we skip through the ads on TV. It’s why people pay apps like Spotify to remove the ads.

Instead, use YOUR website to build trust. Use it to provide education, related to your services or products. Use it to provide useful information.

In other words, use your website to position you as an authoritative expert… by showcasing your knowledge, experience and the value you provide.

Tip: Put the marketing pages of your site where they can be seen. Link to them from pages or blog posts, which provide free, useful information (like I do in the final paragraph of this post).

Finally, I hope you find this information useful my friend. More importantly, I hope you make 2018 the year you get serious about the potential of your website.

Make no mistake, it can be a sales or client generating machine for your business, so long as you market it correctly.

Fact: You choose how successful you want your marketing to be

By Jim Connolly | December 28, 2017

There are just 2 things you need in order to attract massively more sales.

The right marketing strategy.
The motivation to put the strategy into play.

With the right strategy and the motivation to use it, you can achieve at levels you never knew you were capable of. Your potential is pretty-much limitless.

Business becomes enjoyable.

Stress is replaced with excitement.

Apprehension is replaced with eager anticipation.

Choices

Every small business fits into one of the following 2 groups.

Group 1: The majority of small business owners choose to have no formal strategy. They want to succeed, but opt for trial and error instead. They dabble. They work hard and hope things will improve. They seem unaware that hard work is not the key to success. (If it was, our grandparents would have been millionaires).

Group 2: Successful business owners choose to follow an effective marketing strategy. This gives them confidence and clarity. They know what to do. So they do the right things correctly. And it works. Not some of the time. But every time.

No business owner intentionally chooses to be in that first group. It’s the default position, when you fail to choose to be in the second group.

So, choose today to get intentional about your business. This means choosing to succeed. Then backing that decision up with intelligent action, based on an effective marketing strategy.

Let’s make your marketing totally irresistible

By Jim Connolly | December 26, 2017

If you want to enjoy massively better marketing results in 2018, you’ll find this really useful. It starts with an important question.

Do you ever wonder why some businesses push dull sales messages at you, over and over again?

The answer is simple: It’s because they are getting a poor response. Then, rather than improve the quality of their message, they increase the volume. Their thinking looks something like this: ‘Maybe if I send another marketing message out, SOMEONE will respond?’ They get another poor response. So they repeat the process.

We need to be smarter than that. You see, more volume isn’t going to help. In fact, it usually does the total opposite. Allow me to explain.

The volume problem

It’s not that people can’t hear what these small businesses are saying. The challenge is that the message isn’t interesting enough. It doesn’t motivate prospective clients to get in touch. It doesn’t grab people’s attention or interest. It doesn’t get people eagerly telling their friends about the product or service. And it’s losing these businesses a fortune.

Increasing the volume of ineffective marketing isn’t just ineffective. It’s also toxic! That’s because it not only fails to generate business, it also damages the reputation of the sender.

Overcoming this challenge

Here are some better places to look, when people are ignoring your marketing messages:

Check that your message is reaching the right people. Know who your ideal client or customer is. Then focus your message exclusively on what matters most to them. Don’t try to be of wider, general interest. That will make your marketing message way too vague. And vague marketing won’t motivate anyone to buy from you or hire you.
Make sure your database is up to date. Always use clean data.
If it’s an advertising message, check that you’re using the correct medium and media.
Then, before you publish your next marketing message, be certain that it’s motivating enough. Ensure it has the power to inspire the reader to take the action you require. Without a powerful message, nothing will happen. This is true, no matter how great your product or service is.

The message here is simple. If you want to massively improve your results, increase the quality, not the volume.

Alternatively, I can do it all for you. And do it really, really well. Here’s how it works.

What every business owner must know about Enthusiasm

By Jim Connolly | December 23, 2017

When you’re enthusiastic about your business, everything improves.

