What we all knew as marketing, is pretty-much dead.

It was designed for a world that no longer exists.

It’s no longer fit-for-purpose.

Here’s an example of how vastly over-saturated marketing has become and how difficult it is to get noticed.

Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the world’s leading experts in social media marketing. Back in April of this year, Gary told an audience what his 30 person team was doing, to optimize their social media marketing. He said that the day before the event, his team:

‘… published 412 pieces of content, across 10 platforms, and 81 different social media handles‘. Remember, Gary knows every marketing trick, tactic and strategy in the book. And less than a year ago, Gary was recommending 100 pieces of content a day.

Back when I discovered Gary, he was posting just 4 or 5 times a week on YouTube and using Twitter. Yet millions of us knew him, worldwide.

Traditional marketing is dead

AI has provided us with the ability to produce as much content as we want. It will also publish it for us, so we can mass produce, with close to no effort. As a result, every day, millions of people are producing billions of pieces of content between them. This number is growing daily.

Traditional marketing can no longer force its way through.

That’s why I am going to show you how to achieve spectacular results, using a Creative Growth tactic.

Long live Creative Growth

Creative Growth is about creatively growing your business, boosting sales, revenues and profits, by attracting the right clients or customers. It’s about focusing on fewer tactics, and focusing in a less obvious, more creative way.

The Creative Growth tactic I’m showing you today, has no connection with the noise and nonsense out there. It’s a detailed look at a creative way to grow your business, which I have only mentioned very briefly before.

Let’s start with a question.

Did you know that you can make a year’s worth of high profit sales, simply by focusing on attracting a tiny number of influential contacts?

Tiny number?

Yes. If you’re a service provider, it could be as few as two!

However, these need to be influential contacts.

Here’s how this tactic works.

Let’s pretend you’re a graphic designer

And you want to grow your design business 200% over the next 12-months.

The senior partner of a large accountancy practice really likes your work. So, they recommend you to all their clients. Their clients who use your services loved your work. They then thanked the senior partner for recommending you. Naturally, the senior partner carries on recommending you.

That one, influential contact has the trust of 800 business owners. Their trusted recommendation lands powerfully, with high conversion rates. This could easily provide you with enough new clients, to smash your target. And provide you with lots more clients, over time, on repeat recommendations.

To make this happen, you switch from traditional marketing (marketing your services to thousands of individual prospects, who don’t know you or have any reason to trust you) to Creative Growth (identifying, and connecting with 1 influential person, who is trusted by 800 prospects).

All the time you remain focused on traditional marketing, you’ll miss out on amazing results like this.

Next step: Here’s how to get those influential contacts AND earn their trust.

Identifying the right, influential people

This part is easy.

You always start by asking yourself this question: Who is already trusted by a large number of my ideal prospects?

This will help you get started.

You often find that the most trusted people are those who provide expert advice. For example, accountants, lawyers, medical professionals, financial advisors, business consultants and business leaders.

Depending on your ideal prospect, trusted people could be those who are famous. Sports stars, musicians, actors, authors, TV stars and DJs.

That’s just to get you thinking. Do some research based on your business and ideal client or customer profile.

Earning trust and how to connect

This is not as easy as the previous step.

Influential people often encounter selfish individuals who are after something. The more influential a person is, the more often they are targeted. Understandably, this means they’re sensitive to outreach from strangers. So, even though our motives are good, we need to be patient. And give them time to see for themselves that we’re trustworthy.

An exception here, is if you already know someone who is trusted by the influential person you want to connect with.

Earning trust is about giving freely, over a period of time.

For instance, in 2011, music legend Nile Rodgers told his Twitter followers that he would be coming to London, for the UK launch of is autobiography. We had ‘tweeted’ occasionally with each other for about 18-months. Anyhow, I sent him a direct message with my phone number, said I would be at the launch and to call if he needed any help.

It turned out he did, and it was something I was able to assist with. We became friends. Had I hardly known him, it’s unlikely we would have connected the way we did.

What’s the best way to reach influential people?

For the past 20-years, based on the success of my clients and my own success, the best tool for the job by far is social media.

This is especially the case if you are hoping to connect with extremely influential people.

How do you earn trust, by ‘giving freely’ on social media?

Start by taking the list of influential people you created earlier.

Then use the search function to locate them on your app. If they are on the app, check how recently they posted anything.

Tip: also check how recently they replied to someone. On the Threads app, X app and other apps, it’s not uncommon for people to post rarely, but be very active in the replies section.

If they are active, follow their account.

Then spend time looking at what they have recently posted. You’ll get some insight into what they’re interested in, etc.

Next, when appropriate, look for ways to contribute something useful or helpful to one of their posts/replies. Keep it positive. Don’t push them or get too friendly too fast. Don’t reply to everything they post. Slowly become one of those people who often engages with them.

At this point you’re connected. Try to maintain a cadence with them.

Finally, when enough time has passed, and an opportunity arises from something they’ve said, where you can provide them with help, reach out. Similar to what I did with Nile.

