Marketing on a Shoestring

Even at an event at the coolest venue, with the hottest speakers and the best food, success is measured by butts in seats. With advertising and marketing budgets tighter than ever, getting the word out can be a bit of a trick - but these promotional techniques can get the job done with only the investment of your time and creativity.

Get in on the Action

YouTube gets more searches each month than Yahoo, which means that filming a quick 30-second video can fast-track you to visibility.

Concepts: Testimonials and short benefit-oriented overviews are one approach, but nothing says "sign me up" better than a video of a luxurious hotel on a gorgeous beach.

Keywords: Think about how people might be searching for your session - for example, "Sales Training in Hawaii" - and use that phrase for the title, in the description, and include a link to your site.

Write Email that Gets Read

Email marketing can be a wonderful response tool - if you pay attention to two key factors:

Subject line: Reel in readers with an interesting subject line. "Enjoy Hawaii and Increase Your Sales" will outclick "ABCD Annual Convention, March 1-4."

Content: Don't focus on specific benefits or include a lengthy speaker bio. Post them on your website and link from the email.

Your Search-Engine Secret

Craigslist isn't just an online yard sale; it can be an event-marketing machine. You can post a description of your session for free, and your item will appear in search engines. To make sure your Craigslist event posts really shine, you need to be aware of a few things:

One city at a time: Craigslist is city-specific, so make sure to strategically select your city based on where your target audience primarily lives. When in doubt, major metros are a great fallback: New Yoirk Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago.

Use keywords: Craigslist ads will rank in search engines if you are clear on what you want them to rank for. If you want people searching "Sales Conferences Hawaii" to find your session, make sure to use "Sales Conferences Hawaii" in the title and throughout the body content.

Twitter Me This!

Use Twitter to get attendees pumped up before the event. Keep the momentum going by encouraging Tweeps to spread the word during and after the event:

Keywords are key: Start tweeting about "Marketing Conference," "Sales Conference," "Hawaii Conference," "Leadership Development Training" or whatever your topic is, and watch the wave catch as your posts get tweeted and retweeted across the web.

Event hashtags: An event hashtag gives attendees who are on Twitter a forum where they can communicate about an event while they're there/ By setting up a hashtag and letting attendees know about it, you will find a whole stream of attendees marketing your event and telling each other how much fun they are having.

Your LinkedIn Connection

LinkedIn enables users to go in and set up information about upcoming events/training/conferences. They are searchable for professionals on the LinkedIn community, and LinkedIn will email a summary of upcoming events to users. To maximize your impact:

Build your community: LinkedIn can be a great platform for communiation, if your target audience is in your network. It is extremely important that as you network at events, meet new members in your assoication, etc., that you take the time to see if they are members of LinkedIn. (Chances are very good that they are.) When it comes time to promote the event, you've got a great community ready to go.

Start a group and discussion: One of the best ways to get attendees energized for a session is to give them time to discuss and get excited about it before-hand. For example, you could start a discussion about "Vote for your facorite presentation topic" to get attendees communicating about and engaging with your event.

Taken from Speaker magazine  Written by Natalie Henely

The High Five

As I travel throughout the US to visit most of NSA's 39 chapters, as well as our sister associations abroad, I constantly hear about the following five key trends in the marketplace.