Enthusiasm builds confidence. This is essential if you want people to hire you, buy from you or recommend you. Enthusiasm also builds your self-confidence, as it changes your internal dialogue from neutral or negative, to positive.
Enthusiasm gives you energy. This is essential if you want to have the drive required, to build a great business. It’s impossible to feel energetic and inspired about your business, unless you’re enthusiastic.
Enthusiasm is highly attractive. This is essential if you want to become a leader within your marketplace or community. Your enthusiasm makes others feel positive. It inspires them to believe in you.

So, how enthusiastic are you?

Inwardly and outwardly, how enthusiastic are you?

This may help you decide: If you have lots of energy. If people get excited when you tell them about your plans. If you attract the people and situations your business needs, you’re working from an enthusiastic mindset.

If not, you’re probably like the majority of business owners, who lack energy, but have an abundance of stress.

Here’s the thing: As a business owner you have 2 choices.

You can focus on what you want. This fuels your enthusiasm and leads to all those invaluable benefits above.
You can focus on what you fear. This kills enthusiasm. It’s toxic, both to you and your business.

The power of enthusiasm

The moment you consciously decide to live and work with enthusiasm, everything improves. Your decision making will be based on what you want, so you and your business will move in the direction of what you want. Your energy, drive and determination will soar. You will become a magnet for the very things you need the most.

And it all begins with the commitment to live and work with enthusiasm.

So, what are you waiting for?

Would people miss you?

By Jim Connolly | December 21, 2017

So, would people miss your marketing if it stopped?

That’s a tough question. However, it’s an important one. The reason it’s so important, is that the most effective marketing is value driven. Value driven marketing focuses on the needs of the prospective client or customer. It provides them with what they want and it does so, in an engaging, effective way.

In short, it’s something they want to receive, unlike most marketing, which is an annoying intrusion. I’ll give you 2 examples in a moment, of how people are creating valuable marketing for their marketplace. First, let’s look at what people are attracted to.

We know that people value marketing that delivers:

Useful, targeted information.
Solutions to their most pressing problems.
Helpful advice from trusted sources.
Genuinely special offers, which provide real value based on their wants / needs.
Truthful, honest engagement.

We know that people dislike:

Cold calls.
Being pestered on social networks.
Spam emails and junk mail.
Uninspiring sales pitches.
Selfish marketing pitches, poorly disguised as special offers.
Impersonal outreach.

Great marketing doesn’t really feel like marketing

I was thinking about this recently, after reading a blog post from Evernote. The post was all about how to be more productive with their app. As an Evernote customer, the more value I can get from their app, the longer I’ll remain a client. And not only that, by getting more value from their product, I’m massively more likely to recommend it. (Which I do).

But it goes even deeper.

I follow Evernote on Twitter. This means they have access to me whenever I check Twitter, with my permission. Why do I give them my valuable permission and attention? Simple. Their Twitter feed is filled with useful ideas, tips and advice on how to be more organized and productive. In short, I’d miss Evernote’s marketing if it stopped. Their marketing is useful. It’s permission based. It adds value.

Compare Evernote’s approach, to the usual push and pester style of marketing, used by small business owners. There’s no comparison. One is the opposite of the other.

It works for me too

I’ve used the value driven approach to marketing since the 1990’s. Initially via an email newsletter. Today, via my blog and the email version of the blog. And not only is it effective, it’s increasingly effective. That’s to say, it produces greater and greater results every year.

Plus…

I haven’t had to sell my services to anyone in over 20 years! Yes, people hire me all the time. But I never have to sell to them. The difference is huge. One is about attracting clients, the other is about chasing them.

If you’re not already doing so, make your marketing so valuable in 2018 that people would miss it if you stopped. Put a strategy in place to attract clients and customers. It’s more effective, more fun and less stressful than chasing them!

Marketing Tip: Get your business talked about for all the right reasons

By Jim Connolly | December 15, 2017

Here’s something we know for certain about 2018.

Your clients and prospective clients will carry on having conversations. They’ll continue to chat about the things that grab their attention. They’ll talk with their friends and contacts about the things that delighted them. They’ll carry on recommending products and services.

