Jim Connolly Marketing

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

You should use information marketing. Really. Do it!

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Content marketing, information marketing

Today, I’m going to share the power of information marketing with you. It has the potential to sky-rocket your sales results. Actually, it has vastly more potential than that!

I was prompted to write about this, when answering a very common question from one of my readers. They wanted to know, how I find the time to write so many newsletters and articles.

It’s all about my information marketing strategy. And now you’ll see why you really need to start using it!

Let’s go!

Finding time or making time?

A business owner doesn’t need to find the time to go to work, or find time to look after their clients / customers. When a task is important to us, we make time for it. The time for it is set aside, in advance. It’s in our calendar. It’s high on our to-do list. And as a result it gets done.

Marketing is a top-level business activity for me. Not just for me, but for everyone serious about growing a successful business. I know that the information I create, (free marketing tips, ideas and advice) doesn’t always look like marketing.

But it absolutely is.

Some would call it content marketing, but content marketing is extremely limited in comparison.

I call it information marketing

And here’s what it does.

  • It reminds those who choose to follow my work, who I am and what I do.
  • My newsletters, website articles and social media updates showcase my knowledge.
  • My content also provides people with a checkable body of work, which proves that I show up regularly with helpful information AND that I’ve been doing this for decades.
  • This means people know who I am. They know my work and that I’ve reliably provided it for a very long time.
  • The marketing pay-off is that I’m earning their trust, long before they even contact me. And they’re sharing my work with even more prospects!

Now, imagine your prospective clients already had that kind of relationship with you and your business. Consider how much more likely they would be, to buy from you or hire you.

THAT’S what makes information marketing so effective. It provides you with a regular, predictable flow of exceptionally high quality new clients or sales. It also means you never have to sell your services to a stranger again. Because they will already know all about you and your services or products. Information marketing works beautifully.

Okay, now let’s look at just how easy it is.

Information marketing is ongoing

All successful marketing is an ongoing business activity. It’s about becoming, and remaining, visible to your marketplace; so your name, company name, branding, logo, face, etc., is familiar to them.

Almost every small business and many medium-sized businesses get this wrong. They tend to only market their business when there’s a problem; like when they’ve lost a major account or they’ve seen a worrying drop in new clients.

They then, suddenly start marketing to their prospects… even though they’re total strangers to these prospects. It’s extremely ineffective.

And it’s avoidable when you use information marketing.

information marketing, content marketing

It requires way less money than you think

Actually, information marketing takes less money AND less time than you think.

Allow me to explain.

Less money than you think?

Yes. If you market your services the way I do, you don’t need to buy ads. I haven’t paid to advertise my service in over 20 years. Not a penny.

That’s because when you publish useful tips, ideas and advice, which your marketplace will value, they’re attracted to it.

And you’ll be really easy for them to find.

Here’s a quick look at how that works.

  • If you write an article like this, or even something as short as a tweet, your prospects can find it on a search engine. Yes, tweets are findable via Google. Just be sure that when they find your information, it’s very easy for them to contact you and subscribe to your newsletter list. That’s really important.
  • If you write a newsletter (and you REALLY should), people will share it. This is especially the case when you answer common problems for people in your target market. That’s because people tend to know lots of similar people; (those who live in the same area, or are in the same profession, or have the same type of problems, or are in a similar income bracket). So, your initial subscribers will share your newsletters for you, and you’ll be organically building a bigger and bigger, targeted list.

That’s right.

You’re not only connecting with a growing number of prospects. Your growing number of prospects are sharing your work, for free, with even more prospects.

That kind of personal recommendation is massively more effective than an advertisement.

information marketing, get noticed, content marketing

Less time than you think?

Oh yes. Way less time.

Whereas content marketing is known for being about producing a high volume of often low-quality ‘content’, information marketing is focused way more on the quality of information you share. This means you have zero need to ‘pump stuff’ into every social network on the planet every day.

Note: I only use Twitter, my website and my newsletter. That’s it!!!

The information marketing strategy I use with my clients, allows most of their work to be used in multiple ways. So, you invest time creating one piece of useful information, and it can provide you with multiple marketing opportunities.

For example, if you write a useful article for your website or a blog post, it can be:

  • Published as a newsletter. Longer pieces can be published as a 2 or 3-part newsletter series.
  • Published on Linkedin.
  • Published on your Facebook Page or in your Facebook Group
  • Published on a forum your marketplace uses.
  • Extracts can be published as short-form content.
  • And visuals can be published on sites like Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.

So, you create once and yet produce many, many marketing *assets. (*Things you can use, to attract, help and engage your prospects).

Some all-new information marketing material takes minutes to create. It can be as simple as taking a photo, related to the prospective clients you want to work with. For example, photos of events you’re attending, or photos that show people how you work. These help your prospects to better understand what you do, and they make you more ‘real’ to them. These photos can be really interesting and shared on multiple platforms.

But that’s not all.

After a very short time, as you become more used to creating and sharing useful information, you’ll notice the process takes less and less time.

Information marketing isn’t a time suck

Remember, you don’t need to share something new, multiple times a day, or even every day, as with content marketing.

