Marketing tips, marketing help and advice

Want to regularly create great content marketing? Use these 3 tips

By Jim Connolly | August 28, 2024

If you’ve ever wondered how to regularly produce content marketing that converts prospects into clients or customers, this information is for you.

I’ve divided it into 3 core tips.

1. Is this useful?

There’s a sign on the wall in my studio. It’s a small sign, containing just 3 words: “Is this useful?”. That’s the mark I set for everything I create. Nothing gets published unless I believe you’ll find it useful. I don’t try and look clever. I don’t try and be edgy. I don’t try to shock people. I just try to be useful to you. And as long as I think you’ll find an idea or observation useful, I share it.

Many business owners are put off creating content, because they try to make it as close to perfect as possible. The thing is, your prospective clients or customers want something useful, not perfect.

Once you stop aiming for perfection you’ll find it a lot easier. You’ll also get massively better results.

2. Don’t let duff content ideas block you

If you’re anything like me, you’ll find that most of the content ideas you get are pretty average. Most of mine are terrible! But maybe 1 in 5 or 1 in 10 are good enough to be turned into a useful piece of content marketing.

The challenge is that in order to get that 1 useful idea, you need to give yourself permission to have the duff ones.

The way I overcame this, was to deliberately allow myself to think of lots of duff ideas, knowing that something useful would come from it.

So, regard your duff ideas as essential steps on the way to creating the content you need. This switches them from being disheartening, to highly motivating.

3. Your work is way better than you think

We often overestimate the ideas and the work of others and underestimate the value of our own. Here’s a great example of what I mean.

A business owner told me how she was taking some files off a computer for archiving, when she discovered an old documents folder. It contained loads of articles that were really interesting. She looked to see who wrote them and found they were all her own work, from 9 years earlier!

She didn’t publish them at the time, because she thought they weren’t good enough. It was only when she thought they were written by someone else, that she saw them for what they really were. Your work is almost certainly way, way better than you think.

So get it out there!

In short, if you’re looking to improve the quality and quantity of your content marketing, focus on being useful. See your duff ideas as necessary steps to your useful ideas. And give your content the respect it (and you) deserve.

The right path?

By Jim Connolly | August 27, 2024

The longest path in the world is the path of least resistance.

Anyone can join it.

There’s literally no barrier to entry.

However, there’s no winning line, either.

Massively increase your sales with tiny improvements

By Jim Connolly | August 24, 2024

I have a beautifully simple, yet powerful marketing tip to share with you today. It’s all about how you can spectacularly increase your sales, by making some tiny improvements.

Let’s go!

Though it was years ago, I vividly recall speaking with the owner of an office supplies company. I’m going to call him John. He was introduced to me after a talk I gave and said he had something he’d like to share with me.

He explained that for years, he’d been frantically trying to work out why his biggest competitor was doing so well. That’s because on the surface, they seemed very similar to John’s business. And yet they’d grown 5 times bigger than John’s business, serving the same marketplace.

Then he discovered their secret!

John hired a former employee of his successful competitor. He quickly discovered the root of their success. It wasn’t any one thing or tactic that made that competing business so successful. Instead, it was the cumulation of lots of little things. These little things compounded, just like compound interest. It resulted in an outstanding difference, which their customers adored and their prospects were attracted to.

It was also undetectable to the competition, including John.

John had been looking for a mountain and totally missed the many molehills, which made all the difference. With a large number of relatively small improvements, John was able to significantly increase his revenues and profits.

In short, if you create enough molehills, you end up with a mountain. By looking for small improvements to the way you look after your existing customers, and the way you attract new customers, you can achieve spectacular sales results.

Lists dominate content marketing. Here’s why you should use them

By Jim Connolly | August 23, 2024

lists, content marketing, power of lists

Ever wondered why so many articles, videos and newsletters are based around the idea of a numbered list? It’s because lists are extremely popular. People love them. Today, I’m going to explain why, and how, you should incorporate lists in your content marketing.

Why then are lists so popular?

Lists promise ideas. Lots of ideas. And fast!

Lists promises a number of bite-sized ideas or suggestions. And quickly. So when we see “21 Business habits of highly successful people“, we’re not expecting an in-depth examination of 21 habitual characteristics of people who have achieved business success.

No.

