Jane Atkinson's Blog, page 39
December 6, 2012
3 Tips for Effective Positioning
In the world of professional speaking market positioning can influence your overall branding.
Definition of market positioning:
“An effort to influence consumer perception of a brand or product relative to the perception of competing
brands or products. Its objective is to occupy a clear, unique, and advantageous position in the consumer’s mind.”
The ability to really influence or persuade perception can start with a brief introspective of 3 branding components.
1. Is Your Brand Sticky?
2. What’s Your Purpose?
3. Take the 15 Second Website Challenge.
Homework:
A. Take 15 minutes and write out how you see your brand as being “sticky” or memorable.
B. Jot down your promise statement or tagline and then ask, “will it speak to my target audience?”
C. After taking the 15 second challenge, what will you now change on your site?
If you’d like to share your insights, we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Please place your comment below.
P.S.
The Wealthy Speaker U is ramping up for a new session starting January 2013. If you are a seasoned speaker or even a newbie on the speaking circuit, consider investing in YOU!
The first session starts January 7th for the Emerging Speakers:
http://wealthyspeakeru.com/emerging-speakers-2013/
For the Seasoned Speaker, the first session starts January 9th:
http://wealthyspeakeru.com/seasoned-speakers-2013/
P.P.S.
For more ideas on “stickiness” check out the book “Made to Stick” by the Heath brothers.
November 28, 2012
Wealthy Speaker U: Catapult Your Business
The Wealthy Speaker University was a huge hit last year! And we’re starting our 2013 classes in January.
Some of our graduates have said……
“Helped me get incredibly focused”
“My marketing got clearer and more effective”
“The learning curve was reduced significantly”
“I now know how to sell myself!”
“Loved the accountability of meeting each month!”
And on and on.
A combination of private coaching with Jane, monthly calls with your group, and 10 fabulous audio and video learning modules, this program will help catapult your
business to the next level.
If you are a new speaker, you might consider our BACHELORS PROGRAM FOR EMERGING SPEAKERS.
If you’ve been speaking for more than 3 years full time, then our MASTERS PROGRAM FOR SEASONED SPEAKERS might be a fit.
Over 10 months, starting in January, we’ll cover topics like:
MONTH #1 – Picking a Lane that will pay off. Take
the pain out of positioning so that you can get
booked!
MONTH #3 – Building Websites that Sell. Avoid
mistakes that will cost you time & money.
MONTH #5 – Setting and Negotiating Fees. Take your
fee to higher levels and get you paid in full.
MONTH #6 – Technology Tools for Sales and
Marketing. Put systems and social media in place
that will allow your business to grow rapidly.
MONTH #9 – Developing Your Rock Star Demo Video.
And that’s just a few of the topics…
Last year our programs both sold out. So check out this page to get the details and hold your spot.
See you soon Wealthy Speakers!
PS: Feel free to write to jane@speakerlauncher.com with any questions you have!
November 15, 2012
Brand Part II: Exploiting Your Brand
When you develop a strong brand, one that is sticky (ie., people will remember it) you’ll want to splash it everywhere!
Here are some tips for exploiting your brand:
1. EMAIL: Using a Gmail (or heaven forbid an AOL) email address instead of your brand.com or your name.com is missing an opp.
Every time people see your e-mail address, you have an opportunity to promote your name or your brand.
EXAMPLE: john@johns_brand.com VS. john@aol.com
2. PRESENTATION TITLES: Imagine that you are hired by ABC Association to deliver a keynote.
Chances are ABC Association is going to promote that keynote for many months leading up. Imagine that the 500 or 5000 members of that association see your presentation title (which happens to be your brand) on several occasions. By calling your presentation something generic, you have lost this opportunity.
EXAMPLE: The Wealthy Speaker Seminar vs. Get Rich Speaking Seminar
3. BLOG/SOCIAL MEDIA: By using your brand in your Blog title and Social Media page titles, you are continuing to hammer away at your visibility.
EXAMPLE: Jim Harvey’s Presentation Skills Blog vs. Jim Harvey’s Blog
By exploiting our brands, we are one step closer to becoming known in our market and being positioned beautifully when our topic is needed.
See you soon Wealthy Speakers!
ps: The Wealthy Speaker University is starting to fill up and we haven’t started promoting it yet!
Check it out www.wealthyspeakeru.com
November 1, 2012
Brand Part I: Is Your Brand Memorable?
A brand is a concept or idea that helps to distinguish you from everybody else.
- It may be a personal brand, ie.: Dr. Phil, which may work if you have a large following who know you mostly by name….
