It’s a New Age Marketing For Professional Speakers and Trainers

By Roger Stix

Being a Professional speaker or trainer is a performing art. Speaker marketing has always been about creditability, message, stage presence and the ability to communicate clearly.

In the old days speakers used written testimonials in their marketing materials. Filming or video taping performances was unusual and costly and getting a copy of the tape (remember Beta?) was something you needed to negotiate in advance. And the uses were limited.

The most professional speakers would combine presentations into a video tape demonstration, “demo reel”, have it copied and give it to their agent for distribution to prospective clients. The process was expensive and time-consuming. Oh, and those tapes your agent sent out were rarely returned. I’ve heard stories of agents sending out an average of more than 20 tapes to get one booking.

To be successful today, speakers need to adopt their marketing efforts to the new reality – video and the internet. You need to have several of your presentations video taped. If you are presenting before a big audience you should consider having 2 cameras at the event, one to capture you from the back of the room and the second to capture audience reaction and get alternative angles of you from the audience perspective. Tell the videographers where you have injected humor in the presentation so camera 2 can be in a good position and ready to capture the audience reaction. The more professional your video looks, the more professional you look, and, visa-versa. Beware; poor video quality will not make a positive impression.

The Demo Reel

Today’s demo reels are not really reels but flash files that can be played over the internet. Think of a demo reel as “the best of me”. They usually are a combination of several speeches, organized to showcase you stage presence, strength of presentation and your topics. Professionally edited demo reels do not have an elaborate introduction or background music or self-aggrandizing introductions. If you have several topics which you speak on, include them but don’t mix it with a TV interview, which is material for a separate reel. Total running time should be about 5 minutes and include nothing but your best, even if that means it will run for only 3 minutes.

The reel is about performance and message. A professional reel starts with a simple short slide containing your name and contact information. Then immediately proceeds to your best, most forceful presentation and important message followed by the second, third etc. Meeting mangers can read about your book, prior engagements, and your TV appearances in your resume.

An effective demo reel will lead visitors deeper into your website. Your reel is your most important tool. For more information on demo reels read Demo Reel Secrets for Actors: How to supercharge your reel by Derrick Boelter.

Organizing a Sophisticated Internet Marketing Campaign

Now let’s examine how a sophisticated, multifaceted the internet marketing campaign should be organized. Your second-first most important marketing tool is a professional looking website with appropriate meta-tags and a sign-up form to collect the email addresses of visitors.

Another critical ingredient is an email newsletter. This requires that you collect business cards form as many people as you can. Your audiences are good targets for subsequent engagements and to sell additional online educational programs.

Remember, your marketing campaign will evolve and grow as you do as a speaker. New speaking topics will need to be added as will clips from presentations before large audiences. Always, always try to get a copy of any video of your presentations or interviewes.

All the video’s we will be discussing can be used in many ways; on your website, in email marketing, in blogs and social networking. Then there’s posting on video sharing websites like YouTube and Metacafe.

SEO and Video Distribution

About 6 months ago, Google started placing a lot of weight on web video in SEO rankings. Virally distributed video, properly meta-tagged often come up at the top of Google organic search results with a thumbnail. Additionally, properly tagged, these videos can be linked to your website and increase your sites organic search ranking. We offer a service that distributes to about 25 of the leading video sharing and social networking sites.

Website Walk-on Videos

A“WalkOn” video starts to play immediately when a visitor lands on the site. It gives you the opportunity to speak directly with them and gives visitors an immediate opportunity to assess you (think Wink) and your delivery. Statistics show viewership of involuntary video plays drops off precipitously at 45 seconds, so you want to keep this short.

Embedded website videos

Showcase your reel on the first page of your website. This video should be embedded, require a voluntary click and be visible without having to scroll down. When visitors voluntarily click to view a video they are more likely to watch for a longer time because the act of clicking indicates an interest in the message, so a 5 minute reel will not be too long.

Video blogs

For one speaker I’ve made video blogs, an inexpensive video shot against a green screen with a background added. These videos can run as long as necessary to discuss new topics, relevant current events and as video versions of articles.

Video excerpts

Another excellent use of video presentations is to extract 1 to 5 minute video snippets from previous presentations and repurpose them for your website and elsewhere.

Monetize your existing material

Many speakers have programs on DVD they sell after a speech. These programs can be converted to flash and sold from your website too, complete with workbooks. No new program creation, no postage, no duplication and no left over inventory. The best practice is to distribute through a website that controls the number of views allowed, limits the computers they can be viewed on and can not be copied. To find these sites Google “digital rights director”.

Closing

Being a Professional speaker or trainer is a performing art. Written accolades are no longer effective. Your computer has a display and speakers, use them. We’re in the show me era and video is the most effective way to showcase your skills. There are costs involved but they eliminate printing, duplication and will keep you competitive and profitable in the 21^st century.

Roger Stix is the Founder and Producer at Atlanta Business Video, ABV produces affordable, professional HD video captured on location, at speaking engagements and in our green screen studio. Our collaborative, post-production editing process ensures client satisfaction and compresses completion of projects that might take weeks elsewhere, into days, reducing cost. Now, anyone can take full advantage web video without budget-busting prices.