456-SYB-Signature-Talk-Marketing.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Carol Cox:
All of us could use a marketing boost right about now. Here. Why your signature talk is the missing piece of your marketing strategy. On this episode of the Speaking Your Brand 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. Hi there and welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast. I’m your host, Carol Cox, joined today by our lead speaking coach, Diane Diaz. Hi, Diane.
Diane Diaz:
Hi, Carol.
Carol Cox:
This is a new two part series that we’re doing to kick off the New Year part one. This episode is on the missing piece of your marketing strategy, which is your signature talk. And we’re going to tell you exactly why your signature talk is the foundation for your marketing, especially if you’ve been feeling like your marketing has not been hitting as well as it used to. There’s a lot of changes that are going on in the marketplace. And so your signature talk is that missing piece. And then the next episode, part two, we’re going to talk about when you are delivering your presentations, whether in person or virtual. Why they may not be converting for lead generation. So we know that a bunch of you like us, we do a lot of speaking to attract leads and clients to our business. You you are too. There are certain things to do to make it more likely that people are going to want to work with you, and so we’re going to cover that in part two. Now, Diane, you and I, we have been obviously speakers and coaches for a long time.
Carol Cox:
We’ve also been marketers and worked in branding for pretty much our entire careers. And so I know for a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners, they are the experts in the work that they do with their clients. And unless there are marketers themselves as far as their background, they probably don’t like marketing that much. Or I know, like a lot of people are like, oh, more marketing that I have to do. But here is why speaking is so effective, because you probably have heard of that know like trust factor that is essential for someone to want to consider working with you and being a public speaker. 100 X’s the speed that know like trust factor. So Diane, let’s kick off this episode by talking about a speaking engagement that you did in the first part of the year to a local women’s business group. And we were really pleasantly surprised by the results that we got and the number of clients who signed up to work with us that very same day.
Diane Diaz:
Yes, yes. When we’re thinking about that, your signature talk is your marketing. That’s exactly what that was. Now, that was a lead generation talk. Specifically, it was an unpaid talk. They asked me to come speak on personal branding and unpaid, which that’s I’m happy to do that. But I approached it as a lead generation talk because I knew our ideal client was in the audience. Right? Lots of them. About 60 women, many of our ideal clients. And so I designed the talk to plant those sales seeds, walk them down the path to want to work with us. And we ended up getting three clients right off the bat from the offer that I made in a very non salesy way. Right. I think you mentioned, Carol, that a lot of people may not like marketing because it’s just like, oh, I got to market myself. I think that might be because we look at it as sales and we feel like, oh, it’s kind of icky and we don’t like to do that. Imagine if your talk sells you for you, right? It sells your services for you without you having to, quote unquote, sell. And that’s what marketing is, right? It’s you’re making that you’re building that know like trust factor because now you’re standing in front of them or virtual. But in this case, I was standing in front of them. They see me, they hear the stories. They hear my message. They have activities. They participate in the talk they’re building. I’m building a rapport with them, and I’m building trust. And what I’m sharing with them is resonating. So they’re like, yes, yes, that’s that seems accurate. That seems accurate. And then when I have the offer now, they want to be part of it because I have not only sold my message, but I’ve built trust that I, I am talking about something in a credible way. So they want to be part of that.
Carol Cox:
Diane, what you just said there about that, they participate. I think this is so key. So we think about marketing strategy as a whole. And here speaking your brand, we have a number of different marketing channels that we use. So obviously this podcast is one of our top marketing channels as far as visibility and exposure and getting listeners to learn more about what we do and, and how they can work with us and building that know like trust factor. So we have the podcast, we have the Speaking Your Brand YouTube channel. If you haven’t yet subscribed, you can go over to the link in the show notes and subscribe. That’s one of the goals for this year where we’re building more of the YouTube channel. We use LinkedIn. We have the email newsletter. Obviously we have the website, we have referral partners that we work with and other people that we know in either our local community or online community that we collaborate with. So all of those are different marketing channels, but we very actively use public speaking as that as well. And here’s the reason why we find it to be so effective. And don’t forget, in part two of this series, we’re going to come back to how to drop those sales seeds into your presentations so it doesn’t feel salesy so that it feels authentic and comfortable for you and for the audience. So those tips are going to be coming in part two. But if we think about this idea of marketing, I know that I have seen and I’m sure you have seen, that it’s harder and harder to get visibility online. There’s more content, there’s more content creators. There’s more content on social media, on podcasts, on YouTube.
Carol Cox:
So the reach you may have had a few years ago, you probably don’t have now. The algorithms change all the time. It’s hard to keep up with and figure out what are these different channels want. What types of posts do they want? But here is why public speaking is so critical. You have a captive audience, especially in person. They are sitting there. They’re paying attention to you. They’re probably not on their phones. It would be kind of rude if they were in person on their phones. Virtual was a whole different thing. Right, right. But still, you have a relatively captive audience, even virtual, because they’re even if they’re only half listening to you, at least they’re listening to you. But you have this captive audience and they’re actively participating. Now, contrast that with online activities, which are passive, where people are passively scrolling, they’re passively consuming. You’re just one of literally tens, dozens, maybe hundreds of things that they’ve seen in a very short period of time during the day. As a public speaker, you are there for 15, 20, 30 minutes, even an hour building like Diane, like you said, that rapport and that trust with them. And so that’s where you go beyond that surface level visibility, which is what you get from the algorithms. You should still do those things because you need to have that online visibility as well. But think about how you’re going to fit speaking into your marketing strategy for this year, because I think you’ll find that you’re going to get a lot more results and a lot more results more quickly than you even do online.
