Professional speaker marketing tip
Most professional speakers, consultants, coaches, and solopreneurs have a hard time moving into a niche or declaring a specialty. Most want to attract as much business as possible, so they go for broad marketing across all topics, categories, and industries, trying to attract all audiences for all that they can offer.
If you fall into this trap, your marketing messages get spread so thin that soon, you’re spending more and more time, effort, and money on marketing and getting less and less return. Does this sound familiar?
The truth is that successful experts know who they are – they “move aside” and specialize in a niche. They focus more energy on marketing their “flagship” services to a very specific target market.
Why? Because – unlike Wal-Mart or Citibank, your business can’t be all things to all people. “Move Aside” is about finding your niche, and claiming your expertise in a narrow area of specialty. In plain English, this means you want to become the “Go-To Guy” or “Go-To Gal” for your specific audience – the exact opposite of a “jack-of-all-trades and master of none.”
Perhaps you want to be known as “the consulting firm that knows the insurance industry inside and out” or “the restaurant marketing coach” or “the manufacturing turnaround expert.”
Maybe you want to appeal to corporate executives with an elite image or appeal to family business owners with a homespun image.
The people you speak with will have a very different reaction to these two mental images of your products/services:
- “I think you might be a good fit...”
- “Finally! You are exactly who we’ve been looking for!”
Let me give you an example that will make this point very clearly.
In my hometown in suburban Philadelphia, there’s a real company that lists among its services “Carpet Removal, House Cleaning, Odd Jobs, Catering.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I want a caterer, I’m looking for someone who does professional catering all the time. I don’t want to have to worry about “Did they wash their hands after the carpet removal job and before serving the guests at my daughter’s wedding?”
In fact, even among “serious” catering companies (the ones that don’t do carpet removal) if I’m looking for a caterer for a wedding, I’ll probably be drawn to “Wedding Bells Catering” much more so than “Sam’s Catering” or “Good Eats Catering.” In today’s marketplace, specialists rule.
Create your own special niche. Developing a specialty can go a long way to attracting more substantial clients. Being known as the “experts” in a particular field gives you the opportunity to stand out from the crowd. This is the edge that will tend to draw prospective clients to you. The bottom line: more speaking gigs, more consulting offers, more coaching clients, more revenue, more referrals, and taken together, just a whole lot more fun in running your professional practice.
The fact is that the marketplace values clarity, focus, and direction.
Once you become known for being great at one thing, your company can spread its wings and start to attract more business across the board through a powerful “Halo effect.” If you get known over time for being great at one thing, in the future, people will begin to naturally assume you’re great in a variety of other ways, too. However, if you try to say you’re great at everything on Day 1, nobody will believe you!
The only way to know if this will work for your business is to try it! You’ll be pleased with the speed and magnitude of the results.
What do you think? What's YOUR success story with moving aside? Agree? Disagree? Please use the COMMENTS area below to jump into the conversation...
My advice for both emerging and experienced professional speakers is to "invest in the relationship" with meeting planners and conference producers. What do I mean by that and why is it important for your success?
Invest in the relationship with meeting planners means it’s not always about the money. Most good conference producers and meeting planners consider themselves in the speaker marketing business, the speaker visibility business, the speaker credibility business. When I spent a year working "on the other side of the desk," I was thrilled to work with some incredibly accomplished and successful speakers – CSP’s, CPAE’s – because they SAW that fact.
The company I worked with had 350,000 subscribers and sent out over 10 million emails a month. If you were one of my speakers, that’s the scope and scale of reach you got from us. Your topic, your credentials, your website. 700,000 eyeballs. Do the math. (And see my note at the end of this post if you'd like to get in on this yourself!)
Today, as a speaker marketing coach, many of my professional speaker clients ask me "How do I establish visibility and credibility with my target market?" THIS is precisely one of the best ways!!
Don’t get me wrong – our speakers got paid – but it was a lot less than you might get for a corporate keynote. I know that and you know that. Put your ego in the back seat for a minute. Be willing to invest in the relationship Because if you do a great job the first time, meeting planners and association executives are often in a position to…
a. Raise your base fee
b. Revenue share with you
c. Publish your articles in hardcopy publications, websites, and blogs
d. Publish and distribute your manuals, training guides and e-learning tools
e. Promote you any way they can
For example, I had speakers start doing audio conferences for $500, and then gradually, as the relationship evolved, move up to getting over $40,000 in royalties and revenue share in a single year from our various projects together. On the other hand, if as speakers we ask for all that up front, we won’t get it.
