Sometimes I know I sound like a broken record when I talk to my clients, but I can’t help myself!

I know what it’s like to not be able to sleep due to fear and panic around money.  It’s not fun.

I guess I’ve become somewhat of an expert at beginning a small solo business, now that I have made every mistake in the book! I know how important it is to build a strong foundation first.

Do you freeze when someone asks you what you do?

One foundation piece involves developing a strong core marketing message and to know your niche clients inside and out. It doesn’t work well to only know them, sort of.  Sort of doesn’t pay the bills.

However, there is a process for figuring this out and it’s important to stick with it until you get that gut feeling that you’ve nailed it.

If your core marketing message isn’t quite there, it will affect your cash flow. You will get some business coming in without it just from your passion, but your passion will only go so far. You need passion and clear steps.

So why is your core marketing message so important and why is it one of the foundation pieces of your business?

•  You can’t build a good marketing plan without it.
•  You will confuse people and a confused person goes away.
•  You will end up offering the wrong products or services.

A core marketing messages has three components.

1. The strong but narrow niche group of people who you are speaking to.
2. Their problem, issue or strong desire that is a burning need for them.
3. The benefits they want and how it will make a huge difference to them.

You might be wondering, where you come in? What about your expertise?”

You are the specialist at helping the above people with their problem and the benefits they want.

Simple yes? Easy, not so much. Important? Absolutely.

What can make it easier?
Learn the steps and process instead of going around in circles.
Work on this with people who don’t have your blind spots.
Join the Leap Forward Program which includes tools, steps, process and huge support.

Take the free business self-assessment and learn more.

How confident are you with your core marketing message?

People seem to have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. They love the contact and community and hate the time it takes. They love meeting new people but hate the sudden technical changes.

This morning when Facebook rolled out it’s newest change to the friend’s page wall, there were a mix of comments.

Some people threatened to leave, others complained about the sidebar ticker. People don’t like change, even if it might be good. Most of us are not technically minded and we want it to be easy. Every time it changes it means we have to learn something new.

Attitude is the very most important quality in running a business. Everyday I have to deal with challenging situations and the attitude I have greatly influences the outcome and my own process.

Your attitude is the one thing you have total control over. No one can take that away from you.

Question. Do you use Facebook primarily for your business?  Are your clients or potential clients on Facebook? If this answer is yes to both then read on.

Here are a few points to help you align your attitude about the changes.

•  Your business page is where you need to focus most of your attention. Put out valuable tips and updates for your fans.

•  Your updates are the best when they create conversation, ask questions and empathize with how people are feeling.

•  Use your friend page for business as well and go with the flow of changes. Model a positive attitude to people.

•  Re-share your business page updates to your friend’s page every so often as this increases the chance of people seeing it.

•  Post positive comments and likes on other people’s posts as this also puts forth a supportive attitude.

•  Figure  out how the changes work and share and help others who are grumbling.

I love facebook. The community is amazing, the contacts and relationships have helped me to grow my business and the instant communication is phenomenal. Change is hard but this is part of being an entrepreneur and business owner.

Just breath and flow with it.
What helps you to be able to do this? How do you keep your attitude positive?

Read more on Attitude

Keep your Focus on Growing your Business

Ideal client or niche client? People often use these terms interchangeably but in fact they don’t necessarily mean the same thing.

I thought about this last week when I had two people ask me who my ideal client was. Before I tell you how I answered, I want to give you my simple definition of these two categories.

Ideal client: A small business owner who has chosen to get help before spending a heap of money on a new website. ( for ex.)  It is always more fun to work with someone before they make huge mistakes.

My ideal person is committed, really wants help and willing to do the work involved. This person sees the return on investment of hiring me.  In other words- someone who I enjoy  working with! My ideal client is really about me and who I enjoy helping the very most.

Niche client: Is the person powering my core marketing plan. A small/solo business owner who helps other people with their service. They are highly skilled and experts in their field, however they struggle with business decisions, skills and no-how. They need more clients, more cash flow and clearer focus on how to get their business stronger.  It is all about them, not me.

I had to really think about how to answer the questions that were asked of me. Part of my response depends on who is asking me. The first person was a client I had worked with last year. She was wanting to get more marketing clarity. The second person was a potential new client.

For the first person, I explained the difference between ideal and niche to help her understand her own marketing focus. She  was mixing up the two and was focused on her ideal, but was calling it her niche. This is a common challenge service based business owners have because they are thinking about what they want to do. Her  definition was too general as well.

Your niche needs to be a narrow, specific group who you are aiming your marketing toward.

With the second person,

I responded with who my niche client is because I knew that’s what she was asking. She cared about  her own business issues and this is what i needed to speak to.

