Get Paid to Do Your Own Marketing, Part I: It's Microphone Time

Wondering WHY you should speak publicly? This list of benefits will help you overcome your fear of standing in front of a crowd.

(Shel Horowitz's Frugal Marketing Tip, April, 2001)

This will be a three-part series. Part one, this month, will cover why you should speak publicly. Part 2 will give some tips on effective speaking. And part 3 will look at other ways to get paid while promoting your own wares.

They say that public speaking is the number one fear...more people are afraid to speak to a group than they are of dying!

Maybe it's because I started young...but I've never been afraid to speak in front of a group. I ran for office in high school, and had to address three successive audiences of 800-1200 each--and I was too young to know it was supposed to be scary. Come to think of it, I seem to remember making an assembly speech in junior high, too--but I can't remember why. So microphones hold no terror for me, whether in front of a live audience or over the radio (I'm still working on getting comfortable in front of a video camera, though I've made great progress).

Anyway, here's my advice: get over it! Speaking is an incredibly valuable tool for growing your business, and once you get good at it, you even get paid to promote your own products and services.

I once saw a true master salesman give a speech to a very targeted audience--and I watched about 70% of the audience line up afterwards to buy his books, videos, and audio cassettes. Later, I found out that his deal included a guaranteed number of sales...he didn't even have to "work the room" for sales, but he enjoyed doing it, and he was darned good.

My own percentage for back-of-the-room sales is more like 25%, on average--and that's still pretty good. Especially since the real payoff for me is not book sales, but marketing clients. If I get two to five people who will pay anywhere from $100 for a one-shot press release on up to several thousand dollars over a period of many months, that speech would be worth doing even if I didn't get paid.

Last week, I was in San Francisco, and the week before, Chicago--getting paid to make speeches in both cases. I'm still short of my goal; I'd like to make one speech per month and get paid $1000 plus expenses for each. Still, it was very gratifying that a number of people approached me after my speeches to discuss various consulting and writing projects--and yes, I sold a few books, too.

EXCITING NEWS--I'M A FINALIST!
My book, Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, is a finalist for ForeWord magazine's Book of the Year. I am absolutely thrilled! While *I* knew the book combined fabulous content with exquisite appearance and great editing, it's really nice to have it recognized by a prominent independent publishing magazine.

Thank you reading this back issue of Shel Horowitz's Monthly Frugal Marketing Tips, published every month since May, 1997; please click here to view the complete archives, grouped by subject. Shel is an internationally known copywriter and marketing consultant, author of Grassroots Marketing Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First and several other books, and creator of the Frugal Marketing web site. Please click here to contact Shel.


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