Champion Assistants to the Rescue!

Now that you’ve written the perfect speech and polished those presentation skills, it’s time to begin marketing yourself as a public speaker. We’re talking now about moving beyond the obvious presentations you might make to clients or industry peers to a whole new type of exposure for your business.

Here are five things you can do to jump-start your public speaking career:

1. Preserve a high-quality recording of every speech you make. Video is best, but if that’s not possible, at least carry an audio recording device and make your own copy, rather than depending on your host’s AV equipment.
2. Post your recorded speeches as .mp3s on your websites and blog, and syndicate them as podcasts. Create a separate page on your website dedicated to promoting your public speaking talents. Feature sample speeches for site visitors to download and give them several ways to contact you if they’re interested in booking.
3. If videos of your speeches are available, post them on YouTube and tag them carefully so someone interested in your topic can find you. Using the tools available on YouTube, you can also embed the videos on your website.
4. Join local, state and national business organizations. When you create your public profile for each group, mention that you do public speaking and on what topics. You’ll be surprised how many event planners are desperate for speaking talent. One more tip: volunteer to participate in panel discussions. You won’t be presenting a rehearsed speech, but you’ll have the chance to present yourself as an expert.
5. Use the power of social media! Let your “followers” on Twitter know you’re now booking speaking engagements. Post photos and recordings of recent speeches on your Facebook and LinkedIn pages. After a speaking gig, mention it in your blog posts, i.e., “When I spoke at the AMA’s annual convention last week, the audience raised some interesting questions…”

There are thousands of groups looking for knowledgeable, engaging speakers for their monthly meetings, annual conventions and awards dinners. Get the word out when you’re ready to step behind the podium and market yourself consistently through many avenues. It’s free marketing for your business and the skills you gain might just open up a whole new career!

In my last post, I shared some great tips for presenting yourself well to an audience. To make your presentation memorable, though, you’ll need to start with a great speech.

There are six key elements that make up a successful speech, so let’s get right to the first one:

1. Speak About What You Know: If you don’t know your subject matter, sooner or later you’ll make an obvious mistake. Know your topic well and you’ll speak more naturally. Trying to “blue sky” your way through an unfamiliar topic is a bad idea.
2. Keep it Appropriate: You wouldn’t give the same speech to a group of high school students that you would to a gathering of business leaders. Adjust the terms, phrasing and illustrations to keep each audience interested.
3. Work from an Outline: Is there anything more painful than watching someone fumble through a speech? Do yourself, and your audience, a favor by creating and using an outline that covers your main points.
4. Capture Their Interest Quickly: Let them know right away why you’re there, what you’ll be covering and why it’s valuable to them. Skip the boring, “Good Morning. Today I’m going to discuss…” and opt, instead, to make a connection instantly. “If you’re like most companies in your industry, you’ve experienced setbacks this year. Let’s talk about some ways you could start saving money this afternoon.”
5. Don’t Confuse Your Audience: Making sudden subject changes during a speech can leave your audience dazed. Segue logically from one topic to the next, and your audience will follow you.
6. A Little Laugh Never Hurt Anyone: Tasteful, well-timed humor in a speech can help lighten technical information and keep your audience engaged. Practice your one-liners, quips and humorous stories on a friend or join an organization like Toastmasters International for honest feedback.

Even the most clinical information can be relayed with flair in the hands of a good speechwriter. Keep the phrasing natural, practice often and follow the tips above for a speech that’s sure to entertain.

Today we’re going to talk about the basic elements that make a speaker either interesting or excruciating. It all boils down to your “presence” before your audience.

Presence is simply the combination of three main variables, completely within your control. You can give a powerful, interesting presentation on the driest of subjects if you learn to use these techniques:

A.    Speaking Tone: Successful public speakers know the secret of modifying their speaking tone to match their audience. If you were in a huge auditorium, filled to the rafters with sales professionals, would you use the same tone of voice as in a small, intimate setting, speaking to a few interested prospects? Of course not! Adjust your speaking tone to match the venue and you’ll hold your audience’s attention longer.