This means that it’s time for you to start developing a plan for 2018. A plan to ensure your business is a part of these super-valuable conversations. So you can benefit from an ongoing flow of word-of-mouth recommendations.

What’s next?

Don’t worry. I have you covered. This free resource will help you make your business totally remarkable. And remarkable businesses are the ones that people talk about, for all the right reasons. I hope you find it useful, my friend.

Do Facebook ads work?

By Jim Connolly | December 9, 2017

So, do Facebook ads work?

At least a couple of times every week, people tell me a version of the following:

“I spent (x amount of money) on Facebook ads. I got some new likes, but it didn’t attract any new customers / clients”.

Successful online advertising is hard. No, giving Facebook (or Google, etc) your money and placing your ad isn’t hard. They make that part really simple.

The hard part is learning how to make money, buying ads for your business.

Do Facebook ads work? Here’s the challenge

Facebook ads are sold as a super-fast solution. The pitch looks like this: You can quickly get your ad in front of thousands of local, potential customers. Surely, with all those people seeing your ad, some of them will take action and hire you or buy from you.

It’s tempting, to say the least.

The reality is very different. Ad buying is NOT a quick fix. It’s a slow burn, which is MARKETED to you as a quick fix.

It may be true that 100,000 people near you can potentially see your ad. But that doesn’t mean Facebook ads work. This is because it’s really tough to get those people to do what you need.

You need them to notice your ad. And people are getting better and better at filtering out online advertisements.
You then need your ad to motivate them enough, so that they click on it. This is tricky, even for the pros.
You then need them to visit your website.
You then need them to feel inspired enough by your site, to either hire you, buy from you or make an enquiry. Even if the advertising platform has worked for you, your site needs to compel people to take action.

Do Facebook ads work? Think medium to long-term

If you want to buy ads on any online platform, accept in advance that it’s likely to take time and money, before you make a healthy profit. It’s not a magic bullet. If you go into ad buying with a medium to long-term mindset, you’ll give yourself the best chance to make it work.

And make no mistake, online advertising (including Facebook ads) can work exceptionally well. That’s why good advertising professionals are paid a fortune. Just don’t expect to hit the advertising jackpot by dabbling with a few ads, when times are tough and you need a quick fix.

You could get lucky. But luck isn’t a strategy.

So go into it (or any form of advertising) with your eyes wide open. Unless you already know what you’re doing, online advertising is a slow burn. Not a quick fix.

So, do Facebook ads work? If you have the time and money to learn how to us them effectively, then they can work. Do Facebook ads work for small business owners in need for quick results? No. Without knowing exactly what you’re doing, you’re unlikely to get fast results.

Shocking news: Your prospective clients regularly read blogs

By Jim Connolly | December 8, 2017

Image: Danielle MacInnes.

It’s true. Your prospective clients visit blogs. And they visit them regularly, too.

I know, I know. They told you they didn’t visit blogs or you assumed they didn’t, but they do. However, they probably don’t even know it.

Allow me to explain.

Blog = website

A blog is just a website: A framework for delivering information. If a website is interesting, people will read it. Your prospective clients don’t care what framework a website is built on. They care about the content of the site.

As the name suggests, Jim’s Marketing Blog is very clearly a blog. However, many other websites built on the same WordPress blogging software I use, have less obvious names.

These include; BBC America, CNN, Time, The New York Post, Variety, USA Today, The Star Wars website, Sony Music, MTV News, The Walt Disney Company website, The Harvard Gazette, The New Yorker, The Mercedes Benz website and lots of other sites, read by hundreds of millions of people… including your prospective clients!

WordPress sites alone account for just under 30% of all Internet traffic. And there are many other blogging platforms. Think about that number for a moment.

What could this mean for your business?

The marketing potential from blogging is huge. And it’s getting better all the time.

Here’s one of the foundations of successful marketing: Be where their attention is. So, where is the attention of your marketplace?

Here are a few of the most common attention grabbers.

