Win Speaking Gigs with a Niche. Step into the shoes of a conference organizer.  The overall conference topic is autism.  You need a keynote presenter that will attract both parents and doctors, and you have a nice handsome speaking fee set aside so that you can afford to get an expert related to your topic.  You start brainstorming about experts in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders, and what you really want is someone with a strong message on a hot topic under the wide umbrella that is autism.

You would never pick someone who is simply knowledgeable about autism in general.  You want an expert on a sub-topic of autism.  Something enlightening, revealing, heartwarming, something that grabs attention, or someone so well-known on the topic that their presence alone will attract the target audience.

More Speaking Gigs as a Topic Expert

If that’s what the people picking speakers are looking for, how do you think a broad, weak, watered-down message is going to serve you?  You want to get found and booked more often! Niche yourself.

No one will bang down your door to be a topic-expert on something that you’re not a topic-expert on. Dig in, and create your little nook within the broader topic and immerse yourself in it.

Believe it or not, when you niche yourself people automatically assume that you possess a good generalized understanding of the broader topic at hand, but that you have depth in the specific sub-topic-area.  You become a subject-matter expert.  And subject-matter-experts are sought out and highly valued for their time and expertise.

By the way, that means more money per gig.

How do you figure out a great niche?

• Industry news around your topic — what’s “hot” and “what’s not”

Take that research, pick one thing, and develop a niche around it.  Make sure it is an aspect of your topic that you have experience in (or can get the expertise in!) and be able to present your subject matter as a professional expert speaker in your field.

How Deep is your Niche?

In our example, you’re a conference organizer who knows that Asperger’s Syndrome is a common sub-topic of Autism Spectrum Disorders, but it’s not specific or trendy enough right now.  It’s still too broad.  However, if you find someone who is an expert on the role of gut bacteria in autism — that’s a current hot topic, and you know that nutrition in autism is of grave importance to parents and doctors alike.  That expert would be worth their weight in gold and will definitely get a call.

Make sure your niche is deep enough to excite people who are looking for speakers — and not so deep that the topic is completely inaccessible to the general population interested in your topic.  You want a niche that is still of interest to people who are already generalists on your overall topic, while not intimidating people who are new to it.

Once you have established your niche, you must continue to practice your speaking skills and update your material and presentations to keep-up with the trends and changing issues.

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To open doors to more speaking engagements, build a stronger speaking platform.  The more credibility and visibility you have, the more doors will open for you, leading to more and more opportunities, and a fully booked schedule every year.

There’s an easy way and a hard way to do everything, and for speakers the easy way is to set yourself up as the expert in your field: build a platform first, do marketing and show the world that you indeed can “walk-your-talk.”

Searching out speaking opportunities before setting yourself up as the expert in your field can cause a lot of frustration, and an empty pocketbook. Fixing the situation often means starting all the way back at the beginning, so you might as well start there.

How much effort you put into building your platform should match how serious you are about speaking.  I would recommend several hours a day, and if you are trying to build a full time speaking business, then I recommend working at it all day.

Here are 8 ways to get started strengthening your speaking platform.  They’re not in any particular order. Tackle these so you can go out and seek opportunities with more confidence and with a higher chance of getting booked.

1. Build a simple website. It doesn’t have to be perfect to start, you can tweak as you go. Don’t spend thousands of dollars either. Hire someone to build a simple yet elegant site that is in your budget. You only need a few important pages and ingredients on your website to set yourself up. See my post on the Speakers Website here (http://bit.ly/2aOfzKd) It’s important capture your visitor’s name and email by offering them something free and valuable. Your mailing list is one of your greatest assets.

1. Niche yourself. Become known for “something.” Focus in tight on your market, and find that specialized group that you can connect with. The more specialized you are the more opportunities you will have. This tip can be tough especially when just starting because you feel you need to have many areas. Pick one.Be happy and confident with it and go for it. Give yourself a tag line. Queen of Landing Pages. The Swinging Salesmen expert. Use your imagination and coin yourself. You can also go with simplicity if it makes you feel better. Large Organization Leadership expert. Millennial Mindset expert. Just tag yourself as something that fits your specialty.

