Spinning Gold Marketing » success

Is Your Business a Wallflower or a Rock Star?

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:36:19 +0000

3 Things to ask yourself to make sure you are delivering a compelling message so that you can attract your ideal clients and accelerate your business success!

Think of your business as a person. What if your business had a face, a personality, a particular look, a feel; what if when potential clients thought of your business, they got a sense of how it thinks and what it believes in, just like a person? Guess what!?! Your business is just like a person and does have all of these things. Your business has its own personality.

Some people are considered wallflowers. They hang back, are quiet and do not draw attention. In fact, others barely know they’re there!

If your business is like a wallflower, it probably isn’t drawing much attention, either. In fact, as the business owner, you may feel like your working just as hard as all the other businesses, maybe even harder, but you still aren’t drawing the clients and income you’d like.

On the other hand, some people have the personality of a rock star! These people have no problem letting others know who they are, what they do and why they exist! If your business is like a rock star, you probably have all the clients you can possibly handle, and are busy creating more programs and products just to keep up with the demand! Lucky you!

If your business feels more like the wallflower right now, and you’d like to have more of what the rock star has, ask yourself these 3 three key questions:

1) Have I articulated and written down my brand promise?

The most important thing to remember about a brand is: A brand is a promise–a promise of consistency. A client chooses one person or company to do business with because they know what to expect from that company every time. That company has done a good job of defining who they are and what they can do for their clients, and it has done a good job of repeating that message over and over so that people understand what they are promising and trust it!

Clients have a certain set of expectations of people or companies they do business with. They want to know they can trust that the product or service will be very much the same as it was the last time they used it. That’s the brand promise.

Some promises a company, or brand, can make to its clients are:

Consistency (Most important)

Quality

Price

Convenience

Customer Service

Better than the competition in some way

Your brand promise should come through in all of your marketing and advertising efforts.

2) What do I want my clients to remember about me and/or my business?

When clients, or potential clients, think about you or your product or service, what is the core message they get? Your core message is a precise description of what you do, who you work with and why you are different (better) than your competition.

Your core message should be based on:

The nature of your services or products–what you are selling–and the benefits or features of your service or product.

Your unique selling proposition, or what sets you apart from the competition.

The promise you make to your clients–what’s in it for them?

It’s important that you understand and clearly articulate the core message you want to send for your business. You need to keep your core message in mind when developing all of your advertising materials such as your website, brochures, business card, etc. Your core message is what you want your clients to remember about you. This is how you create a deeply meaningful connection with your clients and prospective clients.

3) Does my company name and/or tagline explain the nature of my business or what I do?

When people see your company name they should be able to understand what you do. If that isn’t clearly articulated in your company name, it should be clear in your tagline.

For example, my company name is Spinning Gold Marketing. Now, people may, or may not, understand exactly what I do. My tagline is: “The Entrepreneurs’ Business Growth Coach for Focused, Fast Results.”

My tagline tells 3 things:
1) Who I work with – “Entrepreneurs”
2) What I do – “Business Growth Coach”
3) What I promise – “Focused, Fast Results.”

Taglines don’t have to be catchy to be memorable (although it certainly doesn’t hurt!). Your company name and your tagline do need to tell potential clients, or remind current clients, that you specialize in exactly what they need.

Your brand identity is the power and force behind your business success. Your brand message is what clearly tells clients and potential clients who you work with, what you do for them and why they should choose to work with you. And, remember, once you are clear on your brand promise–your core message–and have an effective company name and tagline, be sure it is consistent in everything you do.

Laurie Polinski
Spinning Gold Marketing

5 Key Tips To Stand Out In A Crowded Field On A Shoestring Budget

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:58:12 +0000

How do you stand out from a crowded field without spending tons of money on advertising?

1) Give some serious thought to what differentiates you from the competition. We’ve all heard that we need our “elevator speech”–the 30-second infomercial that quickly tells people who you are and what you do. Your elevator speech should answer the question: “Why should I work with you instead of any of the others?”

- How do you get clear on what you can offer?

- Do you offer a product or service that others don’t?

- Do you have special training or certification that others don’t have?

