Jim Connolly Marketing

A very important message

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content marketing, list building, blogging

I receive a few dozen important marketing emails every day. Of course, none of these messages are important to me.

They are not even of interest to me.

Most are not even relevant to me.

They are only important to the people sending them!

I’m sure you get these emails too. The special offers that aren’t remotely special. The poorly targeted offers, which are totally irrelevant to you and your needs. The outright spam. And anything with the word “webinar” in it!

Here’s the thing: Before you invest in your next marketing email or mail shot, press pause. Ask yourself who it’s supposed to be important to — you or them. Because if it’s only important to you, you’re not marketing to people. You’re interrupting them.

Do it again and you’re pestering them.

How to get it right

A far better approach is to wait until you have something to say, which is worth listening to. Then share it with people who have given you permission to contact them. A valuable message, sent to people who want to hear from you, is vastly more effective than a selfish request from a stranger.

Tip: Here’s a powerful email marketing lesson from Google.

The mindset adjustment that transforms businesses

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How good are you, when it comes to making business decisions?

That’s a really important question.

Why?

Because good decision-making is an essential part of growing a successful business. That’s why today, I’m going to share a very simple idea with you, which I found extremely useful. It helped me become a massively better decision-maker. More importantly, it can help you, too.

Let’s go!

Much of the email I receive from readers, is connected to a problem they have, regarding a decision. Usually, it’s a decision they’ve been wrestling with or procrastinating on. And in almost every case, the fact they’re delaying the decision, is making things a lot worse. That’s to say, their inaction is turning a minor challenge into a major problem.

The idea that improved my mindset

If you or someone you know struggles with decision-making, consider the following fact. It shifted my mindset to decision-making and allowed me to transform my business.

A decision is always made. Because time will make it, if you do not.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

A guy wakes up with toothache, decides to ignore it, take some painkillers and goes to work. He does this day after day. He tells himself he’s busy. He tells himself that if things don’t improve he’ll make a dental appointment. Eventually, he needs emergency dental treatment. It’s now a much bigger problem. Plus, he’s been in pain, unnecessarily, for days or weeks. And the cost of treatment is higher.

That’s what happens, when we allow time to make a decision for us. We end up with a much bigger issue to deal with. The situation is out of our hands. There’s a lot more pain attached. And it’s more expensive.

There are 2 lessons I took from this

Firstly, we can’t avoid making decisions. We can only delay them. And no one procrastinates their way to success.

Secondly, by delaying decisions, we surrender control of the outcomes. Any business that loses control of its outcomes, has extremely limited potential.

In short, once we have the information we need, it’s time to quit stalling and make a decision. This mindset shift inspired me to become a better decision-maker and build a better business. I hope it helps you too.

Bonus — Here are 10 Daily decisions to help you smash your business goals.

The step by step guide to marketing your business

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Lawrence from New Jersey emailed me with a great question. He wanted to know why I don’t provide any step-by-step marketing guides.

Here’s my answer. It contains an exceptionally valuable marketing tip, which I hope you find useful.

The thing about cookie cutters

Cookie cutters are extremely effective when you’re making cookies. They let you produce lots of identical looking cookies, very fast.

Conversely, a cookie cutter approach to marketing is of very little value.

Why?

Because by using the same marketing approach as your competitors, your marketing becomes identical to theirs. You become camouflaged. This makes it very, very hard for prospective clients to find you. And when they do find you, you’ll seem way too similar to your competitors, so there’s no reason to contact you. Oh, and if they do contact you, they’ll be price sensitive.

Throwing away the cookie cutter

Successful marketing is about standing out. It’s about being noticed by the right people and giving them a compelling reason to hire you or buy from you. And for that you need an individual approach.

  • You need marketing that sets you apart from your competition, so you are the one who gets hired.
  • You need marketing that gets you noticed for all the right reasons, by all the right people.
  • You need marketing that’s specific to you; your unique business, your unique situation and your unique goals.

However.

The marketing guides available via blogs, websites, seminars, webinars, and books, etc., are designed to be used by a wide range of business owners. This means you end up with the same generic marketing ideas as everyone else.

That’s the recipe for how to be ignored! It’s also the total opposite of what you need. And it explains why I don’t provide step-by-step guides.

Instead, I strive to encourage you to stand out. To get specific. To take your marketing seriously. Because that’s the only way to get the attention you need, the sales you need and the results you need.

There’s only two ways to grow a business. You need to choose one

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marketing help, marketing advice

It’s becoming harder and harder to sell the average product or service.

Why?

Because when something is average, the lowest price wins. And there will always be someone lower priced than you. Plus, your prospective customers can find these lower priced alternatives, on Google or Amazon, in seconds.

There are only two, proven ways to build your business today. Here they are.

Option one

You can decide to try to cut your costs back to the bone and undercut the competition. Lower prices attract attention. Lower prices get people talking. Average products or services do neither.

And if you can get the efficiency savings right, with a significant increase in sales, you can make a very nice profit. This guy sold a UK retail outlet where everything cost just £1, for £50,000,000.

Option two

Alternatively, you can decide to turn your back on average. There are more, wealthy customers out there than ever before. And they want to be treated differently. They’ll very happily pay for that premium difference, too.

That’s why luxury brands thrive in every industry and profession.

The important thing my friend, is to decide.

Either aim for low profit, high turnover or aim to be a premium provider. Then market your business accordingly. Don’t position yourself somewhere between the two. Because it has never been harder to succeed in the middle-ground, than it is today.

How to crush the competition!

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marketing help, marketing advice

Joe emailed me with a very direct question. As lots of you may have a similar challenge, I’ve shared the question below, along with my answer.

Hi Jim. What’s the best way for me to crush my competitors?  I’m going to lose my business soon unless I turn things around and I’m sick of missing out to competitors that are no better than me.

I think crush is a strong word, but it certainly gets Joe’s frustration across.

How to beat the competition

There are a couple of proven options. I’m going to highlight them, then offer a more powerful alternative.

1. Most business leaders will tell you that the best way to beat the competition, is to outsmart them. This means spotting or creating opportunities before they do. This is a very effective approach.

2. Some enlightened business leaders will tell you that the best way to beat the competition, is to out care them. This means focusing heavily on customer care. It means truly going the extra mile. It means showing the marketplace that you care enormously about what matters to them. This is also very effective.

However, I’ve uncovered a 3rd and massively more powerful alternative. You can out manoeuvre your competitors by doing both of the above!

By outsmarting them and out caring them, you leverage 2 enormously powerful strategies. You set yourself apart from all the rest. This makes you a lot more visible. Moreover, it makes you more visible to the right people; those who value what you do. And as my clients can confirm, it’s a spectacularly effective way to build a high-profit business.

Is the out manoeuvre approach easy? No. It takes a little additional effort.

Is it possible? Yes. Of course it is. I do it every day.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. You see, this approach not only helps you attract great clients or customers. It helps you retain them. And a business that’s regularly winning great new clients, and seldom losing any, is pretty-much unbeatable.

[P.S. Here’s a recent interview I did with the team at The University of Northern Iowa. I hope you find it useful!]