How to Find People Who Need You

Issue #860 Oct. 14, 2014
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

How to Find People Who Need You
Tips to Promote Live Events
Use LinkedIn for Speaking Gigs
Hound Video of the Week

This Week in the Hound House:

I’m losing the war against the Boxelder bugs in my backyard. They’ve infiltrated my neighbor’s garage where they bask in the sunshine, congregate in big clumps, and reproduce nonstop. I’ve tried smashing them, drowning them and sweeping them into garbage bags. Why kill these harmless black and red bugs? Because their excrement stains everything. And I don’t want them in my house. My next weapon: spraying a mixture of two parts water and one part dish soap.

1. How to Find People Who Need You

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to self-promote is targeting a massive audience.

The bigger the audience, the harder it is to penetrate all the noise in the marketplace and broadcast your message.

Target narrowly and your job becomes much easier. Here are 10 questions that will help you identify who needs your expertise as a problem solver, a news source or a trusted provider of goods and services.

–How old are they?

–Where do they live?

–What are their job titles?

–How much money do they make?

–What’s their political affiliation?

–What controversial issues move them?

–Married or single?

–What are their hobbies and interests?

–Religious preference?

–Which industry magazines do they read?

Being able to identify, with precise detail, your target market is the first of seven elements you must have in place if you want publicity.

I’ll explain the other six, and share lots of resources that will help you create your publicity plan for next year, when I present a free webinar from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, Oct. 15. That’s tomorrow.

One lucky person who is on the call will win a half hour of free consulting with me. But you must be on the call when I draw the name at random.

After you claim your seat I’ll send you periodic reminders as the webinar time nears.

2. Tips to Promote Live Events

Do you put just as much effort into promoting your events when they’re under way, and afterward, as you do before the big day?

I’ll bet you don’t. I don’t either.

That’s why I was thrilled to find tips galore from social marketing expert Justice Mitchell on how to create social content to promote live events before, during and after they occur.

Even if you don’t do all of them for smaller events you’re hosting, you’ll find lots of new ideas like these:

–At 5:30 a.m. the day of the event, release a breakdown of the daily agenda and tweet agenda items at 15-minunte intervals.

–At 7 a.m., shoot Instagrams of your staff setting up for the event.

–At 8 a.m., take photos of people registering and upload to your Facebook gallery.

–After the event, send everyone who attended a survey and get immediate feedback. Ask questions that encourage constructive criticism.

–Use these attendees as a “think tank” for planning next year’s event.

–Create an updated version of your event page with the following year’s date and information. “If you don’t have it, that’s fine, but you can give a sense of the future and not just have a dead digital property until the next event occurs.”

Read all his tips at her blog.

Notice he encourages the use of hashtags throughout the entire PR campaign. If you aren’t sure what a hashtag is or why it’s important, I can help. The video replay of a webinar I hosted on “How to Use Hashtags: The New Search Tool” explains all the ways to use the symbol # in your social media messages and make it easier to attract new followers.

When you buy the replay, you’ll get a big bonus package that includes a checklist of questions to ask yourself so you create the most powerful hashtag possible.

3. Use LinkedIn for Speaking Gigs

One of the most powerful tools for booking more speaking engagements is right in front of you: LinkedIn.

–Wow people with your knowledge in LinkedIn groups.

–Make sure your LinkedIn headline and profile identify you as a speaker.

–Ask for LinkedIn recommendations from happy meeting planners who have worked with you.

–Share video clips, photos and content from your speaking gigs.

–Include a list of upcoming speaking engagements on your LinkedIn Company Page.

Knowing how to use LinkedIn to promote yourself as a speaker is only one of many tips you’ll learn from six successful speakers during a 90-minute teleseminar on Thursday, Oct. 16. “How to Become a Highly-Paid Speaker as Quickly as Possible–Especially if You’re Not Famous Yet,” will be hosted by Steve Harrison. Register for the free call at 2 or 7 p.m. Eastern Time.

You will learn:

–How to find companies and organizations that already have a budget to pay speakers like you quite handsomely, even if you’re not famous or well-known in your field.

–How to be well-paid to deliver a spiritual message.

–5 critical steps for landing speaking engagements, especially when you don’t have a lot of time to spend marketing yourself.

–Why you don’t need a lot of fancy materials to land speaking gigs, but what you DO need to give them instead.

–Actual case histories of several successful speakers and how they got started.

–Specific things to do before, during and after you speak so that the audience loves you and you get invited back again and again.

4. Hound Video of the Week

Watch as Sebastian, a black Newfoundland, plays an adorable game of hide and seek with a little girl. The magic word that helps the dog find the girl is the same one that works in my house: treat.