Facebook and other social networks. Blogs are designed to be easily shared on social networks. And that’s exactly what happens. Rather than buying Facebook ads, you can let Facebook users share YOUR site with THEIR friends.
Phones, tablets or computers. Modern blogs are designed to look great, regardless of what device you view them on.
Search engines. Blogs, especially WordPress, are designed to be easy for Google to crawl and index – making them easier to find on Google and other search engines.
Email. Blog posts (like this one) can be delivered via email. In fact, massively more people read my blog via email than on the blog itself.

In other words, blogging places you right where the attention of your marketplace is. And the value of that connection is hard to overstate.

For instance, client enquiries from my blog have increased year-on-year, every year, since I started blogging almost a decade ago. And it’s not just me. I work with people every week, who have seen the same pattern of results from their business blogs.

You can do the same

You too could be where the attention of your marketplace is (without spending a penny on advertising). You could be attracting client enquiries, rather than pursuing them. You could be order taking, rather than selling.

Tip: Here are 25 more reasons to start a business blog.

The tricky part?

Although our prospective clients DO visit blogs, they DON’T bother with the typical, dull, small business blogs. We need to be prepared to invest in our blogs the same way we invest in every other key area of our business. And that means taking time to deliver something, that’s as useful as possible, as often as possible. It means learning how to do it right – rather than following generic “how to blog” guides.

It means having a strong commitment to the community we serve.

Questions worth answering

Now you know your prospective clients regularly visit blogs, isn’t it time you reconsidered starting one?

And if, like many business owners reading this, you have a blog that isn’t working for you, is it time to start taking it seriously?

I can’t answer those questions for you. I can only let you know that a marvellous opportunity is staring you right in the face. It’s an opportunity, which increases in value every day. An opportunity, to benefit from the most powerful form of marketing I have ever known.

Do marketing gimmicks work? Yes. Here’s how!

By Jim Connolly | December 7, 2017

I think you’ll find today’s post really useful. I’m going to share some ideas, to help you understand how marketing gimmicks work and how you can use them, to massively increase the reach of your marketing.

How a marketing gimmick went viral

Some years ago, I discovered a business blog. The thing about this blog, was that the author cussed and swore. She didn’t just drop the occasional f-bomb. No. She took every opportunity to swear. It was a marketing gimmick, done for effect.

And it worked. It worked really, really well!

At the time, she attracted a lot of attention and interest. People were talking about her. Back then, it was rare for a business blogger to cuss in their posts. Many people emailed me links to her latest posts, dazzled by her profanity.

She gained a lot of visibility. Visibility that had the potential to help her attract a huge (and extremely valuable) audience.

And then… she vanished!

No, she didn’t literally disappear. But she did soon vanish from the radar of public attention.

Why?

Well, it turned out that all she had to offer her readership was her cussing. At her core, she was just ‘yet another’ business blogger. So although her marketing gimmick drew people in, once the initial shock value wore off, there was nothing to return for. It was a missed opportunity.

Marketing gimmicks: making them work

Make no mistake, marketing gimmicks work. That’s to say, they can help you to get noticed… and noticed fast, by a huge slice of your marketplace. Plus, if you use a little creativity, it can cost you pennies.

However, there’s a limit to what we can achieve with gimmicks alone. That’s because while a good gimmick can open a door for you, you then need to deliver something useful.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

Imagine you wanted to massively increase the audience for your newsletter, podcast, vlog or blog. You could use a marketing gimmick to get people talking about you, sharing your content and subscribing. But, to benefit from all that valuable attention, you’d then need to offer something of substance… helpful ideas, interesting information, useful insights, etc.

Marketing gimmicks: The bottom line

The bottom line looks like this: Marketing gimmicks will attract people’s attention. Substance will retain their attention.

Before coming up with a marketing gimmick, focus on what you ultimately want to achieve. Then have a process in place, so that the initial gimmick is followed-up with something of value. That’s how to attract people’s attention, retain their attention and earn their trust.

With the ongoing attention and trust of your marketplace, you can achieve great things for your business. Start with a marketing gimmick. But remember that the gimmick is only the start. It opens a door of opportunity. Nothing more.

