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Cindy Ratzlaff

Bestselling author, award winning brand marketing and social media pro, Cindy Ratzlaff, creates sales driving campaigns for authors, books and publishers.

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Speaking as a Marketing Strategy – Brand You

By Cindy Ratzlaff August 22, 2013

Public speaking is a cost effective marketing strategy and an excellent way to build your personal brand.

Speaking is like grocery store sampling – you reach your ideal audience at exactly the time and place when they are most interested in the services or products you offer. When you speak at an event, someone else does the work of gathering a crowd most likely to be interested in what you have to say.  You glean “authority” from the event host as they present you to their attendees as an expert in your field with valuable information to share. And, then you give them a powerful, delicious sample of what you’re all about.

The key is to make sure that the sample you give out is valuable, memorable, and information rich. You repay the event host for their confidence in you by over delivering to their attendees. You honor the time of the attendees by giving them exactly what they hoped to receive when they chose to give you their time and attention. When you deliver the goods, your exact perfect target market client knows that what they just received was only a sample and if they want more, you are the answer to their problems.

Speaking is to personal branding what in-store sampling is to new grocery items.

But how to start is always a challenge.  Here are some suggestions that have worked for me and might work for you:

Chamber of Commerce: Your local Chamber of Commerce most likely sponsors educational or informational sessions for local business owners. If what you offer can be valuable for local business owners, offer yourself as a speaker and present a topic that fills a need for the target audience.

E-Women’s Network: A wonderful nationwide organization of women entrepreneurs and business owners that hosts local speakers monthly in most markets. Find your local chapter and consider offering your expertise.

University AluCindy Ratzlaff, Keynote Speakermni Organizations: Alumni and university clubs meet regularly and are frequently looking for speakers for business luncheons. A little research might be required here to find the club or professional association that’s right for what you offer.

Professional Trade Show Organizations: Every industry has a trade show or several regional meetings every year. Think about which industries are the right fit for what you offer, visit their website and find out when and where they host educational meetings for members.

Toastmasters is a wonderful organization not only for learning the skills needed to hit a home run once you are on stage, but also for networking with like-minded professionals who will know about other local speaking opportunities.

Let’s support one another here. If you have suggestions of beginner speaker resources or organizations that host speakers, let’s start a list in the comments below.

 

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Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: Marketing, Personal Branding

About Cindy Ratzlaff

Cindy Ratzlaff was named to the Forbes “20 Best Branded Women on Twitter” list and Forbes Woman called her one of the “Most Influential Women Tweeting about Entrepreneurship.”

During her 20-plus years as a publishing executive, Cindy created branded marketing and PR campaigns that ushered more than 200 books onto the New York Times bestseller lists. She was named to the Ad Age Marketing 50 list for the launch campaign behind The South Beach Diet.

She is the author of three books, and her essays on happiness have appeared on Oprah.com, CNN.com and her articles on social marketing have can be read on Business Insider. She speaks to conferences such as BookExpo America, Pennsylvania Conference for Women, Romance Writers of America, Ernst & Young, Garden Writers Association, Texas Conference for Women, United Way’s Ignite Leadership Network, Massachusetts Conference for Women, and more on the topics of happiness, personal branding and creating a digital footprint.

She engages daily with more than 450,000 people through her popular Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blog sites.

Comments & Feedback:

  1. Deb Dorchak

    September 1, 2013 at 12:04 am

    Excellent tips, Cindy and a few I wouldn’t mind trying. The start is definitely the challenge, but oh, after you take that first step, it’s a marvelous adventure!

    Reply
    • cindyratzlaff

      September 2, 2013 at 9:13 pm

      You’re so right Deb. Starting is the challenge. I found that by creating one talk with a particular focus in mind, I was able to start and branch out from there.

      Reply
  2. Teresa Pangan

    September 2, 2013 at 12:05 pm

    Cindy, great ideas. I will have to check out the e-Women’s Network. Love the idea of getting out there and planning for more visibility to bring in more clients the last half of the year. Some other places depending on your location in the country and target market are YMCA, Lion’s Club Chapters, Apartment associations (larger ones), and then looking at local clubs meeting in your area at http://www.meetup.com/find/ It all depends on who your target market is.

    Reply
    • cindyratzlaff

      September 2, 2013 at 9:12 pm

      Excellent suggestions Teresa. Thank you so much. Hadn’t thought of Meetup as a resource and it’s such a good idea.

      Reply
  3. Kerry Swetmon

    September 2, 2013 at 10:04 pm

    I think I’m the only person in business who simply has no desire to speak on a stage. Is that weird? Is it my way of dodging the spotlight? I truly don’t think so…It really feels as if speaking to a large audience is just “not my thing,” but I also don’t want to let myself off the hook if it’s a cop out. I’m going to set out to explore this more for myself:) Thanks, Cindy!

    Reply

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