Promoting through Public Speaking
One of the most obvious and most effective ways to promote your practice is through public speaking. It puts you directly in front of your target market and establishes you as a credible authority on your topic ... IF you're a good public speaker that is.
If you need to polish your public speaking, one way to improve is to join your local toastmasters club where you can hone your impromptu and prepared speaking skills
alongside others like yourself. Another option is to join a local community theater
company where small speaking parts allow you to dip your toe in the sea of public
speaking with minimal attention. You might also try your local college for a public
speaking course.
In many regions oratory still thrives, and indeed is performed in clubs and associations that allow people like yourself to learn the trick of the trade and have an opportunity to engage in the honorable, ageless practice of public speaking. Most programs and organizations that offer such training and participation have nominal costs, if any. For those of you who don't want to pay for a private coach, but need the skills necessary to hold an audiences' attention, these group venues might be just what you need.
Once you're comfortable in front of a crowd it's time to your skills. But not on primary, secondary, or tertiary target markets. Nope. Try them out on us first. Speak or present to the resolution industry. Our organizations should be your comfort zone and will give you the right platform to take your expertise public. Speak to us. Teach us something that you're passionate about. Give us your best. From us you'll learn how to prepare for presentation, how to deliver it, and very importantly - how to follow up on it.
Now that you've got some practice it's time to swing for the fences and speak and present to your target markets. What do your perspective clients want to hear? Or maybe take the riskier route and deliver a speech about what they don't want hear - but might be necessary for them to know. As you reach out to associations and organizations to which you want to speak, it's always a good idea to ask the all-important question; what do the members want to hear or learn. That might better define or even entirely change the subject matter of your presentation.
Once you've got the gig be sure to share all about it on your social media accounts (which should be populated with your target market contacts) and if appropriate invite them to attend. under the spotlight people come to you be prepared to network come with cards aplenty offer to give attendees whatever follow up they need - a phone call, a face to face meeting, or more information. if the association to which you speak doesn't have a survey in place to determine how well you did - get their permission to survey the attendees. 5 or fewer short questions and (this next thing is super important) a place for testimonials. If you can post to social media during or immediately after the event do it. Be sure to thank the association or organization for allowing you the opportunity to speak to their members. update your bio credible authority on the issues your target market face
The key component now is to follow up on the connections you made and move those interactions in relationships. Send your new colleagues a follow up email whatever information they requested or you offered, meet them coffee, add them to your LinkedIn network, and continue to keep in touch. Keeping yourself front of mind and you'll turn potential clients into prospective clients and then again into paying clients.
If you need help finding places to speak, a topic on which to speak, or to get the most from your speaking gig, give me a call. I'm always happy to help.
