Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

10 Reasons to be massively optimistic about your business

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marketing optimism

  1. You’re never more than one idea away from a life-changing, breakthrough result.
  2. And you’re never more than one email or phone call away from your biggest order or best ever client enquiry. I was reminded of this last month, when a client informed me that he’d just landed his first ever million dollar contract. Just 10 months earlier, he was close to quitting!
  3. You can increase your fees (or prices) by 200%, as long as you increase your value to the marketplace by 200%, first. Of course, the same is true of a 300% fee increase, etc.
  4. Whatever problem you’re facing right now, has already been overcome by countless other business owners. This means the answer you need is already out there. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.
  5. Business doesn’t need to be boring. Remember, you’re in control. You can choose to do work that truly inspires you.
  6. And because you’re in control, you don’t have to work for low quality clients, either. As I said last week, you can’t build a great business with bad clients.
  7. Thanks to social networks, you can listen to your marketplace and find out exactly what they want. This means you can develop a product or service, knowing in advance that the demand will be high. No more guessing!
  8. You’re living in the golden age of business. This is the era, which past generations dreamed of. For example, YouTube gives you a free, global TV channel. WordPress gives you a free, global publishing platform and Gmail gives you free, global message distribution.
  9. Fact: When you improve your strategy, you improve your results. And you can choose to improve your strategy any time you want to.
  10. Finally, you don’t need to hunker down and “hope” things will improve. You can choose get moving on anything listed above, right now, and start enjoying the results.

Review: Shutterstock gets 5 Stars

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shutterstock review, shutterstock 5 stars, premium images

Last October, I announced (in this post) that I was going to trial Shutterstock’s premium images on the blog for a few months. I wanted to know what benefits, if any, professional, premium images provided over freely available images, so I could share them with you.

Here’s my quick review.

I saved a massive amount of time

The first benefit I noticed from using Shutterstock images, was also the biggest. It saved me a huge amount of time.

Normally, I either use images I’ve created myself or I search free image libraries for something suitable. This sometimes takes as much time as writing the actual post.

The shutterstock image library isn’t only enormous (hundreds of millions of images), it has an exceptional search facility. Just to qualify that, it’s the best search, for accuracy and speed I have ever used. This means there are not only millions of premium images to choose from, but you can find what you want in seconds.

If you publish as frequently as I do, this makes a real difference.

Shutterstock’s images create a powerful impression

The overall quality of the images is absolutely superb. You can tell instantly that you’re looking at high quality work.

Investing in premium images should be a no-brainer, for anyone with a website, where they’re seeking to create a polished and professional impact. There’s just no good reason not to use a premium image library and Shutterstock is rock solid.

For bloggers who write magazine-style content, premium images are an equally good idea. The same is true of company blogs, where you want consistency with the quality and look of your images.

And, of course, premium images are a lot less commonly used than free ones, so using them can help your content create a stronger first impression

Ironically, I’m one of very few edge-cases, where a professional image library isn’t ideal. As I wrote last month, I’d already decided to make my blog posts more personal. This includes investing the extra time required, to create more of my own photos and images, rather than using 3rd party image content.

Shutterstock’s pricing

The prices are significantly lower than I imagined. Here’s the link to their various prices and plans.

Shutterstock’s pricing scales from one-off purchases, to plans for users who need hundreds of images a month. There’s something for just about every commercial use-case and budget.

Did it move the marketing dial?

Because the images are so quick and easy to find, posts took me a lot less time to create. As a direct result, I’ve been able to publish several (or more) additional posts over the past 3 months. This will have moved the dial, because of the SEO benefits of frequently publishing fresh content.

Shares of my posts remained about the same, as did client enquiries via the blog.

Hard to find a negative

It’s been very hard to think of anything negative. In fact, only one very minor thing comes to mind.

Some of the marketing-related images I found, included relatively old technology. I’m really nitpicking here, but these images will instantly look dated, even if they’re not. Of course, you can quickly find up-to-date alternatives. Like I say, I’m picking nits.

Shutterstock gets 5 Stars

This is a very comfortable 5-Stars for Shutterstock. The service, images and my overall experience has been superb.

Shutterstock’s content looks professional, will save you time and ensure you always have an image that matches your needs. I have no hesitation in recommending them and I’d like to thank them, especially Amanda, for all their help.