B.    Physical Movements & Gestures: In the same way you monitor your speaking tone, pay attention to your movements and gestures. It’s exciting to watch a motivational speaker swing his arms wide, pump his fist to the ceiling and step to the front of the stage to make eye contact. But are those gestures appropriate for a presentation at a small monthly buyers’ meeting?

Watch out, too, for motions you might not realize you’re making. Rehearse in front of a mirror to guard against unconscious eye-rolling, head scratching and other tics that might quickly become annoying. Don’t be afraid to move during your presentation, but keep it appropriate to the setting, subject matter and size of audience.

C.    Voice Projection: The final element to a successful presentation is learning to project your voice effectively. Even in a small classroom, some voices can’t be heard without a microphone. Because AV equipment is notoriously unreliable, learn to “push” your voice out to the back row.

This technique isn’t the same as shouting; no one wants to be screamed at for twenty minutes! If your voice is too low to be easily heard, consider hiring a voice coach to teach you breathing control and voice projection.

Almost anyone can learn to give a great presentation. By monitoring your speaking tone and gestures, eliminating annoying visual habits and projecting your voice appropriately, you’re already on your way to becoming a compelling public speaker.

Good news, faithful readers! I’ve just finished creating a series of blog posts designed to help you polish your presentation skills. I know, I know…I can hear some of you saying it now, “No way am I getting up and giving a speech! That’s why I work online!”

Here’s a reality check—the entrepreneur who learns to present his business powerfully in front of a live audience has a definite leg up on those who stick with the “arms-length commerce” of the Internet. Here are two of the many reasons why Internet business owners should learn to market themselves through speaking engagements:

1. A face-to-face presentation can drive interest in your products from prospects who need to interact with a real person, and
2. Speaking before an entire group of new prospects multiplies your impact in a short period of time.

Besides that, anyone in business for themselves can sharpen their marketing by having to articulate who she is, what she’s selling, and why it’s desirable. Shouldn’t that, after all, be the point of ALL our marketing efforts?

To help you polish those essential presentation skills, I’ll be covering these three topics in upcoming posts to this blog:

1. Key Elements of a Successful Presentation
2. Key Elements of a Successful Speech (Yes, there is a difference!)
3. How to Promote Yourself as a Speaker

A well-planned presentation can be just the extra “oomph” your marketing program needs to get your online business through a slump. Be sure to join me this week as I give you tips, tricks and powerful thoughts for helping create more business through public speaking engagements.

Ezines are in every email inbox, aren’t they? Many of us have worked hard to create terrific email newsletters to reach a broader audience for our products. But that doesn’t mean we should completely forget about hard-copy newsletters. Let’s talk about why printed material still has a place in marketing.

Would You Like Paper or Email? Before we dig into the issue of print vs. electronic, let’s all recognize that our clients like being given choices. When someone signs up online for your newsletter, do you give them the option of receiving the print copy? Try adding the hard-copy choice to your subscription form; I think you’ll be surprised how many of your readers prefer paper.

The Argument for Paper Newsletters: We all know the arguments for email newsletters—they’re “green” because no paper is used, they’re easy and cheap to deliver, and you can link directly from them to your website. But let’s look at three reasons why some people still prefer their news in print:

• Printed Newsletters are Convenient: Although devices for reading news online abound, not everyone enjoys reading for any length of time on a Blackberry. A printed newsletter can be tucked into a briefcase and read between subway stops or after a hard day at an out of town conference. Unfold, read, digest, what could be easier for a busy business traveler?
• Printed Newsletters Stick Around: Think about your own business reference library. I’m willing to bet you’ve got files of printed material that you refer to over time. Consider sending new print version subscribers a folder that fits in a file drawer to hold your back issues. They’ll have your information at their fingertips when they need it.
• Printed Newsletters Don’t Get Deleted: Sure, your readers can recycle that paper version, but how many times do our ezines end up in a spam folder or simply lost in a tsunami of email? When someone receives your newsletter in the mail, chances are they’ll flip it open and at least glance at your feature article. You can’t read, though, what gets lost in your inbox.

By all means, continue to build your email newsletter list. But consider offering your subscribers the option of receiving the print version, instead. After all, isn’t giving our clients what they want what’s made us successful in the first place?