We’re expecting lots of ideas. And we hope that at least one of those ideas will help us in some way. If it does, it will repay the 3 or 4 minutes we invested in reading it. That’s a good return for just a few minutes of our time.

Now, I have a question for you. Does your content marketing mix contain list-based content?

If not, I suggest you give it a try. Lists are perfect for sharing, which makes them ideal if you want to expand your reach on social networks. New readers who discover your work through list content, will then get the chance to see your more detailed work. Others will follow you on the social networks, where they see your lists shared. Many of my most shared blog posts are lists.

Lists can also be very powerful, when it comes to increasing your email marketing open rates. Email marketing that has a list in the subject line, can result in significantly increased open rates.

Here’s why.

Most small business owners are not expert copywriters. As such, the subject lines they use for their email marketing tend to under perform. And poorly written subject lines result in low open rates. This means no matter how good their marketing message is, very few people will see it.

Using an average list title as the subject line of a marketing email, will always, always out perform an average, regular subject line.

Should you focus exclusively on lists?

No.

No you shouldn’t.

Seriously.

Don’t!

Allow me to explain.

True, there are YouTubers making a fortune from creating only list-based videos. And yes, there are sites that attract millions of page views, who rely very heavily on list-based content. The business model behind both of these examples is primarily advertising. If your business sells ads based on open rates, keep churning out the lists.

However, for every other kind of business, relying exclusively on lists is a bad idea. And they should be used sparingly.

For example, I could have written this article as a list.

It would have taken me a lot less time to write.
It would have been shared a lot more on social networks.
And the email version of the post would have been opened by a lot more people.

However, I wanted to dig a little deeper into one subject; the content marketing effectiveness of lists. I didn’t want to weaken that focus with “10 Reasons why lists dominate the internet”.

Going a deeper than a list

Sometimes, you need to offer more substance around one subject. Other times, an issue could be impacting your audience and you need to address it. And there are times when you want to share one really useful idea, which wouldn’t work if you broke it down into a list of sub-ideas.

The surface level approach that makes lists so popular, renders them ineffective for anything that requires depth.

So mix it up. But include lists as part of that mix.

In short, if you haven’t already used list-based articles, videos, podcasts episodes, posts or newsletters, give it a go.

Experiment. Test different types of list. Measure the feedback. Check the numbers, including; sales, client enquiries, open rates, social shares and new subscribers, etc.

And let the numbers be your guide.

It’s a ‘6 word secret’ to business success

By Jim Connolly | August 22, 2024

It’s simply this: In business the winners get moving.

Here’s why those 6 words are critically important to the success of your business.

Every business owner has ideas and occasionally great ideas.
Every business owner is presented with opportunities to succeed.
Every business owner can choose to be a leader.
Every business owner can instigate, rather than wait for someone else to move.
Every business owner has potential to be better today than they were yesterday.
And every business owner has the same 24-hours available to them every day.

It’s what we DO that counts.

Not our intentions.
Not our network of business contacts.
Not our cutting edge technology.
Not our plans.
Not our targets.
Not our qualifications.
Not our competitive edge.
Not our ingenuity.
Not our skills.

Intelligent action always precedes success. That’s why in business, the winners get moving.

Can you see the money?

By Jim Connolly | August 21, 2024

A former client of mine has just sold a business for over $5 million. When she purchased it in 2020, it was valued at $250k. Her short story contains an extremely valuable business lesson.

To start, I’d like you to ask yourself the following question. If I work hard and smart for the next 4 years, what’s the maximum I could sell my business for?

Here’s why that question is so valuable

My former client, Jill, called me on Monday. She had some good news. The sale of her business went through. She bought it for $250k in January 2020. And sold it for $5.8 million.

I was working with Jill when she bought the business. It was already in pretty good shape. It didn’t need any meaningful capital investment. What it needed was an owner who could see the financial potential of the business. As she told me at the time; ‘He just can’t see the money.’

The previous owner saw the potential value of his business as $250k.
Jill saw the potential value as $5 million.
Interestingly, they were both proven to be right.

What happened over those 4 years to make all that money? The core difference was that the previous owner made decisions based on a $250k payday. Jill made decisions based on a $5 million payday.

Our beliefs

When we believe that our business has the potential to sell for a certain amount, we act accordingly. It looks like this.

