Keeping it real

September 20, 2026

creative marketing, Jim Connolly, keep it real

Today, I have some useful ideas to help you attract more prospective clients or customers and turn them into ACTUAL clients or customers.

You’ll love this!

Yes, marketing really is dead

You want to get noticed by the right people and convert them into clients. Now that traditional marketing is dead, you need a different approach. I’ve offered lots of advice on what to do, in this article: marketing is dead. If you haven’t read that yet, I strongly recommend you do.

Here’s another creative marketing strategy you can use, to build a more successful business.

It’s all about keeping it real.

Until recently, small business owners battled to get noticed, by looking as polished, big and successful as possible.

They’d (usually) get the best website they could afford. They’d learn how to use pre-AI Canva or another app, to build social platform templates, so their posts looked sharp.

Today, everyone can automate all that, for free or peanuts. Plus, you can have the content written for you, and have as much content published as you want, as often as you want. Just set it up and forget it.

So, we have lots of polished, sharp-looking small businesses out there, posting their content as often as possible.

This is where the keeping it real strategy comes in.

By keeping it real, we look and sound authentic. Real is honest. And it’s a lot easier to earn trust from your prospects, when they feel you’re honest.

It’s also easier to attract your prospect’s attention, when you differentiate from the cookie-cutter masses.

What does keeping it real look like?

Your version of real will be different from mine. However, you may find this useful as an example. As longtime readers will know, I have done things my own way for decades and never followed the crowd.

Such as.

I’ve never published on a schedule. I’ve had periods where I’ve published five times a week. Other times I’ve publish once a month. And I never had a set time or day to publish. As long as I thought people would find it useful, I’d publish.

I get offered money from advertisers all the time and have always refused. I prefer readers to know there’s no hidden agenda. I don’t write for advertisers. I write for you.

I’ve never had or needed a LinkedIn account. There’s nothing wrong with LinkedIn. I just have a wonderful network of amazing people.

I often not only reply to readers of my newsletter who ask me questions. I sometimes have a Zoom with them, if it’s appropriate. I love people. I love helping. It’s the way I’m wired.

More recently, I’ve started to use the scraps of paper that I write newsletter titles on, as the images for my newsletter. Previously, these were binned as soon as I decided on a title.

I’ve also used photos of the ever-changing walls of my studio. I used this one most recently here.

In 2016, when I discovered I was battling vision loss, I published it in my newsletter and on my blog. Yes, that might have stopped some people from working with me. I preferred that to hiding something important. My eyes have been fine now, with no treatment, for almost 2-years.

What about you?

Here are a few ideas you may want to run with. I’ve used all of these successfully.

Big value. Less often

Create something of substance (video, audio, newsletter, article, whatever) for your prospective clients, which they will find useful. Allow your personality to shine through it.

A chunk of useful information is a lot more attractive and valuable, than blitzing social media with quotes or other low-effort content.

Focus on your next 50 clients

If you’re an accountant, lawyer, trainer or consultant, etc., and you work locally to your clients, focus only on connecting with 50 prospects you’d love to serve. Remember, your goal is to build a client list. Not ‘likes’ from a drive-by audience.

One way I have made this work for my clients, is to create a zine. They are great fun to do, people love them and often share them. Oh, and your competitors aren’t using them!

Publish your process

Consider publishing your process. This is better known today as showing your work. Creatives tend to be the only people who do this. But it works in many industries. You simply take photos or videos of parts of your working day, and add some text or audio for context.

Giving your prospects a behind-the-scenes look at your business may sound dull to you. However, it gives prospects a powerful way to identify with you. Not all of them. But the ones who DO identify with you are highly likely to become clients.