As a marketing speaker and marketing coach who works with professional speakers, consultants, and professional services firms, one of THE most frequent questions I get is "How do I find the best places for me to speak so I generate business?"
I always come back with the following key question: What Audiences Are Your Clients In?
What groups do your ideal clients belong to? This will obviously determine which audiences you want to be in front of.
Not sure? Don’t guess – ask!
Here is the script to ask your current clients, prospects, and centers of influence who know your target market well…
“I’m looking to speak more in front of groups of [BUYER PERSONA]. I’d love to get your Advice, Insights, and Recommendations.”
(Thanks to my pal, networking and referral marketing speaker Michael Goldberg for the A-I-R approach!)
Another way to ask might be…
“Of all the industry groups and associations you belong to, which ones provide the most value in terms of the speakers and programs they present?”
With both of these scripts, the natural follow-up discussion would center around your desire to serve this industry/community more and to share information with them that would help them become even more successful.
Likely outcomes from this discussion would include:
- Names of specific groups, associations, and conferences
- Names of specific people serving in board or programming positions
- Names of other executives or decision-makers in the field
- Names of other companies or firms in need of similar information/services
- Specific networking introductions
- Offers of referrals to the individuals they already know
- An opportunity to reciprocate and ask how YOU might be of service to THEM
Resources for Targeting Best-Fit Venues
Finding venues to speak profitably could be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Here are some resources to help you laser-target your speaking to your best-fit audiences:
Have fun, speak well, and go generate some business.
Got questions? Comments? A resource or tip of your own? Please use the COMMENTS sections below and let's hear from YOU...
CEO Speaking is Your Best Weapon
The most successful motivational speakers, corporate executives, and professional services firm principals become recognized thought leaders in their areas of expertise because they deploy three powerful tools every time they speak – Clarity, Expertise, and Openness:
Clarity: In any speaking situation, clarity indicates power, confidence, and capability. Less is more. Convey a few points powerfully. Focus your message and like a laser beam, it will cut through even the most steely buyer you’re likely to encounter.
Expertise: Expertise has replaced dollars as your marketing investment. Those who share the most value win. Actionable, specific, do-this-now strategies and tactics are the coin of the realm. This goes beyond “educating your prospects” and even goes so far as “setting the buying criteria” or helping them do it themselves if they so choose.
Openness: Openness is about collaboration. Marketing is no longer someone yelling through a megaphone. It’s a person-to-person conversation. Forget about being the source of all information to your clients. Your new job is to open the possibilities, ask great questions, and then serve as a filter, lens, and curator. Openness means that every time you speak, you do it WITH them, you don’t do it TO them!
Mastering this kind of CEO Speaking will pay off in helping you attract, engage, and win more clients - NOW more than ever!
Even the best of us will sometimes run out of things to say.
As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I have found 14 things that most of my clients (professional speakers, consultants, and professional services firms) can turn to that will keep your e‐zines and blogs timely and fresh.
Here's the list for you - and please use the COMMENTS section below to add your own great ideas...
1. How‐To Tips. Everybody loves to read “how to’s.” A very short pithy practical tip your reader can use that day. For example, say you were writing to employers interested in OSHA regulations. You may have an article like, 10 Tips You Can Use to Pass Your Safety Inspections.
2. Dialogue with the Reader, Soliciting Feedback and Participation. I love this; it works equally well for an ezine or blog. This allows two‐way communication with your reader. You get to build a real bond with your readers. Your readers can be your best source of material. Pose questions to your readers and promise to publish the answers. For example: In one of my e‐zines I asked my readers to tell me some of their success stories, involving giving out free information. I told them that if I used their information I would give them full credit in my e‐zine.
3. Tips from Friends and Colleagues. This gives you the opportunity to “be seen” as an unbiased source of information. I love to bring in experts covering all sorts of topics. Lets be honest: you and I don’t know everything. If you can bring in experts covering a wide range of topics you become a source of information that your reader can always look to. In one of my e‐zines my friend Paul Karasik gave a great networking tip from his new book “How to Market to High Net‐Worth Households”
4. Plugs for Friends and Clients’ books, e‐books, reports, products and services. Make extra money by creating affiliate relationships, or joint ventures. Becoming an affiliate for someone can be the easiest way to make money. All you do is promote their products for a commission. Alternatively, you can promote a friends product as a favor because you believe your readers would benefit from it. (I do this regularly with a lot of my NSA speaker buddies who offer excellent programs and products to the same target market that I serve. No money changes hands. Just love and referrals.)
5. Reader Feedback and Contributions. This gives you a chance to create a buzz, controversy and argument. There have been times I have posted information, only to be inundated by readers telling me they agree, or disagree. Either way that is good. It means people are reading.