Jill believed that the business she bought was potentially worth $5 million, so she bought it.
As owner, she made $5 million decisions… decisions consistent with her valuation.
Her decisions led to $5 million actions, actions consistent with her decisions.
And her actions saw her make $5 million.

The key here is that we need to be able to see the money. That’s the spark. We need to genuinely believe in the potential value of our business. Only then will our decisions and the actions we take, be consistent with achieving the potential.

How do we find out if we’re underestimating the value of our business?

A good place to start is to ask a trusted adviser. Someone you know, if at all possible. This could be your accountant or maybe your business banking manager. If they can’t help you directly, ask if they know someone they can recommend.

This is a situation where trust is essential. Without trust we struggle to believe. And belief is what opens our eyes.

Average beats excellent

By Jim Connolly | August 17, 2024

Here’s a very common marketing problem, along with a free marketing resource to help you overcome it.

Let’s go.

Here’s what we know. There are prospective clients or customers out there who truly need what your business provides. And there are lots of them, too.

So far so good.

The challenge comes with the next step. Your prospective client absolutely needs a new service provider… but unless they want to buy from you, someone else will get their money.

Fortunately, if you’re not attracting enough new clients there’s a proven answer. You need to look at how big a want your marketing is creating, when measured against your competitors want.

How convincing is your value proposition, compared to theirs?
How engaging are your various service levels or product bundles, compared to theirs?
How compelling is your messaging, compared to theirs?
How attractive are your payment terms, compared to theirs?

Next, you need to avoid making what I call ‘the excellent mistake’.

The excellent mistake

Never assume that just because your service is excellent, you must be getting your fair share of the market. That’s not how it works.

An average provider with excellent marketing, will almost always beat an excellent provider with average marketing.

So, motivate your prospects to contact you. Inspire them to become clients. If you think your marketing is already doing this, yet your results are telling you something different, take heed. Follow the numbers. The numbers will lead you in the right direction. Every single time.

Here’s that free help I promised.

I’ve put a marketing guide together, which helps countless business owners make more sales, every day of the week. You’ll find it here.

4 Proven ways to quickly attract more customers

By Jim Connolly | August 7, 2024

Marketing tips, attract customers, attract clients, more customers,

Photo | Miguel Á. Padriñán

How easy do you make it for prospective clients or customers to spend their money with you?

That may sound like an odd question. After all, every business owner should be making the purchasing process as effortless as possible. As we all know, this is often not the case. In fact, we regularly encounter challenges that stop us from choosing a particular vendor.

Thankfully, it’s not that hard to significantly improve your sales or client acquisition numbers. Here are 4 things we can all do, to massively improve things.

1. Make it as easy as possible for people to contact you

A common mistake most business owners make, is to require too much information on their contact forms. When someone is making an initial enquiry from your website, you need their email address, name and message. That’s it. Just the most basic details so you can contact them.

Every additional piece of information you’re asking for, loses you enquiries from prospective clients.

Ask for the minimum amount of information to get the maximum amount of enquiries.

It makes absolutely no sense to have unnecessary hurdles in the way, which are reducing the number of enquiries you get. And as you know, fewer enquiries means fewer clients. Remember, you can get whatever information you need, after you’ve connected with them. At that point, it’s a lot more comfortable for the prospective client to give the information you need.

2. Be open for business when they need you

Most businesses copy the opening hours of their competitors. A better model, is to base your opening hours on the needs of your marketplace.

If you’re available when your marketplace needs you but your competitors are not, you win. Being available doesn’t mean using a call-handling firm to take details. It doesn’t mean having an AI bot on your website. It means having a member of your team available, who can provide an informed, human connection.

Sounds like a bit of a pain, right?

Exactly!

That’s why your competitors aren’t doing it. And why the opportunity to gain a huge advantage could be staring you in the face.

3. Provide flexible payment options

I’m often amazed at the limited payment options offered by small businesses. That’s never a smart move. But in the current economy it’s a very expensive error.

Thankfully, it’s totally avoidable.

In the years since the pandemic, a massive number of new payment providers have come along. It’s never been easier to accept payments. Plus, the rates are exceptionally competitive because they have to be! If you haven’t checked out how low the charges are lately, take a look.