1. The Definition of "Speaking" is Morphing. In previous years, the term "speaker" was synonymous with a keynoter or a general session speaker, who delivered  30 to 90 minutes of their best stuff on the main stage. Today's audiences want to be more engaged, gain some insights and feel inspired in that time period. They want to learn how to leverage an opportunity, or simply make their lives better. This could come in the form of a keynote or a general session, or through facilitation, training, coaching, consulting or other offline/online delivery systems. The lines between speaking, facilitating, training and consulting are blurring. It's a package of value-added services. The more focused speakers are on presenting solutions, the more clients will value their services. Check out NSA's white paper on the Value of Professional Speaking for a list of value-added services at MyNSA.org.
2. Greater Expectations. Boomer audiences are a fairly compliant crowd. Typically, they will sit through a boring presentation, but younger audiences will not. They will start texting or even walk out! Today's audiences demand quality they cannot access via the web on their own. The solution? Professional speakers must bring their "A" game to thrive in this business. You must do your homework with clients and truly understand their opportunities or troubles. Clients want to see their fingerprints all over your speech. Some call this customizing the speech, which far exceeds putting the client's logo on your handouts. Weave in timely anecdotes, stories, examples, illustrations, best practices, etc. Show that you are a professional who has a firm grasp on their reality and shares your expertise with panache, creating a memorable experience that incites them to action.
3. Co-Creation of the Presentation. Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of Meeting Professionals International, says that "the number one thing an audience wants is to feel involved in the actual creation and development of the session. When they are involved, they are much more connected, they feel it is more personal to them, and they get more out of it." This includes blogging them and inviting questions before the event, and building their comments into your presentation. As a professional speaker, you also have a depth of expertise that you can adjust on the fly to the needs of the audience, as well as the opportunity to continue the conversation after you finish.
4. Social Media. Social media connects you with your audience. It can also be a primary source for recommendations from within your social network or from a "Googl-ish" search in Facebook, Linked In, etc. Social media will become much more sophisticated as decision makers learn to use these online tools.
5. Shorter Lead Times. When meetings came to a screeching halt last year, professional speakers suddenly had time on their hands. Some organizations cancelled meetings in fear of the AIG effect, and others started holding meetings on property using internal industry speakers. A few months later, companies started to climb out of the foxhole and contacted speakers - but with a drastically reduced lead time. Many speakers are getting calls a few weeks or even a few days before the program. This is hard to understand from a marketing or planning perspective, but this trend is going to continue.

As speakers, it's important to be aware of market trends and remain flexible so we can provide clients with outstanding value and service. With every success, we can give each other a "high five!"

Taken from Speaker magazine  Written by Kristin Arnold

Want to Speak More? Then, Speak More!

Speaking more by speaking more is the strategy that can help build your speaking business beyond anything you've imagined. But when I started speaking professionally, I didn't know this. Because I've run an award-winning advertising agency for the past 25 years, I thought I knew how to market myself just as well as I had marketed my clients.

What kind of marketing materials do you wish you had? A compelling capabilities brochure, beautiful one-sheets, and clever giveaways, perhaps? An interactive website, interesting blog, and a professionally shot video? That's what I thought, too.

I sent out materials, wrote articles, negotiated online links, and did everything else I learned at NSA marketing workshops. I listened to Joe Calloway, and "let it go." I channeled Seth Godin and "became remarkable." I followed Tom Peters and built the brand called "me." But none of those things got me gigs. Lots of activity added up to nothing.

Then one day I was eating breakfast with Michael Gehrish, the president of Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), and he invited me to keynote at his organization's annual meeting. We agreed on a fee, set the date, and I blocked out the time on my schedule.

Turning Point for Success

The DMAI keynote was my tipping point. My speech was for the industry in which the firm does most of its work (travel, tourism and entertainment), so I decided to attend the conference, figuring the networking opportunities would be beneficial for my ad agency.

This strategy led to invitations for other travel-related events and state Governor's conferences.

I chatted with the executive director of a western state tourism organization that had invited me to speak, and she told me her association prided itself on the quality of its speakers. Many of its members were small companies that couldn't afford to attend expensive national conferences, so she would attend those events and then invite the speakers she liked to her state. In other words, my paid speech at the national event served as a showcase for her state event. Since that time, I have tried to attend every event that invites me to speak because most good events generate three more.

Want To Speak More, Speak More

• Ask your bureaus to arrange conference calls with their clients.
• Try to book the opening keynote for an association organization, so you can network with potential customers who heard you on the first day.
• Take advantage of your speech by offering to stay for the whole conference and benefit from networking opportunities. Most organizations will happily cover your expenses.
• If you stay at the conference, position yourself outside the door to smaller meetings and workshops so you can meet potential clients entering and exiting the room.
• Create an attention-grabbing business card. I'm in the travel business, and my card looks like an airplane ticket. People request it so they can show it to others.
• Focus your efforts on an industry or business category in which you can be a proven guru and can solve problems in your audiences' day-to-day businesses.
• When you reach out to potential clients, take the professional high road and send a letter that requires a postage stamp, not an email.
• It's more important to speak more than to charge more, so adjust your rate card to get more gigs.
• Look for opportunities to turn one speech into many; for example, offer to speak to your clients' chapters, regional offices, field offices, etc.

