Why Your Marketing Isn’t Working: An Introduction to the 3 M’s for Effective Strategy & Better Results

It’s extremely common that agencies or consultants come to me sharing how their marketing simply isn’t working. They blame it on the tactics and seem to think that everyone who is teaching them tactics is a scam.

They try cold email… and fail.
They try Facebook ads… and fail.
They try content marketing… and fail.
They keep trying new things… and failing.

When your marketing is not producing results, there are 3 foundational elements that can be wrong with it. These are called the “Three M’s”.

In this article, I am going to share those Three M’s with you and give concrete examples of how to think about each one.

Business Development, Blog, Consulting, Marketing, Outbound Marketing, SalesJake JorgovanFebruary 14, 2018strategy

Inbound vs. Outbound Leads: How to Close More Sales & Convert Prospects into Paying Customers

Many customers who come to Lead Cookie only have experience closing inbound leads and referrals. Most have never run a cold email campaign, cold calling or Linkedin outreach campaign.

How you handle an inbound lead vs an outbound lead is different in two fundamental ways.

Trust
Buying cycle

My goal with this article is to dive into those differences and help improve your closing rate from outbound leads.

The weekly sales habit essential to nurturing & closing more deals

There is a trend that I see time and time again in nearly all of the agencies and consultants that I work with.

They often get leads in some form or another.

But, they struggle to nurture and close those leads…

The reason?

They have no habit built to nurture and close those deals.

In this article, I am going to share with you a super simple weekly nurture habit that takes 30 minutes each week. This habit will help you nurture more customers through to a close.

20 creative ideas on how to win consulting clients

Finding new clients and better clients is the ongoing challenge of almost any agency or consulting practice.

In this post, I outline 20 different tactics that I have seen agencies and freelancers use to win new clients for their business. These tactics are all real-world examples that I have learned from hands-on experience or interviewing agency owners on my podcast.

Business Development, Consulting, Marketing, Outbound Creative, SalesJake JorgovanJune 23, 2017

A Simple Trick to Get More Leads on LinkedIn

About six months ago, an agency owner told me about this interesting Linkedin tactic that he used to win one of their best clients.

At first, I was skeptical on if the approach would actually work. So before recommending it to any of my clients or readers, I decided to give it a shot myself.

After 6 months, I can now cite closing more than $10,000 worth of consulting business from this passive tactic. And as I write this, I am in negotiations with one of my biggest clients to date which could take that closed number to $60k or more.

All of that revenue came from a simple lead generation tactic on Linkedin.

Podcast Process & Workflow: How to Streamline Production, Save Time & Boost Audience Engagement

“Starting a podcast sounds great, but it just seems like a ton of work.”

That is what nearly all of my clients say to me when I propose the idea of launching their own podcast.

Yet when I bring up the idea of starting a podcast to others, they have a built in belief that creating and running a podcast is going to take at on of time and energy.

The truth is, that is not the case.

In this post I share my entire workflow on streamlining my podcast process.

How to 10X Your Results When Attending a Conference: Networking & Growth Strategies for Success

When most people go to a conference or networking event, they tend to just show up and hope for the best.

Maybe they will bump into someone worthwhile at the bar.
Or perhaps one of the random people they approach to network with will be a potential customer.

Due to the nature of live events and the connections that can arise of meeting someone in person, these events still can often yield results when those lucky connections do arise.

But, relying on luck to bump into a worthwhile connection is not really the best approach.
Instead, you can 10x the results you get from your next conference or live event by planning ahead and doing outreach before the event.

In this post, I am going to share with you a simple 5 step process for maximizing the results you get from your next event.

How to find almost anyone’s email address: Best Tools & Strategies for Successful Outreach

When you are doing outbound marketing, emails are essential.

Regardless of if you are running a cold email campaign, or following up on a direct mail piece, email addresses are essential to outreach.

In the course of my outbound marketing efforts, I have researched thousands of email addresses and tried out various tools for finding them.

In this post I have outlined the tools and methods I use to find email addresses.

The best sales advice I ever received

One of my sales mentors once shared a very simple piece of advice with me.

It’s so simple, it seems almost stupid when you first look at it.

