5 Apr, 2010
Frugal Marketing
public speaking leverage tips
Long-time readers of this column will know that I think speaking is one of the most powerful tools in the frugal and ethical marketing toolkit. One of the reasons is that it’s so easy to make other good things happen when you have a speaking gig set up.
Among the many possibilities, here are some that I’ve used to increase the impact of my speeches. Note that many of these need some advance preparation. Don’t expect to do all of this for every speech, but think about which ones make sense for a particular gig:
Ask the meeting planer to set up media interviews shortly before your appearance and/or a book signing while you’re in town.
Collect names and contact information by offering to send a copy of your PowerPoint (including, of course, your list of services, products, and contact information) or add people to a free e-newsletter.
Especially if you’re speaking for free, ask for perks like a professional-quality video of your speech and permission to use it as you see fit (though be warned, you won’t always get usable footage), exhibit space, and a well-publicized attenders-only book signing with one of the organizing group staffing the sales table for you.
Add more value by letting the organizers add other events at a discount once you’ve traveled there anyway. For instance, if someone is paying my full speaking fee, I will do a hands-on training session for half-price, and I’ll do a one-hour Easy Green Audit at no extra charge.
Rather than sell infoproducts at the end, see if you can negotiate a purchase in bulk so that every attender automatically gets a copy of your product (I had one meeting planner come back with counteroffer to use one of my books as an early registration bonus, which I accepted).
For nonprofit organizations or associations, offer to donate a percentage of sales for the group, in exchange for the group publicizing your offer to its members (attending or not).
Provide groups that don’t want to pay you with ideas for getting sponsorships to cover your fee.
