Market Yourself Through Public Speaking
As part of your marketing strategy, a noteworthy way for you to get exposure and
new customers is public speaking. Public speaking is a powerful way to get
new customers and leads, so be sure to incorporate it into your quiver of
marketing techniques.
By Wendy Maynard
A noteworthy way for you to get exposure and new customers is public speaking. As
a business owner, it is always a more powerful position to be in the front
of the room than in the back. You further position yourself as an expert and reinforce
the brand as YOU. People tend to perceive speakers as being more important than
non-speakers.
Create a core talk that reinforces your specialty and practice it. Then, come up
with a compelling title for your speech. Remember, your presentation isn't a sales
pitch; it's a way to showcase your expertise. So, provide great, practical information
that is helpful to your listeners.
Make the same speech in lengths of 30 minutes, 45 minutes and 90 minutes. This will
be a talk you can use over and over again. Show confidence by using humor and letting
your passion shine through! During your speech, your audience gets an opportunity
to meet you without obligation and to get a feel for your personality, style, and
expertise. The people who like your approach will either hire you or spread the
word about your company.
Your audience is a goldmine of prospects, so don't miss out on this opportunity
to get their contact information. Be sure to pass around a sign-up sheet to collect
the names of attendees. As an incentive, offer them a free special report or a subscription
to your ezine for signing the sheet.
In every city, there are associations, service clubs, and support groups that are
looking for speakers for their meetings. Check your telephone book and highlight
some of these. You can start with smaller groups as practice.
After you feel comfortable with your speech, seek out larger groups who have members
in your targeted audience. When you call, ask for the name of the person in charge
of lining up speakers. Offer to speak for free and explain the ways in which your
speech will benefit the group's members. Be sure to mention the remarkable title
you developed - it will help sell your presentation.
Once you begin to promote yourself as a speaker, groups will hear about you and
you'll find yourself getting requests, as well. After you begin to get more engagements
and feel at ease with speaking, add more topics to promote. If a group liked your
speech, you can tell them you have new material and they may ask you to return to
speak again.
Develop a speaker's sheet that you can send to groups. Create a page on your website
that describes your expertise, background, and speaking style. Include testimonials
if you have them. Hand out information to your audiences about you, your company,
and your services. If you have information products, you can often offer these for
sale for people to purchase at the event.
Public speaking is a powerful way to get new customers and leads, so be sure to
incorporate it into your quiver of marketing techniques. You'll find opportunities
abound when you commit to getting yourself out there!
ACTION ITEM: What idea do you want to develop into your core talk? List three potential
ideas right now. Then, come up with an attention-getting title. Show them to your
existing customers and ask them which one is of the most value to them. Develop
the winner into a speech of different lengths.
Wendy Maynard, the Marketing Maven, publishes Remarkable Marketing, a weekly ezine
for small business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.
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