More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: How to get your message in font of a virtual audience.
Virtual Speaking Engagements
In the early days of marketing my business I did a lot of speaking engagements at professional associations and chambers of commerce. These were great for helping me refine my marketing message and excellent for attracting new clients.
As my business drifts more toward the virtual world, I've discovered that virtual speaking engagements serve exactly the same purpose but have a lot of advantages over live events.
The big advantage, of course is time. No travel back and forth or time spent on printing handouts. And because participants need to invest less time as well, I've seen great turnouts with only a week's notice.
The primary purpose of speaking engagements for Independent Professionals has always been to attract new clients, as few speaking engagements from professional groups pay anything. But I've discovered that charging a nominal price for such engagements can generate substantial income as well.
Here are some of the things I've learned.
If you have a good sized email list you can always host your own virtual speaking engagements (also called teleclasses or teleseminars). Just announce it in your eZine and then send subscribers to a web page with a detailed sales letter.
You'll generally get better overall results if you offer several choices. These days I offer live attendance at the teleseminar, a CD recording and a transcript as well as combinations of these offers. Choice between several yeses always trumps a choice between yes and no.
I've found that it helps if you offer extras to sweeten the pot. I record the presentation digitally, turn it into Real Audio and post it on the web site within a hour of the teleclass. Many people appreciate being able to review the information, and those who missed the teleclass can still listen to it.
Many organizations are looking for virtual speakers. In time, as you gain a reputation, organizations will contact you. But until that happens, be proactive in soliciting virtual speaking engagements. Seek out organizations (through your network or on the web) who host virtual speakers and send them a detailed write-up of your proposed presentation.
When you give a virtual presentation (especially if participants are paying for it) make sure you pack it with solid how-to information. Don't make it an extended sales pitch. At the end, let your participants know you'll be sending them a special offer.
Your special offer could be a discount on a digital product or an introductory offer on consulting or coaching. Make your offer very clear and very easy to take advantage of. Include links to a web page that gives them more details and enables them to order or respond online. Make it simple, concise and intuitive. And make sure your offer answers all their most important questions.
If you are charging for your virtual presentation and also offering CDs, make sure to keep promoting the CD through your eZine. Sales of CDs could exceed the take from the teleclass itself. For instance, a presentation I gave to SpeakerNet News got 167 participants. But over 450 ordered the CD and orders keep coming.
http://www.actionplan.com/snncd.htmlYour email list is one of the biggest keys to success with any online marketing. Giving virtual presentations for other organizations can help you grow your e-list. And as your list grows, you can then start hosting your own virtual presentations and get a better trunout.
Today (Tuesday 8/10) I'm co-hosting a teleseminar with Bob Serling on "Secrets to Quickly Growing a Massive, Responsive Email LIst." If today's topic interested you, this teleseminar will also be very relevant.
The teleseminar starts at 10 a.m. Pacific and space will be kept open until 9 a.m. for those who want to attend live. If this announcement is too late notice for you, of course you can order the CD and transcript. Details here:
http://www.actionplan.com/elist.htmlMore on the technical side of "Virtual Speaking Engagements" in Marketing Flashes below
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Getting "on message" no matter what strategy you use
I've discovered over the years that virtually any marketing strategy can work brilliantly *if* you have the right marketing message. This is the big key to everything.
You need to target your audience accurately, offer products and services that they need and craft your message just so. If you do, you won't find it hard to get people to attend virtual presentations, let alone buy your professional services.
So where do you start? With the InfoGuru Marketing Manual.
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.htmlHere's a quick summary of what's included in the manual:
- It was developed exclusively for Independent Professionals such as consultants, coaches, trainers and other service professionals who are great at what they do, but have a hard time consistently attracting clients to their businesses.
- The manual is based on a few powerful marketing principles that, once you understand them will transform your marketing. These essential principles are missed by almost everyone (and implemented by even fewer).
- The marketing principles contained in the manual will help you increase interest in your services, build trust and credibility with prospects, get prospects wanting to learn more about what you do, and create a steady stream of word-of-mouth business.
- It goes way beyond theory, vague generalizations or concepts, and contains hundreds of hands-on marketing strategies and action plans that are easy to implement, even if you have no marketing experience.
- It includes foundational marketing information on things like creating an attention-getting marketing message, and then goes into depth on the most recent marketing techniques of web marketing and eZines.
- You can read it like a book -- you can go through it slowly and do the exercises like a home-study course -- or you can refer to it whenever you have a question about marketing your business.
- It comes with over 11 hours of audio files with teleclasses and interviews on the finer points of marketing your services. These audio files alone are worth the price of the manual.
- I've included a boatload of extras, including 150 pages of articles, dozens of resources and, most importantly, the InfoGuru Support Forum, where you can get any question about marketing your services answered for free.
- The Support Forum can be used to answer questions, provide resources, and get "peer-review" of marketing materials, web sites, proposals and sales letters, as well as explore the more complex and confusing aspects of attracting clients to your business.
- It will help remove the mystery and struggle about marketing and selling that so many Independent Professionals experience, and will help you realize that marketing can actually be fun.
- It comes with my unconditional guarantee. Get it and try it. If you don't think it's worth much more than what you paid, tell me and I'll refund 100% of your purchase price.
- Unlike most marketing information sold on the web, the manual is available in both digital format (.pdf file) for immediate download, and for just a few dollars more, you can get a printed manual as well.
- The InfoGuru Marketing Manual was published in February of 2001, and it's just as relevant today, because I add to it regularly with updates of the manual that can be downloaded repeatedly at no additional cost.
- If you are looking for one tool that will help you attract clients with an approach and methodology that is highly effective but doesn't compromise your integrity, you've found it!
For complete details and to order online go to:
www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marketing Flashes on "Virtual Speaking Engagements"
People are always asking me technical questions about conducting teleclasses. Here are my answers:
* What bridge line do you use? For free bridge lines I use www.freeconferencecall.com. For larger bridge lines, I rent them from www.rentabridge.com. Both are excellent.
* How do I record from my telephone? You need an adaptor that balances and amplifies the sound. The best (and cheapest) one I've found is the QuickTap from JK Audio. You can find it at www.bswusa.com/.
* What do I use to record tapes? If you're going to do a lot of them, I recommend the professional Marantz PMD2001. It's very solid and will last for years. The recoding quality is excellent. Find it at www.camaudio.
* How do you record digitally? For Macs: I use a program called Peak-Le from Bias: www.bias-inc.com/ For PC: go to www.shareware.com and search for - audio recording editing - and you'll find several affordable downloadable programs.
* How do I get rid of the hum when recoding digitally? One technique I discovered is to use your Marantz tape recorder as an amplifier between your telephone & QuickTap and your computer. You just set the recorder to "record/pause" while recording.
* How do I turn digital files into Real Audio Files? Get a free Program called Real Producer which you can find at www.realnetworks.com/products/producer/.
Until next week, all the best,
Robert Middleton
ACTION PLAN MARKETING
Helping Independent Professionals Attract More Clients~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
210 Riverside Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
831-338-7790© 2004 Robert Middleton, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the More Clients eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read:
"By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert's web site at http://www.actionplan.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional service businesses."
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