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.

Most of us, when we started our business, put up our first website because we knew we needed one. We weren’t quite sure what to say, so we looked at the websites of all of our competitors and other people in our industry and we did something similar. We used the same terminology and industry-speak, we made sure our websites looked similar, and we definitely made sure that we sounded just like they did.

But the problem is, when you’re just like everyone else, it is hard for your prospects and potential clients to see why you’re the better choice. When you’re no different than everyone else, the only differentiator your prospects have to go on is price — and when you compete on price, everyone loses.

Instead of trying to be and sound like everyone else, you want to — you need to — stand out from the crowd and you must be different.

When you can successfully differentiate yourself from others who do what you do, when you can make the transition from being another choice, to being the ONLY choice, is when you can raise your rates, charge your worth, and get it.

Why? Because you are now no longer competing on price, your competing on what makes you different, unique, special, valuable, and smart. When you can differentiate yourself, your rates are longer determined by what others charge, your rates are determined by the value that you bring to the table.

In the book Think And Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill shares a story about Henry Ford charging a company a huge amount of money (in their time) to solve a problem they had been struggling with for a long time. He received his check and then proceeded to solve the problem in five minutes. At first the company was mad and upset, but Henry replied, “Whether it took me 5 minutes or five months, you got the result you were looking for when you hired me. You didn’t hire me for how long it would take. You hired me for the expertise and value I bring to the table, and that has taken me my entire life to accumulate.“

You see Mr. Henry Ford knew that his rate wasn’t just reflective of the single task he was going to complete. His rate was reflective of the value he brought to the table. The value of years of experience and knowledge, that the business owners didn’t have.

Struggling to find that point of differentiation for yourself? It’s okay. Pretty much everyone I know, including myself, has struggled with the same thing at one point.

Here are some things to think about while defining your point of differentiation:

1. Qualifications and Credentials: Do you have a degree, certification, or a special qualification? Have you graduated from a program, been certified or approved in a certain method?
2. Experience: Have you overcome something, achieved something, or experienced something that has made you an expert?
3. Credibility Builders: Have you been featured in a book, newspaper, or magazine? Have you won any awards? Have you worked with any celebrities or well known people or businesses? Have you written or co-written a book? Were you the first to do something?
4. How You Work: How is working with you different from working with someone else? Do you have a proprietary system? Are you faster or more comprehensive? Do you save people time, effort, or money? Are you more streamlined or easier? Do people get more? If so what do they get?
5. Your Results: What kind of results do you get for people? What benefits do they receive from working with you? How will it help them, change their lives, or change their business?

I one read a quote, and I can’t remember who said it, but they said: The fastest way to success is to be first. But if you can’t be first in your category, create a new category. So, don’t worry if there are already a lot of people who do what you do and you’re joining an already full market of service providers — There is more than enough business for everyone to be busy all of the time.

Just remember, that you don’t want to focus your effort on fitting into their category, you want to focus your effort on defining your own unique category, standing out from the crowd, and being different. When you can do that, the right clients, the clients who are the perfect fit for you will be attracted to you. They will find you, they will resonate with your message, and they will choose you — without you having to chase them.

When you successfully differentiate yourself, you position yourself as the ONLY choice in your ideal clients’ eyes, instead of just another choice.

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.

The new age strategic marketing plan is made up of two different parts:

• The Marketing Strategy
  The summary of your business, products, programs, and services in relation to your competition. It outlines your point of differentiation and unique selling proposition for each item.
• The Marketing Plan
  The step-by-step application of your marketing strategy. It is the exact actions that need to be taken to implement the marketing strategy and consistently communicate the value of your products and/or services to your customers.

Here’s the bottom line: Your big vision road map is made up of the what, where, when, and why puzzle pieces of your future goals and objectives. Your marketing plan, a more detailed turn-by-turn road map is the HOW puzzle piece you need to make your big vision a reality.

What’s your definition of a marketing plan? How do you use it to help your business grow and move forward?

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.