My advice to you at the beginning of any relationship with a meeting planner or event producer is Recognize the marketing/PR value, and let the relationship develop. To adapt a favorite saying, “Do what their audience loves and the money will follow.”
NOTE: You can find a whole lot more of these "information publishing companies"
that produce audio conferences, webinars, live events, and niche hardcopy and online newsletters by visiting their professional association, the Specialty Information Publishers Association (SIPA). Perhaps one or more of these companies would make the perfect partner for YOU to expand your thought leadership platform - and get known, get booked, and get slightly famous!
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If you're an emerging or established professional speaker and it's time raise your marketing game, it's not too late to join the Speaker Profit Blueprint program... everything has been recorded and transcribed for you and our live sessions continue through May 4, 2010. Contact me to see if joining this program might be a fit for your speaking/consulting/coaching business and your specific goals.
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Professional speaker video tips
As a marketing coach for professional speakers, I often share the sound bite "No Video Beats A Bad Video." That simply means you want to get a GREAT professional speaker video. But how?
First, watch lots and lots of them. Go to speakers bureau websites, go to top speakers websites – make a list of what you like and what you don’t like. Then look at where you are in the marketplace and ask “What are MOST of the NEXT level speakers doing in their videos?”
Plan out your professional speaker video carefully – you can actually storyboard it shot by shot using something as simple as index cards or Post-It Notes. When you have a VERY clear idea of exactly what you want viewers to experience and how you want to present yourself professionally, go get it done.
The mistake I see a lot of speakers make (and even some top professional speakers openly admit this) is that they made their demo video too early – before they were educated consumers. They didn’t know what they didn’t know and that made it very hard for them to truly collaborate with their video professional.
Understand that most of your money will go into editing and post-production. Don’t skimp on quality and do get the best professional help you can afford with both the shooting and the editing. Your cousin Vinnie’s $500 camera may be good enough for posting short clips on YouTube, but it’s not good enough to represent your professional work when your livelihood depends on it. Do it once and do it right.
Bonus tip: Many meeting planners like to hear a short audio program before hiring you. Record a high-quality 15 or 20-minute audio program, post it on your website and let planners hear a good opening, some solid content, and a strong close. It’s a great way to get yourself 90% booked before the planner even picks up the phone to call you!
Two more quick tips on speaker videos from my friend and Guerilla Marketing author Orvel Ray Wilson
His first tip is to record everything you do and then cut the best stuff together. His second tip is getting a good picture is easy; it’s more important to pay attention to the sound quality of your video – meeting planners WILL watch less-than-ideal video with good sound, they definitely WON’T watch good video with bad or garbled sound.
Bonus from my friend Laurie Brown of Be Great on Camera - Get your free copy of The Top 10 Biggest Mistakes in Making a Video
And if you want a great resource for Professional Speaker Video in the Philadelphia area, you can't go wrong with my own video guru, Rob Kates at www.ProfessionalSpeakerVideo.com
What are your thoughts on how to put together a killer professional speaker video? Please share your opinions in the COMMENTS area below...
For professional speakers, consultants, coaches, independent professionals, and business owners, kickass public relations is often closer than you think.
It does NOT require an expensive PR firm or PR consultant - heck, it doesn't even take an expensive marketing coach - it just takes a simple public relations plan that you can execute yourself on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
10 can’t miss PR moves:
- Write a book and get it published (Self-publishing is great - and get Steve Weber's Plug Your Book to maximize its PR value)
- Write articles for any periodical, newspaper or magazine- (Contact editors to see what they want – they’re hungry for good content)
- Produce and distribute your own Audio PPT presentation with voiceover track using Camtasia and share it on Slideshare
- Stand out - quit looking and sounding like everybody else - have a contrarian perspective, a unique voice, and a strong opinion about your topic, industry, niche, and expertise
- Speak to any group that will listen to you; the more you speak, the more you speak!
- Hold a free teleconference and invite clients, prospects, and guests from the media (print, radio, bloggers, etc)
- Join the organizations that your target customers belong to – and actively participate, offer to be their PR liaison, write their press releases, become the face and voice of that organization
- Be a smart networker and network daily!!! (Never eat alone!)
- No boring business cards - no boring template websites - no aol or comcast.net email address - LOOK like a credible expert
- ASK!!!! Help, connections, and introductions are just 1 question away!
- (Bonus) Establish REAL relationships with journalists and reporters – they’ll ask YOU for help!