- Do you understand what you are truly expert at that sets you apart?

- What core values do you have, or does your business reflect?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you will have the basis for your elevator speech. Stick with it—that is your story. That story is the one that will stick in customers’ minds and, if it sounds authentic, they will repeat your story to others.

2) Start a word-of-mouth campaign.

Word-of-mouth is free and can be your most effective form of advertising as long as your message is authentic to who you are, what you offer and how you help people.

3) Do you have a membership or club that offers discounts or other incentives to your loyal, repeat clients?

This gives clients incentive to continue coming back to you instead of trying a competitor.

Remember, though, almost no discount or incentive will be enough if your client is not satisfied with your service. Again, this is where your message must match what you deliver.

4) Give your clients incentives or discounts for referrals.

Create some kind of reward for your clients who share your message with others. For example, you might have special cards printed for your clients to give to friends and when their friends use your services, both your referring client and the new client receive a discount or incentive.

Be sure your branding and authentic message is clear on whatever card or piece you use so that your existing customer doesn’t have to do the work of trying to communicate who you are, what you do and why their friend should go to you.

5) Make sure you have good marketing materials to give to potential clients.

Your brochures, fliers, website and any other marketing materials must reflect your authentic branding so that people quickly and easily understand who you are, how you can help them and why they should choose you.

Some of these suggestions may cost a little money, but when you have the right branding message–one that is truly authentic to who you are and what you are an expert at delivering–it will be the catalyst to what makes you stand out in a crowded field.

With the right branding message—one that is authentic to who you are and what you are an expert at delivering—these inexpensive advertising suggestions will be the catalyst to what makes you stand out in a jam-packed market.

Laurie Polinski
Spinning Gold Marketing

Understanding Your Unique Brilliance

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:25:28 +0000

Understanding Your Unique Brilliance in Your Business

Your unique brilliance is what you are inherently good at, and what you enjoy doing so much that it doesn’t even seem like work to you; it’s what you get so lost in that you completely lose track of time. Determining and harnessing your unique brilliance will allow you to provide your talent to others in a quality that no one else can, and will make you stand out against the competition. Understanding your unique brilliance will help you get paid for doing something that you would do even if you weren’t getting paid!

Uncovering Your Unique Brilliance

Although everyone is born equipped with a unique brilliance, not everyone is able to recognize theirs immediately. Throughout childhood, years of nurturing often (and often times involuntarily) causes people to lose touch with their natural talent. For example, you might grow up thinking that you want to be an astronaut because a parent or teacher encouraged you to be. Once more cognizant of yourself, however, you realize that you hate math and are terrified of heights and cannot stand the smell of burning rocket fuel, so you pick up the paint brush that you’ve been eyeing since fifth grade and become a world-famous artist, just as you were born to be.

Transforming Your Unique Brilliance Into a Business System

When you use your unique brilliance with your business, you focus on what you are truly exceptional at, or what comes natural to you. Concentrating at what you are truly great at will allow your business to flourish and the tasks which are not in alignment with your brilliance get delegated or just pushed aside. Identifying your unique brilliance is not always easy, so specialists have developed professional personality assessments to help people better understand themselves. As a marketing and soul coach, I am certified to assess multidimensional awareness profile evaluations that will help you pinpoint your innate talent.

Laurie Polinski

Spinning Gold Marketing

The Importance of Knowing Yourself in Business

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:24:45 +0000

Knowing Yourself Creates Clarity for Your Business and to Your Ideal Client

Last week’s article: “7 Key Steps to Taking Control of Your Business This Year,” gave you some important steps to follow to have greater clarity and focus in your business so you can have your best year yet. In the upcoming articles we will be expanding on each one of these steps in greater detail so you will have a clear picture of each of these steps and their importance to your success.

Your business starts with a foundation, and the strength to any foundation is it’s cornerstone. The cornerstone of a foundation provides stability and strength to support a structure and without it, the foundation will fail and the structure collapse. You are the cornerstone of your business structure and in being solid in your goals, vision and self awareness, you will allow for the support needed to build a strong successful business.

