442-SYB-Booked-Without-Burnout-Part-2-rev.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Carol Cox:
We’re continuing our new series Booked Without Burnout. In this episode, we’re looking at how to get speaking invitations to come to you on this episode of the Speaking Your Band podcast. More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office, and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a TV political analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies, and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience. Hey there and welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast. I’m your host, Carol Cox. This is part two of our new series on how you can land more speaking engagements without burnout. In the last episode, I walked you through outbound strategies. Those are things that you do when you are pitching yourself. Today we’re talking about inbound strategies, how to set yourself up. So speaking invitations come to you. In the next episode we’ll go over how to get paid to speak. Let’s go ahead and dive in and talk about inbound strategies you can start using now so that you get emails in your inbox or messages in LinkedIn that say something like, we found your website or your LinkedIn profile. We’re looking for a speaker for our event and you seem like a perfect fit. Here’s strategy. Number one is build a strong digital presence.
Carol Cox:
So this is your speaker page on your website and your LinkedIn profile. Think of your digital presence as your storefront. If an event organizer stumbles across your name, what will they see? Do they instantly know you’re a speaker, what topics you cover, and how to contact you? Here’s what to do on your speaker page. On your website, make sure that you have a clear list of topics that you speak on and the audiences you serve. This also helps a lot with SEO, search engine optimization, and a lot of times event organizers are doing Google searches or LinkedIn searches to find speakers for their particular topic. So make sure you have those topic titles and descriptions on your speaker page. Also, include photos and video clips of you speaking. Now, these video clips don’t have to be fancy. If you have a really nice speaker reel, of course, definitely embed that on your speaker page. But even if you don’t, video clips from your iPhone will be just fine. This is why I highly recommend that no matter what type of speaking engagement that you’re doing, no matter the size of the event, always set up your phone on a tripod and then get you speaking. I like to get the backs of one part of the audience, in addition to having myself kind of in the center of the frame. So that way it’s obvious that there’s an audience there, and you can see people either laughing or raising their hands or nodding along.
Carol Cox:
So that’s a good angle to use, and then you can take some of those video clips and add them to your speaker page. Of course, also make sure that you have contact information so that it’s easy for people to reach out to you with your email address or a contact form. I’ve included a link in the show notes to my own speaker page that you can see how mine is laid out. And then, of course, there’s LinkedIn. This is where I have been found and booked multiple times, including a keynote that paid $7,500. So LinkedIn is a really powerful tool that you can use. A couple of things to do is in your LinkedIn profile headline. Make sure to add the word speaker or put keynote speaker in your about section. Add the topics that you speak about and then some of the audiences that you serve, or in particular industries that your topics are a good fit for. And then finally in your employment section where it has your different job history, if you own your own company, it probably says something in there like founder or CEO. Yeo also put a job role in within your company as a keynote speaker or a workshop facilitator, because that way you can add even more information about the topics that you speak on, some testimonials from past audience members, and so on. So that is strategy number one.
Carol Cox:
Make sure you have a really strong and up to date digital presence. Strategy number two is to get involved in your local community and in your industry. Relationships are the key to getting speaking engagements, especially the ones that come to you. Many of my speaking invitations have not come from cold pitches, but from being involved in my local community, such as serving on boards, volunteering for committees, and showing up at events. Why is this so important? Because familiarity plus trust plus availability means that less thinking is required on the part of the event organizer. When they already know you or someone they know knows you. It’s easy for them to select you than having to go search for someone else. Here’s a personal example. I was first on the TV news as a political analyst way back in 2005. I cannot believe it’s been 20 years and I have been on for pretty much ever, and I have been on for every presidential election cycle since 2008. The local TV news still calls me in 20 years later. Why? Because they know my name. They have my number, and they trust that I’ll show up and do a great job. It’s the same for speaking. If you want more invitations, the ones that land in your inbox, get involved where decisions are made. Like we talked about in the previous episode, identify three local groups that you can get involved with. Start going to their meetings and events.
Carol Cox:
Join as a member. Volunteer to serve on a committee. Also identify key connectors in your community and invite them to coffee. Let them know your interest and ask them what ideas they have for how you can get more involved, whether it’s a board opportunity or helping out at an event. Show up consistently and give back to your community and your industry, and your name will come up when there’s a speaking opportunity available. Strategy number three is to deliver an amazing talk, because your best marketing tool is the talk itself, both the content and your delivery. When you deliver an incredible presentation, people in the audience will come up to you afterwards or email you later and invite you to speak at their company, association or event. This is what is called stage side referrals and they truly are the best. Because these people have seen you in action, they clearly think that you are a great fit and a great alignment for their event, so most likely you’re a shoo in to get it, especially if it’s a paid opportunity. For example, my client, Julia Corn, who I talked to in episode 422 of this podcast, delivered an amazing what audience members called a ten out of ten keynote, and that one talk led to more paid speaking invitations. So definitely go listen to episode 422 to hear how we created this amazing ten out of ten keynote and the impact that it had.
Carol Cox:
Another example is my client, Tammy Lawley. Her TEDx Orlando talk from 2017 was so impactful that it has opened doors to other speaking engagements, including well-paid ones. So here’s the mindset shift. Every stage you step onto is an audition for your next stage. So make it count. Focus on audience transformation and audience experience, not just information that you’re conveying to them. Leave them with something memorable in both your content and your delivery. So there you have it. Three inbound strategies to get speaking. Invitations to come to you. Number one, optimize your speaker web page and LinkedIn profile. Number two, get involved in your local community and industry. And number three, deliver an amazing talk that makes people want more inbound and outbound strategies work best together. Pitching is still important, and when you combine it with a strong inbound system, you’ll find yourself getting booked without the burnout. Now, if you’re ready to create your amazing signature talk and to develop your speaking strategy so you can pitch with confidence and get those inbound invitations to join us in our online Thought Leader Academy, or at our next one day in-person Speaking Accelerator workshop in Orlando. You can get all the details on our programs and workshops at Speaking Your Brand.com under the Work with Us tab. We’re going to continue this series Booked without Burnout, in the next episode, where we’re going to talk about how to get paid to speak. Until next time, thanks for listening.
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