4. Use Risk Reversal

I do this with my Pick My Brain service and people love it. It works like this. If someone uses the service and doesn’t believe it’s worth the fee, I offer them an immediate, 100% refund. It means they can hire me with total peace of mind. No one has ever requested a refund, but the offer shows how confident I am, that I will provide massively more value than they pay for.

Clearly, this type of risk reversal doesn’t work for every business model. However, if you think it could work for you it’s definitely worth exploring.

Take a moment to review the suitability of those four options for your business. Any one of them could potentially bring a significant improvement to your business.

Protect your business from time thieves

By Jim Connolly | August 6, 2024

Photo: Shutterstock.

Your time is easily the most valuable asset you have. So today I’m going to show you an effective way to eliminate time wasters and replace them with high-quality, eager prospective clients.

Let’s go.

Salt and sugar

To begin, I’d like you to think for a moment about how similar salt and sugar look. They’re almost indistinguishable to the human eye. Even close up.

So why don’t people regularly add salt to their beverages by mistake? Sure, at home people know where they keep the salt and the sugar. But when they’re out? Why don’t we constantly see people in coffee shops and restaurants, having salt and sugar related accidents?

Looking for clues

A salt shaker looks very different from a sugar bowl. That’s why we never pick up a sugar bowl and assume it contains salt. Or vice-versa.

The container (packaging) gives us powerful clues about what’s inside.
These clues send us a direct message regarding what to expect.
They also guide the action we decide to take.

People use clues like this all the time. And that includes our prospective clients. When they need a new provider, they’re looking for guidance that confirms we offer exactly what they need.

So, what kind of decision-making clues are in your marketing?

For example. Do your clues set the right expectations regarding your fees, or do they attract fee-sensitive enquiries? Do your clues motivate people to want to purchase now, or do they attract early stage researchers, who’re not ready to buy? You get the idea.

If you’re sick of wasting your time with the wrong kind of client enquiries, check your clues. Look at your marketing through the eyes of a stranger; someone who doesn’t already know the type of clients or customers you want to attract. Then, make sure your messaging clearly positions you in the correct way.

I hope you find this idea useful but more importantly, I hope you give it a try.

Stop: Don’t hide the bad stuff

By Jim Connolly | August 5, 2024

You’re reading about a product or service.

It sounds amazing.

Then you spot it!

You spot the dreaded *asterisk. And your heart sinks.

You know you’re about to be disappointed. You’re about to discover the exclusions, restrictions, omissions and conditions, which means that offer isn’t as good as they said it was.

They could have told you the truth without hiding it behind the asterisk. However, they deliberately chose not to. They intentionally concealed it from you, hoping you wouldn’t dig deeper. And in a split second, they’ve totally changed how you feel about them.

You wonder what else they’re hiding from you.

Your guard is up.

Your trust is diminished. Perhaps totally diminished.

The asterisk risk

If a business owner feels they need to hide something behind an asterisk, there are always better alternatives.

The most effective alternative, is to make the product or service as good as you said. This eliminates the need for an asterisk. Plus, it simultaneously pumps more value into your offering, making it more attractive and giving you a huge competitive advantage.

Another powerful alternative is to openly state, in honest and clear language, exactly what you’re offering. And include whatever would have been behind the asterisk, out in the open. Here’s an example of what that could look like.

Imagine it’s an introductory deal, offering your service at a reduced price for the first 3 months. Rather than quote the introductory price (and hide the fact it increases after 3 months, behind an asterisk), tell them up front. Let people know that you’re so confident they’ll love your service, you’re offering it at a super-low discount, so they can discover for themselves, why it’s outstanding value at the regular price.

There’s another reason for adopting a transparent approach to your marketing.

And it’s a biggie, too.

Social networks give your prospects a powerful voice. That voice can either be used to tell everyone how great you are, or how disappointed they are. Thankfully, you get to choose the kind of experience that’s being shared.

Not only does transparency start to work immediately, it’s also a proven way to build an outstanding reputation in the long-term.

How to be number one. In a category of one!

By Jim Connolly | August 4, 2024

It’s tough being a service provider. There are so many of us in every industry. Not only that, a prospective client can find lower priced alternatives to us, on Google, in seconds.

With so many competitors, what can we do?

Well.