Knowing Yourself Allows You to Effectively Brand Yourself

As an Entrepreneur, being very clear on who you are at your core, allows you to build a solid relationship with your ideal clients. Promoting and operating a business that is a reflection of who you are will attract clients through authenticity, promoting a sense of deep trust. Operating your business with a self-awareness will nurture self confidence, and exhibiting self-confidence will assure your clients on a deep subconscious level that they are in the best of care.

Self Awareness Business Tools for the Entrepreneur

There are various tools and methods a person can use to be become clear on who they are and what is truly important to them. Here are two:

Daily journaling. Taking the time to journal every day as well as reviewing previous entries will allow you to realize the things that are important to you today, and how things are changing for you and your business and your vision. This is a very effective tool to staying true to the parts of your business which are important to you at the core.

Personality and archetype assessments. These types of assessments have been proven to be very important in uncovering the true essence of ourselves. Many times we are too close to our situation to make an accurate conclusion to what really is our driving force. Through series of questions, many people are often surprised at what they find out about themselves and then with this new information they can begin branding themselves in a more powerful way, a way that is truly them.

Laurie Polinski
Spinning Gold Marketing

7 Key Steps to Taking Control of Your Business This Year

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:58:11 +0000

It is important to have clarity and focus in order to achieve your goals in your business. Without a good plan to get what you want, you will keep chasing the new idea and wind up nowhere near what you set out to achieve.

Be sure to take the time to build that solid foundation under your business.

Here are the:

7 Key Steps to Taking Control of Your Business This Year

1. Know yourself: In order to achieve success in your business, it is necessary to first understand what it is that you are hoping to get out of your work. Without personal satisfaction, your determination to perform at your best will wane, and both you and your clients will lose enthusiasm for your business.

2. Know what your unique brilliance is: As in knowing yourself, deciding on your unique brilliance takes a bit of soul-searching. Take time to figure out what it is that you do so well, and what you are most passionate about, that it doesn’t even seem like work to you, and begin or continue to build your business around that.

3. Be able to describe exactly who your ideal clients are: Being able to target and attract your ideal clients is an indispensable instinct and art. Your clients will certainly play a main role in your work every day, so it is important to choose a client roster that you operates well with you so that your work is pleasurable rather than dreadful.

4. Know exactly what your clients want from you: The first step in attracting clients is to realize what business professionals need from you in order to realize their goals. Once you’ve obtained your clients, be sure to stay tuned into their goals.

5. Be able to clearly and easily communicate who you are: Through effective branding and communication through your website and online social networking, clients and potential clients will be able to effortlessly determine how you can help them manage their business, and that will attract them to your services.

6. Develop passive streams of income: Your a professional who is good at what you do. Your time is valuable. Start generating the income that you desire so that you don’t become burnt-out while trying to achieve your goals.

7. Create your plan, and stay focused on that plan until you get the results you want: Your business plan is your recorded path to success. Once you have constructed a business plan that you feel confident in, continue to trust yourself and don’t deviate from that path.

It’s easy to stray from the course, but with these pieces in place, you will find that your business is moving forward with less stress, and new visions and opportunities are begging to come your way.

Laurie Polinski
Spinning Gold Marketing

Are You Paralyzed With Information Overload?

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:11:56 +0000

Help! I Don’t Know Where to Start

Have you spent 2009 and previous years gathering knowledge and information through books, seminars, ebooks, teleseminars, online courses and…did I miss anything? Are you on so many email lists that you know there is no possible way you could read all of them and put them to use? Is your head spinning because you have learned so much and yet you fear there might be something you are missing?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions you might want to sit down and brace yourself, for the news I am going to tell you might be a little frightening. My friend I believe you have it and it looks bad…..I believe you have Information Overload Syndrome!

What is Information Overload Syndrome?

Many entrepreneurs, especially when new in the game spend much time on training and gathering information on the business they are pursuing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with research and education, the challenge is, there is so much information available and it is so easily accessible in this electronic age that before you know it, you have so much material, you don’t know where to start because you are overwhelmed. Usually what follows is not starting at all or paralysis.

