Get Your Small Business a Speaking Gig: 32 Tips from ToiletPaperEnterpreneur
I’ve written about the importance of speaking at events as a key strategy for small business marketing. Pitching yourself for speaking opportunities at relevant industry tradeshows or local business events that your customers attend is a great way to establish yourself as a thought leader in your area of expertise, and to get exposure for your small business. I offered up a couple of my favorite tips in my previous blog post, Pitching Your Small Business For Speaking Events.
My contributions were also featured in a great article compiled by Mike Michalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, in his blog post titled, “Ways To Get A Lot More Speaking Engagements“. If you are serious about pitching yourself for speaking engagements, then you should definitely check out this article. It features 32 easy-to-read, actionable tips from a variety of experts that can help any small business get the speaking gig they really want!
Pitching Your Small Business for Speaking Events
When it comes to small business marketing, pitching your company for speaking opportunities should be a no-brainer. Speaking at local business or community events, or seeking out presenter slots at industry trade shows or association meetings is a great way to get exposure for your company’s expertise, as well as generate some potential sales leads. For more insight on this topic, check out my previous blog post, Small Business Marketing Should Include Speaking at Events.
When it comes to topics, the one tip I always recommend to small business marketers is: submit a speaking abstract that pitches a project or customer case study that you have done. Customer stories and project profiles are way more compelling to event committees than offering up a sales or product pitch because industry events and associations love to hear about what their member companies are doing. It is a relatively low-cost investment to hire a writer to interview yourself, or your customers, and then complete a 2-4 page write up on a successful project you have completed, or how a customer has used your product to solve a specific business problem. Speaker selection committees respond more favorably to these types of submissions.
Another example of compelling content would be to do a brief survey of your customers that identifies the top industry issues that they face, and what value they get from your “type” of solutions. Presenting market research or survey findings puts you in a better position to be selected as a speaker, because you will be perceived as an industry expert that is providing more “educational” content.
Of course, once you have been accepted as a speaker, it is imperative that you promote your speaking engagement using a press release! Speaking at an industry or business event creates a perfect opportunity to brand yourself among prospective customers. Issuing a press release on your presentation creates awareness among show attendees that you will be there, and can drive additional traffic to hear what you have to say. Issuing a press release on your speaking engagement promotes you as a thought leader to prospects, and provides recent and relevant content to post on your website, helping you to improve your search engine rankings.
If writing press releases seems like a daunting task, it doesn’t have to be. There are several good templates available that can help you through it step by step, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t have access to a PR agency or consultant. You know your business best, and with a bit of help, you can craft a concise and compelling message about your business. Event press releases should be short and to the point, and focus on promoting you as a speaker, the event you are speaking at, and the specific time and location of your presentation.
For more help on how to write an event press release, check out the Press Release Tutor templates, available from http://www.SMBmarketer.com. The Press Release Tutor provides online, interactive templates that can walk you thorugh creating a professional press release in 5 easy steps.
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