We could try and out-spend them on advertising. Of course, this eats into our profit margins.
We could try being the lowest priced. Of course, this almost eliminates our profits.
We could try joining a networking group. Of course, we’d be relying on fellow group members to provide us with leads; the very same people who need to attend the group because they can’t even get enough leads for their own business!

There are better alternatives though. And one that works extremely well, is to become number one in a category of one.

It’s the strategy I follow for my own business and one that could be just as effective for you and your business.

It works like this

Let’s imagine you’re a financial advisor. (You could equally be a mentor, lawyer, designer, trainer, accountant, marketing consultant or whatever). Anyhow, unlike your fellow financial advisors, you choose to work exclusively with creative professionals. This immediately places you as number one in a category of one.

The fact you understand their profession at a super-deep level, sets you apart from the rest.
The fact you understand their terminology and speak their language, sets you apart from the rest.
The fact you understand the threats and opportunities specific to their industry, sets you apart from the rest.
The fact you understand their unique requirements, sets you apart from the rest.
The fact you understand the creative mindset, sets you apart from the rest.

And because you’re clearly more relevant to the creative industry, you will stand out as the obvious choice, to be their next financial advisor!

It’s hard to think of a service provider in any industry, who couldn’t transition themselves into being number one in a category of one.

Including you.

Yes, including you!

Avoid the unbelievers

By Jim Connolly | August 1, 2024

Photo | Anna Shvets

You gave a great presentation or demo to a prospect.

It went extremely well. Without a hitch.

You answered their questions in full.

You also provided assurances and quoted them a really great price.

Only for them to say they’re not interested!

Today, I’d like to show you how to avoid this scenario. Or stop it from happening as often in the future.

It’s all about two things. Knowledge and belief.

In particular, the difference between how we get someone to know what we know, and how we get someone to believe what we believe.

Knowledge and beliefs

Knowledge: If you want a prospective customer to know something you know, you simply tell them. Your knowledge is then transferred.

They now know what you shared with them. This is what happens during the sales process.

Beliefs: If you want a prospective customer to change what they believe, simply telling them something new has very little effect. That’s because our beliefs run deep.

Our beliefs about what constitutes value, what we regard as important, what we believe is risky, etc., are developed over decades. They naturally take a long time and a lot of effort to change. Too long for a sales presentation. That’s for sure!

The answer?

Simple!

Focus on the believers

The most direct route to spectacularly improved sales results, is to focus on the believers. Believers are the prospects who already believe in, and value, whatever the core benefits of your product or service are.

And the marketplace is packed with your believers.

This is true regardless of what kind of service or product you offer and what end of the market you serve. Your believers should be your sole focus. These are the only prospects worthy of your attention or your time.

Everything improves when a prospective customer already believes what you believe. Because gaining the sale (or new client) becomes a simple matter of providing a compelling presentation. You know… just like the great presentations you wasted on all those unbelievers, who said they were not interested!

Yes, you’ll need to adjust your marketing so you can identify and attract your believers. But that’s relatively easy.

When you get it right, your reward is vastly better conversion rates, higher sales volume and greater revenues and profits.

It’s time

By Jim Connolly | July 28, 2024

The right time, and the perfect time, are not the same time.

But many small business owners are totally unaware of it.

And it screws up everything.

The right time

The right time to take action on improving your business is the moment you know there’s a problem. It’s an easy to identify moment. And it makes zero sense to allow a problem to persist; it only gets bigger, and costs you more in time and money to fix.

This means the right time is always, always, blindingly obvious.

However, even really smart business owners totally miss it.

Why?

Because they’re not actually looking for the right time. No. They’re looking for, and waiting for, the perfect time.

The perfect time is an expensive illusion

It’s an illusion, because it exists in an impossible to identify moment.

Think about it.

If things are going great for your business, they might get even better. Now is not the perfect time.
If things are ‘okay’ or even if things suck, then maybe they’ll pick-up. Now is not the perfect time.

So, when is the perfect time to improve your business?

You missed it. Because we can only ever know the perfect time, after it has passed. We identify it on reflection. It’s rear view mirror stuff.

That’s why the most successful businesspeople focus on the right time. It’s clear. It’s existential. We experience it. It’s in front of us.

In short, if you have an ongoing business problem, the right time to do something about it has passed. The next best time to do something about it is right now.