6. Upcoming Speaking Engagements, Seminars, and Tele‐conferences. If you do any public appearances, some of your readers will want to attend. This is your chance to let them know where you will be and what you will be doing. It is also a great way to meet some of your most loyal readers. Include links to Websites where the reader can register for the event. (Oh, by the way, will you join me at the NSA Convention in Orlando July 17-20?)
7. What I’ve Done Lately. Your readers will want to see what you have been working on; it is like reality TV. It gives them a sneak peak in to your life and lets prospective new clients see your work.
8. Recommended Vendors. Sometimes you come across a service provider that has helped you out, and you feel would be a godsend to your readers, why not return the favor and promote him in your e‐zine? A copywriter friend of mine recently had a problem with his computer, and a company called Rescue.com saved his bacon.
9. Useful and Relevant Websites. While you are cruising the net, you may find a Website others don’t know about, that you find useful. Let the world know, get the word out. For example, this ezine marketing course may be exactly what you need to get your ezine marketing back on track!!
10. Mini Book Reviews. If you read a book that you feel may be valuable to your readers let them know, post a link to Amazon and make yourself a couple of bucks if they buy.
11. News Nuggets of Interest. Clip excerpts from industry trade journals that you believe may be relevant to your readers.
12. News About Your New Books. Let your readers know about any books you might be working on.
13. Plugs for Your Own Products. This is where you get a chance to plug your own products. You do not have to feel guilty about selling your products and professional services; your readers want to know what you have to offer. Look at it as a fair trade. You give your reader valuable information, and in return he rewards you by purchasing some of your products. It is totally win/win.
14. Quotations. Many people love to read quotes. A good quote can be inspirational. If you find one you like include it in your next issue.
That's it - so now you have No More Excuses not to crank out terrific, value-rich ezines and blogs with a lot less effort than you thought.
Got more ideas? Share them in the COMMENTS area below.
As a
marketing speaker and
marketing coach who works with professional speakers, consultants, and professional services firms, the topic of email marketing comes up fairly regularly.
A study conducted by Quiris discovered that people have an inner circle of 16 sources from whom they open e‐mails—that includes e‐zines they subscribe to, and their friends.
What does this mean to you? Simple: the competition is fierce.
You could be giving away free gold bars, but if no one reads any of your message how would anyone know about it? It is the age‐old question what came first—the chicken or the egg? The greatest message no one reads is no more effective than the worst message everyone reads. They have to read your message.
Your typical Internet user is overwhelmed with daily e‐mails, most of which they never read. Do you read all your e‐mail?
People do not have the time to sit and read every single e‐mail they get. They read their e‐mail the way they read their normal mail, except now they have the power to use a delete button.
They quickly scan two very important lines on every e‐mail that will help them decide. They look at the “from” line, and the subject line.
Always use the same from line when emailing to your subscriber list. Your readers must get to know and trust you. Once you create a bond with your reader and gain their trust, you will make it into their inner circle.
Isn’t this how you decide which e‐mails you will read?
Your subject line is a different story; try to give your reader a reason to read your e‐mail. Offer him a benefit for reading your message. Let him know what is in it for him or her.
Tests show that if you include the readers’ first name in the subject line, you will get a noticeable bump in response.
Think of your subject line as a mini headline. One of my most successful subject lines from my e‐zine was “Do Question Headlines Work?” There was an avalanche of response to that simple subject line.
Michael Masterson has come up with a formula he uses when he writes headlines; it’s called the 4 U’s. Your headline must be useful, unique, ultra specific, and urgent. It is a nifty little checklist. The next time you are stumped for a headline, try the 4 U’s.
Here let me show you how it is done. Check the subject line for the 4U’s, for each U give it a score of 1‐4; 1 being lousy, 4 being excellent. When you’re done average out your score and see what you have. Anything lower than a 3 should probably be re‐written.
Here is a sample subject line from a small business marketing e‐zine:
8 ways to generate a ton of repeat business
Is it useful? Every businessperson or salesperson wants to know how to increase his or her referral business. Yes, it is useful, let’s give it a 4.
Is it unique? Well, not exactly so let’s give it a 2.
Is it ultra specific? You betcha, it tells you there are 8 ways, not a couple or a few but eight specific ways. So let’s give it a 4.
How about urgent? There really is no timeframe given so let’s rate this a 2. If you add these numbers up you get 12 divide that by 4 and you get 3. Not bad, but the real question is - how can YOU do even better?
In the comments section below -- Will you share your thoughts and insights into how YOU decide which emails to open and engage with?
"We often talk about ourselves as if we have permanent genetic flaws that can never be altered."
-- Marshall Goldsmith
This snippet from America's preeminent executive coach (and founding director of the Alliance for Strategic Leadership) speaks volumes about where most people are today, and where they COULD BE.
My wife was on the phone a while back with a friend who runs a video production business. She asked him, "So, Ron - do YOU have the sales gene?" Turns out that neither one of them believed they had "the sales gene." Problem is, HE was in sales and my wife wasn't!
Guess how robust his sales are?
