Gone are the days of mailing unsolicited speakers packets. It is too costly, especially considering that unsolicited materials generally end up in the garbage. So what is the best method for marketing your presentations to meeting planners?
Jane Atkinson, author of The Wealthy Speaker, advises that the “Call-Send-Call” method will provide good results in most situations. With this approach, you identify your prospect, CALL them to ask about their event and when they are hiring, establish their interest in your topic(s) and if they can afford your honorarium. You SEND your materials at an equally agreed upon time (during their planning stages). Then you CALL to follow up.
E-mail marketing is another viable method for getting your information in front of meeting planners. In this scenario, the speaker uses an e-mail marketing service to develop a campaign which mirrors his/her speakers materials. The e-mail campaign is scheduled to be sent to meeting planners every 2-3 months. Some speakers receive calls of interest following each campaign and are consistently booking speaking engagements as a direct result.
Both of the above methods require that the speaker have a contact list of some sort. This is the point that many speakers’ marketing efforts stall out. But there is great news! It does not have to be hard, time consuming or costly to pull together your own meeting planner mailing list. Here’s how:
The internet is a gold mine of information in this regard, starting with the American Dental Association’s website, which lists Component (local), Constituent (state), Federal, International and National organizations. Each organization’s address and contact information is listed, in addition to a link to their website. You just need to compile your list using the ADA’s list as a starting place. If you don’t have the time to devote to this project (which is likely), this project is easily delegated to administrative help in your office or a college student who would be pleased to earn a little extra cash.
In future issues of The Dental Speaker, we will look at e-mail campaign design as well as the fundamentals of well-designed speakers materials. (Questions? Contact Vanessa@VanessaEmerson.com).
I’ve not yet mentioned the ULTIMATE MARKETING METHOD for promoting your speaking presentations:
Your most powerful marketing tool
is your ability to present
an exceptional speech.
How do you know if you are presenting an exceptional speech? If you are getting spin off business from each presentation. PERIOD. Is this you? If not, look at your presentation and presentation skills and beef BOTH up! It will be well worth the effort.