Your competitors are clowns

By Jim Connolly | July 23, 2024

It has never been easier for you to research your competitors than it is today. In minutes, you can tell if someone is serious competition to your business or simply a dabbler.

For example.

You can visit their website and tell instantly if it looks professional and up-to-date or not.
Their site will also show you the range of services they offer and the guarantees they provide.
In some cases, you can see what they charge and whether they offer payment terms, etc.
You can also check their social media footprint and see if they are using it professionally and how large their social networks are.

Over the years I’ve worked with thousands of business owners. One of the things I see over and over again, is a tendency to underestimate the service offered by their competitors. This is a potentially fatal mistake.

Here are 2 of the main reasons why this happens.

1. Hard work and dedication

They work so hard on their own businesses and care so passionately about their own clients, that they can’t imagine their competitors being equally committed. In reality, the vast majority of business owners work their tail off and try extremely hard to keep their clients happy.

We need to avoid underestimating our competitors at all costs. It’s a mindset that can cause us to ease off the gas. To coast. And in doing so, we make it way too easy for our hard-working, professional competitors to eat our lunch!

2. Biased reporting

There are a lot of people out there, who will tell us what they think we want to hear. Others will tell us what they want us to believe. In either case, their reporting is not telling it like it is.

Here are a few examples.

If you attract a new client, who was fired by one of your competitors for being impossible to work with, that new client will seldom tell you. Instead, they’ll often say they left because the service was lousy or another fake reason.
Similarly, when you hire people who previously worked for one of your competitors, they’ll often trash-talk about them.
Many business owners use the same suppliers as some of their competitors. If you ask a supplier how your competition are doing, you’ll often get negative reports. Don’t take too much notice. Remember, those who are unprofessional enough to share (or fabricate) news about their customers with you, are unprofessional enough to give fake feedback.

It’s worth taking feedback like the above with a large pinch of salt.

In short

If you’re going to assume anything about your competitors, assume they are hard-working professionals who are targeting your clients. That will stop any chance of complacency from creeping in.

When you’ve run out of options

By Jim Connolly | July 22, 2024

keep looking, searching, seeking, finding

… you haven’t!

There’s always an answer. A way forward. A way to turn things around.

Often, the answer you need is already within you, but you need to dig deeper to find it. So, go for a long walk, think on paper or ask yourself a better version of the question.
Sometimes, another person has the answer you need. So talk to people. Especially those who you know are resourceful. Your answer could be literally one conversation away. So, get talking.
Other times, the answer you need is in a book, a newsletter or article. So, get reading.

Once you’ve accepted that there is an answer, you’re now free to focus 100% on finding it.

Think.

Talk.

Read.

You’ll soon find exactly what you need. Just keep looking. Don’t quit.

Join a cluster. Own a corner

By Jim Connolly | July 18, 2024

Have you ever noticed how the major fast food restaurants seem to cluster in certain parts of your town or city? It happens for the same reason that theatres cluster on Broadway, New York, and the same reason that trading and financial services cluster in London’s Square Mile.

It’s not because they’re lonely.

It’s because they’re following a proven business strategy. A strategy that can work for your business, too.

Clusters create crowds

Once a location becomes well-known for a certain product or service, prospective customers looking for that ‘thing’ will head there.

This means a business moving into that location will open their doors on day one, knowing there will be crowds. Crowds they can potentially attract a subset of and convert into customers.

If that business is savvy, they will provide a uniquely valuable version of what the others offer. Something a section of the crowds desire, but can only get from them. This provides them with their very own corner of the market. It’s a strategy that works extremely well.

Before you assume this strategy is of little or no relevance to your business, think again.

Adapt. Then deploy

Look at the components behind that extremely successful strategy. When you do, you’ll discover something interesting and more importantly, potentially very useful to you and your business.

You’ll discover that you can adapt and deploy part of what makes that strategy work, into the online marketing of your own business.

How?

Be where your competitors are online. For example, be part of social media conversations around your industry. Join forums that are dedicated to your industry. Join Facebook Groups or LinkedIn Groups. You get the idea.

Offer something different from your competitors, which is uniquely valuable. So, when prospects find you, they can see you’re unlike the others.

Every single one of the prospects, who wants the unique value that only your service provides, can only get it from you. Do this correctly and you will have created your very own corner of the market.

