3 Tips for Effective Positioning

In the world of professional speaking market positioning can influence your overall branding.

Definition of market positioning:

“An effort to influence consumer perception of a brand or product relative to the perception of competing
brands or products. Its objective is to occupy a clear, unique, and advantageous position in the consumer’s mind.”

The ability to really influence or persuade perception can start with a brief introspective of 3 branding components.

1. Is Your Brand Sticky?
2. What’s Your Purpose?
3. Take the 15 Second Website Challenge.

Homework:

A. Take 15 minutes and write out how you see your brand as being “sticky” or memorable.

B. Jot down your promise statement or tagline and then ask, “will it speak to my target audience?”

C. After taking the 15 second challenge, what will you now change on your site?

If you’d like to share your insights, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Please place your comment below.

P.S.

The Wealthy Speaker U is ramping up for a new session starting January 2013. If you are a seasoned speaker or even a newbie on the speaking circuit, consider investing in YOU!

The first session starts January 7th for the Emerging Speakers:
http://wealthyspeakeru.com/emerging-speakers-2013/

For the Seasoned Speaker, the first session starts January 9th:
http://wealthyspeakeru.com/seasoned-speakers-2013/
P.P.S.

For more ideas on “stickiness” check out the book “Made to Stick” by the Heath brothers.

 

 

Wealthy Speaker U: Catapult Your Business

The Wealthy Speaker University was a huge hit last year! And we’re starting our 2013 classes in January.

Some of our graduates have said……

“Helped me get incredibly focused”
“My marketing got clearer and more effective”
“The learning curve was reduced significantly”
“I now know how to sell myself!”
“Loved the accountability of meeting each month!”

And on and on.

A combination of private coaching with Jane, monthly calls with your group, and 10 fabulous audio and video learning modules, this program will help catapult your
business to the next level.

If you are a new speaker, you might consider our BACHELORS PROGRAM FOR EMERGING SPEAKERS.

If you’ve been speaking for more than 3 years full time, then our MASTERS PROGRAM FOR SEASONED SPEAKERS might be a fit.

Over 10 months, starting in January, we’ll cover topics like:

MONTH #1 – Picking a Lane that will pay off. Take
the pain out of positioning so that you can get
booked!

MONTH #3 – Building Websites that Sell. Avoid
mistakes that will cost you time & money.

MONTH #5 – Setting and Negotiating Fees. Take your
fee to higher levels and get you paid in full.

MONTH #6 – Technology Tools for Sales and
Marketing. Put systems and social media in place
that will allow your business to grow rapidly.

MONTH #9 – Developing Your Rock Star Demo Video.

And that’s just a few of the topics…

Last year our programs both sold out. So check out this page to get the details and hold your spot.

http://wealthyspeakeru.com/

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

PS:  Feel free to write to jane@speakerlauncher.com with any questions you have!

Brand Part I: Is Your Brand Memorable?

A brand is a concept or idea that helps to distinguish you from everybody else.

- It may be a personal brand, ie.: Dr. Phil, which may work if you have a large following who know you mostly by name….

OR

- it may be based on your work (my preference) ie: Red Zone Marketing (check out what Mary Beth is doing, she’s really sharp) www.redzonemarketing.com.

OR

A book title might also be a great brand. (ie: 7 Habits, Who Moved My Cheese, Purple Cow, Good to Great). You might not understand the title until you’ve read the subtitle. But a good brand can take on a life of its own.

The brand that I think used to work but no longer does is the “speaker based” brand. i.e.: John Doe, Leadership Speaker. This was effective 5-10 years ago, but as my good friend Brian Palmer of National Speakers Bureau says……

“clients no longer want to hire ‘speakers’, they want to hire smart people who happen to speak”

What’s your brand, and do people remember it?

Stay tuned for part II where we’ll talk about exploiting your brand.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

PS: The Wealthy Speaker University can help you with your brand, your website, marketing and selling speeches.

Two new classes start in January, click here for more details.

 

Can’t See the Label from Inside the Jar?

