Speaking from the stage is both an art and a science. The most successful speakers are masters of not only platform skills but also business and marketing. Unfortunately, many talented speakers struggle to find gigs, while others with less skill seem to do well. It’s clear that being highly skilled at speaking is not enough to succeed in this business.

Identify Your Target Audience: The first step in effective marketing is to know your target audience. Who are you speaking to? What are their interests and pain points? What motivates them? Answering these questions will help you create more targeted and effective messaging and content. Once you have figured out your niche, you can use resources like the NTPA to find the associations where your content is likely to have the most impact.

Build a Strong Online Presence: Your website and social media profiles are your online home base and should reflect your brand and message. Ensure that your website is well-designed, easy to navigate, and contains all the information potential clients need.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money, but it’s important to take your online presence seriously. Your website should have a professional look and feel, with clear information about your speaking services, areas of expertise, and past engagements.

Another way to burnish your online presence is to create videos. At the ASSC we have a directory of member videos that we are constantly promoting to planners. For the most part these videos are self recorded on Zoom and show off the speakers’ presentation style and content.

Leverage Testimonials and Endorsements: Testimonials and endorsements from previous clients or event organizers are one of the most effective ways to market yourself as a speaker. The event planning community within associations is often small, so getting testimonials and referrals can go a long way. Endorsements from planners are a powerful tool for building your brand and credibility.

Create Valuable Content: Instead of constantly selling, position yourself as an expert by creating valuable content related to your speaking topic. Write blog posts, create videos, or record podcasts to share your knowledge and insights with your audience.

This content can help establish you as a thought leader in your field and attract new clients to your speaking services. When creating content, focus on providing value to your audience by identifying their pain points or challenges and creating content that helps them overcome these challenges.

Then make this content available by giving it out freely to industry magazines to re-publish in exchange for a link back to your site.

Attend Networking Events: Networking is an important part of building your speaking business.

The temptation is to focus exclusively on networking with prospective clients. But it is just as important to get yourself connected to a network of fellow speakers. This is a great way to build your referral network so that if someone can’t take a gig due to a conflict they can send the work your way. And obviously you will do the same for them!

At The ASSC we have 4 opportunities each month for speakers to connect, share and learn from each other.

Building a successful speaking business takes time and effort. By identifying your target audience, building a strong online presence, leveraging testimonials and endorsements, creating valuable content, and attending networking events, you can improve your marketing efforts and reach a wider audience.