Is your promise clear, concise and cha-ching??

I first heard the term ‘big promise’ from
copywriting expert Bob Bly. Bob was talking about
writing headlines on your websites and that the
promise better be front and center… and super
enticing.

Makes sense, right?

Well in the business of speaking, our marketing
requires a promise. And the promise should speak
to what outcome or solution that you are providing
the client.

You’d be surprised at how many websites don’t
offer a clear promise.  Does yours??

In a tight economy, you need to have a clear
promise and it better be something desireable for
your prospects.  Something that makes them want to
buy from you – something cha-ching!

Now, let me be clear.  A promise about the outcome
of a meeting or event (ie:  make your meeting more
memorable with John Doe speaker) is not what I’m
talking about.  That is a ‘speaker’ promise.  I’m
talking about an ‘expert’ promise.  That should be
more focused on what service/solution your company
provides.  (An exception to this might be a
comedian or entertainer).

Here are a few examples of promise statements:

- Creating High Energy, Low Stress Workplaces
- Innovation as a Competitive Advantage
- Empowering People to Be Successful and
Appreciative
- Conquer Today’s Challenges, Take Control Now

(Obviously, you’ll want to create your own promise
and not borrow from any of these).

That last one is the promise from Tony Robbins
website so it’s more directed towards the
individual rather than a company.  That might be
more applicable to some of you.

Here’s a quick check list to rate your promise:

Is your promise clear?

Is your promise front and center (ie:  in your
banner or top navigation bar)?

Does your promise show an outcome for your
prospects?  What will change for them?

Is your promise compelling?

Is your promise short and sweet (ie:  less than 7
words)

Would your promise make your prospects say ‘yes,
we need that!’

Your promise may not need to be cutsie, or clever
in order to work.  If your promise creates
business (cha-ching) then you are doing a good
job.

Happy marketing!

ps:  We have 3 spots left in Club Quick Start, and
this month’s call will focus on creating a great
promise statement.  To learn more about the Club,
click here.
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/quickstart.html

Does Your Speaking Menu Look Delicious?

Have you ever been to a restaurant where they
matched the food with the wine that they
recommend?  Yum, love that!  And it makes it
easier for you, the customer.

When working with speakers on their websites,
we’ve recently started to match up product ideas
with keynotes and workshops.

By doing this you are adding value for the client
and also increasing your income by selling up.

For instance with a leadership keynote, we
recommended a book called ‘The Authentic Leader’.
Another client had a Safety Keynote that we
matched with a Safety Strategy Guide (workbook).

When you are promoting your services, why not tell
the client exactly how to order off of your menu?
And why not make it delicious?

Here’s my menu of ideas for you, take your pick:

- show your clients exactly how to utilize your
services, ie:  When using Michael to open your
conference with a keynote, consider his ‘Creating
a Championship Team’ breakout to further hit home
the content.

- when mailing out an agreement, always include a
sample of the product that you’d like to see in
the hands of every member of the audience.  Plant
the seeds for volume pricing in your cover letter.

- for those of you who have a Meeting Planners
page on your website, product should be promoted
there as ‘take home’ or ‘turn down’ gifts for your
audience.

- during the interview stage, ask your client ‘how
long would you like this message to last?’.  When
they answer ‘as long as possible’ then you can
talk about which product will help provide that
longevity.

- offer teleclasses, podcasts or webinars as a
follow up to add value for the client and build
some extra into the fee.

- if you have a workbook or companion piece to go
with a breakout session or workshop, offer up a
more customized version for an extra fee.  And
make sure to promote it along with the workshop on
your website.

- use a promo bar on your website so that your add
on items may appear off to the side yet the client
can easily see what you ‘also recommend’.  This
idea works very well for Amazon on the ‘people who
bought this book also bought…’.

- for your online product purchasers use the
‘related products’ feature in your shopping cart
to upsell (if it is available). I’ve just started
using this more and it often adds a nice chunk to
the order.

When you show your clients exactly how to use your
services, you are helping them see the best ways
to utilize you.  You’re also doing business in a
way that works perfectly for you while increasing
your bottom line.