Sometimes my clients say “oh my gosh, I can’t believe we’ve solved the problem in 15 minutes and I’ve been struggling with this for months!”

But despite my desire to feel like a brilliant coach, it’s not me at all.

It’s very difficult to see your own business clearly. And as one of my (truly) intelligent clients shared with me, “it’s hard to see the label when you are inside the jar.” (Thank you John Marshall Roberts.)

It sums up the issue, don’t you think?

It really is much easier to see the flaws when you are looking in from the outside of the problem.

As speakers we can sometimes get:

- too close to the issue
- too caught up in the words or the language
- too focused on why something may not work
- too paralyzed in fear to make a move.

Consider stepping outside of the jar to see things more clearly. Maybe that means finding someone to help?

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

ps: Need help stepping outside your jar? No surprise, I just happen to have a group coaching session starting soon. It’s called the Fall Marketing Makeover and starts Sept. 13th. We have only 4 spots left.

http://speakerlauncher.com/fall/

My Biggest Blunders of 2011

I think it’s healthy to learn from your mistakes, don’t you?

And in this situation, by sharing, I might help you avoid some of my biggies.  So let’s get right to it:

FIRE, BEFORE READY AND AIM

You know I have people coming to me every day who want to book more speeches (Fire) when they aren’t really clear on what they are selling (Ready). So it surprised me when I did the same thing!

Mid way through the year, I decided I wanted to put on The Wealthy Speaker Masters event. I would bring in some smart people for a weekend and we’d have a great time. I got all the way thru to the marketing stage when I realized “I don’t know what value I am providing”. Yes, it would be fun to have an event, but “what was the point?”

So, after doing some research and seeing that a bunch of speakers were running events as well, I pulled the plug and went back to the drawing board. AND, with the knowledge that I wanted to provide some steady, and solid learning, combined with accountability, I came back out with The Wealthy Speaker University – Self Study, Bachelors and Masters programs (10-12 months).

The results? My two main programs sold out and I’ve added a great new revenue stream.
http://wealthyspeakeru.com/

How can you expand on your current offerings? And when you develop them, how will you Ready, Aim, Fire?

BOOK MARKETING 101

My second blunder of the year was launching a book into a market that didn’t know me. If I had my time back, I would start blogging 3 years before launching “The Frog Whisperer” (a book on love and dating). That way, I’d have an audience, some credibility and people that know me waiting to receive the book.

I had that luxury with “The Wealthy Speaker”, but I didn’t realize how much it was worth.
http://frogwhisperer.com/

If you’re thinking about launching a book, my advice is to build your market first – either through speaking or writing.

Want to share some of your blunders?Please comment below.

PS: The Self Study program of The Wealthy Speaker University is a terrific first step for anyone wanting to launch a speaking business, or take a 3-5 year business to the next level. Drop me a line if you have any questions.

http://wealthyspeakeru.com/

Are Your Expanding Your Empire?

For years I’ve been talking about how speaking is just one of the ways we distribute our knowledge.

We write books, consult, coach and a whole host of other things that help drive revenue. Since the economy keeps shifting, the days of the $15,000 speaker doing 50-70 gigs a year might be behind us.

We must distribute our knowledge in other ways.

For instance, the first time the economy dipped a few years back, it hit my coaching business pretty hard. That was when I developed the “club” idea. I thought “okay, if people can’t afford private coaching any more, then we’ll do it in groups”.

It was a big hit.

And for 2012, I’ve expanded on the idea even further with The Wealthy Speaker University.
http://wealthyspeakeru.com/

I tell you this for two reasons.

1) Of course, I want you to take a look at the University as a possible method for driving your business forward next year. Self serving, sure.

But 2. I wonder what your own version of The University might be? Think about what your clients want from you and work backwards from there. Do they want more time with you? Do they want training that you could provide in video?

There are many outlets for us to use to expand our empire.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

ps: The Wealthy Speaker University has programs for 3 different levels. Please give it a look as we’ve added a bunch of cool new features. The big benefit? Every month, for 12 months next year, you’ll be moving your business strategy forward! What’s that worth? http://wealthyspeakeru.com/

 

How Strong is Your Fan Base?