And what’s the best social platform?

X (Twitter) gives direct access to influential people in every walk of life. It’s where the majority of my clients, and myself, get the best results.

Some people find LinkedIn works very well for them. So, it could be just what you need. Again, it depends on the profile of influential people you want to connect with.

In closing

Spend some time pondering Creative Growth. It’s different. So is the approach required and the results.

It is definitely too different for some people. They’ve told me they’re concerned about the risk of not doing things the way they’ve always done them.

It’s a natural human reaction, when we’re confronted with change. And we all deal with it differently.

I hope you’ve found this look at one of my Creative Growth tactics useful. If you did, forward it to a friend.

Traditional marketing is dead was written by Jim Connolly and originally published on Jim Connolly Marketing

You want to get noticed in a non-stop world. Great! I’m going to show you how to get started.

First, I want to share something weird with you.

Did you know that using AI on a task as simple as writing a pretend essay, can negatively impact your brain?

Here’s some background. Plus, why a less mentioned side of AI, contributes to all the look-a-like junk out there… and how YOU can cut through it!

The weird

A scientific study at MIT, scanned the brains of volunteers in a simple test. One group of volunteers was asked to use ChatGPT to help them write an essay. Another group was asked to write the essay without AI. 

Despite how simple the task was, the EEG scans of those using AI for the task showed poorer judgement, reduced brain engagement and memory loss, where they couldn’t remember key parts of their essay.

All of that came from one, easy, zero pressure task.  

Now imagine a business owner, using AI regularly across stressful, important, commercial tasks. Such as: strategy development, strategic planning, project notes, reports for clients, marketing copy, advertising, graphic design, social content. 

I know many, many businesses that rely on AI for all or most of the above. And many more, who rely so heavily on AI, that almost every written word they publish is AI or AI, plus light, human editing. 

The ‘voice’ of businesses like these have been silenced, or are being silenced. Very little human input. No uniqueness. HUMAN SLOP!

Nothing to see, worth seeing.

Nothing to read, worth reading.

Nothing to say, worth hearing.

Why does that even matter? Because our uniqueness is all you and I have!

The stupid game

Everyone’s trying to find the perfect social platform for them to make a big impact.

Everyone’s convinced they need a personal brand, when all that does is make them even less visible. These people conform to a predictable, personal branding recipe. They emerge somewhat synthetic. Lacking their uniqueness. Camouflaged.

Everyone’s using AI.

Everyone’s trying to beat the algorithm.

Everyone’s attempting to create the best prompts.

Everyone’s testing hashtags.

Everyone’s optimizing their content, their photos, their marketing copy, their subject lines, their titles, their message, their timings for mailings, articles and posts.

Everyone’s trying to get noticed… just like everyone else.

Thankfully

Some people are cutting through that cheap, nasty, unhealthy noise.

And they’re actually getting noticed. Ironically, that’s the very thing the busy, directionless, confused masses are working tirelessly to achieve.

How are those people getting noticed?

By refusing to play the stupid game.

Instead.

• They embrace organic. They make space for analogue. As in, face-to-face human interactions.
• They refuse to become part of the nonsense, which causes human slop.
• They keep their minds sharp, by using them.
• They publish or post when they have something to contribute. Something useful. Something they created.
• They focus on people. Not algorithms.
• They build systems for their business, not prompts for their AIs.

You are enough.

And the more people playing the stupid game, the more visible you become.

Just by being YOU. And letting the right people learn who YOU are.

The stupid game was written by Jim Connolly and originally published on Jim Connolly Marketing

Business owners tend to be a pretty motivated bunch.

We have to be, right?

Not only are we motivated, we also believe in the value of our product or service. When you combine motivation with belief, you create a potent mix. An essential, high energy blend that keeps us moving forward and inspires us to persist even when things are tough.

And that’s great!

However.

Sometimes that mix of belief and motivation can work against us.

Really?

Yes, really.

For example, we speak with a prospect and immediately see that our product or service is the perfect match for them. We know we can provide exactly what they need. So, we’re eager to help them make the right decision.

Here’s the thing.

There’s a thin line between encouraging someone to make the right decision, and rushing someone to decide.

When that line is crossed, it can make you look desperate. Or too pushy. It can quickly lower the buyer’s confidence and make them feel uncomfortable.

It can, and often does, lose you the sale.

How to avoid this, before it happens!

Based on decades of experience and observations, I’ve found that this is most likely to happen during the follow-up process. 

You need to be very mindful regarding how soon and how often you follow-up with an email or call. That’s because there isn’t a universally ideal time, or frequency I can give you.

Different industries and different cultures have different expectations. So, you’ll need to test and measure. Take into account things like the size of the decision your prospect is making financially, plus the number of people involved with the decision-making process, the size of the overall risk, etc.

Important note: Do not confuse rushing the process with being appropriately proactive.

There are times when we need to be swift. To move quickly.

Most opportunities in life and business come with a use-by date. If we take too long, we’re often too late. 