Is toxic marketing losing you a fortune? Probably. Here’s why!

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Marketing blogs, thrive

Did you know, healthy marketing and healthy eating share something in common?

Well, they do. It’s this:

  • There’s more than one method for healthy eating. The challenge comes, when you combine ideas from a number of conflicting methods. This creates a toxic mix, which can make you sick.
  • There’s also more than one way to successfully market a business. And just like the previous example, you can create a devastatingly toxic mix, by combining ideas from conflicting marketing methods.

Here’s why this matters

Almost every small business owner is needlessly losing a fortune and missing great opportunities, thanks to a toxic marketing mix.

There are dozens of extremely common examples. Here are just a few to help illustrate what I mean.

  • The consultants who promise a high value service, yet work for average or below average fees. They seem unaware, how people are warned from childhood that quality doesn’t come cheap. That if something looks too good to be true, it is too good to be true. This kind of mixed marketing warns your marketplace not to believe you.
  • The business owner who wants to SEO their content for maximum search traffic, and also wants to maximise that same content, to inspire people to hire them or buy from them. It doesn’t work. Write for search engine algorithms or write to utterly compel people to make a purchasing decision. Choose: Machines or people? Do both and you’ll fail on both counts. 
  • The service providers who claim to be in high demand, yet who beg strangers to book a free consultation with them, via their website. Unaware how needy and desperate they look, they wonder why people won’t talk to them for free.

Sadly, not every toxic marketing mix is obvious to the untrained eye. That’s why they’re so common.

But as we enter such an uncertain time for the global economy, the savvy business owner must (at least try) and spot them.

15 Essential questions for EVERY business owner

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marketing creative questions
  1. Who are you allowing to influence your business decisions and have they earned that position?
  2. What’s the single biggest hurdle to your success right now (and what do you plan to do about it)?
  3. How can you make it feel less risky, for people to hire you or buy from you? This will help.
  4. Do you have a strategy in place, to find out why time-wasters respond to your marketing?
  5. What’s the biggest threat facing your prospective clients in 2019 and how are you helping them prepare for it?
  6. Do your clients recommend you regularly enough and if not, how do you plan to improve things? This will help.
  7. Can you name the most influential person in your industry and if so, have you introduced yourself to them?
  8. Is your marketing motivating and useful or does it read like a sales pitch? Tip: People hate being sold to! This will help.
  9. If 2019 is already starting to look like a repeat of 2018, how long will you wait before you make the improvements required?
  10. Have you considered offering a premium version of your services, for high value prospective clients who are eager to pay more, for the ‘extra’? This will help.
  11. If you ceased trading tomorrow, how tricky would your clients find it to replace your service?
  12. Does your branding create a powerful and professional image of your business, which your marketplace trusts?
  13. Does your marketing inspire enough urgency or are you leaving money on the table every day?
  14. How different are you from your competition? This will help.
  15. Is your business providing you with the lifestyle you want? If not, are you lowering your expectations or working on a plan to massively improve your financial situation?

Knowing and doing

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There has never been easier access to information. With an internet connection and a search engine, we can find answers to even complex business problems in no time. And let’s not forget the plethora of online courses and classes on just about every subject.

As such, the challenge business owners face today is not in finding the answers they need. Their challenge is to motivate themselves to actually capitalise on that knowledge. To take action.

In a recent article about how business will change in 2019, Isabelle Roughol, senior editor-at-large at LinkedIn, wrote:

“Learning isn’t enough; professionals will focus on doing. After the explosion of the online learning sector, our heads are full of all those classes we’ve been taking. But what are we doing with this newfound knowledge?”

There’s clearly a huge opportunity here, for business owners who eagerly seek to get moving and put all that education into play, whilst their competitors are stuck in a perpetual learning-not-doing loop.

Knowledge without application is of very limited commercial value. The balance we need to achieve is to never stop learning, and to do something productive with what we’ve learned. That’s why we find again and again that in business, the winners get moving.

What is the feast or famine cycle & how to beat it!

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feast famine cycle, what is, feast famine problem

The first thing to know about the feast or famine cycle, is that it isn’t a feast or famine problem.

It’s a symptom.

A symptom of a marketing problem.

What is the feast or famine cycle?

The feast or famine cycle is what happens when a business owner lacks control of their turnover and profits, because of ineffective or non-existent marketing.

