Jim Connolly Marketing

How to beat your main competitor

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marketing tips, marketing advice

Your main competitor is seldom an alternative provider.

Your main competitor is usually apathy — the decision by your prospective clients to do nothing.

Before working out how you compare to competing providers, measure your service against the decision to do nothing.

  • Why should people give you their attention?
  • Why should people risk placing their trust in you?
  • Why should they go through the hassle of hiring you or buying from you? (Tip: This will help you.)

By answering those questions, you’re ready to create clear and compelling marketing. Marketing that works!

Success leaves clues

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marketing advice, marketing help

When it comes to marketing, success leaves clues. By following these clues and learning from them, it’s possible to significantly improve your marketing. Allow me to explain.

Consider the following:

  • The last marketing email, which you were motivated to open because it had a powerful subject line.
  • The last marketing email you read, which persuaded you to take action. (To ask for information, pick up the phone, make a purchase, etc.)
  • The last blog post you read, which you were motivated to bookmark, save or share.
  • The last advertisement you saw or heard, which motivated you to make a purchase.
  • The last service you experienced, which impressed you so much that you wanted to tell your friends about it.
  • The last newsletter you received, which you forwarded to your contacts.

How to turn clues into results

Each of those marketing examples motivated you to take action. And they each contain a clue, as to why the marketing worked. To uncover the clue you need to answer this question:

What can I learn from this example of marketing success, which I can adapt and apply to my own marketing?

Next, write your answer down. This is really important, as you don’t want to risk losing your best ideas. Also, by writing your answers down, you’ll start to develop a gold mine of useful marketing notes.

Is this approach as effective as hiring a proven marketing professional? No. Not even close. But if you can’t afford expert help, it’s one way to make better marketing decisions.

P.S: To get you started, here are dozens of proven marketing ideas.

Would people miss your marketing, if it went away?

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content marketing, content tips

I’d like you to think about the following question for a moment: Would people miss your marketing if it went away?

If your answer is no, then your marketing is almost certainly under performing. That’s because when we receive marketing that fails to engage us, we view it as an unwelcome interruption.

Thankfully there’s a far better alternative.

Instead of using your marketing to sell, push or pitch, you can use your marketing to build relationships with your marketplace. You can gain the attention and trust of your prospective clients. You can become a valuable asset to them before they need your services.

How?

Here’s a clue: The message you’re reading right now… well… it’s marketing. Think about that for a moment.

How to create a new, extremely profitable income stream

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business development, marketing, biz dev

Would you like to develop an additional, extremely profitable income stream for your business? If you would, here’s a great place to start.

Clients who will pay you 300% more

Imagine your clients were paying you 300% more than your current fee. What additional care and attention would you be able to give them? What additional level of service would you be able to offer them?

Here’s a suggestion: Consider building a new, premium version of your current service, which offers all those amazing advantages.

Why?

Because there is an extremely profitable subset of every marketplace, who are very happy to pay a premium, for a premium service.

And you deserve clients like that.

Stability or impact?

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marketing blogs, attract clients, customers

Consciously or otherwise, your business development is already guided by stability or impact. And it’s reflected in everything you do.

Marketing and stability

Those seeking stability, market their services predictably. So everything is close to what you’d expect, making their marketing instantly forgettable. They get very few referrals, because no one recommends an average service. They attract fee-sensitive leads, because when a business looks average, its fees are all a prospective client has, to determine the value.

As business owners, we need to consciously determine whether we’re willing to embrace impact over stability. And if we are, we need to decide what we’re willing to do about it, in real, actionable terms.

That’s a great place to start, if you’re working on your plans for the year ahead.

New Year’s resolutions: How to make them work

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marketing blogs, marketing help

You know the story.

  • Your local gym will have 300% more members, because it’s January.
  • Thousands of abandoned blogs will have new posts published, because it’s January.
  • Business owners worldwide will set new targets, because it’s January.

And by March, almost all of these will revert back to their old ways.

That’s because setting a target or goal, simply because it’s January, brings very little motivation. Once January passes the motivation fades. Gyms are emptier, blogs are quieter and business owners slide back into their comfort zones.

However, some will succeed! These are the people who make a resolution to improve… a powerful and highly motivating resolution.

New Year’s Resolution?

The Oxford Dictionary defines resolute as: Admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering. When you set yourself a target or goal, with purposeful, determined and unwavering commitment, you succeed.

So, if you want to be one of the magnificent minority, who set and achieve their New Year’s resolutions, don’t set them just because it’s January.

Instead, give yourself some BIG, compelling, inspiring and motivating reasons to achieve your goals. Then resolve to achieve each of them with purposeful, determined and unwavering commitment.

IMPORTANT: Don’t set puny goals. The more exciting your goal is, the greater your motivation to succeed will be. Here’s a short post, which explains how this works. It’s from one of the greatest minds that ever lived: A Goal Setting Tip From The Genius Of Michelangelo.

Once you’ve set and achieved these exciting goals, set some more. Remember, there’s no need to wait until January!

Finally my friend, I wish you and your family, health, happiness and peace in 2017 and beyond.