Strength in Numbers

How can you speak more by speaking more? It's simple - speak more. A great speech is your best marketing tool and the cost-of-entry in this business. But just having a good stage act is not enough.

What matters is how many people see your speech. We all know that word of mouth is the best marketing tool. You never know who's sitting in the audience and when they'll need a speaker or be asked to recommend a great speaker. By speaking more, you increase the chances that your name will be dropped.

If you're an established speaker, look for opportunities to turn your existing schedule into more work. After your speech, stay to network with event attendees, and watch the invitations develop. Nothing says "I'm not interested in any more work" than a speaker who parks her RollAboard next to the stage and wheels it out the door the minute her presentation ends.

Multiply a single gig into several by reaching out to your audience. Create compelling materials, but don't mail them; instead, hand them out at events. Scrupulously follow up on every interaction. Consider every speech you do as a showcase for more work.

Booking Bureau Business

Speaking more also works if you want to get booked by bureaus. The common anecdote is that bureaus won't book you until you don't need them. That is, they won't have an interest in what you're doing until their clients start asking for you. But there's another way to get to bureaus - get recommended by the speakers they already represent.

Speaking more means speakers will see you, too. Mark Sanborn, explained at the 2011 NSA Keynote Lab that the bureaus he works with often ask him to suggest speakers. He is protective of his bureau relationships, so he's careful about his recommendations. But when he sees a great speaker on the circuit, he feels he's doing his bureaus a favor by passing the name along.

Make Things Happen

If you're a beginning speaker still looking for your chance to get up in front of people, you can still speak more by speaking more. Get aggressive about finding chances to speak wherever you can, and lower your fee when necessary so you don't miss your chance to get on the lectern. You can:

• Offer to speak for charity fundraisers, especially if they cater to the industry in which you are an expert.
• Partner with successful local speakers to do an opening act for them.
• Speak at local colleges, community groups, churches and synagogues.

Besides generating exposure, speaking more also gives you more stage time. As Malcolm Gladwell wrote in Outliers, true mastery only comes after 10,000 hours of concerted effort. How much time have you spent giving your talk?

Speaking more by speaking more doesn't work if you squander opportunities. Because your audience is enamored with you (thanks to your great speech), they will be that much more appreciative when you follow up. They'll also be that much more disappointed if you don't do what you promise. Therefore, it becomes critical that you're diligent about collecting business cards, keeping track of what you offer, following up with the people you meet, and making sure you honor all the promises you toss out at networking events. If you tell someone you're going to send a copy of your audio book, do it. If you promise to email the opinion paper you wrote on their industry, do that, too. Even if you only shake hands and stick their business card in your pocket, they deserve a personal thank-you letter.

Once you've been considered for a gig, you can speak more by scheduling a conference call with your potential clients before they book you. Let the executive director and conference manager know they'll be in good hands if they hire you. This strategy has proven so successful that we ask our speakers bureaus to arrange conferences whenever they're considering us for a particular gig. When we talk to potential clients, we're more likely to hear what they need, and we can tailor our presentation to match those needs. We're able to provide details on any relevant business or experience we've had that could convince the client and close the sale.

Comedian and actor Steve Martin says that becoming a millionaire is simple. All you have to do is start with a million dollars. Becoming a successful speaker is simple, too. All you have to do is speak.

Taken from Speaker magazine  Written by Bruce Turkel

Engaging Younger Audiences

It's no secret that the key to a spectacular presentation is a speaker's ability to engage an audience. Young people, however, pose different challenges than adult audiences. They are your toughest critics, and don't hide behind nodding, note taking or smiles. Their body language expresses everything you need to know to tailor every sentence you utter. Here are some myth busters about engaging young people:

Myth: You have to be young to engage youth.
Fact: You don't have to dress like a gangster or talk like you're one of them. Be genuine and speak from the heart and, instead of trying to fit in, make the audience tune to your way of thinking, your life and your story.