Not sure where how to stand out in a meaningful way that works? Don’t worry. This will help you. And so will this.

Marketing 101: Use shorter sentences. Here’s why

By Jim Connolly | July 17, 2024

Here’s a quick copywriting tip, to help you improve your marketing results.

Your prospective clients prefer to read short sentences. This is especially true when explaining detailed information. For example, how your service works.

I’m not suggesting you use fewer words than required. Far from it! Use as many words per sentence as you need. Don’t remove a necessary word. Just don’t use more words than you need.

Why is that, Jim?

Over-long sentences lack impact and clarity. Those are essential elements of effective marketing. Most amateur writers tend to write over-long. Learning how to write shorter helps you avoid that mistake.

Tip: One way to shorten sentences without losing anything important, is to remove extraneous words. Look at the 2 examples below.

People should exercise on a regular basis.
People should exercise regularly.
We have no news at this point in time.
We currently have no news.

A whole story in 6 words

It’s amazing what can be achieved using fewer words. Ernest Hemingway once wrote a story in just 6 words. It’s a powerful story, too.

“For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn”.

Inspired by Hemingway’s brevity, look for opportunities to keep your sentences as short as required. Aim for clarity. Remove the fluff. And keep sentences confined to one thought.

It’s not as simple as it sounds. But if done correctly, your results will reflect the additional effort.

This word can ruin your results. Here are 12 better alternatives

By Jim Connolly | July 16, 2024

Photo | Buro Millennial

When it comes to creating successful marketing, the word ‘new’ is overrated. Moreover, it can seriously damage the effectiveness of your marketing, losing you sales or client enquiries in the process.

There are 2 main reasons why this happens.

A new product or service is thought of as risky. Untested. Less robust. At best, it’s a bigger gamble than the existing solution. At worst, the customer feels like a paying guinea pig. Ouch!
A new product or service is seldom, if ever, the best. It lacks the improvements that come from years of customer feedback.

Yes, when you have an announcement to make, like moving to new premises, people expect to see ‘new’ and they understand the context.

The challenge comes when a key part of your marketing message is that you offer a new way to do something. Even some big brands struggle to sell new to people, despite multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. Who remembers ‘New Coke”?

Thankfully you can totally avoid this problem.

Here are some far better alternatives

Instead of relying on new, offer your marketplace something more compelling. More secure. More attractive. More motivating. And a great deal more appealing.

For example, rather than offering your prospects a new way to (whatever), look at the core benefit of your product or service. Then market that benefit to them instead.

Here are 12 alternatives that I have used very successfully over the years. All of which offer the prospect a more attractive benefit.

A faster way.
An enjoyable way.
A secure way.
A greener way.
A stylish way.
A stress-free way.
An original way.
A premium quality way.
A proven way.
An ethical way.
A guaranteed way.
A cost effective way.

The key is to intentionally use words that paint better mental pictures. Pictures that build trust and inspire people to take action. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen this simple adjustment lead to radically better marketing results.

What next? Do a review of your current marketing and look for opportunities to replace the word new, with a better alternative.

How to have great business ideas

By Jim Connolly | July 15, 2024

Photo | Steve Johnson Pexels.com

Today, I’m going to show you how to have great business ideas and how to put them to work for your business. This includes a step-by-step guide that you can easily follow.

Think about it: Behind every successful business are a series of ideas. Great business ideas, which open up new opportunities or set the business on a more fruitful path.

The challenge with great ideas is that they often look like average ideas, until after they become hugely successful. As a result, most great ideas never see the light of they.

In fact, I bet you have a few tucked away right now, without even knowing it.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

How a great business idea was mocked

In 1985, The New York Times announced the death of laptop computers, in an articled entitled; “Whatever happened to the laptop computer?” They wondered why laptops never became popular (seriously). Here’s how one of the greatest business ideas in history, was openly mocked:

“[…] I.B.M. never legitimized the market with its much rumored ”Clamshell,” probably because the company realized that laptops are a small niche market, not a mass market.”
Erik Sandberg-Diment. New York Times 1985.

And when the electric light bulb was invented, most people said it would never become a mass market product. It was thought that there was no affordable way to get electricity to enough homes.

How to have great business ideas that win!