To differentiate yourself and truly set yourself apart from the rest of your industry, you need to clearly define your unique selling proposition (USP) and your “why” statement. You need to know exactly WHY you are doing what you are doing, why you started your business, and why you have such a passion for what you are doing. Your clear why statement is your basis of who you are and what you stand for and that will remain constant.

Provide Value

Once your point of differentiation is clear, you need to focus on the value that you bring to your prospects and customers. You want to get clear on the benefits you provide, how you can make a difference in their business or life, what you are going to do for them, and how are they going to feel when working with you or using your product.

You can provide value to your audience by sharing your expertise and knowledge with tips and strategies they can use, by educating them on new products or services, or by introducing them to other experts they need to know.

Whatever you do, make sure you are the expert and not just the solution. As the solution, you are what you do, but as an expert, you are valued for your experience and knowledge, which is worth much more and will take you much farther.

Generate buzz

You started a business because you are really good at what you do. You have an innate talent and skill that very few others have. You need to share it with the world because those who don’t have your skills need you! If your audience doesn’t know you exist, they can’t hire you or buy your products.

You need to get your name or your business name out there to be seen and heard. Use social media to comment on blogs, post links and tips to Facebook and Twitter, join groups on LinkedIn, and attend live networking events. But remember, make sure you participate, communicate, interact, and engage with other people in the social networks you are a part of.

You can also update your website continually with new fresh content, send out an ezine, use direct mail and postcards, send a letter, post flyers, or place an advertisement. Just be sure you do something to keep your name and business name popping up in your audience’s view.

Do you have any other suggestions?

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.

9. You Used Free Do-It-Yourself Software.

You knew you needed hosting of some sort and you decided to buy it before consulting with your web designer/developer. In the process of buying hosting you saw a cool tool to design your site yourself. Awesome, right? I mean how hard can slapping together a website be? So you used the free tools, maybe took a class on HTML, or you bought a template to work on. Good for you. But then you start to wonder why the search engines aren’t finding you – in fact why no one is finding you. And you begin to wonder why your site isn’t converting visitors into customers. The bottom line? Go ahead and dabble with HTML and put together a website for fun, or learn enough to make some quick edits on the fly. But when it comes to your business, if you want a site that will attract attention, get remembered, bring in new business, and get the results you want, you should hire a professional. I mean you wouldn’t cut your hair yourself would you? Heck no! For that head-turning, double-take, fabulous cut, you go to a trusted professional.

8. You hired a Marketing/PR/Advertising Consultant Who Does Websites.

Ok. The title of this one alone sounds ludicrous. Would you hire a gardener to take care of your pool? No! Yes, they are in similar fields, but no they are not the same. Most marketing professionals who offer design services do so because to make more money. They outsource the work to a designer, mark up the project and then sell it to you. And then you’re left getting advice from a pseudo expert and the not actual expert. Plus if you hire a good designer who understands the marketing aspect, you’re duplicating costs! Now, iIn some cases this works great. I subcontract for select marketing professionals because I am brought in on the project from the first day and work directly with the client. The problem arises when the consultant is the intermediary. First, you must be careful your consultant is not outsourcing design work to third-world countries because they can make more money on the project with a cheap subcontractor (Remember the saying you get what you pay for). Second, you want to make sure your message, desires, goals, etc. are not getting lost in the translation from person to person. Don’t let your communications end up like the game telephone we all played as kids.

7. Your Website Design is Awful.

Kym Yancey commented from the stage at the eWomenNetwork conference in 2008, If you don’t take your business seriously, if you don’t value your business enough to have it designed by a professional visual communications expert, then how can you expect anyone else to take you seriously and value what you offer. If your website looks like it was done by a high school kid, was slapped together in a weekend or is just pain unprofessional people will not want to give you their money.

6. You Are Using A Splash Page.

Splash pages with maybe some Flash animation may have been considered cool when they first came out, but they are not anymore. If you’re using one of these on your website, you are loosing out on potential new business every day. Splash pages actually do more harm than good. They add clicks the visitor has to make to get to your information, they usually have no content the search engines can index, and they interrupt the flow of information.