Information marketing is about producing information that’s useful enough, for people to share your work for you.

It’s all about quality, not quantity. Value, not volume!

You could create just one useful article like this, every 10 – 14 days. By using it in the various ways I explained a moment ago, this would give you something useful and new, to share every 2 or 3 days for a few weeks, to attract the attention of new prospects and start building a valuable connection with them.

Consider again the marketing potential of growing your very own, huge, targeted audience, of extremely high quality prospects. Then measure it against the effort required for information marketing.

If you can see the full potential, you’ll want to get started.

What next Jim?

The best time to start information marketing: building this kind of connection, relationship and trust with your prospects is 10 years ago. But the second best time is now.

If you’re not already marketing your business, by sharing useful information, which you know your prospective clients value, please give it some serious consideration. I have used this model since the 1990’s. And I’ve helped countless business owners transform their sales results with their own information marketing strategies.

I’m telling you, not only does information marketing work better than any form of marketing I have ever used or studied, it works better today than ever before.

Photo: Shutterstock.

No one gives you the initiative

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take the initiative

There’s something wonderful and extremely powerful about initiative.

Just think about this for a moment. No one gives you the initiative. You take the initiative.

It’s that last part that is easy to overlook. Initiative us something we take. This means it’s down to us to make things happen. And this is true regardless of where we are right now. Regardless of what season our business is going through. Regardless of how the economy is performing. Regardless of our age, industry, background or our past performance.

Initiative: Your free, always-on opportunity

Better still, not only are we free to take the initiative. We’re free to take it any time we choose to. We have the green light to make something amazing happen.

Those are not just empty words.

Any business owner right now, who’s looking to improve their current situation can make amazing things happen.

And that’s because:

  • We’re free to take the initiative and build great relationships with the key people in our industry.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and answer important problems, which prospective clients will eagerly pay us to solve.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and massively improve the course of our business and our future.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and develop a better version of an existing product, which customers will flock to.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and endeavour to become a leader in our industry.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and strive to provide the best customer service in our industry.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and generously encourage others.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and connect people who may be able to help one another.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and improve one key area of our business, every week.
  • We’re free to take the initiative and increase our knowledge.

And we’re free to take the initiative with a thousand other useful things.

Sometimes, what we need in order to turn things around is a gentle nudge in the right direction. A reminder to take the initiative and make things happen, rather than passively wait for someone to give us the initiative.

That’s why I wrote this today. I hope this brief message provides you with a gentle nudge of encouragement.

How to avoid arguments with clients or customers

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how to avoid arguments clients, customer arguments

Photo: Shutterstock.

I was prompted to share this tip with you, after recalling an argument between a business owner and one of his customers. It was noisy, public and lost the business owner at least one customer. As you’ll see, the whole situation could have been avoided. Here’s what happened, along with a valuable business lesson.

First, here’s a quote from the 1936 classic, How to win friends and influence people.

The book’s author, Dale Carnegie, said; “Show respect for the other person’s opinion. Never say, you’re wrong! to them.”

You are right. They are right too. Maybe!

When someone disagrees with us, it’s easy to think that they are wrong. This is especially the case when we truly believe that our opinion is right.

Here’s the thing: It’s entirely possible that their opinion and our opinion are both correct, even when we see things very differently.

For example:

  • I really dislike the taste of anchovies. In my opinion and in my experience, anchovies taste disgusting.
  • You may love the taste of anchovies. In your opinion, they taste absolutely delicious.
  • If we went through a lie detector test, we would both be proven to be telling the truth — even though our answers were 100% different.

That’s the thing about opinions. When an opinion is given as an answer, it’s usually one of dozens, maybe hundreds, of possible correct answers.

How one retailer got it very wrong

I was prompted to write this post, after listening to a business owner arguing with one of his customers. The argument took place in a cycling shop.

Here’s what happened.

The customer asked if the retailer stocked a particular brand of tyre. The retailer asked why the customer wanted that brand. The customer explained that in his experience, it was the best on the market. The retailer then insisted the customer was wrong. He even went so far as to get his iPad out and show some negative Amazon.com reviews of the tyre, which the customer asked for.

Incidentally, I would have picked a different brand of tyre than either of those picked by the customer or the shop owner. That’s because depending on our experience with different brands of tyre, we will have formed different opinions.

Anyhow, the customer walked out of the shop, shaking his head in frustration. After the confrontational stance the retailer took, and his raised voice, I doubt the customer will ever return — especially as he now knows he can get the tyre he wants, for less, on Amazon!

The retailer had a smug grin on his face, assuming he’d won the argument. What he’d actually done, was lose a customer by showing zero respect for the customer’s opinion and turning a sales enquiry into a heated argument. I’m not sure any business owner can sustain too many victories like that.

How to avoid arguments with clients, arguments customers,

Turning a difference of opinion into a valuable opportunity

We don’t have to agree with everyone. What we should do, however, is learn to respect their right to their opinion.

Indeed, we can use our difference of opinion as a way to create a useful dialogue. We can even use it to deepen our relationship with customers, clients or contacts.

