The Spin Sucks Podcast with Gini Dietrich

In this episode of the Spin Sucks Podcast, Gini talks about the work involved in providing consistently good customer service over the long haul. It starts with tieing your customer service to the big picture of your company. She covers the importance of setting boundaries, consistently clear communication, ensuring your whole team is on board and being proactive in how and when you reach out to your clients - If you’re a communications pro who works with clients - you’ll want to check out this episode.

When you’re the expert, clients, colleagues, friends, and family expect you to know what’s going on in your industry. And you should, but communications is changing so fast, on top of the industries in which we work. So how do you stay updated? Gini shares 5 strategies for keeping up with your industry - without having to spend every waking moment doing it. Technology combined with clever use of curation and talking to people, are methods that will help you stay on top on things.

Fellow listeners, please enjoy this replay of last year's episode #28! When did we stop talking to each other like real people? In our industry, it’s getting hard to sort through all the hype. What’s the difference between a meaningless buzzword and a genuinely useful phrase? Take the term ‘Thought Leadership.’ This is what we’re getting into today, so sit tight because we’re going to be looking at how to synergize the 30,000-foot view to maximize our authenticity. Just kidding.

We’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic since our one-year anniversary episode of the podcast. Which was a great episode, by the way. Our listeners weighed in with some of the amazing things they’ve learned! But back to this week. Coming up in September, we’ll celebrate 13 years of the Spin Sucks blog. Can you believe it? We can’t! Today, we’re time traveling back to the beginning and taking a look at how far we’ve come.

At the end of every year, you can expect every content creator on earth to talk about trends for the coming year. And, at the end of 2018, they all said the same thing (and nothing has changed six months into the year): video. It’s all about video. For everyone. So how do you create video marketing that is timeless in a constantly changing world?

Can you believe it’s already been a year? We’ve had 52 episodes and 52 chances for our listeners to add crucial knowledge to their arsenal, from using content to being productive, and from PESO to SWOT. In today’s episode, we reached out to you, our listeners, and asked what you learned in the past year.

Sometimes things happen in business that leave a sour taste in your mouth. They might not be malicious or intentional, but they can still hurt you, your clients and your brand. Join us on today’s episode of the Spin Sucks Podcast, where we talk about the mistakes in your strategy that will come back to bite you.

It doesn’t matter how clear your client proposal is, or how beautifully you design your scope of work. You’re going to get clients who are going to ask for something you aren’t selling, and you’re going to be tempted to give them what they want. Fake it until you make it, right? Wrong. Don’t do it. Here’s what can happen when you work outside of scope.

Let’s talk about robots. Not actual robots, for the most part, but automated tools, technologies, and systems that can take work off your desk and let you get back to what only you can do. As you grow your business, you’ll often end up working a lot more than you need to, but there are so many available to help you automate your life. And let’s be real. You absolutely should.

On today’s episode, we’re talking about the customer lifecycle, and how your clients and prospects engage with you throughout this entire cycle. This is how it works: you want to attract your ideal client, sell them your offers, onboard them in your systems and processes, deliver on your promises, and either engage them for more or part as friends. Let’s go through each of these things.

Let’s talk about what we don’t know — more specifically, as it relates to our communications strategy. Our internal biases and things outside our control can have a big impact on the quality and success of our communications plans, so here’s how to mitigate the damage they can cause.

A huge number of Requests for Proposals are badly written and take tons of time and energy with no guarantee of a return — and yet, they persist. You can’t always avoid them, but there are ways to make them less of a part of your business life, and ways to protect your time when you DO have to respond.

How many times have you seen a company screw something up, and then make the situation 10,000 times worse by either not apologizing or apologizing badly? Mistakes and screw-ups happen. World events happen. Natural events happen. You will unfortunately eventually have to deal with some kind of crisis communication, and you’ll do a much better job of it if you’re prepared.

When you work in communications, you’re going to spend a lot of time pitching. You’re going to get rejected a lot — but you could get rejected a lot less. You don't want to send crappy pitches. You want to send excellent pitches! So here's how to write them so they get accepted more often than not.

With so many online community options out there, do you ever get Bright Shiny Object Syndrome? If you’re looking for a platform to host your community on, you’ve found the right episode. We’re talking about all the major community platforms and how to decide which one is right for you and your business.