You've likely heard the phrase "content is king." Whether you're a writer, a speaker, or even a regular person with an opinion, that's true. The more valuable the content you have to share with the world, the more opportunities will open up for you. But how do you get your quality content out there? How do you ensure that it reaches as many people as possible? Here are nine strategies that can help expand your speaking business:
Becoming a published author is one of the best ways to build your brand. The more people that know you and what you do, the better your chance of getting hired for speaking engagements.
Also, when people buy your book and read it, they will likely become interested in learning more about what else you have to offer. This can lead to additional sales and opportunities that could not have been imagined before. By creating a written work that teaches about something important or exciting, your audience will feel they know more about the topic than before reading it. That's an impressive feat!
Social media is a great way to connect with your audience and grow your business. It's also a great way to get speaking gigs.
Here are some tips for using social media to expand your speaking business:
Create a brand identity that's consistent across all platforms that you use. This will help people recognize you more easily, leading to more engagements and opportunities for paid appearances or other work in your field of expertise.
Post regular content on each platform regularly (at least once per day for short-form platforms) so that people who visit often are reminded of who you are and what value you bring. This will make them more likely to engage with what you're saying or even purchase one of your products or services from this platform in the future.
Create an online course. If you want to start monetizing your speaking business, creating an online course is one of the best ways to do it. You can use platforms like Udemy or Skillshare to host your content, or even make it yourself if you have the technical know-how (or hire someone who does). The good news is that several million people worldwide purchase courses on these platforms every year—so there's no shortage of interested customers!
Promote your course. Once you've created a great piece of content for people to purchase, be sure to let them know about it! Use social media ads, email marketing campaigns, and word-of-mouth referrals from existing clients, friends, and family members. Your goal should be getting as many people as possible enrolled in the program within the first weeks after launch, and keep those sales rolling in month after month.
If you do it right, chances are good that you can create a healthy revenue stream from this, aside from your income as a speaker. It's certainly not easy to make money as a speaker, but if you diversify like this, do the work, and stay consistent, it can be done!
Whatever your area of subject matter expertise, be it marketing or meditation, a video series is a great way to share your knowledge with an audience.
You can use these videos also to sell products or services, but take care to ensure the quality of videos and convert mp3-to-wav properly to have better output. It’s also essential to think of them as assets in themselves. You can use these video series to build your authority and credibility.
A great example of this is Gary Vaynerchuk's Wine Library TV show—which he used as a springboard for his current career as a social media guru and entrepreneur extraordinaire.
If you're interested in starting a video series. Here are some tips:
Get a good camera.
Create a plan for the series. Know how many episodes you want to make, what they'll be about, and when you'll release them.
Make sure your videos are straightforward to watch. Create an outline of what you'll say in each episode and practice it out loud before recording.
Make sure your videos aren't too long. People's attention spans are short these days—try to keep each video to around 10 minutes or less and compress your video.
If you're just starting out, try making one or two episodes first and perfect your art before publishing any.
This is a great way to increase your exposure. Podcasters and radio hosts are always looking for interesting guests. If you can offer something that's not available elsewhere on their show, you will benefit from the exposure in a big way!
Before going on air, ensure you know exactly what you should expect during your appearance. You'll want to have all of your notes ready so that you're prepared when the host asks you questions. Listen to interviews with previous guests so you can see what worked well and what didn't work so well during their appearances—this could help immensely when preparing for YOUR appearance!
During the show: Always stay focused on what YOU want people to hear about and how THEY can use YOUR product or service in THEIR lives (and businesses). Don't forget—they're listening because they want information from YOU specifically; this isn't an opportunity just anyone can take advantage of! Make sure that everything discussed is relevant; don't waste time talking about material that could easily be found elsewhere online or through other mediums such as books/magazines/etc.
Writing an e-book is a great way to build your reputation and authority, which makes it a powerful tool for growing your speaking business.
E-books are easy to publish and distribute, and once you publish, selling through Amazon gives you access to their vast customer base.
This strategy can also complement other marketing techniques like blogging or podcasting because the content can be repurposed on those platforms while driving traffic to your sales page.
A seminar or workshop is a structured presentation you give to a small audience, the number of whom will depend on the subject matter and amount of interactivity required.
Seminars are usually longer than workshops, last 2-3 hours, and are run by a single presenter; workshops tend to be shorter presentations where multiple presenters share their expertise with the audience. They also tend to be more interactive.
Both seminars and workshops can be free or paid events—and sometimes both!
Like other public speaking opportunities, you must have something valuable to share with your audience. You should also consider whether your event might be better suited to a local gathering or an online course (more on methods below).
This is an easy way to keep your customers engaged with your brand. And it's an excellent way for you to share tips, insights, and news about the speaking industry.
But before you start writing all those newsletters and sending them out regularly, make sure they will be helpful! After all, if people stop opening them or unsubscribe because they don't find value in what they're receiving, then it defeats the purpose of doing this in the first place. So think carefully about how often you should send out new editions without overwhelming people with too much content at once while still keeping them interested enough to keep reading.
If you're looking to expand your speaking business and build your reputation, organizing a conference or event covering a topic in your area of expertise is a great way to do it. You can charge for tickets, sell books and other products, and use this to build your contact list and gain credibility, authority, and exposure.
The beauty behind organizing an event is that you can choose who will be there. You get to control who speaks on stage and what they talk about so that people attending the conference will have something meaningful to take away from it.
As you can see, many ways to expand your speaking business exist. These suggestions may seem intimidating at first glance, from creating an e-book or a video series to organizing an event or publishing a newsletter, but none of them are impossible—and with hard work and good planning, any of them could be the next big step in building your career!
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