OR
- it may be based on your work (my preference) ie: Red Zone Marketing (check out what Mary Beth is doing, she’s really sharp) www.redzonemarketing.com.
OR
A book title might also be a great brand. (ie: 7 Habits, Who Moved My Cheese, Purple Cow, Good to Great). You might not understand the title until you’ve read the subtitle. But a good brand can take on a life of its own.
The brand that I think used to work but no longer does is the “speaker based” brand. i.e.: John Doe, Leadership Speaker. This was effective 5-10 years ago, but as my good friend Brian Palmer of National Speakers Bureau says……
“clients no longer want to hire ‘speakers’, they want to hire smart people who happen to speak”
What’s your brand, and do people remember it?
Stay tuned for part II where we’ll talk about exploiting your brand.
See you soon Wealthy Speakers!
PS: The Wealthy Speaker University can help you with your brand, your website, marketing and selling speeches.
Two new classes start in January, click here for more details.
October 11, 2012
Do Your Clients Know What You Do?
Assuming people truly understand the services we offer and the benefits of those services, is a mistake.
Has anyone ever said to you, “oh, I didn’t realize that you offered training?”
That’s why we constantly have to reinforce the message. Think about the ways that you communicate with your prospects (blogs, eTips, speeches, books) and pepper those communications with stories about your work. i.e.: in a speech you might tell a story about working with a consulting client and what the outcomes were.
It’s not difficult, just something we need to be reminded to do.
It occurs to me that I haven’t done a good job of educating you on my offerings. So here are some links:
- Private coaching and consulting
http://speakerlauncher.com/private-coaching/
- Group coaching (Wealthy Speaker University)
http://speakerlauncher.com/group-coaching/
- The Wealthy Speaker 2.0 product line
http://speakerlauncher.com/bookstore/
- Online learning, 90 Day Catapult program
http://wealthyspeakeru.com/90-day-catapult/
See you soon Wealthy Speakers!
September 27, 2012
What’s Your Definition of “Wealthy?”
Being a Wealthy Speaker may mean different things to different people. My idea of “wealthy” is making money while I sleep and travelling just a few times each year. Most of my clients, however, want to do more gigs, which means travelling more frequently.
The first step to becoming a Wealthy Speaker is defining what “wealth” means to you and how you want to spend your time.
Developing clarity around your business model usually takes a bit of trial and error, but once you figure it out, life can be beautiful!
We’ve got so many choices on how we deliver our content: Keynotes, Training, Seminars, Workshops, Breakouts, Webinars, Books/product, Coaching, Consulting, Membership clubs, and the list goes on…
So think about it. How often do you want to travel? If you have small kids, chances are, local business or business delivered online (ie: product sales or memberships) may be your focus. One of my clients is so fortunate to have a huge base of business within a 3 hour drive of his home. (I know we all may not be so lucky).
It may take awhile to achieve what’s perfect, but with focus, you’ll get there!
See you soon Wealthy Speakers!
ps: The Wealthy Speaker 2.0 contains many
different business models and business building
techniques. Don’t have a copy yet? The eBook is
only $10, what are you waiting for?
http://speakerlauncher.com/bookstore/
September 11, 2012
Conscious Competence in Sport and Speech
The late great Stephen Covey once talked about moving from Unconscious Competence (you’re good but you’re not really sure why you’re good) to Conscious Competence (you’re good because you planned it that way) **.
Recently on the golf course, I saw a change in my game. I used to swing and pray. Sometimes I’d hit the ball well – sometimes, not so much. But when I stopped to strategize exactly what outcome I wanted and how I had to hit the ball to achieve it, things started working better. This week I hit a chip shot from 3 feet off the green and rolled it about 13 feet into the cup for a birdie. I planned it, and it worked. It wasn’t just a fluke.
The same idea applies to your speech.
When you consciously craft a solid speech, and you deliver it with talent and precision – you are moving from “I’m pretty good but I’m not sure why” to “I’m great because I worked hard and crafted it that way.” Please note that I’m not saying your speech should be rigid or plastic, more like you plan great content and stories and show up authentic.
Questions:
- Are you consciously competent?
- When did you last work on crafting your speech?
- When did someone from the outside help take your speech to new heights?
(Although speech coaching isn’t my wheelhouse, I do know some great coaches.)
Remember, there is no better form of marketing than a great speech.
See you soon Wealthy Speakers!
ps: To start sharpening your tools, check out The Wealthy Speaker 2.0 (which has some great
presentation tips by Victoria Labalme and our Killer Keynote Quartet
** Please note I’ve taken some creative liberty with Covey’s original idea.