Business owners sometimes ask me what I think of an idea they have. The challenge here, is that it doesn’t matter what I think or what their friends think. Great business ideas are not anointed. If you want to know how good your idea is, you need to get it out there.

If you do, you will find it’s almost impossible to fail.

Really?

Yes, really!

It’s a win win thing.

If it is a great business idea and it flies, you’ll have a success on your hands.
If it flops, you’ll learn something. Something that you can invest in the next idea and greatly increase your chances of success.

Ironically, the only way to guarantee a business idea will fail, is to try and protect it from failure by locking it away.

It’s a lose lose thing.

The idea you fail to ship can’t succeed.
The idea you fail to ship can’t teach you anything new.

This not only insulates you from success, it also insulates you from learning and growing. This used to be a major problem for me when I started out in business. I was in my late 20’s and lacking in confidence. I’d sometimes have a great business idea, but I wouldn’t put the idea into action.

I knew I needed to do it. I also knew it couldn’t work if I didn’t ship the idea. But for me, putting an idea into action, even one I thought was great, felt way too risky.

Thankfully, I discovered a way forward, which I’m now going to share with you, step-by-step.

Here’s the business idea strategy, which worked for me

I’ve shared this strategy with countless people over the years and the results have been amazing. It’s actually really simple.

My breakthrough came when I figured out that the part of my mind responsible for putting ideas into action, was weak. It needed strengthening. I thought one way to do this, would be to treat it like a weak muscle. To make a weak muscle strong, you start off by working with very light weights. As the muscle grows, you slowly increase the weight you’re working with. Eventually, the muscle becomes strong.

Here’s how it worked

I started by acting on what I considered to be small ideas. Ideas that were unlikely to set the world on fire if they worked, but where there was relatively little downside if they failed.

I’d get a business idea.
Every time I put one of these ideas into play, I’d write it down in a journal, along with the results.
With each new business idea in my journal, my idea muscles grew a little.
I also noticed that even with these small ideas, my business was starting to see some very encouraging results. This further built my idea muscles!
Pretty soon I found it easy to get great business ideas, big, meaningful ones, and ship them.
Every day since I’ve eagerly looked for ways to get great business ideas to help me make opportunities or solve problems.
And if they’re interesting, I always put them into play.

As the frequency and size of the ideas you act on increases, so does your ability to get great ideas. This is reflected in the development of your business.

And something else happens. Business in general becomes a lot more interesting. That’s because working on new business ideas, even small ones, is extremely invigorating. It causes you to think differently, meet new people and explore new opportunities.

Just remember to start with small ideas. Slowly build it up. And be sure to chronicle your results, so you can see the progress you’re making and also learn from the feedback.

In short: How do you get great business ideas? You put the small business ideas you already have into play. Each time you do, your ability to have great ideas and ship them increases.

Opportunity is banging loudly on your door. Let it in!

By Jim Connolly | July 13, 2024

woman in black long sleeve shirt sitting on chair

Photo | Andrea Piacquadio.

The pace of change is accelerating faster than ever. This is creating a multitude of exciting opportunities for business owners. Including you.

Here are just a few of the opportunities you might want to explore.

New needs and wants are emerging. This means you now have masses of new prospective clients (or customers) you can serve. It also means you have the opportunity to offer more services or products to your existing clients.

New ways to access knowledge are at your fingertips… for free. With AI, you can get a detailed summary of every best-selling business book ever published. You can then question the summary, so it explains whatever parts of the book you’re most interested in learning from. As I write this in July 2024, that service is freely available from services like Google Gemini, Perplexity AI, ChatGPT and many others.

New and improved ways to work smarter are available to you. You can decrease stress whilst simultaneously increasing your productivity. That’s a huge win win.

New ways to sell your services are available to you, thanks to the newly-competitive payment provider sector. This makes it easier for clients to hire you or buy from you. Plus, it’s more profitable for your business, too.

New partnership possibilities are springing up. All this change brings almost unlimited potential for you to radically expand and improve your partnerships. Joint Venture opportunities are everywhere, just waiting for you.

It’s utterly exhilarating

I work with small business owners daily. Based on the results I’m seeing month after month, I firmly believe this is a golden age of opportunity for small business owners. I’ve never seen anything even vaguely like it, in almost 30-years of serving small business owners. It’s utterly exhilarating. Don’t let yourself miss out.