by Razan Naba
Public speaking is a powerful way to attract more clients and develop your personal brand as a leader.
Photo by: Pexels-pixabay
Public speaking is one of the most important and dreaded forms of communication. While some people take public speaking as a profession and choose to offer such services in a world where public speaking has become vital, a lot of speakers still struggle with their strategies to build a firm career. A good public speaker is worth his/her weight of gold. The ultimate goal of every speaker is to motivate the audience – to learn more about a topic or simply inspire the audience to reach a personal or business goal, generate sales, share knowledge, and so. This can be done through a well-developed digital marketing strategy.
A public speaking business can provide different services to the industry around. Not only is it limited to public speaking in certain events, but it can also offer training and course motivation to corporate organizations and individual clients. Success becomes a natural business builder through word-of-mouth, media recognition, and referrals.
A growing business demands a well-planned marketing strategy.
Becoming an entrepreneur in today’s world can be easily done by making use of your inborn skills and talents to launch your own business. As a public speaker, you have different dimensions to grow your career and leave your touches in the industry. However, this can only be done through a well-planned digital marketing strategy, which is a developed, comprehensive plan that builds recognition of the entrepreneur’s expertise area.
With the proper market research and strategic planning, any qualified public speaker can venture into the business and grow with the industry. The success of any business requires proactive marketing of the products or services being offered.
Strategic planning in itself is a business growth strategy. It helps the business owner identify the opportunities around and make the best use out of them.
In today’s world, all businesses were forced to shift their work to being online as a result of the pandemic. Thus, investing in the power of the internet and maximizing the use of social media platforms helps boost the marketing of the services and the reach to a targeted audience.
A strategic plan serves as a map that guides a business through the right path. The video below will give you insights on how this all goes:
Determine your niche
Declare yourself an expert.
Jill Christensen
As a public speaker, the first and foremost thing to do is to discover your speaking niche. For the success of your public speaking business, you need to narrow the scope of presentations to fit with your education, experiences, and interests. Consider the following questions to help you identify your niche: What are you good at? What is your industry or field of interest?
Keep in mind that determining your niche isn’t only based on the things you’re good at, but on the topics you have some expertise in. To be a successful public speaker, you need to identify the area which combines both your passion and expertise at the same time. Once you figure that out, you can easily find your business niche.
Finding your speaking niche is essential to establish a successful career. You can’t select “everything” as a subject matter – you need to be specific.
A speaker’s education, training, work experience, and expertise are what qualifies the person to become a presenter. Thus, as a public speaker, you might resort to your experiences for authenticity and persuasion, but your talks should be focused on your targeted audience’s interests and careers.
Identify Your S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Determining your SMART goals is always an essential part to develop your public speaking business and set targets for your campaign. SMART goals are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
Goals are classified into “short-term” goals and “long-term” goals.
Short-term goals usually range between 0-6 months and mostly focus on increasing online conversion/engagement rates to promote your business.
Long-term goals stretch from 6 months to 3 years at times, and they are more focused on where you want the business to go.
The SMART priorities will help you build clearer objectives for your public speaking strategy. Your SMART objectives will help develop your main KPIs for the campaign.
Start digging into the specifics, identify the skills you want to work on, come up with an action plan, wrap it in a timeline, and you’re well on your way to SMART public speaking!
Focus On Your Targeted Audience
Not “everyone” is your potential audience. Finding your targeted audience is essential to growing your business. To determine your targeted audience, start with the general picture, then drill down further. Even a specialized field may have areas of specialty.
You must understand your target audience so that you can customize your marketing plan to target them effectively.
Connect with the audience. Your audience is your business! Establish a long-lasting connection with the public that is open, accessible, and authentic.
Grow in a Supportive Environment
To leverage your strengths and minimize your weaknesses, you have to know what they are. Assessment is critical for growth. However, finding a supportive environment can help foster this growth especially if the assessment is given by experts in the field can be challenging. As a public speaker, it’s important to join international clubs which help you grow your career as a public speaker, connect with experts in the field, and reach a wider audience. One of the best choices is to join Toastmasters.
Toastmasters is a free resource that over 350,000 presenters take advantage of because, simply put, IT WORKS! It’s an international club that ensures that all speakers stay sharp and confident on the public speaking front by allowing them to regularly practice presenting in a safe, supportive environment. By joining such a huge club, you’d be introduced to different speakers from different cultures and exposed to a wider audience (an international audience).
Being an active member in such a club can help you expand your network and connections in the field, identify yourself as a professional speaker, and advertise your worth and expertise to a wider range of audience!
Choose Your Platforms Wisely
When it comes to social media platforms, you can be selective. No matter which platform/s you choose to adopt, make sure that your profile is clear and includes all necessary information about you. You should always have a clear and professional profile picture set for authenticity, an email address so the audience know how they can connect with you, and a personal website link (if you have any).
To begin, narrow your choice of the platforms you decide to use to build your online presence. There might be a lot of choices that you can consider: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
Tik Tok has tremendously grown its audience in the past two years where it’s become one of the most popular and widely used social media platforms. As a public speaker, focusing on a popular platform helps your reach a wider audience.
Not to mention, as a public speaker, it’s essential to have your own YouTube channel which includes all your videos and podcasts. You can easily start your own YouTube channel for free – learn more below:
Make sure to use your social media platforms wisely to spread knowledge, build your brand reputation, and above all, connect with your audience. Remember, you could always engage with your followers through your stories and polls. Go live once in a while to answer your audience’s questions and interact with them.
Social networking might be a valuable tool not only to connect with your fans but also with other professionals in the field. Social media platforms offer free access and use to all their users, and they’re built to be easy to navigate, so make the best use out of them!
Stand out from the Crowd – Invest in Content
Standing out from your competition is harder than ever in today’s online marketplace. And that’s where content marketing makes a difference: getting your business seen and then helping your audience on their journey along the sales funnel.
Content is King; Invest in it! Creating your unique content speaks up to your brand reputation. Remember, you have something that people want: knowledge and experience. Make sure to deliver your content in a unique way which allows your audience to identify your brand from competitors.
Research the most popular hashtags which would help you reach a wider audience. Be consistent with posting on your social media platforms and apply a unique design for your page and posts. Use decent pictures and videos shot in the same set-up, so that you identify yourself and your brand. Remember, YOU are your own BRAND!
Your content is the place where you establish your brand awareness! Thus, posting valuable content which is appealing to the audience is the key to growth. Keep the audience hungry for more information through the way you deliver your videos to them.
To sum things up, it’s essential to have a well-planned public speaking strategy in today’s world that can give you focus and clarity on the tactical steps to be taken. A digital marketing plan helps you outline and create a clear path to strategic goals. It gives you direction, helps you better understand your market share, and have better connections with your audience. Remember, your targeted audience needs your unique expertise – and it’s your role here as a public speaker to keep your audience hungry for more knowledge which ONLY YOU can present! If you aim to build the career you’ve always dreamt of, then having a well-developed digital marketing strategy is the key!
About the Author:
Razan Naba is a certified Digital Marketing Master™ from the International Institute of Digital Marketing™. She is a skilled blogger, content writer, and web editor. Razan possesses well-honed public speaking skills. You can connect with her via LinkedIn: Razan Naba or Email: razannaba1@gmail.com