Tag Archives: workshop

A Political Campaign Principle and Your Maketing RBI

Reach out to the three types of constituents

Imagine you are a candidate for elected office. According to a political campaign strategist, there are three types of people among your constituents:

  • Those that are with you
  • Those that are agin’ you
  • Those that are sitting on the fence; they are not paying attention, or they have not yet made up their minds.

Now, let’s apply this principle to marketing activities.

Clearly, it’s vital to remain in close communication with those who are with you and know you well:

  • Current clients
  • Lapsed clients
  • Referral sources
  • Networking contacts

Conversely, it’s an expensive proposition, in terms of money, time and effort, to go after the group that is agin’ you and unlikely to be persuaded. Perhaps they already have a business relationship with a competitor, or they are disinclined to use your services.

As for the people on the sidelines, let’s consider how you might raise your profile and move them into the first camp.

Here is where the five ways of attracting business in your Marketing RBI come into play:

Networking:
Identify the groups where your prospective clients gather. Ask a connection to accompany you at one of their events, in person or online. Following that meeting, participate in the group’s social media conversations.

Ask a contact to introduce you to their colleague and arrange a Networking Squared conversation, a three-way meeting over coffee or via Zoom.

Speaking:
Team up with a client to give a presentation at their networking group, professional membership organization or industry association.

Introduce yourself (and an industry contact) to the podcast hosts whose programs address timely issues facing that sector.

Writing:
Invite a referral source or client to co-author an article for an industry publication. The subject might be a best practices checklist or a case study recounting a successful project. Show how you are addressing their concerns and resolving their problems.

Being active in the trade association of your target market:
You may be one of a few (or the only) professional with your background who is a member of the group. For example, as a writer, I edit a column in a membership organization’s monthly newsletter.

Promoting your activities online:
On your social media accounts, cite the names of others involved in your activities. These include people you met at a networking event, colleagues who collaborated on a workshop, podcast or article and speakers who presented at the trade association’s meeting.

When you fish where the fish are, you are more likely to land the big one.


This Month’s Tip

Introductions and collaborative presentations will build your credibility as a reliable resource, similar to a political candidate’s endorsements by elected officials. Your relationship with someone who the potential client (voter) trusts is a step forward in creating a new business opportunity.

Contact

It’s time you took your marketing campaign on the road and connected with the folks sitting on the fence about using your services. Contact me at Janet@JanetLFalk.com, set an appointment here or call me at 347.256.9141. Together, let’s brainstorm about reaching out to prospective clients, so you will be the candidate they choose.

Image credit: Oriental Trading

Speaking of Speaking

10 tips for a memorable presentation

You know how some people freeze when they anticipate a public speaking gig?

Not me.

I love standing in front of a group and sharing my insights and action steps. Whether I’m addressing colleagues, potential clients or students, I’m excited to guide them in mastering best practices.

Following are ten tips I’ve learned along the way, from speaking coaches and the School of Opportunity, formerly known as the School of Hard Knocks.

Before You Speak

  1. List the ideas and activities you want the audience to take with them when they return to their desks. When you start with the end, you’ll be able to delineate the intermediate steps of your presentation and see how to get there.
  2. Capture the audience’s attention from the get-go. Tell a short anecdote, ask a question or use a little-known statistic. Now they want to hear more and figure out how what you have described relates to their situation, whether business or personal.
  3. Your slides are an outline of key points. KISS. Your actual remarks will amplify, explore, bust a myth or show the consequences of the topic you highlight.



    4. During the Presentation

  4. Pace yourself. Scan the faces of the attendees. Slow down and recapitulate when their eyes wander around the room.
  5. Don’t pace. It’s fine to walk across the stage and connect with people on both sides of the room. When you reach the opposite side, stand and remain in place for a few minutes. Pacing is distracting.
  6. After you’ve summed up your remarks, have a colleague begin the Q&A with the question you gave them. Take the opportunity to go into more depth about a point you skimmed over in the presentation. Plus, you open the door to more questions and avoid the dreaded Q&A silence.



    7. After You Speak

  7. Thank the event organizer(s). Whether or not you want to be invited back, be gracious.
  8. Arrange for a handout, perhaps an excerpt of the slides, to be emailed to attendees. Help people practice on their own and even share your ideas with members of their professional and personal circles.
  9. Spread the word. Consider strengthening your relationship with a client or referral source by inviting them to co-present with you. Arrange to speak to their professional membership organization or industry association. That audience will be receptive to hearing from one of their own colleagues. You will enhance your contact’s stature and their participation will attract potential clients and referrers to you

    10. This Month’s Tip

    You worked hard to create and deliver that presentation. Now make it work for you.

  10. Plan in advance to share it across other platforms:
    • article
    • checklist
    • client alert
    • e-book
    • newsletter or blog
    • pitch to a reporter<
    • podcast appearance
    • social media post
    • summary on your website
    • video or audio clip

Contact

Your speaking engagement is not one and done. When you book your next event, let’s talk about how you can prepare and promote your presentation. Contact me at  Janet@JanetLFalk.com, set an appointment here or call me at 347.256.9141. Together, let’s get ready to step up to the microphone and then take your presentation to greater heights: on the road, online and into print.

