360 DPI

Reflecting back over my year has reminded me of something I learned in one of my own workshops. What’s the “One Thing” that makes you different?

Recently, my colleague Karen McCullough and I gave a workshop on how to market yourself as a public speaker.  It was a day of giving away all the things that worked for Karen in her career as a public speaker, some of which I helped her with, and all the things that did not. The workshop ended up being very interactive, with most of the participants adding extremely valuable information and experiences to the mix.

One of the most notable people there was Julie Haralson, the Marketing Director at Texas Children’s Hospital and a marketing consultant.  She shared a piece of information that has helped me immensely in the area of Personal Branding.  It was the concept of “The One Thing”.   Julie posed that very question to us, and it really clarified the crux of personal branding.  In a world where we’re all trying to stand out and be noticed, very few of us can easily identify that One Thing that defines us.  Julie reminded us of the movie City Slickers and this important scene where Curly learns about the secret to success and happiness.

Take a moment to think about that one thing that makes you different?  It’s not an easy question to answer.  I’m still working on it.

I’ve recently had the opportunity to help Karen McCullough with her book endeavor. She and her daughter Meredith have honored me with the privilege of creating the design and layout of “The Seven Women Project”. You may recall from one of my previous posts that I have been hard at work on the cover design. (Unfortunately, my blog posts pre-August 2009 have all disappeared due to a clerical error by my web hosting company so they aren’t available to see at this time). Both efforts, the cover and the layout/typesetting, have been an incredible learning experience for me. My hours at Rice University Glasscock School of Continuing Studies have paid off!

Most experiences, positive or negative, allow us the chance to learn and grow. What I’ve realized through this is another outlet for my creative energy, and also that I have the capacity to offer a new area of expertise to speakers and authors.

As a speaker, to have a book under you belt can be one of the most effective marketing tools in your arsenal. Just ask some of my colleagues (Donna Fisher, Jim Bob Solsbery) and they’ll tell you to “get published”. First of all, your credibility goes up about 1000 percent. Secondly, it can be a great source of income or another way to leverage your fee.

My advice would be to start. Develop your area of expertise. Nothing will make you an expert faster than writing a book. Take some tips from one of my favorite folks, Seth Godin. He has a blog post that might help you. This one is just about me bragging.

Public speakers are always improving on their product. In fact, they are the product! Everything they read, learn, experience and do contributes to product development. So, already they are very much themselves like a Mac computer, always getting better.

This thought provoked me to think about how public speakers can borrow a few lessons from the Apple school of marketing. I just read how one of Apple’s former corporate marketing geniuses, Steve Chazin, has come out with a blog and a brief history of the company’s brilliant marketing strategies. He recounts the ways that the marketing team rescued Apple from a slump and made it one of the hottest brands on Earth. Let’s see how they might apply to a speaker (or even a small business).

1. Appeal to their emotions.
2. Figure out what it is that you do better than the competition, and do more of that.
3. Your customers need to be your evangelists.
4. Keep your “story” short and sweet.
5. Create an amazing and unique customer experience (think Apple stores and Apple packaging).

Just thinking about these 5 principles (and there are many others) as they pertain to you, the speaker, can improve your marketing strategy. In what ways are you following these guidelines? Go to Mr. Chazin’s blog to get more in depth marketing ideas: http://www.marketingapple.com/

November is a great time to have a speaker’s workshop. Why? Because December is “down time”, and that’s the best time to work on your stuff… so you can hit the ground running in January.

My favorite speaker (and client) Karen McCullough is ready to share her story so that it can help you. It all started at the end of 2006 when she was encouraged to make changes in how she presented and how she did business. Karen took a leap of faith (with my help and guidance), and the doors of opportunity began to open for her. The direct result of these changes were booked engagements with top national organizations.

Everything has changed since 2007: It’s not just Speaking as Usual.

Karen and I are in the process of creating the Speaker Success Workshop: A New Way of Thinking and Doing. The goal of this workshop is to transform the way you think and do business. Recently I heard a speaker say that everything we did before 2007 is old. We are in the midst of huge changes and challenges (Seth Godin calls this period in time a ‘mammoth revolution’), and if you are thinking and marketing the same way you did a 2 years ago, you’re spinning your wheels. We are offering this one day workshop on November 11 and 21 in Houston, Texas. If you are interested in more information just email me: mikesvat@mac.com

You will learn:

* The New Markets (Where the new $$$ is. It’ll surprise you.)
* What the New Markets are Looking for
* Who’s Buying the Speaker? The NEW Savvy Buyer
* New Marketing Techniques You Should be Using Now
* How to Write Your NEW Copy
* NEW: One-Pagers that Work Today. Snail mail is back! Step-by-Step with a Workbook
* NEW: Techniques in Using PowerPoint that get Audiences Engaged and Excited
* How to Stay Current. Who to Read, What to Watch, What to Listen to
* Why Twitter is Important- How Bureaus are Using it
* Today’s Content Presented in a NEW Way: The Teds Changed the Way we Listen- 20/20

Plus:

* A 28-day template for your new marketing plan that you will use to get you booked in 2010
* A resource book filled with templates for one-pagers, testimonials, letters of agreement, pre-program questionnaire, proposals, and more.