The advice is don’t rush the process. 

Fast is fine. 

Too fast is rushing.

I hope you find this idea useful. More importantly, I hope you do something with it.

Photo by Zhang Kaiyv on Pexels.com

Hey! Not so fast! was written by Jim Connolly and originally published on Jim Connolly Marketing

Photo: Karolina Grabowska Pexels.com

Jim, how do I make sure I set my fees right? 

I get asked that question a lot. So, I’m going to answer it today.

I’m also going to show you how to earn more than you’ve ever earned before, from clients who eagerly want to hire you.

Let’s start with a few questions.

• Do your clients pay you what you’re worth?
• Do your clients give you the freedom to produce your best work?
• Do your clients respect you?

Even if you found yourself answering NO to all three of those questions, you don’t have three challenges to overcome.

You only have one. And it’s really easy

The news gets even better my friend. Because the rewards are far, far greater than you might think.

Overcome the fee setting challenge

Here’s why this is an easy challenge to solve.

• You don’t need to figure out how to know in advance if a client will respect you.
• You don’t need to be able to tell ahead of time, if they will allow you the freedom to do your best work, either.

All you need to know is that you’ve set your fee correctly and they’re happy to pay you what you know you’re worth.

Here’s why.

When a client pays you what you’re worth, you don’t have to rush. Your time is being rewarded correctly, so you’re free to consistently provide your very best work, on schedule. 

And clients who pay you what you’re worth, who rely on you for this consistently high-quality service, also greatly appreciate your contribution. 

They rely on the value you bring. They respect you for enriching them and their business. 

All this was built on the fee you quoted and their decision to agree to your fee. (relax, I’ll show you how to set your fee in a moment).

Why getting your fees right is essential to your success

When you set your fee, you set more than the financial return for your services. You set the whole framework for your relationship with the client.
And in turn, you set the rewards on every level of your business.

Here’s what happens.

You create a positive cycle. It’s a cycle where:

• You’re free to produce your best work.
• You’re regularly recommended by your delighted clients.
• You’re respected in your market, because of what your clients say about you.
• You’re paid accordingly by new clients, who value your excellent reputation. 
• These new clients start that cycle all over again.

Here’s how to set your fee. It’s really easy. 

Decide exactly what your fees need to be, in order for you to provide your very best work, and smash your financial targets.

Then, make your services so good that they’re worth double (or more) your newly-increased fees. Remember, you’ll be earning a lot more for your time, allowing you to greatly improve the value you bring. This makes your fees extremely attractive to prospective clients, as you’re charging them half of what your services are worth.

Set your fees correctly. Earn more than ever. Work exclusively with clients who respect you and value you. 

Have a great day.

That’s it.

Go on!

There’s nothing more to see here.

Move along. 

Back to work.

Okay.

There’s one more thing.

Who do you think Jim Connolly is?

You’re wrong! Look.

How to get your fees right was written by Jim Connolly and originally published on Jim Connolly Marketing

Today’s post is for those of you who need to turn things around in the 2nd half of the year.

This isn’t cookie-cutter advice. Instead, think of the ideas that follow as nudges. Nudges to encourage you to focus on some key areas.

Don’t make long-term plans, with short-term people. Short-term people leave a trail of disasters behind them. Intentionally make connections with smart, long-term people.

Finish before you start. Here’s the thing: you don’t start building a house until the plans are finished. If the bricklayer is working, and someone asks them what they’re building, the bricklayer never says ‘I’ve no idea‘. If you want a successful second half of 2026, plan it first. And don’t rely on the person who created your current plan… including if it was you. 

Feed what you need. When you starve a business of the resources it needs, it dies. Just like everything else on the planet. 

You can’t climb a smooth mountain. You need places where you can plant your feet, and grab with your hands. No struggle = no success. The key is to learn from your current struggle, so you don’t repeat it in the 2nd half of 2026. 

Don’t get complacent. Why? Simple! Complacency comes before cockiness. Cockiness comes before a fall. And when cocky people fall, the line to help them is extremely short.

Foolish advice leads to pain. That wisdom has held true for thousands of years. ‘Whoever walks with the wise, becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm’. Proverbs 13:20. When you associate with wise people, their wisdom will influence you. When you associate with fools, you will pay a hefty price. 

If you found this information useful, please share it with a friend.

A 3 shot espresso for your business was written by Jim Connolly and originally published on Jim Connolly Marketing

It’s hard not to be productive, when your work inspires you.

Try this

When you’re feeling unproductive, look at your work and determine what part or parts aren’t inspiring you. That’s where your productivity answer is. Make it more interesting. Change or replace the uninspiring stuff, with exciting, engaging alternatives.

Sometimes it’s as easy as doing your work from a different location, using different hardware, using different software or using different pens, etc.

When work is inspiring, productivity is no longer an issue. Because inspiration brings it’s own motivation.

Unproductive? You’re probably just bored was written by Jim Connolly and originally published on Jim Connolly Marketing