Event Strategies

This section discusses some of the more traditional ways to market and grow your business. There are several different approaches you can use—some of the more popular ones are

Public speaking: Don’t panic. You will not die if you speak in front of a group. This is just a new and exciting skill to add to your marketing repertoire. If you are not experienced in public speaking, join a local Toastmasters group. Toastmasters is a safe and inexpensive way to develop your public speaking skills.

One of the biggest advantages of public speaking is that you can get your message out quickly to a large audience. I particularly like this approach because it keeps me in close touch with people who can use my services, and through discussions with the attendees I get first-hand exposure about what’s important to my potential clients.

With any public event, visuals play an important role. Whether you are doing public speaking, presentations, seminars, or other events that require visuals, it is important to understand that visuals are to be used to convey a message. They should never be used as a crutch for the speaker. What do I mean by this? I have been to presentations where the speaker read word-for-word what was on the visual. Don’t do this. I can read; what I am looking for is the speaker to expand on the points that are on the visual. Visuals should be clean, reflect your brand, and used to clarify your message. Done right they can be powerful.

Event sponsorship is one of my favorite marketing activities. I sponsor an event each year that attracts around 300 business people who are my prime audience. I get the list and I market to my audience using other techniques discussed in this book. As long as your event attracts the correct audience, helps you build your brand, and is professionally done, it is a great way to develop hundreds of leads in a very short time.

Seminars are another great way to attract people who are interested in what you do. Many people will not involve themselves in a seminar because they are afraid people will not attend. If you utilize techniques from the Thinking to Win section as well as this one, you can put that fear to rest. A word of caution: People come to seminars expecting to learn something of value. They know that you will be selling something, but make sure you give them something of value in return; word travels fast if people go to a seminar and got what they expected. Give them a reason to come to your next seminar, and hopefully they’ll bring their colleagues as well.

Everyone loves a party. When you’re holding an event as a promotional tool, the most important thing to do is make it fun. You can have semiannual clearance sales, customer appreciation events such as a clam bake, special promotions for existing customers, or any event that makes sense in your business setting.

As you read this section, decide what type of event is most suitable to the marketing and promotion of your business. Try to think differently and ask yourself how you can take an event and apply it in your business. Take something that is successful in another industry, refine it, and use it in your industry. This kind of thinking is what will make you different. It gives people a reason to come visit you.

The article was taken from 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales. It is available at www.49marketingsecrets.com.