marketing advice Archives | Jim's Marketing Blog

It’s time to get emotional. Yes. Really!

October 4, 2018 by Jim Connolly

Someone recently asked me why her business needed a story. She thought it was, “a load of trendy nonsense”.

When I answered her question, she emailed me back to say it had changed her perception completely. She said it would improve her approach to marketing forever.

So today, I decided to share my answer with you. I hope you find it just as useful.

Why your brand needs a story

My answer begins with a quote from advertising legend, David Ogilvy.

“There isn’t any significant difference between the various brands of whiskey, or cigarettes or beer. They are all about the same”. “[…] The manufacturer who dedicates his advertising to building the most sharply defined personality for his brand will get the largest share of the market at the highest profit”.

That message isn’t new. It was written decades ago, as you can tell from the examples he uses. But it’s even more valid in 2018, than when Ogilvy shared it.

Think about it: Apple’s iPhone is the best selling mobile phone in the world, despite being one of the most expensive. It doesn’t have the best display, the best camera, the best signal reception or the best battery life.

But it does have the best story.

Emotions drive decisions

Your prospective clients or customers are motivated by emotions, far more than logic. The way they feel about you and your brand, is what will drive their decision to hire you, buy from you and recommend you. And it’s your story, which determines how they feel about you.

Build a story, my friend. A story that people will embrace and share.

Is it easy? No.

Is it possible? Yes.

Is it worth the effort? Absolutely!

Never underestimate the power of being first

August 29, 2018 by Jim Connolly

It’s 2018, yet we still remember Roger Bannister as the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes.

Apple became the world’s most valuable company, largely because of profits from the iPhone; the world’s first smart phone. (Here’s the original iPhone press release.)

There are 2 useful lessons here:

When you are the first to do something, it’s remembered for a very long time. We remember Bannister, even though Australia’s John Landy broke Bannister’s record just 6 weeks later. Landy was faster, yet remained relatively unknown because he wasn’t the first person to go sub 4 minutes.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. The first iPhone was really buggy. It even lacked a basic copy and paste facility for over a year! However, it was extremely useful.

This begs the question

What product or service could you be the first to create for your marketplace?

Fortunately, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. For example, a service which is common in another industry may be unheard of in yours. It just needs to be new to your industry, profession or marketplace.

And it absolutely doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be useful.

5 Things to start today, which your future self will thank you for

August 22, 2018 by Jim Connolly

Here are 5 practical things you can get started on today, which your future self will thank you for. They’re in no particular order.

Let’s get started!

1: Look for the hidden gold dust that’s under your nose. What was the last marketing email you received, which you opened? What was the last marketing message you read, which motivated you to make a purchase or make an enquiry? By decoding what prompted you to take action, you can get ideas, to make your own marketing more effective. There’s gold dust all around you, if you choose to look for it.

2: Look for trust-building opportunities. Trust is the foundation of every great relationship. We earn trust from what we do, rather than what we say. So show, don’t tell. Tip: This strategy works great.

3: Look for better problems to solve. By solving better problems, you increase your commercial value. Increasing your commercial value is the starting point, to attracting the best clients and earning the best fees. The good news is that most of your competitors will deliberately avoid the tricky stuff. They’ll avoid solving the problems that require additional effort. This presents you with a wonderful opportunity. An opportunity to set yourself apart from your competitors and position yourself as a highly valued provider.

4: Look for the main barrier to your success. Then invest the time and effort required to remove it. Once you’ve removed it, what used to be your second biggest barrier to success will be the new number one. So, invest the time and effort required to remove it. Repeat.

5: Look for outreach opportunities. Right now, there are people who already have the trust and attention of your prospective clients. These trusted people are of massive value to you and your business. Identify who they are. Then, figure out why they should introduce you or recommend you. Get this right and the results can be amazing.

I hope you find at least one thing here, which you can get started on today. If you do, your future self will thank you.

Pro tip: How to make your marketing totally, utterly unmissable

August 20, 2018 by Jim Connolly

What do the following have in common?

The trailer for a movie, which is part of a franchise you really enjoy.
A radio interview with a musician, whose music you’ve always loved, talking about their new album.
A Facebook post from an author, whose books you collect, announcing their new title.
A newsletter from a brand you like and trust, announcing an exciting new product.

The answer is that they are all examples of marketing you value. Marketing you wouldn’t want to miss. Marketing that doesn’t even feel like marketing.

How to create unmissable marketing

So, what was it that made those marketing examples unmissable?

You gave permission for the marketing message to reach you. You tuned into the TV station or radio channel. You liked them on Facebook. You subscribed to their newsletter.
The product being marketed (movie, album or book etc.), is something you’re interested in.

Without your permission, the marketer is being a pest. No one wants to be pestered with unsolicited emails, off-target advertising or unrequested social networking messages.