PS:  Have you heard about Club Quick Start for new
speakers?  Registrations are rolling in quickly -
hold your space now.
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/quickstart.html

PPS:  If you know of a friend who could benefit
from these tips, please turn them on to
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/
All tips are posted on my blog.

Does Your Marketing Need a Flip Flop?

Quite often I’ll google speaker websites to
check out the competition for my clients.  In
today’s competitive climate, it shocks me to
see that many speakers still start out their
home page saying things like ‘John Doe is the
best speaker you’ve ever heard.  Hire John
for your next meeting’.

Yeah right!

As the economy tightens, do you think that
John Doe is the type of speaker that client’s
desire?  I have my doubts.

The marketing flip flip is about putting
the outcomes to the client first, and the
speaker (as the solution to their problem)
second.

Unless you are a celebrity or bestselling
author, your website should probably not be
about you.

It should be about the service and solution
that you offer.  The exception to this would
be speakers like The Passing Zone.  They are
jugglers and are mostly hired at meetings to
entertain.  They might also be better known
than the average speaker, due to a stint on
America’s Got Talent last year.
http://www.PassingZone.com

Take a speaker like Toni Newman for instance.
She’s an innovation expert.  Her website is
about innovation first, Toni second.
http://www.toninewman.com – check it out
you’ll see what I mean.

Here are a few questions to help you evaluate
your marketing:

1.  When arriving at your website, does the
client know what you will do for them
(outcomes) within the first 30 seconds?

2.  Is the first 1/3 of your home page about
them and their needs rather than you?

3.  Are you positioned as an expert and a
problem solver?  Or as a ‘speaker’?

If you answered ‘no’ to any of these
questions consider doing a marketing flip
flop to switch the order of your home page
copy to be more client and outcome oriented.

It won’t take you too long to do this, and I
believe it will have an impact.  Try it, and
write me back to let me know how it goes.

Happy marketing,

ps:  need help with your flip flop?
If you’ve read The Wealthy Speaker,
then you qualify for a special introductory session.
Click here for details:

http://www.speakerlauncher.com/coaching.html

How Famous Are You with Your Target Market?

Last week, I had quite a freaky thing happen.

I was on a tiny snorkeling boat off the coast
of Maui, Hawaii with about 30 other tourists.
I had just pulled myself out of the water
after seeing a giant sea turtle (very cool by
the way).  A woman approached me and said,
‘is your name Jane?’  ‘Yes’, I replied with a
question mark on my face.  ‘Oh my gosh, she
said, ‘you’re the speaker coach, I’ve read
your book!’

It was quite an experience to run into
someone who knew me in such a remote place.
But I guess, after 16 years in one industry,
attending conferences, writing articles and
speaking, I’m making in-roads as a marketing
expert. Just as Sam Horn is known as the book
expert and Tom Antion is known as the
technology guy.

So how well are you known in your target
markets for what you do?  And what can you do
to become more well known?  Here are a few
ideas:

1.  Pick a lane and be focused. I’ve talked
about this alot, so I won’t expand too much.
Just keep asking yourself, ‘will what I’m
doing right now help me be known for [my one
topic] in 5 years?’

2.  Set yourself apart from industry folks so
that you can get paid.  One of my clients was
well known in the dental industry which
supposedly didn’t pay their internal speakers
well.  But low and behold, when he started to
branch outside the industry, they wanted him
more and have found a way to pay his going
rates.  If you’re good enough, you can ignore
it when they say ‘our industry doesn’t pay
well’.  If not, quit banging your head and
find some new markets.

3.  Write articles to establish your
expertise.  This is a great, and easy, way to
build credibility within your target.  Make
sure your bi-line at the end funnels people
towards your website.

BTW:  If you haven’t seen it, my article in
Speaker Magazine on fee negotiation is here:
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/about.html
(click The Fee Factor link on the left)

4. Write books.  A book may not need to be
industry specific in order to further your
cause.  If you are an expert in sales, you
might target the real estate industry.  The
book might contain real estate examples, but
doesn’t necessarily need to be specifically
written for them.

5. Position.  When you purchase a booth at an
event, you are there in a sales role.  But
when you speak at an event, or are on a
panel, you are positioning as an expert.
Note: you may speak for free at your
industries’ biggest events, but if doing
freebies leads you to more freebies, then
you’ll need to rethink your strategy.