3 Steps to Overcome Information Overload

Chances are you have plenty of training, knowledge and information already and more might not necessarily help you, in fact it might just make things worse. What you need to do at this point is channel all the information and training you already have and move forward. Here are three steps that will guide you from paralyzed to productive:

Time to focus or refocus - Once overwhelmed it is easy to lose track of what you set out to accomplish in the first place. Take time to reevaluate your goals and determine if they need to be adjusted. Be clear on your niche and your ideal client. What can you offer them to serve their needs?
Develop a plan and strategy – Now is the time to go over the materials you have learned so far, all the knowledge you have amassed and pull it together into an organized system that will move you in the direction of your goals. Doing so will start you on your way to answering your ideal clients’ needs and making you money.
Get into action - One of the things I have learned through experience is, always move towards completion – not perfection, and make adjustments along the way. It is important as entrepreneurs to always be learning, the key is to learn while the wheels of your business are in motion.

So let’s summarize: To overcome information overload: 1. Get yourself focused; 2. Develop your plan; and 3. Get into action and 2010 will be your best year yet!

~Laurie Polinski

Spinning Gold Marketing

4 Steps To An Orginized Office

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:54:53 +0000

An Organized Office Means Freedom For You

When it comes to productivity, creativity and inspiration, having an organized workspace to complete your daily tasks efficiently and without distractions is crucial to your success. Unbury yourself today by following these easy yet effective organizational tips.

Keep Office Supplies Nearby

Keeping the supplies that you use most frequently—such as pens, staplers and your stress management tools(stress balls)—close-at-hand and storing the ones that you don’t in designate spaces will play a big role in keeping your desk and your office clutter-free, and will make finding items all the easier which will save you precious time.

Create a Comprehensive Filing System

Make documents easy to find by creating a well-organized filing system. A great way to do this is by creating categories for your paperwork, and storing them appropriately. It will also be helpful for you to review your filing cabinet regularly so that you may discard of papers no longer needed. Keeping paperwork scattered on your desk. his is a distraction as well as a thief in that it robs you of your time, energy and creativity.

Organize and Prioritize Your Snail Mail

Just like your e-mail service, equip your office with an inbox for hard-copy mail that you have yet to read. As you immediately open your mail each day, prioritize and discard! Separate your bills, payments on invoices and letters that need responses and shred the rest. This little tool will keep your workspace clear of mountains of unopened envelopes, and will make it much more difficult to lose important mail pieces.

Start Tomorrow off With a Clean Slate

We all know how important it is to start each day off right and in order to build the needed momentum first thing in the morning, you have to be without distraction. It will be helpful for you to clear your office of its clutter at the end of each work day. Filing the papers that you will need, throwing away the ones that you will not and storing supplies in their designated areas will allow you to begin the next day dynamically; instead of spending your morning sorting through the mess you made yesterday. Don’t procrastinate on organizing; you’ll thank yourself in the morning.

Organization Leads to a Happy Life

As you can see, these four steps are very simple for anyone to accomplish and can make a huge impact on the productivity of your day. It amazes me how many offices I walk into that are in total chaos and surprisingly the people who own these offices can’t understand why they cannot complete their tasks in a timely manner.

Get yourself in a routine of keeping your office space clean and organized and you’ll surprise yourself at how much you can accomplish in a day with increased creativity and still have time for yourself.

3 Essentials To Your Best Year In Business Yet!

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:07:05 +0000

Back To Business Basics

With the beginning of a new year only weeks away, now is the perfect time to start laying a solid foundation for a successful 2010 in your business. As this year is coming to a close, this is a perfect time to take a step back and take a close look at where you can make adjustments to make 2010 your most profitable year yet! Here are 3 ways to put your business on the right track for the coming year.

Research Your Niche

Take some time to examine your niche market and area of expertise. Observing how other professionals in your field do business may be an inspiration to try a new approach to your own business that may open some profitable doors for you. Also, research potential clients for ideas on how to win over new business opportunities and how you can continue to serve the needs of your current clients.