It’s impossible to build a successful business until you break that cycle.

That’s because a lack of control over the lifeblood of your business, means you’re unable to plan ahead. You’re unable to forecast because all you know for sure, is there will be more uncertainty. So, you anxiously wait for the next feast. You hope things will improve, but you don’t know exactly what to do, to make things improve. It’s like playing a stressful game of roulette with your livelihood.

When the future of a business is out of the owners hands, they need to retake control.

Here’s the solution to this extremely common marketing problem.

Controlling the feast or famine cycle

The first step in solving any problem, is to identify what the problem is. And this one is easy. In this case, the business owner has a marketing problem, which can be resolved with effective marketing. Effective marketing allows you to attract the customers or clients you need, based on your business goals. This then lets you plan ahead with confidence and look to the future with excitement, rather than apprehension.

It’s how all successful business owners operate.

Now for the REAL challenge

Knowing what your problem is and how to resolve it is one thing. Actually deciding to resolve it is something else. This is why one of the biggest factors in your future success isn’t what you know… but what you decide to do with that knowledge.

In short, the feast or famine cycle is a sign you need to start taking your marketing seriously. And it’s a sign that business owners ignore at their peril.

How to do more of your very best work

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do your best work, content marketing, creativity

I recently looked at my most popular blog posts from the past 6 months year. And once again, literally none of the top 10 posts are what I’d consider my best. Not a single thing I sweated artistic bullets over got the response I expected.

It reminded me of a wonderful process I discovered, which I’m going to share with you. It’s a very simple way to regularly produce your best work.

First, I’m going to quickly unpack why the top 10 posts were unexpected hits.

  1. We can’t always predict that a piece of work will be a smash hit. This is true even if we spend lots of time refining it, to make it ‘perfect’.
  2. If we focus on perfectionism, we’ll very seldom produce our best work. In this example, none of those top posts would have been published.
  3. This means we’ll fail to be productive AND fail to ship our most valuable projects.

How the top producers operate

Here’s how I’ve found the most productive people operate. It’s a process I’ve followed for years and it’s spectacularly simple. It looks like this.

They decide what they want the outcome to be. They then write it down. They include a deadline. Finally, when the work meets their criteria, they ship it.

That’s it. Just make sure that perfection isn’t part of your criteria!

When the project is complex, they write the outcome down in detail. You don’t need that level of attention for something as basic as a newsletter, blog post, etc.

For example, my desired outcome for everything I share with you, is that it needs to be useful. That outcome is what gave me the freedom to publish those top performing posts. They were useful. Not perfect. Just useful. So, they were published.

I hope you found this imperfect post useful, my friend.

The misfit who owned his competitors

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marketing, creativity, misfit

I spoke about the importance of creative marketing yesterday. I also promised to give you some examples.

This one is an absolute gem!

It’s all about Edwin and how he owned his marketplace. Plus, the secret of his success. A secret which can be applied to your business.

Edwin was the busiest and best-known photographer in the town where I grew up. He had a very unique sense of fashion, often wearing an elaborate hat and super-bright jacket, with contrasting waistcoat and the weirdest shoes you can imagine. He drove to meet his prospective clients in a classic 1950’s Ford, or riding his equally old motorcycle (complete with goggles). He stood out a mile. He looked like an artist. And everyone hired him, despite his high fees.

Did you notice something missing from Edwin’s description?

At no point did I mention how good his photos were. Having seen his work, it certainly looked professional… just like the vast majority of experienced, professional photographers.

What set Edwin apart from the competition, was that he used creativity to stand out. He built a brand around his services. And in doing so, he developed a whole experience around hiring him. His customers would get bragging rights, just because THEY hired Edwin for their wedding, family photos or corporate work. He gave them a story worth sharing, and they told everyone.

If people wanted to hire another local photographer, capable of equally good work, there was a ton to choose from, and for far lower fees. However, when they wanted to hire Edwin, Edwin got hired and he was paid Edwin rates.

The takeaway from Edwin’s story

The most commercially successful; accountant, lawyer, architect, coach, consultant, designer, photographer, hair stylist, doctor, etc., is very seldom the best or the most qualified or the most experienced.

That’s because there’s a HUGE difference between being the best-selling, and being the best.

So, step away from the pack. Stop marketing your services like your competitors and apply real creativity.