In The Wealthy Speaker 2010 Update, I talked about our new approach to marketing. Our goal is to pull people into our fan base long enough to impress them (so they buy from us).

Get your PDF copy of the update here.

The success of this approach really depends on the strength of your lists, or your fan base.

Read more

Are you New School or Old School?

As time whips by, the gap between old school and new school is expanding.

If you haven’t quite cottoned on to technology, you could be old school.

If you use terms like “cottoned on”, you might be old school (that’s a joke ).

If your first instinct is to pick up the phone, rather than shoot off an e-mail or a text, you could be old school.

And, if you don’t have any systems in place to pull “fans” into your database, you may be old school. The old school method of call-send-call is not nearly as likely to happen these days. Call a prospect, find out there’s a need, send a packet of information, follow up with a call. At least part, if not all, of the sales process will now be done electronically.

Now some of you might say, but the phone is very effective for me! The key is to know how your prospects work best. Many people these days prefer quick and easy communication, especially since phone calls have the ability to drag on.

In my 2011 Update for The Wealthy Speaker, I said: “Where before you might have been building a relationship by phone, now your goal is to pull people into your fan base and keep them there long enough to impress them.”

To get your copy of the update, click here: http://speakerlauncher.com/2011update.html

Pulling people into your fan base (new school style) can mean using a name capture on your website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogging.  And, of course, if you can get some phone or Skype time with your client, take it!

If you’re new school, then you’re on the right track, woo hoo! And if you’re old school, let’s hope this prompts you to identify what’s not working and make some changes to the way you do business.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

ps: See some of our recordings on new school methodologies (like blogging, creating fame and social media). http://www.speakerlauncher.com/AudioTools.html

 

Are you Missing a Branding Opp?

This is going to be a short post, but it’s a juicy one!!!

No question email communication has become a way of life. For some people, it has completely replaced the phone.

I have about 9,500 professional speakers on my e-mail broadcast list, some have multiple addresses listed with me. (See below as I need some help with house cleaning).

If you are using an address for business that is GENERIC (ie: hotmail, gmail, comcast) then you might be missing a branding opportunity with your clients. Every time they see your gmail address, they are NOT seeing your website URL. Yourname.com or yourbrand.com becomes embedded when they have communicated with you several times.

Are you missing out on this opportunity?

If so, get ‘r fixed.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers.

PS: I’d like to ask you to look at all of your e-mail accounts and see if you are receiving multiple e-Tips from me. If so, just hit the REMOVE option at the bottom of the e-mail to be taken off the list.

What’s Under Your Umbrella?

For years I’ve been touting the strategy of becoming known for one thing.

Focus is helpful in any business, and most of us need it in order to be our most productive. The question is “what do you want to be known for 5 years from now?”

There are people who can pull off several different business initiatives and make it look easy – these are the exceptions. These are the true entrepreneurs.

But for most, I think the umbrella helps us see our business in a nutshell and can help keep us focused. For a PDF of the umbrella click here.

The top of the umbrella is where you write in your area of focus, your expertise (what your empire is all about). For instance, you might write “Leadership Communication” at the top of that umbrella. In the white space in the middle, you’ll write in your topics. These could include various topics of speeches, books, etc., all relating back to the way you communicate as a leader. The arrows below are your revenue streams, the various ways you get your message out: keynotes, workshops, consulting, coaching, product, public seminars, membership clubs, etc.

This umbrella serves as your business model. The ideal situation is that you have only one umbrella and all of your ideas fit within it.

Some entrepreneurs may have 2 or more different umbrellas on the go. Again, that’s not easy; but stay tuned for the Frog Chronicles, I’m going to be expanding my business and I believe following my journey may provide some lessons.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

ps: If you’re uncertain about your umbrella, you might consider signing up for a Focus 40 session, an inexpensive way to gain clarity on your business model and positioning. http://www.speakerlauncher.com/focus40.html

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