Without your interest, the “offer” is just another annoying, time-wasting, badly targeted sales pitch.

Making your marketing unmissable

Firstly, make sure you only market to people who want what you’re offering.

Secondly, earn their permission. How? Here’s a strategy that works:

Think about the brands you have given permission to contact you.
Write them down.
Next, ask yourself why you did it. Why did you subscribe to their YouTube channel, their newsletter or their blog? Why did you like them on Facebook or connect with them on Linkedin? Why did you ask them to send you their catalogue or email you their updates?
Finally, see what you can learn from their strategy, which you can adapt, to earn the permission of your prospective customers.

It takes more effort to create unmissable marketing. However, it can massively improve your results.

You have no clients. Seriously. Not even one!

August 13, 2018 by Jim Connolly

You don’t have any clients.

You also don’t have any customers, email subscribers or readers. Oh, and you don’t have anyone connected to you on social networks either.

You don’t have them. They’re not your possession.
Instead, you borrow them.

Once you’ve earned someone’s custom, trust or attention, it’s just the beginning. If you want to retain their custom, trust and attention, you then need to keep on re-earning it. The moment you begin to think otherwise, you risk becoming complacent.

Closing the sale or opening the relationship?

For decades, sales trainers talked about the importance of closing the sale. Some still focus on it today, though mainly in high-pressure sales environments. Closing the sale was all about closing tactics, which you could use to motivate someone to buy from you or hire you.

Once this was achieved, the deal was closed.

Today, we know better.

The smartest business owners don’t focus on closing the sale. Instead, they focus on opening the relationship. This is the mindset that says when a sale has been made, a new client acquired or a new subscriber gained, it’s only the start. It’s the mindset that compels us to continuously seek to re-earn their custom, trust and attention.

Let your competitors become complacent. Let your competitors wrongly assume that the people doing business with them, are THEIR clients or customers.

But not you.

Instead, remain focused on opening relationships, being useful and constantly delivering value.

Agile Thinking: A new mindset for a new landscape

July 26, 2018 by Jim Connolly

Business is changing. Moreover, business is changing fast. This is great news for agile thinking business owners, who embrace the opportunities. However, it’s not such great news for business owners who are working in 2018’s rapidly changing environment, with an outdated approach to business.

Today, I’m going to share some ideas on how you can benefit from the exciting opportunities that are all around you.

First, I’d like to demonstrate how things have improved and why we need to apply a new mindset, to the new landscape.

A new mindset for a new landscape

Many of the world’s most influential businesses were unknown 20 years ago. Some, such as Facebook and Twitter, weren’t founded until the mid 2000’s.

That kind of global growth was previously unthinkable.

What’s more, billion dollar companies that lead their industries have been started by relative unknowns, in very untraditional ways.

Here’s a great example. Writing in Techcrunch, Tom Goodwin summed up the new age of agile business:

“Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.”

Tom is right. Something interesting is happening. None of those achievements or business models were possible until very recently. The game has changed. And it has changed for ever.

The age of agile business

When I look at small businesses, they tend to fall into one of the following 2 broad categories: They are either dinosaurs or agile operators. That’s to say their approach to the agile business landscape means they are facing extinction or facing unparalleled success.

Armed with a laptop and an idea, there’s very little an agile business cannot achieve.

The new business landscape allows an agile small business owner to have an idea in the morning, and put that idea into play before the end of business that same day.
Using social networks, we can listen to what our marketplace wants and provide that want. No more guess work. No more focus-groups. You can get it right every time. And in a fraction of the time.
Instant access to data, means research that took weeks or months can now be done in days. And at a fraction of the price.
With a great marketing email and some email software, a struggling business can generate a fortune in sales… and fast!
With the correct strategy, anyone can develop their own community. I reach thousands of people every day, many of whom are prospective clients, without spending a penny on advertising. You can too.
If you have a great business idea, you no longer need a bank loan. Today, you can use crowdfunding to get the investment you need. People are doing this all day, every day.

Make no mistake, this is the golden age of business, which people have dreamed about for decades.

Yet, in spite of all this potential, almost all small business owners operate their businesses with a 2000’s mindset. They lack agility. This places them at a huge disadvantage.

For example:

They still take just as long to make a decision, even though they can get the feedback they need in a fraction of the time. As a result, their agile competitors have already eaten their lunch.
They use social networks to follow the crowd, rather than lead their marketplace.
They have a website that’s almost an online brochure, when it should be and could be, a lead-generating machine for their business. If you didn’t start work today with leads from your website waiting for you, you should have. Fix it. You’re leaving money on the table.
They waste money advertising, when they should be building their own platform.
They waste time, money and energy attending networking groups, like people did in the 1970’s, rather than build their own community.

No matter what industry you are in. No matter where you are. Your potential right now is limited only by your willingness, or otherwise, to embrace the mindset required for business success in 2018.

What an opportunity. Grasp it with both hands.