I hope this will help you think about your
target markets and how you might become more
famous within them!

Happy targeting!

ps:  My next teleclass is going to be hot!
Writing and book guru Sam Horn will join us
on March 25th at 2pm Eastern with ‘I Can’t
Believe I Wrote The Whole Thing!’  Space is
limited so click here for details.
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/teleclass.html

Got Credibility?

I can’t tell you how often I read a speaker’s
bio and think to myself ‘what has this person
done?’  They often leave out some of the most
important pieces of their history.

Is your bio telling the reader (your
prospective client) why they should hire you?

Is your bio full of information that is
‘speaker’ related or ‘expert’ related?

Here’s an example of a ‘speaker related’ bio:

George Smith is a professional speaker who
presents to corporations all over the world
on the topic of time management.  His
powerful stories and useful tips give his
audiences tools that they can use on a daily
basis.

(Note – George is fictional).

Here’s an example of an ‘expert bio’ (see the
full bio on page 45 of ‘The Wealthy
Speaker’).

Along with his bestselling book ‘Getting Time
on Your Side’, George Smith’s time management
tools have been used throughout corporate
America for more than a decade helping
executives become more productive.  His
weekly column ‘There’s Always Time’ has been
running in business publications in dozens of
cities for the past seven years.  George was
voted Entrepreneur of the Year by the Montana
Business Magazine.

Now maybe you haven’t secured a weekly
column (yet), but here are a few tips to consider
when reviewing your bio:

1.  Does it have a powerful opening line that
catches the reader’s attention?  Or will they
yawn and go back to watching videos on
YouTube?

2.  Does your bio tell the reader what you
did before you became a speaker and how it
relates to your expertise?

3.  Does your bio talk about your current
work with clients, past experience, books,
publications and awards?

4.  Does your bio show the reader that you
are, hands down, the expert that they need?

Now, here’s a sidebar…. if you haven’t done
anything of note, you may be in trouble and
you may need to delay your speaking career. I
would definitely not recommend ‘fudging’ on
your bio!

The bio (and the introduction) are often
overlooked marketing pieces.  I hope you’ll
use these tips to take yours to new heights.

ps:  The Diary of a Killer Keynote DVD with
Joe Calloway is flying off the shelves and
we’ve ordered more!  Click here to see what
the buzz is all about
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/killerkeynoteDVD.html

And thank you to those of you who have
responded already!

How Vibrant is Your Marketing Language

I believe that one of the most difficult things
for speakers to do is come up with fresh marketing
language.

And using words in your speech titles or promise
statements* that bureaus, audiences or decision
makers might have seen 5 or 10 years ago can
lose you business…. quickly!

Think about it. A meeting planner is reviewing 5
speakers for an upcoming event. Let’s say they
begin by looking at each speaker’s website. One
website is fresh and cutting edge, while the other
4 look boring or outdated and are using speech
titles that include words like ‘believe and you
can achieve’.

Now don’t get me wrong, Napoleon Hill was onto
something big with the believe/achieve concept….
but the language has been used since 1960! I
believe Mr. Hill would be cool with us moving on!

There is new, fresh, vibrant language out there,
you just have to dig for it. Here are some steps
for freshening up your marketing:

Go through all of your marketing materials and ask
the questions

1. Has this language been used before?

2. Does it show the flavor of my personality and
how I am unique?

3. Does this language have spark and spirit? Does
it vibrate off the page?

4. Does my marketing compete with the speakers on
the market today? Do I know who the hottest
speaker in my category is?

5. Does this language make the client jump up and
say ‘Yes! We need that!!’

If you’re blocked and want to ratchet up your
creativity, take a look at some of the bestselling
books for their titles and subtitles. Seth
Godin’s ‘Purple Cow: How to Transform Your
Business By Being Remarkable’ or ‘Blue Ocean
Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space
and Make the Competition Irrelevant’ are just a
couple.

Don’t wait to make your marketing vibrant – your
business depends on it.

Happy Marketing,

Jane Atkinson
Speaker Launcher
519-951-6934

* PS: Want to know more about what’s hot in
marketing and promise statements? Check out The
Wealthy Speaker book, workbook and audio.
Speaker Launcher Tools

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