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A surefire way to screw up your marketing

Posted byIan Brodie on January 22nd, 2017.

In last Sunday's email I shared with you my “start from scratch” system: the type of marketing I'd do if I was starting my business again.

The essence of that system is simplicity. Focus on one ideal client, start with one source of leads, one lead magnet, one way of nurturing relationships, one method for converting leads in to clients.

Get that working before trying to add in any new tools and techniques, no matter how sexy they look.

But that's not the way most people do marketing. They hear that referrals work best, so they do a bit of that. Then someone tells them they should be on Twitter (or Linkedin or Periscope or…) so they do a bit of that. Then they do a bit of networking. And a bit of email marketing.

All done with good intentions. They spot other people who are succeeding doing these things so they assume they can do them too and get the same results.

But it's a bit like trying to learn to juggle by starting with the 5 flaming clubs, three razor sharp knives and a bowling ball you saw one of the world's top jugglers throwing around on TV.

You don't start by trying to copy what the people who've been doing it for decades are doing now. You start by copying what they did when they started.

With juggling that means throwing one ball and then two until you can do it reliably. Then mastering a basic 3 ball cascade.

With marketing it means focusing on one ideal client, one source of leads, one lead magnet, one way of nurturing relationships, one method for converting leads in to clients.

Start simple until you master it. Then build on it.

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If you had to start from scratch

Posted byIan Brodie on January 15th, 2017.

Every now and then someone will ask me “if you had to start your business from scratch, what would you do?”

It's a useful question to ask yourself every now and then. It focuses your mind on the key things you really need to be successful rather than the tons of other stuff you happen to be doing because, well, you've always done them.

It was asking myself that question a few years ago that made me realise I was doing far too much networking and face to face marketing when really my business had become almost completely online.

And today, if I was to start from scratch, I'd probably focus on just a few, simple things:

I'd have a really simple lead magnet that solved a core problem for my ideal clients. Ideally a template for something they could use immediately.

I'd use Facebook Ads to drive traffic to a landing page where they could subscribe to get the lead magnet. (And yes, Facebook Ads do work well for b2b these days too).

On the thank-you page I'd invite new subscribers to join me on a webinar which I'd run once a week.

I'd have follow-up emails giving further tips in the area of the lead magnet and reminding them of the webinar invite. 

On the webinar I'd do 50 minutes of great content then promote a product or offer a free strategy call as a first step to working with me.

And my ongoing emails would send valuable information, while offering up whatever my product was.

And that's about it. Very simple marketing system. But one that works really well.

When that was working and generating a steady stream of leads I'd add in another source of traffic. Then another lead magnet. And I'd consider getting a Facebook group active in addition to my email marketing.

But overall, I'd keep it simple. Simple gets results.

What would your “starting from scratch” system be? It doesn't have to look exactly like mine, but I'd advise you to keep it simple. 

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Why simple is the key to success

Posted byIan Brodie on January 8th, 2017.

Ever seen a world-class juggler on TV or in a show?

They'll juggle with 8 balls, or 4 flaming torches, or a handful of razor sharp knives. I even saw Steve Rawlings juggle with furniture recently.

All very impressive.

But here's the thing. If you're trying to learn to juggle, you don't start with 8 balls, a bunch of flaming torches, razor sharp knives or furniture.

You start with just one ball. Then move up to two. Then do three.

You start simple and master the basics.

It's the same with any sport or musical instrument, or learning to drive.

Start by mastering the fundamentals. And often that's al you'll need.

But with marketing we seem to think we need to do everything. Usually all at once.

We're encouraged to go on twitter, do video, webinars, email, seo, snapchat. Every time a new platform appear some expert pops up telling us it's the future and we all need to be using it.

But marketing is just like juggling. Try to do too much from the start and you'll just drop everything.

Instead, focus on one. One source of leads. One lead magnet. One follow-up method. One approach to converting contacts into clients.

Master the fundamentals first.

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One of the only ways to differentiate today

Posted byIan Brodie on January 1st, 2017.

