Strategies Professional Women Speakers Use to Get Ahead
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What do professional speakers who have speaking for 10 years or more say they wished they had known before they started speaking professionally?
What would have made their life a lot easier, resulting in far less struggles, more credibility in a male-dominated work force, a bigger bank account, and easier access to more diverse audiences? What would have eliminated some daily frustrations?
I Wish I Had...
I took a survey among some of my professional friends in the business and here are some of their responses:
"Had I paid more attention to speaking as a BUSINESS, I wouldn't have made some really dumb financial decisions along the way!"
"I believe in going for whatever I want and often that's what I do. The problem is that I run into situations when I don't know what to do and it becomes one bad situation after the next. I'm to the point where speaking isn't fun anymore. If I could do it over again, I would have joined some speaking organizations so I could talk with other professionals who have already solved the same problems I faced."
"I would have created more products in a shorter period of time."
"I would have tried harder to get into the college speaking circuit."
"I would have negotiated better with the organizations I spoke at for free, such as maybe get a free booth at their next convention, a list of their members, or at least a free ad in their journal."
"I would have changed my attire to fit the audience better."
"I wish I had contracts from the start. It would have eliminated some miscommunication problems that became issues and ruined relationships."
"I always wanted to have my presentations videotaped for videos and DVDS and recorded for audio tapes, too."
"I've had a great speaking career! I remember one time I spoke in front of a crowd of 2000 and they all loved me! It was one of the best times I had in my life, one of those defining moments where you know you were exactly in the right place at the right time. So, to answer your question, I'd say I could have spent more time figuring out how to entertain the audience a little more."
"I wish I knew more now about internet marketing. Even if my website was up three years ago, I would have had a lot more business!"
"I'd smile more as soon as I started my presentation, and meet everyone individually before the event started. When I did this lately, my conversion rate rose to 78%!"
Technology Has Made Marketing Easier For Women In the Speaking Industry
Although many of us have frustrations about computer technology, the bottom line is that any author or professional speaker can put their career on the fast track and obtain new business contacts through their website within 60-90 days using new technology.
Consider the process of website building. There are templates for header graphics where you simply insert your own text and photo into an already professionally created color-coordinated graphic. You'll find WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) technology that allows you to simply point, type and click your way to creating your own site, adding several pages within a few hours. You can add audio and video quite easily to that same site. It's possible to add a service without incurring huge expenses that will allow you to collect names and email addresses of people interested in your topics and then follow up with them at specific intervals.
You can even animate your site and have the animated character do the selling for you. The possibilities are almost endless.
If you want media to contact you, there are multiple methods that very few female authors and speakers take advantage of. For example, ten years ago, in order to contact the media, you had to do it by way of a public relations firm or else sit down and make all the phone calls, one by one, yourself.
Successful female authors made a point to make 5 or 10 calls to radio stations daily, Monday through Friday, each month of the year. Now, knowing where to go online to submit your online press release could and often gets thousands of clicks on your release, driving traffic to your site. My last press release registered over 87,000 clicks within one week.
The problem for most women business owners, is that they don't know what to do with the internet traffic because they're not set up to capture the contacts. A simple "squeeze page" or opt-in form allows an author to continue contact with interested parties, which can eventually lead to a sale or a friend.
Blogposting, podcasting, article and video submissions complete the higher levels of internet marketing.
Internet technology is here to stay. The sooner you utilize this effective technology, the sooner your business will blossom. Learn how to make internet technology work to your advantage!
Dr. Donna Schwontkowski sold thousands of copies of her first book, "Herbs of the Amazon", but found out in 2004 that book marketing had totally changed. She now spends a portion of her time helping other authors and speakers learn the ins and outs of Internet marketing. Find out about upcoming internet marketing training and college speaking training by sending her an email at DrDonna@fastermac.net for more information.
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