- (Bonus) Take a giant shortcut by using www.prleads.com - tell owner Dan Janal I sent you
- (Bonus) Comment on industry-leading blogs with insightful, valuable answers
- (Bonus) Do NOT ask a marketing speaker or marketing coach who can't count for advice on PR
"I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific."
-- Lily Tomlin
"The self is not something ready-made, but in continuous formation through choice of action."
-- John Dewey
"A
somebody was once a
nobody who
wanted to and
did."
-- John Burroughs
As a small business marketing coach, let me offer you this
Self-check: - If you were to fully live your life, what is the first change you would make?
- What areas of your life could be upgraded or improved?
- What could you start working on today that would make the biggest difference?
- How could you make this goal more specific or measurable?
- What would be the biggest impact from achieving your goal(s)?
- What do you love? How can you bring in more of it?
- What do you hate? How can you eliminate/reduce almost all of it?
- What's one thing you would love to do before you die?
- What could you do right now that would really put a smile on your face?
- For your life to be perfect, what would have to change?
- What do you really, really, REALLY want? (Really!!)
- Are you willing to be the hero of your own story?
- What obstacles might stop you?
- Who are your allies? What weapons and tools do you have?
- What - or who - is at hand right now that might hold the key to your success?
How did you do?
Please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments area below...
The big day is here for iPhone and iPod Touch users:
The Do It! Marketing app is now available (FREE!)
Good news - it's way cool...
Great news - grab this app and in 60 seconds, you'll get access to some of the best business, marketing, and entrpreneurial minds on the planet including:
- Scott "Hello My Name is Scott" Ginsberg
- Chris Brogan
- Seth Godin
- MarketingProfs
- Find & Convert
- Bob Bly
- CopyBlogger
...and about two dozen more.
PLUS you can "surf and go" - this app supports offline reading in planes, trains, and tunnels. Once you download the posts, no need to stay connected! Catch up on your marketing smarts even in "Airplane Mode."
Rated "5 stars" by my Mom and "4 paws" by my dog - but you'll love it, too!
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/marketing-built-by-appmakr-com/id351058116?mt=8
Download it, play with it, and if you're getting some good mojo from it, post a review or a rating - or leave a comment below and let's hear what you think...
As you know, the LAST thing I ever want to be called is a "social media expert" or social media marketing coach. Yech. That ain't what I do and it aint' who I am. Ain't. Ain't. Ain't.
There, that feels better... now what I AM is a social media enthusiast. I love it and I think it's a great tool to add to your internet marketing game plan.
Is it perfect for everyone? No.
Is it useful for some? Yes.
Is it vital for a few? Certainly.
So... to help you ramp up the effectiveness of your social media efforts, you need to know what to say and how to say it.
And most outreach "templates" that these social media tools offer you are pretty weak. Things like the standard LinkedIn connection invite, the Facebook friend connection, and others. No worries, you're about to get hooked up.
LinkedIn: 
Quick Marketing 101 review - Do people care about YOU or do they care about themselves? Yes - that's right! 5 points. They don't give a rat's tushie about you and they care 100% about themselves.
Now look at the standard LinkedIn connection invite:
===
I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.
===
Hmmmm... how do you feel about being "added"? And who cares about "my professional network"? This is all wrong.
Here's your new template - notice the switch in focus and benefit. Plus I added a new line with even more value. Finally, I prevented someone from clicking the "I don't know them" button which LinkedIn penalizes you for:
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I'd like to put my professional network on LinkedIn at your disposal. After we connect, if there's someone to whom you'd like a personal introduction, just let me know.
If you prefer not to connect at this time, please archive this message now. Thanks in advance.
===
Facebook:
You can't really go wrong here but I still have a useful connection "script" for you.
Let's say you notice that through your Facebook "Suggestions" (currently on the right side of your home page immediately below the section labelled "Requests"), there are people listed with labels like "37 mutual friends," "51 mutual friends" and so on.
You can connect with these folks, but chances are excellent that they might not know you from Adam - or Eve. Thus, you need a fun, approachable, and appealing script to drop in when you want to click on them to connect. After you click "Add as Friend" you'll want to click the link in the dialog box that says "Add a personal message" and type:
===
Vanessa - Wow! We have 37 mutual friends. We GOTTA connect simply so we can talk about all these people!
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Twitter:
First rule, don't use automatic Direct Messaging (DM). People hate 'em. I hate 'em. Most savvy Twitter users hate 'em too.
They're used by spammers, affiliate marketers, and MLM salespeople. Just awful.