For example, here’s an effective way to handle a business situation, when your opinion is different from the other person.

  • Explain that all you’re interested in, is finding the best solution for them. This places both of you on the same side. The difference this makes to the tone of the conversation is huge.
  • Give the other person the opportunity to say what they want to say, without butting in. By allowing them to get their point across, they will feel less tense and feel more positively toward you, for showing them respect and recognition.
  • If you believe they’re incorrect or about to make a mistake, you should offer them another perspective. Note: You’re not arguing with them. You’re offering them your perspective based on your experience and expertise.
  • Then, offer an example of how your suggested approach has worked in the past, for people with similar challenges. This is massively more effective than looking for holes in their position and bombarding them with reasons why they’re wrong.
  • Ask them what they think… and listen again without butting in.
  • Because there’s no confrontation, no argument to be won or lost, the other person is free to consider your opinion. They can now agree with you, without losing face.

Does this approach magically win around everyone, whose opinion is different from yours? No.

However, I’ve used this approach since starting my business with huge success. It has gained me many clients and many good friends too. Equally, it has never lost me a client, unlike the kind of confrontational approach, used by the store owner in my example.

Interestingly, I’ve always found this approach to be massively more effective at helping others see things my way, than attacking their opinion.

Respect never gets old

The technologies we use today are very different from those, which were used when Carnegie wrote that best-selling book. However, business is still all about people. Showing respect for others and their opinions, is just as important in the 2022 as it was in 1936.

Exposed: The productivity pattern

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productivity, business people success

Whether you’re a business owner, or running any commercial project, there’s a direct link between your productivity and what you can achieve.

So, what’s the secret behind the most productive and successful people in business?

There isn’t one.

There really isn’t.

Thankfully, there is a very common pattern, though. A pattern, which when followed leads to massively more productivity. And it’s one of the common factors behind the world’s most successful businesspeople.

The productivity pattern

The pattern behind the most productive people looks a lot like this.

  • They decide exactly what they want to achieve.
  • Then, they figure out what needs to be done in order to achieve it.
  • Next, they focus on the most effective way to do it.
  • Finally, they do it.
  • They do it even if it isn’t the perfect time, even if their personal life is in a mess, even if they’re tired, even if they’re feeling demotivated, even if they’re scared… they still do it.

That last part is where the vast majority of us stumble. However, some people will absolutely do the last part, but fail to take those first few steps. They discover the hard way, that advance planning is an essential part of any successful business target or goal.

It’s proven to work

The above pattern works in every industry. It works in every kind of economy. It works regardless of our age. And it works whatever our academic record is.

‘It’ works.

But it only works, if we do all the work required, regardless of the hurdles before us. Like they say; when you’re just 1% away from switching a light on… you’re still in the dark.

Do the planning.

Do the work.

And win big.

It’s not easy. However, it’s a pattern for success that has proven to be exceptionally effective. And most of us want our businesses to be commercially successful, rather than just ‘easy’.

Closing: The critical question you’re not asking

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closing the sale

If you want to get really good answers, you need to ask really good questions.

With that in mind, I’d like you to consider a new question. A really good question you can use when speaking with a prospective client or customer. A question that will help you gain access to a really useful answer.

Here it is. Just before you finish speaking with a new prospect, ask them the following.

“Are there any questions you would like me to have asked you?”

Typically, you would simply ask them at the end, if there’s anything else they’d like to know or if they have any questions. If they were not particularly motivated to hire you or buy from you, they’ll usually just say ‘no’, as a way to wind the meeting down. At that point, you’ve lost them.

However, when you ask, “Are there any questions you would like me to have asked you?”, their focus shifts.

Some who were not particularly motivated to hire you or buy from you, will now use your question as an invitation to tell you what their issue is. This is especially the case if they were unhappy with something they think you missed.

You’ll then discover the very thing that was about to lose you their contract / project / sale.

What prompted me to write this?

A friend of mine used this approach a while ago. She emailed me earlier to let me know what happened. My friend owns a commercial decorating company and explained that she had just given a quotation for a large insurance project. It followed a fire at an office block. As you can imagine, the quote involved lots of questions. At the end, she sensed the prospective client wasn’t impressed.

She then asked him, “Do you have any questions?”.

He shook his head and said, “No”.

She was about to thank him and walk away, but remembered my advice and asked him, “Are there any questions you would like me to have asked you?”

He looked at her and said; “Yes, there is”. He then told her that he thought she should have asked him if anyone was injured in the fire. She explained that she already knew someone had been badly hurt, and didn’t feel comfortable mentioning it, so focused instead on getting the quote right for him.

The prospect then thanked her for being so considerate. He said that it was a very stressful time for him.

Anyhow, a week later, after reviewing the quotes, he chose her company.

It’s not a silver bullet

Obviously, this idea will work better with some prospects, some situations and in some industries, than with others.

But I have seen enough examples over the years, both personally and from clients and associates, to confirm it can turn a lost contract or sale into a done deal. At the very least, I suggest it’s worth considering, if like my friend, you sense something is going wrong at the end of a presentation.