Because every piece of marketing you do, which falls in line with your prospective customer’s expectations, is simply camouflaging you and hurting your business.

Battling blindness and making mistakes

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Please note: Today’s post includes a little about my 18-month battle with blindness.

Have you ever noticed someone making an obvious mistake, then realised YOU were making the same mistake?

Well, it just happened to me. Ouch!

Here’s what happened, along with a second mistake I’ve been making, which is why you don’t know I’ve been battling blindness for 18-months.

How I spotted my first mistake

I was watching a Youtube video. Well, I tried to. That’s to say, I needed to fast-forward almost 6 minutes, before the speaker started to talk. The video was a conference keynote. And it followed an all-too common path.

  • It started with a guy walking on stage.
  • The guy then introduced a woman, whose job was to introduce the speaker.
  • The woman walked on stage.
  • She thanked the guy who introduced her.
  • She then introduced the speaker.
  • Finally, the speaker was rolled out and started their talk.

Those first 2 people weren’t pitching anything. They didn’t have anything to say. They were there simply because they wanted to be on stage. This was especially the case with the second presenter, whose introduction was actually longer than the introduction she gave the keynote speaker. Her job title suggested she was senior enough in their organisation, to make it happen.

Here’s the thing: People who attend a keynote are there to watch or listen to the keynote speaker. Literally no one is interested in the person who presents the speaker or the person who presents the person who presents the speaker. A brief introduction to the speaker is all that was required. The 6 minutes of nonsense before the keynote was indulgent, selfish and unnecessary.

So, how did I make the same mistake?

Just as I was considering how self-indulgent the nonsense was before that keynote, I realised I do the same. Right here on Jim’s Marketing Blog. Here’s how my self-indulgence manifests:

  • There are posts I publish, because I’m motivated to share something I think you’ll find useful. That’s as it should be.
  • However, there are also posts I publish, because it’s been a few days since I published anything. Often, the value of these posts is less than you deserve.

I only realised the drop in quality of those ‘better publish something’ posts, after spending a whole day, reflecting on the blog. (I spent all of yesterday, trying to find ways to make it more useful to you in 2019).

I then identified something else, that’s been missing from my work for a very long time.

My second (and bigger) mistake

Over the past 3 or 4 years, my posts have become less personal. I use almost none of my own images or photos any more (unlike today). I use very few of my own stories. I share very few of the resources I find useful; books, videos, articles, podcasts, etc. So, the blog has become too sterile / synthetic.

This realisation came when I suddenly remembered that I haven’t mentioned, even once, a huge part of my life since June 2017.

Unless you follow me on Twitter or know me, you’ll have no idea that I’ve spent almost 18-months battling diabetes-related blindness. Actually, you won’t even know I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in May 2016. I didn’t mention that, either.

I’ve had multiple surgeries. Initially, the diagnosis was bad. Very bad. But after reversing my diabetes (my blood is perfectly normal now and I take no medication), the vision has responded well. On Christmas Eve, I had my latest eye scans done and was told my eyes are now self-healing, no additional damage is likely to occur and I should be fine.

It was a great Christmas present. Blindness is no longer on the horizon.

My point is that I regularly mention this on Twitter. But it never occurred to me that readers may want to know. And all because I allowed the blog to become too impersonal.

Moving forward, I’m going to work hard on improving those 2 areas. You’ll no longer hear from me just because ‘it’s been a while’ and when you do, I promise to make it a lot more human.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. I’ll do better in 2019!

Success 101: No one starts at the finish line

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It’s true. No one starts at the finish line.

But that’s perfectly fine. Because our task as business owners is to cross the finish line. Not start there.

Yes, it’s essential to get started. But it’s not enough. Anyone can start a project, work on an idea or set a goal.

However, success comes to those who:

I often hear from business owners, who are excited about an idea they have. When I speak with them a few months later, they’re excited by a new, idea.

Their previous idea was abandoned, when the initial excitement was replaced with the reality of the focused work required, to bring their idea to fruition. So, they’re now excited about their new, new idea. And a few months later still, it’s the new, new, new idea that has their attention.

(Tip: Read this – Steve Jobs and The Power of Focus).

Before we start anything, we need to commit. We need to commit whatever is required to cross the finish line.

Because ultimately my friend, our commercial success will be determined by the things we finish. Not the things we start.