Admit it—the first time you read an ad promising “millions in passive income” you wanted to bite. The bait dangled by info-marketers, those folks that get rich telling the rest of us how to get rich, is tempting. Who wouldn’t want to “earn money while you sleep”? There’s a big secret, though, behind those “proven online business packages” and it’s time we told the truth.

Someone Has to Do the Work!
I’ve tried to find it, that perfect online business start-up system that truly requires no work to generate income. Here’s the big secret: It Doesn’t Exist! Any business, no matter whether brick-and-mortar or online, requires someone to do something to get the ball rolling. And it takes even more work to keep the income flowing in.

Someone has to do what it takes to plan, implement and maintain a successful business. I hate being the one to burst the bubble, but it’s time to be honest about online business. To sell products online, someone must create those products, set up a website, connect it some type of payment handling system, and implement a successful marketing strategy.

Whether it’s writing sales pages, completing squeeze page templates or building an email list, someone must do some actual work to get your business up and running.

But Does It Have to Be You?
This is the part where I offer you hope instead of discouraging you. There’s a whole category of self-employed professionals, known as Virtual Assistants, uniquely qualified to help you set up and run an online business. “VAs” as they’re known, specialize in working side-by-side with online entrepreneurs to build companies.

And that’s the best secret you’ll learn today—that a Virtual Assistant can make the difference between running a business online and having your life run by an online business. Buy a packaged business system, if you choose, but make one more smart decision by hiring a Virtual Assistant to help build your business right.

There’s no doubt about it, ezines are here to stay and everyone’s using them in their online marketing. So how do you, as a business owner, get your ezine noticed in the crowd? Here are ten core components of an attention-grabbing ezine.

• Recognizable Brand: Be consistent by using an ezine template with the same logos, font styles and any other components that identify your company’s brand easily.
• Interesting, Not Confusing: As you build each issue, keep the “look” clean. Stuffing the issue with too much information simply confuses the reader. Build around a central theme each month.
• Drive Website Traffic: You definitely want to provide your readers with valuable information, but the point of an ezine is to drive traffic to your website. Include links naturally in articles and features.
• Tell Them Who You Are, Every Time: Don’t assume your readers know much about your company. They may have only visited your website once. Always include a brief, but interesting, blurb on who you are and what you provide for your customers.
• Connect with Your Readers: A quick note will do: “Isn’t the Christmas season exciting? This month, we’re featuring ten great ideas for corporate gifts. You’ll also find five valuable coupons throughout this issue to help you save on last minute orders. Happy Shopping!”
• Highlight a Feature Article: When they open the ezine, what captures their attention first? Highlight an article packed full of useful information (i.e., Ten Great Ideas for Corporate Gifts).
• What’s Happening? Are you giving a presentation or attending a trade show? Include a calendar of upcoming events that might interest your audience.
• Feature a Product: Always feature a product or service with links to your website.
• Launch New Products: Your ezine should be an integral part of every new product launch. Give them the essential info, and then point them to your website for the details.
• Aim for Excellence! You may have eight seconds to grab their attention, but you’ll lose it in three if the first thing they see is a typo. Have someone else proof every issue, and hire out your copywriting if your ezines aren’t driving sales.

An ezine is an inexpensive way to reach a wide range of potential clients. Keep your issues filled with useful, interesting content packaged in concise nuggets, and point readers to your websites without being obnoxious. I’m anxious to hear how you’re using your ezine to build a broad base of loyal clients.

Are you wondering what your Virtual Assistant really thinks about your latest website? I’m assuming here that you’ve wised up and hired a VA to keep your business running smoothly. A professional Virtual Assistant will help you set up your shopping cart, schedule an email marketing series and upload blog posts, but will she tell you if she thinks you’re headed in the wrong direction? Let’s talk about some of the “true lies” Virtual Assistants might tell.

“It’s Up to You”
As a professional, your VA recognizes the line between business owner and hired staff. She may be reluctant to give you honest feedback if she feels she’s overstepping her bounds. If you’ve heard her use this phrase, she may be biting her tongue about a potential problem she’s spotted.