Tip: If you found this useful, you can get my latest ideas delivered direct to your inbox, for free, right here.

Stop trying to appeal to everyone. Really. Stop it!

By Jim Connolly | November 25, 2017

Today, I’d like to show you how to avoid one of the most common (and costly) marketing mistakes.

Let’s go!

One of the cornerstones of successful marketing, is to identify exactly who your customer or client is, then focus exclusively on them. This is the opposite of what we see most small business owners doing. They try and be a little relevant to everyone, only to find they become directly relevant to no one.

Don’t do that.

Really.

Stop it.

It’s hurting your business!

So, here’s a smarter and massively more effective alternative.

Insiders

In order for your marketing to work, you need to determine exactly who you want to provide your services to. These people are your insiders.

Insiders are the ones you should focus your time and effort on. They are the ones you need to have in mind, whenever you make a marketing decision.

Of course, you can’t have insiders without outsiders.

Outsiders

It sounds a little risky to regard some people as outsiders. However, it’s the safest thing you can do. That’s why every successful business has outsiders. For example, if you’re Apple, your outsiders are people who want cheap technology. If you’re Gap, your outsiders are people who don’t care about fashion.

By deciding who your insiders are, you can create marketing that’s directly relevant to them. This is really important.

Why?

Because in order for your marketing to motivate someone to buy from you, it needs to be compelling. This means it needs to talk directly to them. Vague marketing, which tries to appeal to as wide a group as possible, lacks the impact required.

Ironically, this means that the wider range of people you try and appeal to, the fewer people you will reach with the impact required.

Decide what your ideal customer profile is

Then market exclusively with them in mind.

For example:

Compose every piece of marketing as if you were talking directly to them.
Use their language.
Study what matters to them.
Be where their attention is.
Uncover the problems facing their industry.
Offer answers.
Become a useful resource.
Build services that address their specific wants and needs.
Become known as a specialist provider to their industry, rather than a generalist. (Specialists earn more, attract better clients and are always in high demand).

In short, make your marketing directly relevant to your ideal profile of client. This one step, will give you a powerful marketing advantage over the vast majority of your competitors.

How to build a massively valuable community, without Facebook or any other network

By Jim Connolly | November 20, 2017

What do Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Linkedin have in common?

They’re relied on by millions of business owners, as a way to connect with their marketplace.
Plus, these same business owners have zero control over them.

Think about that for a moment.

On Friday, the popular Unilad Facebook Page was removed from Facebook. It has over 34 million likes and reaches billions of people. The page came back after a couple of days, following a huge media outcry.

The whole thing served as a timely reminder. A reminder that outsourcing the communication channel between your business and your marketplace, to an unaccountable 3rd party, is really risky.

Of course, if you or I have our main social account deleted, there’s unlikely to be a huge media outcry. Click… and we’re gone, along with the community we built.

The answer?

The answer is to take control away from social networks.

How?

My recommendation isn’t sexy. It’s not fashionable. It’s certainly nothing new. But it works. And it’s of massive value.

I’m referring to email!

Sure, use social as a way to connect with prospective clients / customers, if you really want to. But encourage those people to give you permission to contact them via email.

Pushing ads isn’t community building

Many small business owners fail with email, because they make their emails little more than a series of advertisements. Every email should contain what I call Independent Value. This means the reader should get something of value, independent of whether they spend money with you.

So no, a series of emails from you all about special offers isn’t going to cut it. That’s advertising, not community building.

Here’s what works: Only contact people when you have something useful to share. Show up regularly. You’ll then be building your very own permission-based community (what Internet marketers refer to as “your list”).

Yes, make it easy for people to get in touch with you, when they want to hire you or buy from you. Just don’t make that the focus of your emails.

Get it right and you’ll never be reliant on any social network.

I don’t have the time, Jim

A couple of interesting things happen, when you no longer need to spend all that time every day, feeding your business’ social networks.