Invest In Business Education

When applied properly, the axiom “you have to invest money to make money” really pays off. For you, the entrepreneur, investing time and money to further your education in your business niche through college courses, training and certification and coaching will expand your knowledge and skills and strengthen your position as an authority in your field, helping you to better recognize and respond to the needs of your clients while pulling you ahead of the competition.

Create a Clear Business Plan

Having a comprehensible business plan is vital to the success of your business. Begin constructing your 2010 business plan now by determining and recording your goals and strategies for the year. In other words: where would you like your business to be by the end of 2010, and what is the best course for you to get it there? One of the biggest mistakes many entrepreneurs make is not mapping out a clear and precise plan. If you don’t have a clear vision of where you want to be, how do you expect to get there? By creating a clear business plan now, you’ll be able to bring in the New Year hitting the ground running.

Researching your niche, investing in continuing business education and creating a business plan are some key ways to ensure that 2010 will be the best for your business, and for you, so far. Here’s to a profitable New Year—here’s to your success.

Laurie Gracie Polinski

Spinning Gold

Stay on Schedule

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:46:08 +0000

The Importance Of Keeping a Schedule

Tips for better focus and clarity: staying on task by creating and keeping a schedule

If you’re an entrepreneur and especially if you’re working from a home office, it may sometimes be difficult to create and keep a schedule that helps you stay focused and productive. After all, many of us have wandered from the rigid course of the corporate world to explore our own path that allows us to be free and, lets be honest, to make us more money. And while that sounds wonderful on the surface, the challenge is that we no longer have someone standing above us, demanding we punch-in at 9 a.m., keep this meeting at 10 a.m. and have that on someone’s desk by 3 p.m. No, now we are responsible for making and keeping our own schedules and holding ourselves accountable.

Scheduling is not a dirty word and when done properly, allows any business to operate smoothly and more efficiently. Creating and keeping a schedule is one of the best–if not the best–ways to keep yourself on track, and one of the best ways to create a useful schedule is to use a daily planner. So, pull yours out of the drawer, dust it off and open it up. After each work day, grab your planner and write down on the page designated for the following day what you need to get accomplished, listing tasks in order of most to least important. This way, when you walk into your office each morning, you’ll be able to hit the ground running. If there are tasks on your planner that you were unable to finish during the day, make sure to write it down on the next page to be certain that you stick with it. There is something powerful about physically writing anything, down, pen to paper, that makes it easier to remember rather than just entering it into your Blackberry.

As an entrepreneur, your daily planner should always be nearby, lovingly watching you as you complete task after task, and meet deadline after deadline. I have an erasable marker board hanging in front of my desk where I can always see and know the tasks that need to be completed.

Spinning Gold

Does Your Business Need A Little Luck?

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:11:04 +0000

In Business, Is It Luck Or Opportunity?

I attended a conference last weekend and while I was listening to the presenter and taking notes, I overheard someone say: “How lucky can she be? She is always in the right place at the right time.” I have heard that type of comment many times before so I just ignored it and turned my attention back to the presentation. Later that evening that comment popped back into my mind and for some reason, it just did not sit right with me and I just couldn’t put my finger on why. As I was driving home that night I had that “AHA” moment that gave me the clarity I was seeking.

Entrepreneurs, Are You Ready When Your Time Comes

The thought that became so clear to me that night was this: “How many entrepreneurs and small business owners are in the right place at the right time and never no it!” That place and time is not just reserved for one person so how is it some capitalize on the opportunity while others let it slip by? The concept of being in the right place at the right time is just not enough, there is more to the equation.

The Right Formula For Success

Yes, being in the right place at the right time is not enough and if you are not prepared in your business your time will escape you. This is the formula I believe will prepare the entrepreneur for success and put them in the right place and time. This is what you need:

The right YOU: Do you have the right mindset when opportunities unveil themselves to you or will you hesitate and let them slip by?
The right KNOWLEDGE: Have you done all you can to prepare yourself? Do you have the proper systems and tools in place? Are you constantly up to date on your changing industry or field? Have you had the proper mentoring and coaching in your niche?

In business I believe there are opportunities and not luck. Having in place, the right knowledge and the right mindset will put you in the right vehicle at the right time(opportunity) to drive your business into success.