You know, there used to be a time when you could differentiate yourself by doing something different. Offering a different result or a different service to your competitors.

Those were the days when finding good people was difficult for clients. When your competitors were all local.

Those days are over.

These days smart people who can do (or claim to do) the same stuff as you are just a google search away. So what's your differentiator if it's not what you do?

It's who you are.

Faced with a choice between multiple competitors who all claim to be able to do the same thing, clients usually pick the people they feel the most comfortable with.

And to do that, they need to know you as a person.

That's not easy in today's online world where most communication is virtual. But it's not impossible either.

What it requires is that first, you communicate regularly. They can't get to know and like you if they rarely hear from you. 

And secondly, you've got to infuse your communications with your personality. Far too many communications from small businesses and solo professionals feel like they've been written in the PR departments of mega corporations.

If your clients wanted to hire a mega corporation they would. They don't need you to pretend to be a mega corp too. 

When I started email marketing 7 years ago I immediately got decent results by sending out high value content.

But my results really took off when I started telling stories – usually about my own struggles and challenges.

Of course, I still got across valuable content in those stories. But using a story format also allowed people to connect more with me. To empathise and to know I'd had similar experiences to them.

It made all the difference.

So, how are you infusing your personality into your marketing? 

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These 3 things are all you need

Posted byIan Brodie on December 30th, 2016.

As the father of a 20-year-old and a 17-year-old, I get exposed to some interesting aspects of modern culture through their viewing habits.

I'm not sure we can learn much from the constant stream of “epic fail” videos that our youngest streams onto our TV via Youtube, or from some guy called Memeulous making fun of “Blackpool Grime” (don't ask).

But if we look at the rising stars who've made it big on Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat and other new media, there are definitely some patterns.

Of course, none of us is likely (or would want) to become the next Youtube sensation. But if we have an open mind we can absolutely take the lessons from what these folks have done and apply them to our own businesses. 

So what do these new media superstars do that makes them so successful (and that we can apply ourselves)?

Well, firstly, they have something different to say.

If you're not in their target demographic then their video game reviews, makeup tutorials or humour might not seem interesting or different to you. But to the people they aim at, they hit the spot. And they're different to all the other people doing similar things.

Is your content clearly different to your audience, or do you essentially say the same things as others in your field?

Secondly, they reach directly to their audience.

They don't rely on publishers or magazine editors or other people's websites or shows to get their material in front of their audience. They've established their own presence and their fans come directly to them.

Do you have a direct channel to your ideal clients, or are you reliant on other people for them to hear your message?

Thirdly, they communicate frequently and regularly.

No one became a Youtube sensation or Instagram superstar by publishing once and waiting for things to happen. They publish weekly or more often. They keep their fans coming back for more time and time again.

How frequently do you communicate with your ideal clients?

Nail these 3 things: a distinctive point of view, reaching your ideal clients directly and communicating regularly and you can establish yourself as a trusted and respected authority for your clients.

Miss any of the 3 and it'll be an uphill battle.

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Trust me, I’m a marketer

Posted byIan Brodie on December 25th, 2016.

“Trust me, I'm a marketer”.

Said no one ever.

Because deep down, most people have a slight mistrust of marketing. We know that the goal of marketing is to get us to buy something so we don't fully believe everything we hear.

In fact, one of the best ways I've found to make my marketing believable is to avoid it sounding like marketing.

There seems to be a habit in the marketing world of hyping everything up. Adding superlatives to every sentence.

For me, that immediately causes me to be wary of what I'm reading or seeing.

Of course, on a sales page you expect to be told about the benefits of the product you're looking at and how it can help you. You're reading it expecting to be sold to.

But in emails, videos or blog posts, if you try to sell too overtly it can backfire.

When we read an email, for example, we expect it to give us useful information. We don't mind a gentle pitch to find out more information about a product at the end.

But if the email seems to have been written with the sole purpose of pitching a product to us then we tend to get suspicious. Especially if it feels like the writer is “trying too hard” to tell us how brilliant that product is. We just don't believe it.