5. Your Website Content is Missing.

If you have a basic website with maybe three pages and barely any content, you’re telling your visitors that you only have a site because some told you that you had to have one. You’re sending the message that you don’t think your site is worth paying attention to and you don’t really value what it can do for you, so you posted something pretty and just left it to sit there. What you need is valuable timely content the user can relate to. Deliver content they want and include information they need on a regular basis.

4. Your Website is Boring.

Your site is your opportunity for you to educate visitors on why they need you, what you offer and how you can help them. Answer the questions: 1) What can you do for me and; 2) Why should I care? Make sure the content is interesting and fun and add some personal touches too. People do business with other people they trust. Use your site as a launching ground for building new relationships, invited communication and interaction and have fun doing it.

3. You Forgot SEO and Traffic Building.

You can have the most amazing, fantastic, gorgeous website design ever seen, but if no one can find the site, it was a waste of money. Don’t forget to include in your budget various Search Engine Optimization (SEO), site marketing, and traffic building techniques.

2. Your Website is Too Generic.

You can have the most amazing, fantastic, gorgeous website design ever seen, but if you don’t stand out from your competition, you will not be remembered. A pretty site is completely different from a memorable, “sticky” site that stands out among the rest. A branded site communicates a completely unique selling proposition. It communicates why you are different, what sets you apart, and why your visitors need you. The worst thing a small business is to do is compete on price and that is what your visitors will default to if you don’t give them something else to focus on.

1. Your Website Didn’t Begin at The End.

The absolute first thing you should do when planning your website is to identify the primary and secondary goals of the website. Define exactly what you want to get from completing the project, what change or difference you want to see and what action you want the visitors to take. Be sure to clearly guide your visitors to take that action by communicating with “you” communications instead of “me” communications. If you jump right into the design and development of the site without addressing these issues, it more than likely will not give you’re the return on your investment you were hoping for.

IS YOUR CARD UP TO PAR WITH WHERE IT SHOULD BE? I am going to share with you the top two mistakes that are killing some entrepreneurs’ chances for new business.

1. YOU ARE CHEAP.

With the rise of digital printing and a professional designer, inexpensive and great business cards are a possibility. But some entrepreneurs are communicating to their prospects a deadly message – “I don’t value myself.” How are they doing this?

Printing their cards at home on perforated pages. Perforation marks on your card are a telltale sign of a cheapskate! Plus your cards are usually flimsy and have a distinctly unprofessional feel.
Using the free cards at Vista Print. Hello! Don’t use a free template that another business, probably a competitor may use too. Your business card needs to be distinct and truly represent your uniqueness and message. Plus, you don’t want your customers to get you mixed up with a competitor. If you can believe it, I actually ran into two people in the same industry with the same cards (free Vista Print cards) at one networking event recently. Talk about no point of differentiation. Don’t let this happen to you!

Allowing the “You can get free cards too” message to be on the back of your cards. Yikes! Need I say more?

Printing your own cards with no branding or identity development on laser computer paper and cutting them with scissors. Yes, I have seen this done. I would have to say it would be better for you to say you don’t have any cards left right now and get the card of the person you are talking to as a temporary solution. Or tell them you just ran out, just gave out your last one… or if you are brand new, be honest about it. Tell them you are just starting out and your cards are on order, but you are so excited to get started you didn’t want to wait for them to get out there and start networking.

2. YOU DON’T VALUE YOURSELF OR YOUR SERVICES.

If you don’t value yourself and your services enough to invest in an eye-catching, custom branded business card that will intrigue the viewers, how can you expect your prospect to value you? The saying dress for the career you want, not the career you have says it all. To bring in new leads and convert them into sales, you need to communicate your value and the benefits that you deliver… and your business card is the first step in the process when you meet someone.

So, if you don’t have a professionally designed and printed card yet, make this the year to step it up. Present yourself in 2009 as the business you want to be and soon others will start to see you as that business and who knows, maybe you’ll find you have become that business.

If you are interested in a business card, identity, or stationery package redesign, inquiries@bourncreative.comlet me know! I’d love to help your business take it’s communications to the next level and start getting some more attention from your ideal clients and target market!

Have you or some one your know experienced an business card blunder? I’d love to hear your story!