Page 243 - Duct Tape Marketing

Duct Tape Marketing

to take any speaking opportunities that you can as long as they make
some sense for your topic.

Every time I have spoken at an event, I have received several
invitations to speak at other events. It’s not that I’m the world’s
greatest speaker; it’s that there is a need for speakers who can present
good information. Eventually you will want to start analyzing the
potential audience for events to make sure that it aligns with your
ideal client.

Of course, you must be able to deliver something of value to those
in attendance. You can always introduce your firm and what it does,
but you must give good, useful information first. Jump back to the
free report I spoke about in the chapter on advertising. If you can cre-
ate a white paper that your target audience finds useful, you can easily
turn that topic into one or more mini-workshops.

Here’s how it can work: a painting contractor contacts a large
general contractor and proposes a seminar to teach architects how to
write better painting specifications and standards. The general con-
tractor gets better-educated architects, and the painter is seen as an
industry leader.

For each of these events it is a good idea to have some prepared
materials for note-taking purposes as well as some very brief informa-
tion about you and your products and services. Most organizations
are happy to let you do a bit of self-promotion at these events, as long
as you are subtle.

Joe Costantino of Business Marketing Success, Inc., in Abington,
Massachusetts, claims that the most effective tactic he has found to
build his consulting business is speaking engagements. When he first
started his marketing consulting practice, he joined the local chamber
of commerce and immediately volunteered on some of the commit-
tees. As he became better established, he let it be known that he would
provide marketing seminars to other business owners for free.

After each presentation, he provided an offer to each attendee

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