You’ll rediscover the time you lost. This will give you more than enough time to build your own email community. I’m a dad, husband and I run a successful marketing business with clients all over the world. Plus, I work out for over an hour every day. However, I spend less time on social networks than anyone I know. That’s not a coincidence.
You’ll also find it massively easier to focus. It’s difficult to concentrate on anything, when you’re being constantly distracted by social media updates.

These benefits combine to provide you with a far more productive working environment.

They also “gift” you the additional time and clarity required, to create useful content for your email community.

Business and personal

An important distinction needs to be made, between business and personal use of social networks.

I’m not suggesting you stop connecting with family and friends.

Far from it! I myself use Twitter socially. The vast majority of my contacts and tweets are not connected to my business. It’s a leisure activity for me, which I really enjoy.

My point is the importance of building your business community on a platform, which YOU control. It’s about highlighting the risks of handing the main communication channel between you and your marketplace, to a 3rd party, over which you have zero control.

How effective can building an email community be, when a small business handles it correctly? Well, despite Jim’s Marketing Blog being one of the most popular blogs in its niche, 12 times MORE people read the email version of the blog. My email readership is also, easily my biggest source of new clients and enquiries.

Outsourcing the communication channel with your marketplace, to any social network, is extremely risky. It’s also 100% avoidable.

Here’s what you need to know: This is a proven example, which shows you how to get it right. It includes how I helped a client build a massively valuable reader community. You can read it here.

The extraordinary truth about your business

By Jim Connolly | November 15, 2017

Fact: You are capable of extraordinary things.

There are no ordinary people. It’s just that some of us settle for ordinary results. We make ordinary decisions and take ordinary actions.

It’s easy to be ordinary. We simply need to follow the masses. It requires no courage and no creativity. It’s like living on autopilot. This is why millions of extraordinary people live ordinary, unfulfilled lives.

So, how do you become extraordinary?

You don’t need to do a thing! You are already extraordinary. You were born that way. However, there are 2 things you should do, to build an extraordinary business and life.

Make extraordinary plans. This means deciding what you want, rather than settling for the ordinary.
Summon the courage to put your plans into action. It’s tricky to break free from the masses and do your own thing. However… remember those periods of your life, where you needed to be brave? That’s proof that you have the courage required. You need to dig deep down and summon that courage. But it’s there. Right now. Just waiting.

Those 2 steps are all that separate us from enjoying an extraordinary life.

Questions and answers

Is it easy? No. It’s challenging.

Is it worth it? Absolutely.

Can you do it? Yes. You’re extraordinary and capable of almost anything you set your mind to.

Do you want it? That’s for you to answer.

Networking groups: How to get better results

By Jim Connolly | November 13, 2017

People often ask me for tips on how to get better results from their networking groups. In today’s post I am going to share an idea, which is seldom covered regarding networking. Yet, it’s the core reason why networking groups fail for so many business owners.

Let’s start by being very clear about why small business owners attend networking groups. The primary reason they give me, is that they want to connect with people, who may be a source of referrals or connections, which lead to new clients or customers.

That’s what I’m going to focus on here. I’m also primarily addressing physical networking groups, though the concept works for online networking too.

Getting the word out

When a business or project is new, it needs a push. The word can’t spread until you, as the business owner, start talking. In the early days, connecting with people who can help you spread the word is absolutely essential.

However, once a business is established or a project is no longer new, you shouldn’t need to keep attending networking groups, in order to get leads. There should be no need to keep pestering people to recommend you.

Here’s why:

Remarkable services spread.
Remarkable stories spread.
Remarkable resources spread.

Once you get the word out. Once people have heard about what you do. Once you start delighting your first clients or customers, the word will spread. And you will attract regular enquiries from eager, prospective clients.

The remarkable problem

Of course, the typical small business owner chooses not to build a remarkable business. They want to play it safe.

That’s is why the following scenario is so common.

Think about the service providers in your town, who are in the same industry as one another. They will offer a very similar range of services, to the very same prospective clients, make very similar promises and charge very similar fees. They’re totally, utterly unremarkable.

So, instead of attracting high quality enquiries from eager clients, they need to push, push, push.