Years ago I ran a little campaign where I wanted to offer a free report to people. Initially the email I wrote had a bunch of bullet points about how valuable the report was, how it would teach you a series of wonderful techniques for getting more clients, how you'd get results really fast, etc.

But in the end I got much better results when I toned down the promotion and made it much more low key. I essentially just said “I've written this report. People are getting good results using it. Would you like a copy?”. 

That more low key version did better because it was believable and it didn't feel like I was pushing too hard. I've tried to follow that pattern since.

Take a look at your emails and blog posts as if you were reading someone else's. Do they sound a bit hypey? Or trying a bit too hard?

It may be that making them more low key will get you better results.

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The “secret” of being believable

Posted byIan Brodie on December 11th, 2016.

Last week I shared with you 5 ways of making your USP (or any of your marketing) believable and of being trusted.

They were very rational approaches. The use of guarantees, testimonials, demonstration.

But there's also a more emotional way to be trusted, if you're brave enough.

It's to be open.

Back in 1997, Professor Art Aron of Stony Brook University started a study which has been repeated in various forms many times.

He paired up students who didn't know each other and got them to ask questions to each other. One group asked relatively factual questions. The other started out factually but progressed to more personal, revealing questions, like “what are your most treasured memories?” and “how close and warm are your family?”.

At the end of the exercise, Aron got the pairs to report back on how close they felt to their partner.

Not surprisingly, the partnerships that asked each other the most revealing questions reported feeling much closer to each other.

And those feeling persisted. Weeks later, Aron's team observed that the partnerships who'd revealed more personal information in the study tended to sit next to each other in classes and actually “hang out” outside of classes.

In fact, when they were asked to rate how close they were to various people in their lives, they reported higher scores for the previous strangers they'd revealed personal information to than many people they'd known their whole lives.

Being open, sharing your feelings and personal information tends to make people feel closer to you and trust you more.

They've even observed similar things on dating websites. The people who share more personal details in their profiles tend to get more dates and to report those dates as being successful.

Now I'm not saying you should now fill all your blog posts and emails with personal stories about how sad you felt when you lost your cat when you were a child.

But I do think we could all be a bit braver when it comes to sharing how we really feel, how vulnerable we are.

There's such a huge temptation when we're trying to come across as experts, professionals and authorities that we pretend we have all the answers and we always know what to do.

That's certainly not the case for me. I'm often racked with indecision and worried that I might make a wrong move with my marketing that would make me look amateurish when I'm supposed to be an expert at this.

But I don't think that makes me less of an authority. I think it makes me human.

And humans connect with humans. We trust humans.

Could you be more open and vulnerable in your communication?

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No personality?

Posted byIan Brodie on December 8th, 2016.

Yesterday I said that personality was one way to differentiate your services from your competitors.

Sometimes, it's the only way.

But what if you don't have a “big” personality?

That's OK. Big personalities are great on stage, but I wouldn't want to work with one day-in, day-out.

What I mean by personality is more about being more open. Letting people see “the real you”. Admitting your flaws. Admitting your strange likes and dislikes. 

We're all wonderfully different. We click with some people and not with others. 

The problem is that most of us bury who we are beneath an air of professionalism. And that makes it difficult for potential clients to see enough of us to click. 

I mentioned James Altucher yesterday. He goes much further than most. He winds his advice in his emails into stories of his insecurities, failures, hang-ups, but ultimately successes.  

I care about James. I want him to succeed just as much as I want him to send me good advice. So much so that I actually got upset when I heard he'd split with his wife.

Most of us probably don't need to go as far as he does in sharing his personal experiences. But that personal angle is important. Think about the “water cooler” conversations you had at work or the chats about random nonsense in the office canteen. It was that chit-chat that helped you build relationships with colleagues.

Transfer that to your marketing.

No one wants to hear about your trivia every day, of course. But wrapping your valuable information in your personal experiences makes you more relatable. And it also makes your advice feel more concrete and “real world”.

