Jim Connolly Marketing

All New!

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When it comes to creating a powerful marketing message and attracting customers, the word ‘new‘ is overrated. Worse still, it’s a very loaded word and can absolutely ruin your marketing results.

There are 3 broad reasons for this.

  1. The newest product or service is always a riskier bet. At best, it’s a bigger gamble than the trusted alternatives. At worst, the customer feels like a paying guinea pig.
  2. The newest product or service is seldom the best. It lacks the improvements that come from years of feedback. It lacks the robustness that comes from stress-testing.
  3. New doesn’t last for long. This makes it a short-term marketing message. Anything that’s new is only new for now.

A dozen better alternatives

Given the challenges of using the word new, I recommend you replace it with something more compelling. More motivating. More attractive. 

To get you started, here are 12 alternatives.

  1. A faster way.
  2. A professional way.
  3. A cleaner way.
  4. A proven way.
  5. A stylish way.
  6. A profitable way.
  7. A premium way.
  8. A relaxing way.
  9. A friendly way.
  10. A safer way.
  11. A reliable way.
  12. A smoother way.

What next?

Take a look through your marketing and search for opportunities to replace new with a better alternative. This is usually in situations where new is used as the only adjective. 

Also, you can apply this to your presentations, negotiations or meetings. For example, if you’re trying to sell a new product, service or idea to someone, they’re more likely to pay attention when you tell them about your ‘more profitable way’ of doing something, than your ‘new way’ of doing something. 

Finally, in situations where you need to use the word new, such as a press release or product launch, always combine it with another word or words. For example, new and improved. 

Did you see what those liars are saying?

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marketing liars

Have you ever looked at the marketing promises made by your competitors?

  • Your most unreliable competitors will promise to deliver on time, every time.
  • Your lowest quality competitors will promise premium quality at low prices.
  • Your least competent competitors will promise a highly professional service.

And they’ll all have testimonials. Testimonials that are often the opposite of what a real client or customer will experience from them.

It’s horrible. It sucks. But it makes sense

After all, they’re hardly likely to admit that working with them or buying from them is a total nightmare. You see, the mindset that says it’s okay to produce low quality work and charge over the odds for it, has no problem being dishonest in other areas of their business.

What does this have to do with you?

Everything!

It has everything to do with you. And here’s why.

Your prospective clients or customers have been lied to before. This means the claims you legitimately make in YOUR marketing will only be treated seriously, if you back them up.

Here are a couple of tips to help you make the truth of your marketing a lot more believable.

One way to add credibility, is to link from your website to external sources. For example, link from your website to external reviews or positive media coverage. Similarly, if you’ve been accredited by a respected organisation, link to the page on their website, where you’re mentioned.

Another way to add credibility, is to turn up regularly with useful information, via a newsletter, a blog, a podcast or on social networks, etc. By providing genuinely useful, informed advice, you demonstrate your knowledge. By doing this regularly, you show your reliability. This also gives you an opportunity to show your personality. By demonstrating your knowledge and allowing your marketplace to get to know you, you create a potent marketing mix that really helps you to build trust.

Please don’t just find this advice interesting.

Do something with it.

When the economy is in bad shape, people think a lot harder before making any investments. This includes investing in the services or products you provide. Showcase your credibility and make the decision to invest in you as easy as possible.

Stop using buzzwords in your marketing. Seriously. Stop it

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remove buzzwords, marketing copy, clarity sells

One thing in business is certain. There’s no shortage of buzzwords and phrases. Here are just some that I’ve seen in use recently.

  • Knowledge transfer.
  • Price point.
  • Intersection.
  • Deep dive.
  • Disrupt.
  • Ruckus.
  • Knowledge transfer.
  • Ideate.
  • Pragmatic.
  • Whiteboard it.
  • Paradigm.

Buzzwords are used by people, in an effort to appear informed or fashionable. Interestingly, using buzzwords has the total opposite effect.

Here’s how they work against us and our marketing.

  • Buzzwords make informed people cringe. Not only is this embarrassing, it’s a terrible idea if we want our peers to take us seriously or recommend us.
  • Buzzwords confuse the uninformed. And that’s the last thing we need, when we want people to understand our message.

In short, buzzwords not only add nothing positive to our marketing, they actively weaken it. And because they’re totally unnecessary, we can remove them with no negative impact.

Remember: One of the keys to effective marketing is to always aim for clarity.