Myth: You need to be cool.
Fact: You're trying to deliver your message to young people, not get on their good side. In many cases, your audience will have an open mind. You can make or break your first impression, but don't stray from your message or image because you think it will make them more engaged.

Myth: Textbook content is good.
Fact: Young people like to interact with others and do an activity. When you're delivering a presentation, add a couple of extra exercises to get them to talk to each other or move around; for example, ask them to turn to the person to their left and share their thoughts about what the speaker just said.

Myth: Adults think young people need to hear funny stories about their lives.
Fact: Young people want to hear stories with morals, based on lessons that adults have learning during their lives. Young people may have a different view of what's funny, so something you think is hilarious may not be to young people. Age jokes are a no-no because young people don't always "get them."

Myth: You must be inspiring and positive.
Fact: Share the good with the bad. Many speakers at my high school painted a beautiful picture about their lives, but they never described the hard work that was necessary to achieve their goals. Young people need to be aware that life is not easy. Situations will arise that will force them to deal with barriers and conflicts.

The worst speaker who came to my high school told the student body that life was "piss easy." Apart from the inappropriateness, it was easy for him to say that because he owns properties around the world. However, he did not reveal that he worked hard to achieve his success.

So, before you walk on stage to present to a younger audience, think back to your youth and ask: What did I want to hear when I was that age? What engaged me when I was young?

Taken from Speaker magazine  Written by Eva-Maria

Career Change is Inevitable

Is your career changing? If you are like the majority of people in the workforce today, the answer is probably yes. Companies thrive on change, and most change very quickly. But how are you handling your change? Are you going with it, or hoping that you can ride it out? Or, are you wishing that your change would go away?

Change is not easy for most people. We like our routines and want to know what is coming our way. Change throws us off course. It makes us think and makes us do more work. Change forces us to look at ourselves and come up with a new plan or perspective. Change adds fear and uncertainty to our lives. The truth is we just don't like it very much.

But change is inevitable in your career. Maybe it's a new boss that you weren't expecting. Or a new job or career. Maybe your industry is going away or your company is closing. Maybe your skills are not needed anymore. Whatever the change, you have a decision to make. Either bury your head in the sand or tackle it head on.

So how can you effectively handle change in your career? Follow these 4 steps:

1. Don't wait until it's too late. You know what I mean. You see change coming, but you believe it won't affect you. So, you go along your merry way and then "bam" all of a sudden, you are hit in the face with change, and your world is turned upside down. Don't let this happen to you. As soon as you see change, accept. Expect it to affect you. Expect it to alter the way you see yourself and your career. This way you will take it seriously and do something about it.
2. Understand that you have the power to make your change. When change is upon us, and we haven't prepared for it, we feel powerless. We feel like something is happening to us, and forget that we have a say. If you put the power back into your hands, you will feel better. You will have hope. Hope gives you energy and the momentum to move past fear and uncertainty, and into something that will be better suited and less stressful for you.
3. Research your change. Most people fear change because it can happen quickly. But there is a way to slow change down and that's through the power of research. Anticipating change early on will give you time to plan for it. Do your homework. Ask yourself what the change will mean to your career and what your choices are. Then, go online and get your answers. And what you can't find online, get from people. Research makes your decisions easier and more powerful because you know what your options are, and you can act based on sound reasoning and judgment and not how you feel in the moment.
4. Make your change. There are times in your life when you have to take a leap of faith. Once you have accepted that inevitable and you have done the legwork, it's time to for it and implement your change. Want a guarantee that it will work out for this is your last change? I can't give you one. But I can tell you that your change will be easier to make when you ride the tide instead of going against it.

So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might as well be a life you love!

Taken from healthnewsdigest.com  Written by Deborah Brown-Volkman

Gauging That New Career Leap

More than 40% of American workers say they would like to change careers. That's a lot of unhappy campers. Jocelynn is one of them. She writes: "I'm a software salesperson by day. When I get home, I shift into my alter ego - a carpenter. I love to build things. I make cabinets, desks and tables, and have remodeled my kitchen and bathroom. I make good money selling software, but my passion is carpentry. What should I do to make a career change?"