But yet, I can relate almost every gap of work in my history of consulting down to this simple concept.

And time and time again, I find myself sharing this information with clients who seem to be struggling to keep their sales pipelines full.

Blog, Business Development, Dream Client Campaign, Marketing, Outbound Creative, SalesJake JorgovanJune 17, 2016

How to create an effective sales and marketing strategy

Strategy. To many people strategy seems intangible.
It seems like something that companies either do right, or they do wrong.

But the truth is, strategy is tangible.
And creating an effective strategy is a skill that any person can learn.

Blog, Business Development, Consulting, Dream Client Campaign, Marketing, Outbound CreativeJake JorgovanDecember 9, 2015

Under promise, over deliver

If there is one mistake that nearly all creative professionals are culprit of, it is this.

They make promises to clients, and then they don't deliver on them.

They tell a client "I will have that to you tomorrow."

Then tomorrow rolls around, and they break the promise. They don't deliver. This broken promise upsets the client and it hurts the relationship.

A barbershop in Thailand

There is a barbershop in Thailand...

Blog, Business Development, Freelancing, MarketingJake JorgovanApril 27, 2015

The Freelancer Pitch Framework – Stop Overcomplicating What You Do

There is a recurring trend I see among nearly all creative professional who are considering starting their own business or are in the early phases.

They overcomplicate what they do.

Learning to easily communicate what you do is one of the most important things every creative professional must learn.

The Price of Creativity: Balancing Passion, Profit & the Real Costs of Pursuing a Creative Career

Creativity. There are few sellable goods or services that have such a wide range of pricing as creative work.

Why is it that one painting can cost millions of dollars, while another can't even be sold?

Why is that one designer can charge 10x what another designer charges for the exact same service?

My goal with this post is to share with you two examples of creative pricing in action, and then explain to you why they are priced the way they are.

Lean Marketing: How to Maximize Impact with Minimal Resources & Drive Business Growth Efficiently

Several years ago Eric Ries published an popular business book called The Lean Startup.

The core principle of the book is that you shouldn't invest large amounts of time, money and energy into a new business up front without knowing if it will work.

That same principle is true for marketing your creative services.

How to make the jump to freelancing full time

One of the biggest questions I regularly get through my site is from creatives who are wanting to quit their jobs and freelance full time.

They know they want to do it, but they are afraid to make the jump.

In this post, I will share with you two strategies for making the jump and stories of freelancers who have done it.

The Art of Perception: How Shifting Perspectives Shapes Success, Influence & Decision-Making

Early in my career, a mentor shared with me a piece of advice that would change me forever.

"Perception becomes reality"

Those three simple words changed how I approached business, and my personal life.

Instead of being the floundering kid with a mediocre business, I began to change how the world perceived me.

Blog, Creative Work, Freelancing, Launch your Career, MarketingJake JorgovanJanuary 19, 2015

Why You Should Keep a List of People You Like & How It Strengthens Relationships and Opportunities

For years, I have used a strategy that has both improved my quality of life and generated a large amount of income.

The strategy has never cost me a single dollar, and I enjoy executing it.

Its not complicated, and it is something anyone can do.

I keep a list of people I like.

The Secret Ingredient to Direct Outreach: The Most Underutilized Method of Acquiring New Clients

Direct outreach includes e-mail prospecting, sending letters in the mail, etc.

Many don't believe direct outreach works. They are inundated with spammy requests all day and thus, they think all direct outreach is spammy.

But the truth is, direct outreach is an effective method of acquiring new work and it doesn't have to be spammy.

Personally, direct outreach has lead to 30% of my income this year.

My goal with this post is to share with you a few methods on utilizing direct outreach to grow your freelancing business.

Networking Strategies for Success: How to Build Meaningful Connections & Unlock Career Opportunities

If you are like most people, you hate networking.

The idea of walking into a room and schmoozing a bunch of people hoping to find an ideal prospect probably sounds horrible.

But networking doesn't have to be that way.

My goal in this post is to share with you just a few ways to expand your network without feeling sleazy about it.

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Thoughts on B2B, Entrepreneurship, & Thinking Different…