Not sure how to set that up? Good. You don't need to know. Didn't I just specifically ask you NOT to do it? No matter how "cool, valuable, friendly" you think they are - DON'T do it.
This next bit isn't a script, it's more of a practice. It's called ENGAGEMENT. Rather than simply pumping out clever tweets and retweeting others, build relationships. My formula for social media success (as a social media enthusiast, remember!) is the 3 R's formula:
Resources - Yes, certainly share your blog posts, your micro-ideas, and retweets of cool links and thoughts from others. Your first week on Twitter, this is fine if it's all you do. The second week, though, you better get busy with...
Relationships - Build relationships with other users you follow, admire, or resonate with. Use public @ messages or private DMs to connect with them, comment on their latest contributions, or thank them for an idea. Be detailed - so don't just tweet "@dnewman Hey - Cool!" Instead tweet this: "@dnewman David, awesome ideas on your blog about those social media scripts. Thanks!!!"
Reciprocity - Once you get the Twitter thing going, you've built some good relationships and you're seen as a valuable resource and contributor, it's only natural that people will start to promote you with some reciprocal love. They'll respond to your ideas, they'll Retweet you, they'll promote you in their #followfriday recommendations, and they'll scratch your back as you scratch theirs.
Your Email Signature: 
This is where I see all kinds of stupid stuff. For example:
====
Joe Shmoe
Profession - Email - Phone
Feel free to subscribe to my newsletter / read my blog / check out my articles - Web link
====
What's wrong with this signature file? 2 little letters - MY. MY. MY. Remember marketing 101, nobody gives a hoot about YOU.
Consider my new signature file - and one that you should feel free to copy, emulate, or steal:
====
_____________________________
David Newman :: Tel 610.716.5984
Helping professional services firms do a better job of
marketing themselves
to
get MORE focus, MORE momentum, MORE clients, and MORE fun!
Three resources you
can grab right now:
1. Fat-free marketing ideas for the brave, fast, and smart:
http://www.doitmarketing.com/blog
2. Follow me on Twitter to get cool
micro-ideas to grow your business:
http://twitter.com/dnewman
3. Connect with me on LinkedIn so you can
tap into my 800+ connections:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjnewman
====
What's the lesson? Appeal to VALUE, appeal to EGO, and make it worthwhile for people to click on your links, follow you in social media, and join your Tribe.
Have some other cool ideas on this topic? Leave a comment below and let's hear what you think... go on... DO IT!
Kindly donated by Mr Robin Sharma, World Class Business Coach
1. Remember that leadership isn't about your position. It's about your influence.
2. Get fit like a pro athlete.
3. Lift people up versus tearing people down.
4. Protect your good name. An impeccable reputation takes a lifetime to build. And 60 seconds to lose.
5. Surround yourself with positive, ethical people who are committed to excellence.
6. Remember that even a 1% daily innovation rate amounts to at least a 100% rate of innovation in 100 days.
7. Believe in your dreams (even when others laugh at them).
8. Measure your success, not by your net worth but by your self worth (and how happy you feel).
9. Take an intelligent risk every 24 hours. No try-No Win.
10. Read "Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist".
11. Watch "Man on Wire".
12. Regardless of your title at work, be a team builder.
13. Remember that business is all about relationships and human connections.
14. Say "please" more.
15. Say "thank you" more.
16. Know your Big 5: the five things that need to happen by the end of this year for you to feel its been your best year yet.
17. Read your Big 5 every morning while the rest of the world is asleep.
18. Read "As You Think". At least twice this year.
19. Be willing to fail. It's the price of greatness.
20. Focus less on making money and more on creating value.
21. Spend less, save more.
22. Leave everything you touch better than you found it.
23. Be the most positive person in every room you're in.
24. Run your own race.
24. Stay true to your deepest values and best ideals.
25. Write a handwritten thank you note to a customer/friend/loved one every day.
26.
When you travel, send love letters to your kids on hotel stationary. In
time, they'll have a rich collection to remember your travels by.
27. Read "Atlas Shrugged".
28. Be a problem solver versus a trouble maker.
29. Rather than doing many things at mediocrity do just a few things-but at mastery.
30. Honor your parents.
31. Commit to doing great work-whether anyone notices it or not. It's one of life's best sources of happiness.
32. Give more than you receive (another of the truths of happiness).
33. Have your 1/3/5/10/25 years goals recorded on paper and review them weekly.
34.
Be patient. Slow and steady wins the race. The only reason businesses
that went from zero to a billion in a year or two get featured in
magazines is because 99% of businesses require a lot more time to win.