Photo by Kim Gorga on Unsplash

That breakthrough you need

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step by step success, breakthrough business

There’s a lot of commercial doom and gloom out there right now. That’s why it’s essential to remember that your business success remains under your direct control.

You’re in the driving seat.

It’s in your hands.

Better still, those who have succeeded in the worst of economic conditions have given us one of their keys to success. Take a moment to study their stories and you’ll immediately notice a pattern.

A wonderful pattern.

A pattern that you can follow and achieve similar breakthroughs in any economy. It’s simply this: Their success was achieved one step at a time. For example.

One connection at a time.

One opportunity at a time.

One proposal at a time.

One presentation at a time.

One meeting at a time.

One new client (or customer) at a time.

One major new client at a time.

One life-changing contract at a time.

By looking for where your big breakthrough will come from amid the economic gloom, your mind isn’t in the present moment. And it’s easy, really easy, to miss the daily steps you should be taking that will lead you to breakthrough success.

Here’s your next step

You know what you want to achieve. So just ask yourself. Based on what I know right now, what’s my next good step?

Then resolve to take that step. Do the same thing tomorrow and the following day, and every day. Just one step.

The success of this approach is easy to verify. You simply need to read the chronicles of anyone who’s ever achieved anything of great value. It’s the worst kept secret in business. And the best way to achieve the success you desire.

All it takes is one step at a time. One day at a time.

You can thrive in the weeks and months ahead. Remain focused on what you want to achieve and do the right things correctly. Easier said than done, but it’s not exactly difficult, either.

What is sub-scratch and why must you eliminate it?

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What is sub-scratch and why must you eliminate it?

You’ve never heard of sub-scratch before. That’s understandable. It’s a term I created. Here’s how I explain it to clients, and why you need to AVOID it.

Starting from scratch / sub-scratch

  • Starting from scratch is an opportunity to start anew. It frees you to build a project on a clean, clear foundation. And it’s extremely underrated.
  • Starting from sub-scratch is the exact opposite. It’s what happens when you start work on a project, which is already broken. You need to pick up the pieces and erase the damage before doing anything else.

I was prompted to write this, after learning about the following, recent sub-scratch example.

A business owner wrote, and sent, a very pushy marketing email to everyone in a local business directory. None had requested the information. She then discovered that she and her ‘spammy email’ were being trashed in the local Facebook business group. The business owner then posted confrontational responses to some individuals in the group, making things even worse. By choosing to dabble with the initial marketing that caused the problem, then dabble with the PR required to mitigate the problem, she’s seriously damaged her reputation within her target marketplace.

My expensive sub-scratch mistake

I made my own sub-scratch mistake well over 20 years ago. It cost me a fortune. I still cringe when I think of it. I had a financial investment decision, which I was maybe 80% sure I knew the answer to. Rather than hire a professional Financial Advisor, I dabbled. I asked a wealthy friend and he agreed I was right. So, I proceeded. I was wrong and so was my friend. It ended up losing me thousands. I still needed to hire a professional Financial Advisor, but she needed to unpick my DIY financials, before building me a solid foundation.

As small business owners, you and I need to make sure we don’t create sub-scratch problems. We need to be very intentional about the things we absolutely know we’re able to do, and those things where we lack the knowledge required. It’s always more effective and far less expensive, to hire an expert at the start, rather than afterwards.

Photo by Francisco De Legarreta C. on Unsplash

Get sharp. Get ahead. Then stay there

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small business marketing, sharp, accurate

When I was a kid, my dad taught me that a sharp bladed knife was safer to use than a blunt one. He explained that blunt blades cause us to use too much force to cut something. This renders the blade inaccurate and hard to control.

Sharpness in business is equally important.

For example.

  • If our communication skills aren’t sharp enough, prospective clients will struggle to understand what makes our products or services perfect for them.
  • If our creative skills aren’t sharp enough, we’ll fail to develop the compelling new products and services our marketplace needs.
  • And if our motivational skills aren’t sharp enough, we’ll be unable to get people excited about those new products and services.

You get the idea.

Of course, when you run a busy business, the temptation is to keep your head down and plough through the work ahead of you. You have deadlines to keep. Clients to delight. People to see. Places to go. And only so many hours each day to cram everything in.

However, when we review the most successful business owners, we find they make time to sharpen their skills. They continuously invest in their professional development; doing the reading and the studying, getting the coaching and always improving.

Where to begin?

Take time out to identify the area of your business, which you would benefit most from improving. Something that would help you overcome a current challenge. Then, put some time aside to learn more about it.

Photo by Elena Kloppenburg on Unsplash