Jim Connolly Marketing

Fact: You choose how successful you want your marketing to be

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business success, choices

There are just 2 things you need in order to attract massively more sales.

  1. The right marketing strategy.
  2. The motivation to put the strategy into play.

With the right strategy and the motivation to use it, you can achieve at levels you never knew you were capable of. Your potential is pretty-much limitless.

Business becomes enjoyable.

Stress is replaced with excitement.

Apprehension is replaced with eager anticipation.

Choices

Every small business fits into one of the following 2 groups.

Group 1: The majority of small business owners choose to have no formal strategy. They want to succeed, but opt for trial and error instead. They dabble. They work hard and hope things will improve. They seem unaware that hard work is not the key to success. (If it was, our grandparents would have been millionaires).

Group 2: Successful business owners choose to follow an effective marketing strategy. This gives them confidence and clarity. They know what to do. So they do the right things correctly. And it works. Not some of the time. But every time.

No business owner intentionally chooses to be in that first group. It’s the default position, when you fail to choose to be in the second group.

So, choose today to get intentional about your business. This means choosing to succeed. Then backing that decision up with intelligent action, based on an effective marketing strategy.

Let’s make your marketing totally irresistible

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marketing copy, content marketing, copywriting

If you want to enjoy massively better marketing results in 2018, you’ll find this really useful. It starts with an important question.

Do you ever wonder why some businesses push dull sales messages at you, over and over again?

The answer is simple: It’s because they are getting a poor response. Then, rather than improve the quality of their message, they increase the volume. Their thinking looks something like this: ‘Maybe if I send another marketing message out, SOMEONE will respond?’  They get another poor response. So they repeat the process.

We need to be smarter than that. You see, more volume isn’t going to help. In fact, it usually does the total opposite. Allow me to explain.

The volume problem

It’s not that people can’t hear what these small businesses are saying. The challenge is that the message isn’t interesting enough. It doesn’t motivate prospective clients to get in touch. It doesn’t grab people’s attention or interest. It doesn’t get people eagerly telling their friends about the product or service. And it’s losing these businesses a fortune.

Increasing the volume of ineffective marketing isn’t just ineffective. It’s also toxic! That’s because it not only fails to generate business, it also damages the reputation of the sender.

Overcoming this challenge

Here are some better places to look, when people are ignoring your marketing messages:

  • Check that your message is reaching the right people. Know who your ideal client or customer is. Then focus your message exclusively on what matters most to them. Don’t try to be of wider, general interest. That will make your marketing message way too vague. And vague marketing won’t motivate anyone to buy from you or hire you.
  • Make sure your database is up to date. Always use clean data.
  • If it’s an advertising message, check that you’re using the correct medium and media.
  • Then, before you publish your next marketing message, be certain that it’s motivating enough. Ensure it has the power to inspire the reader to take the action you require. Without a powerful message, nothing will happen. This is true, no matter how great your product or service is.

The message here is simple. If you want to massively improve your results, increase the quality, not the volume.

Alternatively, I can do it all for you. And do it really, really well. Here’s how it works.

What every business owner must know about Enthusiasm

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marketing blogs

When you’re enthusiastic about your business, everything improves.

  • Enthusiasm builds confidence. This is essential if you want people to hire you, buy from you or recommend you. Enthusiasm also builds your self-confidence, as it changes your internal dialogue from neutral or negative, to positive.
  • Enthusiasm gives you energy. This is essential if you want to have the drive required, to build a great business. It’s impossible to feel energetic and inspired about your business, unless you’re enthusiastic.
  • Enthusiasm is highly attractive. This is essential if you want to become a leader within your marketplace or community. Your enthusiasm makes others feel positive. It inspires them to believe in you.

So, how enthusiastic are you?

Inwardly and outwardly, how enthusiastic are you?

This may help you decide: If you have lots of energy. If people get excited when you tell them about your plans. If you attract the people and situations your business needs, you’re working from an enthusiastic mindset.

If not, you’re probably like the majority of business owners, who lack energy, but have an abundance of stress.

Here’s the thing: As a business owner you have 2 choices.

  1. You can focus on what you want. This fuels your enthusiasm and leads to all those invaluable benefits above.
  2. You can focus on what you fear. This kills enthusiasm. It’s toxic, both to you and your business.

The power of enthusiasm

The moment you consciously decide to live and work with enthusiasm, everything improves. Your decision making will be based on what you want, so you and your business will move in the direction of what you want. Your energy, drive and determination will soar. You will become a magnet for the very things you need the most.

And it all begins with the commitment to live and work with enthusiasm.

So, what are you waiting for?

Would people miss you?

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attraction marketing

So, would people miss your marketing if it stopped?

That’s a tough question. However, it’s an important one. The reason it’s so important, is that the most effective marketing is value driven. Value driven marketing focuses on the needs of the prospective client or customer. It provides them with what they want and it does so, in an engaging, effective way.