A challenge for you: next time you write a blog post, article or email, or do a podcast or video: embed the tips you give in a personal story. See how it works out.

Better yet, tell me how it works out :)

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Differentiating is HARD. Here are 3 proven methods that work

Posted byIan Brodie on December 6th, 2016.

Standing out from the crowd is vital. But in the mature markets most of us operate in, it can be really, really difficult.

The challenge is that in our mature service markets, there are always others promising the same results as us.

I'm certainly not the only person promising to help you get more clients. And I'm sure you're not the only person in your market promising to improve their leadership, cut their costs, get them more website visitors or whatever it is you do.

Promising a core benefit is the price of entry in a mature market. You need to do more to stand out. 

One method is to focus on a sub-segment of your market.

That could be a particular niche you specialise in. Career coaching for returning-to-work moms. Sales training for enterprise software tools. 

Your specialisation gives potential clients confidence that what you offer will be tailored to their specific needs and so help them get better results. 

Or you could focus on a sub-segment that values a secondary benefit of your product or service. That's the classic Dominos Pizza “fast delivery” USP. Or for you, it could be sales training delivered multilingually, leadership coaching delivered discreetly without involving the rest of the organisation.

The second method is to highlight a unique method or system or “new ingredient” you use to deliver your service that others don't have. This is especially powerful in a sceptical market where clients may have used other suppliers and failed to get the results they were looking for. Your different approach gives them hope that they'll be able to get results with you.

Consultants have been offering cost reduction and productivity improving services since time immemorial. But when Michael Hammer & James Champy branded their approach to transformation as “Re-Engineering” and showed how it was different to previous improvement methodologies, it gave clients across the globe a reason to believe that this time, it just might work.

The final method might surprise you. It's personality.

But if you think about it (and if you're anything like me) you regularly buy from people who aren't really offering anything much different to their competitors. It's just that we like them. We click with them. We appreciate their style. We perhaps aspire to be a bit like them.

Face to face, “know, like and trust” has always been important. And it's usually built up over time and many personal interactions.

Online, there's less opportunity for those personal interactions and instead we often “fall in love” with those we follow who have big personalities.

I'm a subscriber to James Altucher's paid newsletter for example. I can't say I've ever done much with it, but I love the way he writes, his honesty and his creativity.

Ideally, you want to combine all 3. Have a unique approach for a specialised niche, delivered with your unique, attractive personality.

But even one is better than none!

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5 ways to get people to believe your USP

Posted byIan Brodie on December 4th, 2016.

In last Sunday's email I said that no matter how clever your Unique Selling Proposition is, it's not going to do you any good if no one believes it.

Here are 5 ways to establish that belief.

1. Repetition. If people hear something often enough they tend to believe it. This is the weakest form of “proof”, but it's the basis of most advertising. If we keep seeing on TV that Volkswagens are reliable or that Heinz soup tastes like you mother made it, we end up kind of believing it. Consistency is important: if you have a decent USP, keep communicating it. Don't flip flop between different messages.
2. Qualifications or experience. If your USP is about how you're more expert or better at something then having the qualifications or the documented experience in that area can help convince people that your claims of expertise are true.
3. A strong guarantee. If you back up your services and products with strong guarantees then people tend to believe the claims you make about them. Dominos, of course, did this to great effect with their guarantee you'd get a fresh hot pizza in 30 minutes or your money back.
4. Testimonials and social proof. I might be somewhat skeptical if you say you're good at something, but if others say you're good, I'm more likely to believe them.
5. Demonstration. This is the strongest form of proof. As the old saying goes, if you tell me you can fly I'll think you're mad. If others tell me you can fly I'll think they've gone crazy too. But flap your wings and zoom across the room and I'm a believer.
   As experts and advisors we can demonstrate our capabilities through our articles, videos, podcasts and other free stuff we give away. Tell someone you can cut their energy bills and they'll be skeptical. Give them a brilliant energy saving tip for free that saves them money and they'll believe you.

You can use one or all of these strategies for getting people to believe your USP. More is better, of course.

Which ones are you using?