This is where networking groups come in.

An unremarkable business has no legs

No matter how well the owner of an unremarkable business “works the room” at networking events. No matter how aggressively they push members of their networking group for leads… there’s a limit on what they can achieve. It’s a pretty low, uninspiring limit too.

They may, just may, manage to make an average living, doing average work, charging average fees to average clients.

Eating soup with a fork

Focusing on the best way to attract great clients via networking groups, is like seeking the fastest way to eat soup, using a fork.

Yes, with practice you may be able to eat soup faster with a fork than the average business owner. But any business owner using a spoon, will make 100 times more progress than you.

When it comes to building a successful business, we already know what works: Focus on offering a remarkable service. Then market it correctly.

7 Important questions your business needs you to answer

By Jim Connolly | November 8, 2017

Here are seven questions worth pondering, as you look to grow your business in 2018.

Who are the 10 leading people in your marketplace and how can you connect with them?
Is your mindset to risk, helping you grow your business, or do you need to be more entrepreneurial?
All of your competitors claim to offer an excellent service. What measurable benefits are there for someone to hire you, rather than a competitor?
Are your plans for 2018 exciting enough to provide the motivation you’ll need?
Is your online marketing; professional, clear and compelling?
If opportunity hasn’t been knocking for your business this year, how can you build a door for 2018?
What improvements would you make, if you absolutely had to grow your business by 200% next year?

Sure, it takes a while to transform your business results. However, you can improve your direction in an instant.

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

By Jim Connolly | October 31, 2017

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

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

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

Why it pays to embrace the edges

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

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

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

Better.
Lower priced.
Faster.

Did you notice what those 3 all have in common?

They avoid the middle ground

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

Impossible?

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

A far, far better approach

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

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

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

Tip: This will help you get it right.

How to grow your business by 200% with a very simple idea

By Jim Connolly | October 16, 2017

Here’s something for you to consider if you want your business to grow massively, in 2018 and beyond.

It’s based on an idea I shared with a friend, which saw him increase his profits and turnover by more than 200% in just 12 months.

Meaningful improvements lead to meaningful progress

Here’s what we know: The only way to grow your business next year, in a meaningful way, is to make meaningful improvements. It’s simply not enough for you to do what you did this year, only a little better. At best, that strategy may allow you to tread water. To spin your wheels. To waste another year.

However, it certainly won’t lead you to anything worthwhile.

Add some zeros

My friend Harry saw a 200% increase in his revenues over the last 12 months, with an even greater increase in his profits. How did he achieve this?

Instead of focusing on how to grow his business by 25%, I suggested last September, that he should add a zero to his target. He then sat down and set himself an inspiring challenge: How can I increase my turnover and profits over the next 12 months, by 250%?

Harry explained that by focusing on a target of 25% growth, his thinking was limited. A pretty small target required pretty small thinking. Puny targets also lack any real pull – yes, a 25% increase is nice, but it wasn’t going to change his life in a meaningful way.

However, by setting himself a huge growth target, one that was 10 times bigger than ever before, he had to blow the lid off his thinking. He had to think at a totally different level. It inspired him to set his full potential to work on the challenge. Plus, because growing his business by 250% would massively improve his family’s quality of life, he found it spectacularly motivating.

In short, he’d set himself a compelling target that inspired him to think big AND he was feeling more motivated than ever before.

However… He missed his target!

Instead of growing his business by 250%, he only managed just over 200%. His business is 3 times bigger and over 3 times more profitable! He’s also pretty sure he can hit that 250% number by April 2018.

I believe him too.

How you can succeed on a totally different level

Steve Jobs famously said that when you’re working on something exciting, the vision pulls you. I’m paraphrasing there, but the message is both powerful and accurate.

Most small business owners stay small, because they set themselves targets or goals that fail to inspire them. Puny goals restrict your thinking. They also rob you of the energy, which only comes when you’re being pulled by a compelling vision.

So, why not do what Harry did?

If you want massively better results (and lots more motivation), add some zeros my friend!