Image credit: Sergio Santos

Laura T. Schnaidt

We worked with Janet on a presentation that she gave to Women in Funds. Following the event, there was immediate feedback from at least half the people who attended – all of whom had glowing reviews. It was unanimously positive and people found it very helpful. We would love to do this event again with Janet and will refer members looking for advice to her as well. We met Janet thanks to Women in Funds Board member Jane Abitanta, who suggested that Janet speak to the group. Janet worked together with our organization to specifically tailor the presentation to the members of Women in Funds. Janet is Fabulous!

Adrienne B. Koch

Janet gave a terrific workshop at my firm, to a group of women attorneys from various walks of the profession, on how best to position oneself as a resource for the press. At my request, she tailored her presentation to that audience, so that her comments and suggestions were specific and relevant; she was also responsive to the group, and made a point of making sure she answered everybody’s questions. As a result, the audience was highly engaged and the presentation was very well-received.

But of equal importance, Janet spent time informally with the group before and after the presentation, sharing her insightful thoughts and ideas in smaller, more individual conversations. This made the evening doubly enriching. I highly recommend both Janet’s workshops and Janet as a workshop leader.

Sandra Holtzman

Janet graciously guest speaks in my NYU graduate class in Marketing. Her presentations are thoughtfully put together and demonstrate numerous points with clearly articulated case histories from different sectors. She presents a wealth of expertise and is very generous with her time and patient with student questions. Janet also speaks at my FastTrac New Venture classes and her presentations there are equally excellent.

Audrey Winkler

Janet gave a wonderful interactive presentation on Best Practices in Board Communication and Media Relations to nonprofit professionals at the Board Leadership Workshop for the Nonprofit Sector Resource Institute. It was outstanding and participants commented afterwards that they had learned a great deal from her. The fact that Janet prepared it on an extremely tight deadline made the presentation all the more impressive.

Paul Konigstein

Janet gave an excellent presentation to the Financial Executives Networking Group (FENG) not for profit special interest group on networking. Her approach focused on making connections with the leaders of organizations hosting networking events and was a refreshing change from the usual networking strategies. Janet is a very engaging speaker. I would recommend her to present to any group.

Sharyn O’ Mara

Janet Falk was a wonderful guest lecturer at our Farmingdale State College Public Relations class. Janet shared a wealth of knowledge about a variety of public relations topics. Prior to the class, we discussed what had been taught already and she tailored her presentation to expand on their PR knowledge base. Janet covered a vast landscape while keeping things interesting and organized. Janet contributed an educational presentation to our class!

Geri Stengel

Getting in the media is a great way for a small business to establish and grow its credibility, and generate interest in its products and services. Janet provided practical and easy to implement tips that any small business can follow. My NYC Small Business FastTrac students found these tips invaluable.

Work Up Your Workshop in a New Format

 Use video and writing to re-distribute your ideas.

Congratulations on a terrific workshop presentation.

Celebrate today. Get back to refining your content tomorrow.

It’s not one and done.

Here’s how you can re-purpose it in a new format; click on the blue text for more details:

Capture highlights of the recorded session in segments of up to three minutes. Write a two-sentence overview for each clip. Post the text with the video clip on your website, LinkedIn, Facebook and X (Twitter).

Record a voiceover of a few slides and post the mini discussion.

Create a tip sheet of best practices, a quiz or a checklist with your contact information and branding. Save it as a PDF and offer it as a downloadable file on your website. Share it on social media platforms as well.

Include the links to the video clips and tip sheet in your email signature . It’s your free space to promote yourself, so use it.

Introduce yourself to the media as a source for comment on the hot topic or industry trend you discussed. Tell reporters at industry publications the best practices that will help others in that sector save time, save money or make more money.

Partner with a client, referral source or a colleague in  a related field to broaden the perspective when pitching the media.

Does the content lend itself to a case study? Use the P A R I approach to recount the issue. Describe the Problem or Present situation, Action that you took, Result in the short term and Impact over the long term.

Contact podcast hosts , who are always looking for authoritative sources to comment on timely subjects.

Exercise your creative spirit with an infographic.

Write an article for your newsletter — and propose an article for the newsletter of an organization where you are a member.

Do you have a blog? You know what to do.

Here’s how I followed my own advice, after leading a workshop on best practices for LinkedIn. I wrote the e-book pictured above.

This Month’s Tip

Turn your presentation into an e-book. I had wanted to write an e-book about using LinkedIn for a while. When I prepared a workshop on the subject, I finally pulled my ideas together. Now you see the result. Here’s the link to get your copy. And yes, I would love to give the presentation to your group.

Contact

Look through your recent presentations for sleeping golden insights. Let’s consider which format is most appropriate to spread the word more widely. Contact me at Janet@JanetLFalk.com , set an appointment here or call me at 347.256.9141. Together we’ll give your workshop a workout and get it into shape for a new audience.

See also: C O P E: How Writing Can Re-Broadcast Audio

Click here to read prior issues of this newsletter.

Click here to subscribe to this monthly newsletter and make sure you don’t miss the next issue.