34. Underpromise and then overdeliver.
35. See part of your job as "a developer of people" (whether you work in the boardroom or the mailroom).
36. Wear your heart on your sleeve. When people see you're real, they'll fall in love with you.
37. Be authentic versus plastic.
38. Read "The Alchemist".
39. Remember that life wants you to win. So get out of your own way.
40. Consider that behind every fear lives your next level of growth (and power).
41. Eat less food.
42. Drink more water.
43. Rest when you need to.
44. Read "SUCCESS" magazine.
45. Write your eulogy and then live your life backwards.
46. Demand the best from yourself.
47. Remember that the more you go to your limits, the more your limits will expand.
48. See everything that happens to you as an opportunity to grow (and therefore, as a precious gift).
49. Be obsessed with learning and self-development.
50. Become comfortable alone (you are the only person you get to be with your whole life).
51. Smile. It's a stunningly effective way to win in business and life.
52. Reflect on the shortness of life.
53. Be bold when it comes to your dreams but gentle with those you love.
54.
Remember that success is dangerous because it can kill
drive/innovation/passion and going the extra mile. Be successful yet
stay hungry.
55. Read "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin".
56. Be of deep value to this world.
57. Own beautiful things but don't let them own you.
58. Use excellent words.
59. Laugh more.
60. Don't complain, gossip or be negative.
61. Plan as if you'll live forever but live as if you'll die tomorrow.
62. Feel free to pass these lessons on to those you want to help.
If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?
-- Will Rogers
To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
Trying to solve problems or find answers with the same set of information that got us "into this mess" in the first place indicates one of several things:
1. We are dangerously insane.
2. We are incredibly irresponsible.
3. We are sadly unaware of our own trailblazing and "off the charts" navigation capabilities.
What only a handful of very successful individuals realize is that, in fact, the current landscape, as perceived by others, is irrelevant as far as you're concerned.
One of the most powerful tools you have is self-knowledge. In the simplest terms, this comes down to answering these basic questions:
* Who am I?
* What am I all about?
* What do I love to do?
* Who do I want to be?
* What's the best way for me to get there?
* Where would I like the journey to take me?
Spend a few moments completing the following. Yes, you! Yes, right now.
Find a pencil. I'll wait...
Good. Here we go... 
Exercise: List 10 things you LOVE to do. Any context is fine. Use your personal life, professional life, with your family, friends, civic and church groups, anything:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Now review your list and summarize each of these ten items
into a 1-word VERB, such as "communicate" or "connect" or
"share."
These are ten of your core action words that define you at
your best.
How can you bring more opportunities to use these actions
into your life? In answering this question, please remember
that even a small change can have a huge impact.
You don't need to quit your job in an office in New York
and move to a kibbutz in Israel if one of your key words
turned out to be "share."
Why don't you share some of what you know with your
colleagues? Teach a class, write an article, start a
discussion group, create a lunchtime seminar series, or
start an interactive message board on your corporate
intranet?
So many people are unhappy because the opportunities to use these core actions have evaporated from their lives or have become blocked by schedules filled with "too much to do" and "never enough time."
But stop and ask yourself, "How effective is my mind if my heart and soul are starving?" And if you don't take care of them, who will?
THIS is your real work for 2010 - enjoy the ride!
As a marketing speaker, I'm often asked the question if I'm also a "motivational speaker" and my answer is no. Although I do admire motivational speakers and topics - and HAVE trafficked in a bit of leadership thinking and writing.
Here's an oldie but goodies from the archives:
===
There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you
damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human
duty, the duty to take the consequences.
-- P. J. O'Rourke
As a leader, I will expose you to the options and the
likely consequences of those options.
-- Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
The Leadership 22
Leadership means...
* Exposing people to options
* Getting along with people
* Being a dealer in hope
* Sales (products, services, ideas, values)
* Teaching, mentoring, guiding
* Be the example
* Results, not talk
* Bringing sides together
* Being a dispenser of enthusiasm
* Solving problems
* Blazing the trail and leaving a path
* Producing more leaders
* Showing average people how to do the work of superior people
* Character and integrity
* Putting first things first
* The capacity to translate vision into reality
* Finding a parade and getting in front of it
* Your switch is never turned off
* The ability to communicate something people want
* Action, not position
* Backbone, wishbone, funny bone
* Doing the right things at the right time for the right reasons
What do YOU think? What would you ADD? Leave a comment below and share your opinion...