1. Blog it! Blogs need to be updated frequently: you should be writing blog posts and adding them to your website, sharing with your list, minimum once a week. Put your talent and knowledge out there and post articles that are helpful to your audience. Try top 5, 7, or 10 posts — such as this one — or a “how to” post. Once you have put your thoughts to paper, edit it. If you need help editing let me know I have a great referral.

1. Know your audience. You build credibility and connection when you are in sync with exactly what your audience needs and wants. If you’re not in tune with them, it will be a long time struggle and you won’t get booked on a regular basis or asked to return. So, do your homework.

1. Create a killer onesheet. A onesheet is your #1 marketing tool along with your demo video. When trying to book speakers, I get asked for a speaker’s Onesheet and it’s embarrassing to say “They don’t have one.” It’s not the response I like giving. If you don’t have one, get it done here (www.CharliJane.com)  It should be on your website as a downloadable PDF and make sure you share a link to it on your social media pages. 

1. Write a book, ebook, or create some information products. Create an online program, workshops or mastermind groups. To stay in sync with the title you have given yourself, create a “signature program” and create books, workshops, online classes and course around this signature program.

1. Speak for free if you are a beginner. Being brand new, I recommend speaking for free, if its feasible and not going to break you. If you are just starting, speak for free in your local area to build your client list, testimonials, videos, audios, transcripts, and experience. Doing this gives you more credibility and exposure. There are many advantages to doing this. This is how platforms start.

1. Set up your social media platforms to be branded. Your social pages should match your website and your message. Use the same images and messages so that your fans and buyers see consistency and can trust that you’ll be consistent on the stage as well. Build trust and people will remember you. Work the social media circuit, get in front of your audience. Write posts, share, like, follow. Be interactive and very helpful. Do not constantly be selling. Share and send people to your free giveaway. It’s about relationship building.

These tips are only a handful of ways that you can strengthen your speaking platform.  With a stronger platform you’ll get more speaking engagements, and the more engagements you get the more testimonials, the more videos, the more fans you’ll have.  That’s how people will seek you out and make it easier for you to get booked for speaking engagements.

Using LinkedIn as a speaking lead magnet. Note: Do Not sell on LinkedIn. It’s considered spammy, people will unfollow you and you could take a chance at ruining the credibility you worked so hard to build.  A great way to avoid “selling” is to ask and answer questions.

I’m often asked how I find speaking jobs. It’s a combined effort of research, building relationships, networking, marketing and building my speaking platform.

The stronger your platform, the more doors of opportunity will open. There is not just “one magic thing” to find leads or bookings. It’s a combined effort of many things and doing those many things regularly — even daily. Speaking is a business and should be treated as such.

LinkedIn is part of my strategy. I consider it part of my networking, building relationships and marketing all together inside a professional platform. LinkedIn offers enormous opportunities to connect with the people who have the power to hire you as a speaker. LinkedIn gives you un-gated access to your target market.

Here’s a simple strategy to using LinkedIn as a speaking lead magnet and to help expand your reach:

• Make sure your profile is complete and has a very clear message showing exactly what you do, including your speaking topic specialties.

Note: These same steps can be used to get you in front of the media, too.  Instead of companies and organizations, figure out an escalating chain of media appointments, starting smaller and local to get warmed up, then working your way up to larger venues.

This is an easy habit to get into, just spend a few minutes a day responding to posts and asking for connections. I recommend you doing it yourself because you will know what to look for. However, if your time is limited you can outsource research to an assistant — they can make a nice spreadsheet of some potential buyers, but you spend the time asking for the connections.

Be Original

Do NOT use the default connection message that is already written for you.  Make up something zippy, unique and personalized to the contact – but whatever you do don’t be lazy.  You never want to be perceived as lazy.

Be Brief

Be brief, be professional, polite and personalize it with their first name (double check the spelling!) and if you have room, mention something you have in common, that you are grateful for or inspired by from their profile.  Tie it back in to why you’d like to be connected.

Reach Out

Once you’ve built a good connection and established your trustworthiness, transition to an offline conversation. Pick up the phone and chat and get their email address to continue your conversation.

There are many ways of finding a person on LI who can hire you, but you have to take the time, make the effort and commit to doing it. Not just one day but several times a week, on a regular basis. If you commit, LinkedIn can become a speaking lead magnet for you.