“You Know Your Market Better Than I Do”
Although she may have done the actual market research, some Virtual Assistants hesitate to differ with a client’s marketing approach. It is, after all, your marketing budget that’s being spent. Many VAs have a wealth of experience with other online clients, and have seen what works. Criticizing a client, however, isn’t the standard approach most Virtual Assistants take.

“If You’re Comfortable with That Approach, Then It’s Great”
This is a very tell-tale response. She’s really saying “Another client lost a fortune using that approach, but if it makes you happy, that’s great.”

Keep in mind I’m not accusing VAs of being dishonest; I’ve simply been around plenty of other Virtual Assistants and heard their concerns about the direction clients were going. Few of them felt comfortable openly discussing those concerns with a client. That’s unfortunate, because many VAs have a real depth of experience with what works, and what doesn’t in online marketing.

So, how to get your Virtual Assistant to tell you the truth about your business? It might be as simple as telling her you value her input. This is especially effective when stated at the beginning of your working relationship. It sets an expectation that, should she see you making a move that proved disastrous for another client, she’ll let you know.

If someone from another planet browsed our Internet, he’d be convinced in short order that all Earthlings MAKE MONEY IN THEIR SLEEP and WORK IN THEIR PAJAMAS.  Seriously, if all the overly-hyped business systems on the Internet were laid end-to-end, they’d reach another planet! But what about the money actually earned from buying these products? That, loyal readers, is where we run into a problem.

In reality, for every legitimate business offer online, there are thousands that make promises they can’t keep. So, how to tell the difference? Here are four proven guidelines to keep in mind before buying into the hype.

• Is There a Man Behind That Mask? Internet business is at arm’s length, so knowing with whom you’re doing business can be tricky. Before handing over your credit card information, contact the company by telephone and ask some questions. If you can’t reach them, or the customer service associate can’t respond without a script, put your money back in your pocket.
• Are Those “Testimonials” Real? Shocking, I know, but online info-marketers have been known to use photos of their own staff as “satisfied customers!” Ask how to contact some of their clients personally to ask if their products are still working as promised.
• Hello?? Is Anyone Out There?? Info-marketers who slap up a website and forget it are the worst. Their automated sales delivery systems may take your money and allow you to download a product, but are they even checking their email any longer? Attention deficit definitely afflicts some online marketers, and they may have already moved on to the next product launch. If you’ve ignored Steps One and Two, you may find yourself holding the bag with no one to complain to.
• What’s Everyone Else Saying About Them? Before you sign on the dotted line, do a quick Google search for the company. Clients have actually told me they saw negative press about a business system, but purchased it anyway. If you find several frustrated posts about the product, be careful!

Ignore the hype and look behind the curtain before buying into a business system on the Internet. By only doing business with legitimate companies that are happy to provide real testimonials and discuss your concerns, you have a much better chance of buying a quality product.

Twitter, the handy little social networking tool, has really caught fire in the online business world. More clients every month are asking, “Should we be Tweeting?” With very few exceptions, the answer is “Yes!” It’s free, it’s fast and it’s state-of-the-art as far as social networking. Which brings me to today’s top tips for using Twitter as a marketing tool.

• Ask Your Staff to Tweet, Too: With some reasonable guidelines, have people who work for you Tweeting about products, conferences, “insider” scoops, and other things meant to keep people wondering what you’re up to.

• Tweet Other People’s Blogs: Posting interesting information written by others encourages more interest in what you’re doing, too.

• Search Twitter Often for Your Name: By using those great Twitter search tools I mentioned last time, you can stay aware when other people mention your company. Don’t be afraid to jump in, even if the conversation’s negative. It gives you a chance to do damage control in a friendly way.

• Mix Business with Personal: We’ve talked about this before, but I’m seeing a lot more companies being blatant about using Twitter strictly to gain sales. Give your “followers” a glimpse of you and even your staff. Being human to potential clients isn’t a bad thing!

I’ll keep posting about the importance of Twitter, but in the meantime, I want to share something our company’s offering clients. Champion Assistants has a special right now on custom Twitter background design. We can build your “face” on Twitter, complete with Facebook badge, logos, a list of your products and services, custom colors and your own headshot. This is one customization definitely worth the investment.  Be sure to contact us about our Special Offer.