All business owners and entrepreneurs struggle at some point with what to charge for their services. Often we want to raise our prices and charge what we feel we’re worth, but we don’t know how to go about doing that — or we try it and people don’t pay our new rates, which leads to frustration and more struggle.

So how do you raise your rates, charge your worth, and GET IT?

The answer is in your ability to successfully differentiate yourself from the other people who do the same thing that you do.

Learn How Differentiating Yourself is the Key to Raising Your Rates

Your business plan defines what your business is about, what you do, and what you don’t do. Your marketing plan outlines how you’re going to get your customers to buy your products, invest in your services, and join your programs and the actions needed to achieve your marketing objectives.

Over time, the approach to creating and maintaining a marketing plan has drastically changed:

• The OLD SCHOOL Marketing Plan: A really long (think 30+ pages and more!), incredibly detailed plan that sets in stone all marketing actions big and small for your business for anywhere from one year to five years and limits what new ideas can be implemented. This usually ends up on a shelf or in a drawer somewhere and is only referenced and updated once a year.
• The NEW AGE Marketing Plan: A flexible tool that helps you decide what strategies are the best fit for you and your business, that changes and flexes as your business changes and grows, that defines the reasoning and logic behind the marketing actions. It can be one page to 10 pages and is reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

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Marketing is often a word that when mentioned around business owners draws out grumbles, moans, and sighs. While the task of marketing your business may not be your first choice, it is a vital part of the success of your business.

Here are three simple things you can do to make your marketing, advertising, public relations, and sales efforts much easier:

Differentiate yourself

When your marketing and sales message is too similar to your competitor’s message, your prospects and customers are left with price as the only differentiator. Trust me. You never want to be in that situation.

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10. You Hired Your Friend’s Kid.

You’ve heard all about how he is great with computers and is a tech genius. He took a design class in high school or maybe a couple courses at the local community college and he has done a couple websites. Your friend mentions this a few times and you see a chance to get your website done and save some money. At first you’re excited, and then you start to realize that developing a professional polished website that works isn’t as easy as you thought. Soon you’ve spent hundred of dollars and you’re unhappy. You don’t even want to tell people your have a website because you’re embarrassed. So not only did you waste your money, but you wasted your valuable, billable time and lost out of some potential new business.

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These days there is so much emphasis put on your website, landing page, opt-in box, and other online marketing strategies that I sometimes feel entrepreneurs forget how important and powerful the printed word can be when used together with a well-built, lead-generating website. As a business owner, the very first piece of print material you must invest in is a custom, professionally designed business card. When you are out and about networking, volunteering, even just socializing and someone asks you for a business card, they make an almost immediate judgment about you and your business. In this case, first impressions are EVERYTHING and in just a second they will scan your card and decide whether or not they are going to do business with you.

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