Diane Diaz:
Yes. And I think to add to that, I think another thing that is happening when you are speaking in person that you can’t replicate virtually or even, you know, in social media and things, is that the people in the room listening to you see the other people in the room listening to you, they see them nodding. So like, oh yeah, she’s buying in, he’s buying in. Then they’re like, oh we’re all. Yeah. Mhm. Right. And it’s like confirmation that you are on the right track. Right. And so we see that other people in the room raising their hands or participating or it’s like we’re all buying into the same message. So it reinforces our decision our good decision to sit there and listen to your message.
Carol Cox:
Oh, it’s like the mirror neurons.
Diane Diaz:
Yes yes yes, yes. It’s the reason why if I see someone cry, bam, I will cry. I don’t even have to know why you’re crying, right?
Carol Cox:
Yes. Or laugh. Or people start laughing and then you start laughing. All of that? Yes. And so right there. See? So you’re getting you as the speaker. The audience is seeing that other people are resonating so that that then they’re more likely to see you as someone that they can trust. But then also as the speaker in the front of the room or on the stage, you have built in authority and credibility just by virtue of being there, which, again, is a lot harder to establish online when you’re just one of many, many things that people are looking at. Yes. Okay. So hopefully we have convinced you that speaking is an essential ingredient for your marketing strategy so that you get results more quickly for what you’re doing. Here’s though, what what happens a lot of times when you get a speaking invitation. So hopefully you’re going out there and to your local community, local groups, and maybe you’re pitching yourself for conferences and events and then you get selected or someone invites you to speak. Maybe you have a presentation that you use in the past so you kind of dust it off. Maybe it’s been a little while and you’re like, okay, I’ll change the title slide to the current date, and maybe I’ll change my headshot photos, a little old photo in and I’ll and I’ll change a couple of things and that’s it.
Carol Cox:
And maybe the slide deck is from a while ago. And you know, design trends change. Like what audiences want change. So you definitely want that to be up to date. Or maybe you don’t really have a current presentation or a current slide deck. So you kind of just put something together at the last minute, or maybe you wing it or and that’s also contributes to a lot of nerves that people get because they’re not feeling comfortable in their message and they don’t feel as prepared for it. And they really I think a lot of times that is that they’ll treat their presentation as an afterthought instead of a core essential element, not only of their marketing strategy, but of their business strategy and really getting people to understand who you are as a person, but as a business owner, what matters to you, but then by extension, what matters to the audience and how you have that connection together?
Diane Diaz:
Yes.
Carol Cox:
So we think about a signature talk. Now you can have more than one topic that you speak about, so don’t hear signature talk and feel like we’re trying to box you in into only one thing that you’re allowed to talk about, and that’s it for the next year or two. You cannot talk about anything else. That’s not what a signature talk is. A signature talk, instead, is how we map out what your thought leadership message is, what your core message is, how that relates to the audience, why it matters to them. Because you need to get buy in from the audience. We integrate your stories, your client examples into that as well as your framework. Anything else that’s important to you and the work that you do, and that’s important to the audience. So that is what happens when we create, when we map out your signature talk. And then you can repurpose that for different events, different audiences, different lengths of time. But your core message is central to what you do. And that’s why it becomes part of your marketing strategy. And I think, Diane, this is what surprised me the most when we first started working with our clients. And we have our signature Talk Canvas framework with the three acts, and we map out everything using the post-it notes. And then I would I remember this was probably back in maybe 2018, and I would do this process, and I had a client come back to me after that initial VIP day where we did that, and she said to me, oh, I took what we worked on for the talk and all the post-it notes, and I wrote a five part email nurture sequence, and I took part of it, and I added it to the different parts of my website, and I created some social media posts from it, and I was like, oh, well, of course I was like a doll moment. Like, of course that that is who you are. And that’s your marketing message. Even though it’s presented as a signature talk, it really is the foundation for everything that you’re doing.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah, it’s really like a signature message, right? It’s like you’re creating the signature message that is a talk, but then it becomes all these other things. And I know, you know, when when I work with clients, often they’ll say, well, now how do I what do I do with this? Beyond this, I’m like, well, you can expand on this and make a workshop that you sell for pay, right? You can condense it down to three points, and you could be on a panel where you could share that, you could be interviewed on a podcast and pull from that. You can create social media posts, you could create an online course. There’s so many things that you can do. And like you said, repurpose it for different audiences. Find what the angle is that that audience is going to care about, and then swap out stories that are meaningful for them. Swap out examples, swap out audience engagement, techniques. So you make it a different talk, but it’s not a whole completely different talk. You’re just repurposing what you’ve already created. So you become known as the person who talks about XYZ topic, but then it’s tailored to each audience.