People thinking about a career change should follow the D-E-A-L formula: D - Desire, E - Earnings, A - Ability, L - Long-term opportunity.

Desire

This isn't about what you think you'd like to do. It's about what you believe you must do -work that uses your natural strengths; work consistent with your personality, not your behavior. When work and personality match, the workday flies by - it's interesting, energizing, and fun. Knowing your personality type will help you determine what you need from your job.

If you want to take a short personality evaluation to start thinking about your possibilities, head for personalitytype.com. Click on the orange assessment button. The four-question quiz covers your internal energy, how you process information, how you make decisions and working conditions.

Earnings

There may be an economic price to pay when you change careers. What you make in your present job may be more, at least initially, than what you'll make at entry-level in your new career. This is particularly true for workers well established in a job. Financial changes will bring about lifestyle changes. Adjusting lifestyle can be stressful. Career changers must have a financial plan in place to address earnings gaps.

To gauge a new career's initial financial impact, do some research. Start at salary.com; its data show ranges for a wide variety of positions. You should also gather information from professional associations, look at job postings in the newspaper and major job websites and network with people in your new profession.

If the financial implications are too drastic, consider doing something outside of work to fill your fulfillment gap. I know quite a few people whose passions are their hobbies and whose day jobs pay for those hobbies. They're happy campers.

Ability

It takes more than passion to succeed. It takes talent and schooling. When it comes to a job well done, the world is filled with wannabes. If your career choice doesn't play your strengths, you'll have little chance of success. Also, it may take time to fully develop new employability skills.

When gauging your talent, look for and listen to outsiders' opinions. Talk with your closest friends and family about your strengths. Tap your network, too; you may find people who know about your prospective field, or they may know people who are successful in it. Successful people can tell you what it takes to make it in their profession.

Long-term opportunity

One cannot expect a career to last a lifetime. Professionals have ebbs and flows. There are many unemployed Web developers and programmers who were making Big Bucks a few years back. Nurses are in short supply today; 15 years ago, there was a surplus. Outsourcing jobs to cheaper labor markets will continue to affect jobs, too.

Think as long-term as possible.

Taken from commercialappeal.com  Written by Jim Pawlak

Make Your Career Change a Success With These Tips

There was a time when professionals would spend the bulk, if not the entirety, of their careers with one company. Chances are, many of today's young professionals had grandparents who spent decades working with the same outfit. Such instances, however, are now few and far between. Perhaps thanks to the increasingly global and mobile nature of society, today's professionals rarely even expect to spend the majority of their careers with the same firm. While some people might be nostalgic for the trends of yesteryear, for others the excitement of change is far more invigorating than working for the same company for the bulk of a career. Those considering a career change can increase their chances of making that change a success by employing a few tips.

• Remember the grass isn't always greener. For those who are changing careers simply because they are dissatisfied with their current jobs and not because they have a strong desire to work in another field, the grass won't necessarily be greener in a different career. In fact, changing careers without researching the next step could prove disastrous.
• Don't be scared. While it may be scary, particularly for established professionals, to change careers, it's not exactly the road less traveled. Many people have and will continue to change careers and, if done after research and careful consideration, there's nothing to be afraid of.
• Ask those who have gone before you. As mentioned above, the career change path is one that's well traveled. That means there are plenty of people to speak with and seek advice from who can offer tips on how to make it work and which potential pitfalls to look for.
• Be patient. Still-working professionals should be patient when making career changes. Research several different careers to see which might make the best fit. Don't rush into things. Relish the freedom your current employment provides by giving you an opportunity to carefully consider your next move without having to just make that move because there's no other option.
• Find something you love. Many people are unfulfilled with their careers because they have lost the passion or never had the passion to begin with. Obviously, someone who is considering a career change has lost passion for his or her current field. To avoid landing in a similar position down the road, find something you love to do and figure out a way to make money doing that.
• Test the waters. A career change does not have to mean quitting a job on Friday and beginning a new career the following Monday. Instead, test the waters with a career by volunteering within the field to determine if it's truly for you. This can provide valuable insight into the field and might even provide some reliable contacts.

Taken from reviewjournal.com