Marketing For Less 101- Public Speaking April 15, 2009
How To Market For Less - Public Speaking
Do you speak well in front of groups? If so, you would do well to add public speaking to your list of marketing tools. How many times have you sought out the services of a speaker you heard at a conference or talk at a local breakfast? My bet is that you at least Googled them to find out more about them. Public speaking is a great way to find the people who are looking for you. You can put out a press release offering your services and wait for them to come to you, but there are more proactive ways of finding your audience for speaking engagements.
What can you speak about?
The first thing that comes to mind is your business and the services it offers. You have to be able to address the “What’s in it for me?” crowd who will be attending your talk. They may just be interested in learning something new, or they may be looking to hire a company just like yours to do a job for them. Speak about how to landscape around a home if you are a professional commercial landscaper, or talk about the best deductions for business owners if you are an accountant. Find something you know that will help direct future business your way by helping the members of your audience.
Where can you speak?
Start with a list of all of the groups to which you belong. From the local Rotary Club to your church, you will find several places who might want to hear a talk on your specialization.
Make a list of groups you know of in your area. Your city must have a local library and they are always looking for interesting talks to add to their calendars. Do your friends belong to any interesting groups? Write them down, too. How about neighboring groups similar to the groups on your list? Branch out to your nearby towns. When you get to this point, it’s a short hop to listing national groups, from your national union or trade organization, to the group connected with your favorite magazine. Every group or organization that caters to your market should be on your list.
The next obvious move is to contact your list. You can call, send a carefully crafted email or send out a mass mailing via snailmail. Whichever you choose, make sure you have a title for your talk. Give them a title for your talk that sounds like a magazine article in a self-help publication. “5 Ways to Landscape Your House and Save Water” is better than, “I think I would like to talk about saving water while landscaping your house.” Do you see what I mean? The second is too general, but the first packs a punch and offers useful advice.
The day of your speech, make sure you have plenty of business cards to hand out to the crowd. You can even ask the organizer whether you can set up a table somewhere on which lies your marketing collateral. Brochures and postcards will give the people something to take home and think about.
Lastly, knock ‘em dead out there! Keep in mind the audience has shown up to hear what you have to say. Make your content worth their time so they see what an expert you are in your field. Keep your speech to a reasonable amount according to the organizer’s preference. By doing this, they will be knocking down your door to become a client. With your business card, your print collateral and a great talk in your audience’s mind, you can sell yourself with little investment other than your time.