Carol Cox:
Yes. Now, and if you’re listening to us talk about this and it’s and we make it sound really easy. Now remember, we’ve been doing this with speaking your brand for ten years, working with clients. And obviously we’ve been presenting for much longer than that. So we are like the Simone Biles. Yeah. Speaking coaches because we make it look easy. And we know that just like she makes it look easy when she does all of her twists and turns. And we know that it is not easy at all. So if you’re listening to this and you’re like, okay, yeah, sure sounds easy, just switch out audience activities and just switch out stories and repurpose it and change the length. We understand that. So this is why when you work with us in our Thought Leader Academy, which is our online program, not only do you get that VIP day where we take all everything that’s in your brain, all your ideas and stories and all everything that feels clear to you, yet confusing at the same time. We take all that, we map it out to your entire signature message. Again, that’s the foundation for your talk, as well as the other marketing assets that you can use it for. But then we teach you throughout the program how to repurpose it, how to change it out for different audiences, how to how to change the emphasis on stories or different parts of your framework depending on who you’re talking to. So not only are you getting the deliverable of your signature message and the different assets that you’re creating, but you’re learning the framework so that you can use it going forward for anything else that you’re working on?
Diane Diaz:
Yes. Yeah, I think that’s the beauty of it. And then once, once a client actually then takes it and repurposes it, they’re like, ah, yes. And we’ve had numerous clients say to us later on like, oh, you know, they worked with us, you know, a year ago. And they’re like, oh, I actually use that outline. And I used that to take the content and turn it into talk for this or to create a download that I was working on.
Carol Cox:
Yes, exactly. And so then because you’ll get the entire talk, so we give you photos of the board with all the post-it notes mapped out on it, and then you have an outline document that you fill in. And then we teach you the framework through the the zoom, the group zoom calls that we have in our online learning hub. So you are very well positioned to be able to learn how we do this, so that you can do it for yourself so that you’re continuing to get the ROI from the experience that you have by working with us. All right. So let’s do a quick recap, Diane. And then we’re going to set up, uh, part two. Yes. Okay. So marketing strategy your your signature talk and thinking about public speaking is an essential aspect of your marketing strategy going forward. Like we said in the beginning, it is really how you’re going to build that rapport and that trust with your audiences so that you can get more leads and clients and more opportunities, more speaking opportunities, board opportunities, opportunities with associations that you may want to get involved in. Being a public speaker really gives you that credibility and that authority, so that you can apply for these other opportunities as well. And so when you think about sitting down to work on your signature message, think about not only what it is that you do within your business, so the services that you offer, but what is the problem that you’re solving for your clients? So by extension, what is the problem that you’re solving for your audience? What does your audience want? So like what is it that they want? What are their goals related to what it is that you do in your business.
Carol Cox:
So for example here was speaking your brand. If you’re listening to this, your goal is probably that you want to have a bigger impact. Maybe you enjoy public speaking. You want to be on bigger stages. Maybe you’re just getting started with public speaking. So you’re trying to figure out how to navigate the speaking world, how to pitch yourself, how to create a talk that’s compelling. So those are the goals that you have. Maybe some of the challenges that you’re trying to figure out is where to pitch, how to pitch, how to create that talk. Should you focus on a keynote talk or a lead generation talk? How can you do both? So you have all these different questions in your mind. And then so those are the challenges that you see. And then the challenges that we see that you may not see because this is not your space, is that so often our clients and it gets stuck in what we call the expert trap. So you train to your audiences instead of providing them with thought, leadership, motivation and inspiration because that’s what’s going to get them to act. Either act on your overall message, but then also act to hire you for whatever it is that you’re going to help them with. So think about the problem that you solve, what your audience wants, what it is that’s that they think is getting in their way, what challenges they have. But what do you see as the real problem that they may not recognize yet? But you see it because you’re the expert in this space, and you can help them to get past that real problem, to get to the goals that they have.
Carol Cox:
So that’s your your marketing message. And again, if that sounded a little bit confusing, that’s why you need us. We help to clarify that for you because again it’s hard to do it for yourself. It’s even hard for us to do it for ourselves. That’s why I’ve had business coaches over the years and people I’ve hired to help with marketing, because you need that outside perspective on there. So that’s your that’s your homework. Those are your to do’s for this episode. And of course, if you would like to work with us, we would be more than happy to do so. The best thing to do is go to speaking your brand. You can schedule a consultation call with us. We can talk about what your goals are, and then we can talk about how we can work together, the different programs that we have, whether it’s our online program, the Thought Leader Academy, doing a standalone VIP day, or even attending one of our one day in-person speaking workshops that we hold in Orlando, Florida, a couple of times a year. So now don’t forget we have part two coming up in this series where we’re going to dive more into how to make sure that your presentations are landing for lead generation so that you are getting clients from the speaking that you’re doing. Diane, thank you so much for joining me today.
Diane Diaz:
Thanks, Carol.
Carol Cox:
Until next time. Thanks for listening.
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