Marketing Commentary from interlinkONE
Marketing. Web-to-Print. Warehouse Management.
Almost Famous
Posted by 
on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 
at 4:02 PM 
in 
There are many ways for a company to increase awareness about their products or services. It primarily comes down to increasing one’s marketing efforts — sending out more direct mail pieces or emails… getting more involved on social networks, creating videos, eBooks, and more.
Another way is to land more speaking engagements. If your President/CEO or VP of Sales speaks at conferences, trade shows, and other meetings, it can have 3 primary benefits:
- People will start to view you as an industry-leader
- Your company will viewed in a positive light (as long as the presentations/speeches are educational)
- It will increase awareness about your company
So, how do you land more speaking engagements?
Well, if you do enough of them, and you’re really good, people will start to invite you.
But whether you’re at that point, or just starting out, it really comes down to being proactive.
- Research conferences and trade shows that are related to your industry
- Look into organizations that are affiliated with your industry (sometimes they put on smaller, less-publicized shows and meetings)
- Reach out! Contact the people that organize those events, introduce yourself, and don’t hesitate to ask to be considered for a speaking engagement.
Now, it may cost a bit of money to speak at some events. Sometimes you need to (wink, wink) buy advertising in a magazine related to the show. You may need to set up a booth as an exhibitor if you will also be one of the presenters. But having a cost applies to all marketing efforts. Can you afford it? Will the ROI be worth it?
But more than that, you need to be prepared to demonstrate that you can be a great presenter. Be prepared to list possible topics that you could speak on… What would the audience gain from spending an hour listening to you?
You may even want to record and send video clips of you speaking somewhere else – even if it’s just in your office, speaking to your employees! If the video helps show that you are charismatic, it may help increase your chances of being selected as a presenter.
In the long run
Sure, marketing would be a lot easier if everyone visited your website and requested to buy without any prompting. But that’s not how it works.
If you want to increase awareness through speaking engagements, you will need a plan, good content, and you’ll need to execute it. No matter how popular you may become, you’ll always achieve greater results if you’re proactive.
It’ll take a bit of money, time and effort – but it can help increase the overall success of your company, product, or service in the long run.
Photo Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Audience.jpg
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