To learn more or join the Charli Jane Speaker Tribe please visit us at www.CharliJane.com - We would also love to connect on www.Facebook.com/CharliJaneSpeakers and Twitter @CharliJane

Instagram @GrowYourSpeakingBiz and @CharliJaneSpeakers

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The Speakers’ Mailing List

Have you dragged your feet getting an opt-in to grow your

If you already have a

Your mailing list is one of your most important assets, especially

I’ve heard speakers say they don’t need one because they

We invest money and time in our websites. When there’s no

When a planner, prospective clients or your fans come to

It’s surprising how many public speakers do not have an opt

It should be easy to see how this is money left on the

When you add an opt in box to your website, make your

So how do you take your first step?

1.    

2.    

3.    

4.    

If you have any questions on setting this up contact me:

When you have a lively mailing list, an engaged audience,

3 Email Disasters

Professional speakers send emails quite frequently, so email

Working with Speakers and Meeting Planners every day, I see

1.     Don’t send attachments unless asked.

2.     Spell the recipient’s name correctly. Take

3.     Don’t use CAPS and Colors.

Details are important. Attention-to-detail can get you the

Slow down. Be sure you keep your emails professional.

Please visit us online at www.CharliJane.com

If you enjoyed the podcast and have a minute we would love a review on iTunes! Thank you and we appreciate it :)

In this podcast I talk about optimizing the length of your sample videos.

To learn more about Charli Jane Speakers and what we do visit us here: http://www.CharliJane.com 

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When I see video on a speaker’s website, I know they are serious about speaking. They probably get booked more often than speakers without any videos.

Planners expect to see at least one video on your website, and if you are a serious speaker and want to grow your speaking business you need a video.  But I also get asked, “How long should my video be?”

While opinions may vary, I feel anything over 5 minutes is too much for a portfolio or sample video, because planners are in a hurry. They may be going through as many as 20-50 speaker websites looking fora great fit for their event.  You need to highlight your best topics, your best interactions with the audience, and your optimal dazzling presence.

If you’ve captured the event planner’s attention then they will review your onesheet, look at testimonials, etc. With so much work on their plate, they may just click away from 10-20 minute videos.  They won’t wait around for you to get to the point or warm up the audience.

I’ve been creating and editing videos for well over a decade, and the best advice I have is to keep it short. People have very short attention spans and planners know what they’re looking for.  They’re moving at lightning speed to find the right match.

Pull out your most dynamic pieces that will catch the planner’s eye.  Not a shot where you looked really good onstage because your hair was just perfect, or when you smiled so cute, or told a joke you thought was funny, but rather really think on what a ‘planner’ wants to see: you really rockin’ the stage, asking questions, the audience clapping,you being real, you interacting with the audience… that’s what they want to see. Short, punchy clips, that move at a very nice pace.

A 30-minute video will never get watched and will quickly bore them. They are out of time. Think of when you received a thick brochure, looked at the cover and title, and threw it in the recycling because it wasn’t even worth the time to go through it to see if there was anything you wanted from it.  Clicking away without saving your link or downloading your onesheet is the ultimate in recycling your speaking materials.

I want to save you time and get you hired.  Your long videos need to be clipped down to short dynamic montages with many elements in place to make it an eye-catching, sales video for you. Make them hire you on first view!

It is said that you have under 10 seconds to catch someone’s eye when they land on your website.  A 10-minute video isn’t going to grab anyone’s attention in 10 seconds.  And it may take more than 10 seconds to start because of a higher file size.  If you grab their attention in the first 10seconds, hopefully you can keep the planner’s attention for the 3- 5 minutes it takes to give them a good idea of what you offer.  If you draw them in, they may poke around,watch another video, download your onesheet, look at your client list or read testimonials.  And you might get the call for the event.

Always keep it short and sweet.  The best-worse-case-scenario is that you leave them hungry for more.  Respect people’s time, especially planners,and you can get booked.

Remember to stop by Charli Jane Speakers www.CharliJane.com 

If you enjoyed the podcast and have just a minute we would love a review on iTunes! Thank you and we greatly appreciate it :)