In short, it’s something they want to receive, unlike most marketing, which is an annoying intrusion. I’ll give you 2 examples in a moment, of how people are creating valuable marketing for their marketplace. First, let’s look at what people are attracted to.

We know that people value marketing that delivers:

  • Useful, targeted information.
  • Solutions to their most pressing problems.
  • Helpful advice from trusted sources.
  • Genuinely special offers, which provide real value based on their wants / needs.
  • Truthful, honest engagement.

We know that people dislike:

  • Cold calls.
  • Being pestered on social networks.
  • Spam emails and junk mail.
  • Uninspiring sales pitches.
  • Selfish marketing pitches, poorly disguised as special offers.
  • Impersonal outreach.

Great marketing doesn’t really feel like marketing

I was thinking about this recently, after reading a blog post from Evernote. The post was all about how to be more productive with their app. As an Evernote customer, the more value I can get from their app, the longer I’ll remain a client. And not only that, by getting more value from their product, I’m massively more likely to recommend it. (Which I do).

But it goes even deeper.

I follow Evernote on Twitter. This means they have access to me whenever I check Twitter, with my permission. Why do I give them my valuable permission and attention? Simple. Their Twitter feed is filled with useful ideas, tips and advice on how to be more organized and productive. In short, I’d miss Evernote’s marketing if it stopped. Their marketing is useful. It’s permission based. It adds value.

Compare Evernote’s approach, to the usual push and pester style of marketing, used by small business owners. There’s no comparison. One is the opposite of the other.

It works for me too

I’ve used the value driven approach to marketing since the 1990’s. Initially via an email newsletter. Today, via my blog and the email version of the blog. And not only is it effective, it’s increasingly effective. That’s to say, it produces greater and greater results every year.

Plus…

I haven’t had to sell my services to anyone in over 20 years! Yes, people hire me all the time. But I never have to sell to them. The difference is huge. One is about attracting clients, the other is about chasing them.

If you’re not already doing so, make your marketing so valuable in 2018 that people would miss it if you stopped. Put a strategy in place to attract clients and customers. It’s more effective, more fun and less stressful than chasing them!

Marketing Tip: Get your business talked about for all the right reasons

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Here’s something we know for certain about 2018.

Your clients and prospective clients will carry on having conversations. They’ll continue to chat about the things that grab their attention. They’ll talk with their friends and contacts about the things that delighted them. They’ll carry on recommending products and services.

This means that it’s time for you to start developing a plan for 2018. A plan to ensure your business is a part of these super-valuable conversations. So you can benefit from an ongoing flow of word-of-mouth recommendations.

What’s next?

Don’t worry. I have you covered. This free resource will help you make your business totally remarkable. And remarkable businesses are the ones that people talk about, for all the right reasons. I hope you find it useful, my friend.

Stop trying to appeal to everyone. Really. Stop it!

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Today, I’d like to show you how to avoid one of the most common (and costly) marketing mistakes.

Let’s go!

One of the cornerstones of successful marketing, is to identify exactly who your customer or client is, then focus exclusively on them. This is the opposite of what we see most small business owners doing. They try and be a little relevant to everyone, only to find they become directly relevant to no one.

Don’t do that.

Really.

Stop it.

It’s hurting your business!

So, here’s a smarter and massively more effective alternative.

Insiders

In order for your marketing to work, you need to determine exactly who you want to provide your services to. These people are your insiders.

Insiders are the ones you should focus your time and effort on. They are the ones you need to have in mind, whenever you make a marketing decision.

Of course, you can’t have insiders without outsiders.

Outsiders

It sounds a little risky to regard some people as outsiders. However, it’s the safest thing you can do. That’s why every successful business has outsiders. For example, if you’re Apple, your outsiders are people who want cheap technology. If you’re Gap, your outsiders are people who don’t care about fashion.

By deciding who your insiders are, you can create marketing that’s directly relevant to them. This is really important.

Why?

Because in order for your marketing to motivate someone to buy from you, it needs to be compelling. This means it needs to talk directly to them. Vague marketing, which tries to appeal to as wide a group as possible, lacks the impact required.

Ironically, this means that the wider range of people you try and appeal to, the fewer people you will reach with the impact required.

Decide what your ideal customer profile is

Then market exclusively with them in mind.

For example:

  • Compose every piece of marketing as if you were talking directly to them.
  • Use their language.
  • Study what matters to them.
  • Be where their attention is.
  • Uncover the problems facing their industry.
  • Offer answers.
  • Become a useful resource.
  • Build services that address their specific wants and needs.
  • Become known as a specialist provider to their industry, rather than a generalist. (Specialists earn more, attract better clients and are always in high demand).

In short, make your marketing directly relevant to your ideal profile of client. This one step, will give you a powerful marketing advantage over the vast majority of your competitors.