In order to build a strong, powerful marketing plan you need to learn to really focus on your niche and use this definition as this is who will help you to grow your business. Does this make sense?  Have you been confusing these two things?  I would love to hear your comments.

Free tele-class with more help on this topic!

“Why do I need a niche if I can help lots of people with my service?”

I get asked this question at least once a week by solopreneurs who are highly skilled but are struggling to have enough clients and enough cash coming in.

It can seem logical that defining a niche will make your money flow smaller, not larger.  Some comments I hear from solopreneurs owners include:

•  I know what I want to do and there are many people I can help.
•  I know exactly what I don’t want to do, what I don’t enjoy.
•  I have tons of experience and training so I know I am good!

Although the three statements above are true, they will not, by themselves, bring you more clients.  Why is that?

Your potential clients are focused on their own issues or problems. They want something to change in their lives. They know what’s not working for them but don’t know how to fix it. Sometimes they feel desperate, anxious and urgent.

When they begin to feel those ways they begin to look for solutions or someone who can offer them support, help them shift and make changes. They want a specialist or expert  who is focused on working with people just like them.

If you refuse to name your niche, you become a generalist, not a specialist. The people who you are wanting to attract won’t be attracted to you.

To better  understand this, imagine your niche were all people who are teal blue. Teal blue people have certain specific issues. They are a strong but narrow group that can be defined by their situation. They want help on how to put their teal blueness out into the world more and be more successful, happier, make more money, have better relationships or whatever.

They look for someone who speaks to them.  They end up on your website but all they see if a someone who is specializing in dull grey people. Grey is a mixture of all the colors and becomes undefinable. You seem skilled to them but not a teal blue expert.  They son’t feel empathy so they click off and keep searching.

Lets imagine that you have focused and decided to clearly define your niche speciality as lime green people who need what they need. Funny thing is that if a teal blue person ends up on your website they will still recognize you as a specialist and might think, “Well, if you can help  the lime green folks, maybe you can also help me.” They will never think that if you present as a grey.

The moral of the story. Let go of being grey. Specialize and speak directly to those specific people who you want to attract.  If you want more help figuring out how to do this, check out  Find Your Niche Market Ready-Set-Go

When you boldly name your speciality, those people will feel connected to you as someone who “gets,” them. It is all about building empathy. Do you know what your color is?

Just when I thought I had it all sussed and could also help my clients with with Facebook, blogging etc., now Google is coming out with a new program,  “Google + Project.”  I groaned when I saw this because I want it simple! If this takes off I will have to figure out if it will help my business or not.

The real issue here is the challenge of staying current and also not spending all of your time online doing marketing. How to figure out the balance and how to know where and when to put your focus are two questions I get asked all the time.

They are excellent questions because marketing has to be strategic and follow a system that is right for your specific business. Too many people get sucked into the online bottomless pit and hours drift by before they wake up and wonder where they are. Meanwhile a lot of other important stuff hasn’t gotten done.

The very first important thing needs to be your own marketing plan!

Without that plan you are like a leaf in the wind and not in control. Here are a few good questions to ask that will help you craft the social media part of your marketing plan.

1. Who is your niche client group and are they on Facebook, Twitter or Linked in? If you aren’t sure you need to find out. There are some people who are not plugged in to these sites at all out of choice. For example, my  orthopedic surgeon. He doesn’t have a need and he says he doesn’t have time or interest.

2.  What are the five questions your clients are asking you? In your updates make sure you give value by addressing these five questions over and over with new ideas, awarenesses and inspiration.

3.  Are you mixing mix personal with business? I use facebook 100% for business. What this means is that I only post things I am happy for my clients and other business associates to read. All of my business updates come from my Business page. My friends page updates are  more personal but still relate, and just give a fuller dimension of who I am.

4. Are you consistent? If you only go on to your sites rarely, people won’t develop a relationship with you. Real connections take time to nurture and grow. For instance, I have a Linked in group and I tend to show up there at least three times a week and stay in touch with people. It keeps the group vibrant as well.  Same with your blog posts. You don’t have to do a new one every day but you need to be regular so people will find new, fresh posts to read. This is also a way to invite people to your website. In my case my blog is a page on my larger site, so once they are reading the blog they might check out other pages as well. (hint)

5. What three sites are the best for your business? Focus on those. Too many will make you scattered and quality is better than quantity. My three are Facebook, Linked in and Biznik.  I picked these three because this is where my niche group hangs out. I do Twitter to a lesser degree as my Facebook automatically post tweets, but I don’t actually go on to Twitter to RT more than once a week. I tried more and it was too time consuming for the roi.

Answer these five questions and it will make your social media marketing much easier and you will get way better results too! In the comments below it would be great to hear what your three sites are and why you use them.