Exactly.
Although I'm a marketing speaker and not a sales trainer, I can tell you that this mindset WILL hurt your bottom line.
And the term "gene" - as in the creativity gene, the leadership gene, the money-making gene, the happiness gene - is as FLEETING in reality as it sounds BIOLOGICALLY PERMANENT when we talk about it!
Thomas Watson, Jr. of IBM weighed in on this issue when talking about excellence (or the 'excellence gene' as we might call it in this context):
"If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work."
Try this version on for size: If you want to achieve X (sales, dating, marketing, whatever), as of this second, start believing that you DO possess that gene -- and then ACT on that fact!
As a 
marketing speaker and marketing coach to other professional speakers, CEOs, and business owners - and certainly from my own experience - I can safely say that too often, we get caught up in trying to get everything just perfect.
While you are working on “perfect,” someone else with “just okay” is raking in all the money.
Face it - Reading the next book, attending the next seminar, or trying the latest software alone will do nothing for you. This is the classic "Ready, Aim, Aim, and Aim" syndrome. Always aiming and never pulling the trigger.
The key lies in taking action. I would like to invite you to try a technique suggested by my colleague Michael Masterson—the Ready, Fire, Aim technique. Do something; even if it is wrong, go ahead take the shot -- screw up.
At the very least, you are moving in the right direction.Fellow speaker and prosperity guru Joe Vitale says, “Money loves speed” those who take the swiftest action make the most amount of money.
Go ahead -- DO IT, and once you're moving, then worry about making it perfect.
Let's take the specific context of internet marketing as an example. And we'll start with your e-zine or blog...
In its simplest form an e‐zine or blog is all about information. Give your reader the information he wants to read about, and he will reward you with his trust and eventually his money.
There are five phases for any Internet marketing entrepreneur. In phase one, you read and study Internet marketing, go to conferences, devour e‐books and courses. At this stage, you are thinking about internet marketing all the time, yet you are not actually in it yet—not actually doing it. You don’t have a list, product, or the infrastructure in place to do business online.
In phase two, you dip your toe in the water—developing a product and making a few sales. The income is not significant. Except now, the idea of making money online is no longer merely a dream, an idea in your head. It’s reality. Making your first few sales will energize you and propel you forward to phase three.
In phase three, you develop more products, build your e‐zine subscriber list, and start making a significant spare‐time income online. Maybe it’s a thousand dollars a month in sales. Maybe it’s a thousand dollars a week. It’s not enough to live on, yet. But the extra money allows you to buy nicer things and become more financially secure.
In phase four, you reach a point where your Internet business makes enough money for you to live on—enough for you to quit your job and leave the rat race behind forever. For some people, this might be $2,000 to $3,000 a week in net online revenues.
In phase five, you double or triple the size of your list, add more products make more deals, and start making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, or even a million dollars or more. You become an Internet millionaire.
The problem is that the large majority of people who explore Internet marketing never get past phase one. They get addicted to reading “make money on the Internet” materials and attending conferences and tele‐seminars on the subject. But they never actually do something.
No matter what the marketing strategy, tactic, or business development effort - get going with baby step... RIGHT NOW.
You want an inbound link back to your blog or website? Great - leave a comment below with your reactions to the "Ready, Fire, Aim" technique - and you'll have DONE something to build your business. Do it!!!
As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I can tell you that Networking is one of the most misunderstood marketing terms there is.
Professional speakers, consultants, coaches, and independent professionals either love it or hate it - and no matter which camp you find yourself in, there are probably some misconceptions and misunderstanding that are preventing you from making networking as fully effective as it can be and should be to help you grow your business.
Networking: What is it?
- Meeting people at events, mixers etc. (the obvious first step)
- Goal: move it to a different level, namely...
Power networking
- Introducing people to each other (Netweaving)
- Having breakfast, lunch, coffee or dinner 1-on-1 to build new key relationships
- Meeting people in organizations (civic/social; religious; recreational)
- ASKING people to introduce you to someone
- Doing favors for people for no reason (random acts of networking kindness)
- Asking others for help and resources
- Bringing a group of your own together for brainstorming, mastermind group, etc.
Maximize Your Affiliations
- Friends, neighbors, church, hobbies, past bosses and colleagues
- Speakers Bureaus, meeting planners, training companies, event producers
- Your Professional affiliations (trade, professional, civic, etc)
- Other colleagues outside of your peer groups such as NSA (speakers), IMC (consultants), or ICF (coaches)
- Your Industry affiliations within your target industry groups
Your Keys to Networking Success
- Over deliver make them look like a genius for referring or connecting you
- Lead and get involved (raise your visibility and credibility within each group)
- Serve on committees, projects, and bring “outside” ideas to solve big problems
- Become known as a connector, a hub, and a linchpin
- Give three times as much as you hope to get
How about you?
Use the COMMENTS area below to share your networking ideas and tips...
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