Public speaking is a great way to obtain new clients and further establish your expertise as a service professional. You can go about this in two ways. First, you can speak at meetings or events hosted by others. Second, you can host a seminar yourself. If you choose to do the latter, here are five ways how to publicize a seminar.
1) Do a Webinar!- If you really want to do a seminar, but find yourself struggling with the logistics (location, finding the right time, etc.), go with a webinar instead. Your participants can call in, listen to you deliver the seminar, and follow along with your slides. An added bonus to hosting a webinar is that you can save it as a podcast and let even more people listen to it later.
2) Partner Up- Publicize your seminar through businesses that offer services complimentary to yours. For example, if you are hosting a seminar in order to show people how to do their own taxes, you can partner with a local law firm to advertise it. In turn, you can offer to advertise their services at your seminar by placing their banner at the back of the room or by giving out their business cards.
3) Get Bloggers on Board!- Ask local bloggers and specifically, bloggers who blog about your topic to advertise your seminar. Some may charge you a fee and some may share the information with their readers for free. The reason blogs are a great medium for publicizing seminars is because bloggers already have a strong following and if their readers are interested in your particular topic, it works out perfectly.
4) Give Away FREE tickets- Radio stations are always looking for free giveaways and this can get you some free advertising! Offer a pair of free tickets as a giveaway to a key local radio station (hint-the radio station your target market listens to).
5) Donate Part of the Profits to a Charity- Find a charity that appeals to you and is somewhat related to your business and offer to give them part of the profits from the seminar. For example, if you are a coach for moms, you can pick a children’s charity. Most charities will help you get the word out to their demographic. If their demographic is also your target market-it is a win win for all involved!
Seminars can be a challenge to market, especially if you are not well known but if you use smart marketing techniques it can be a very rewarding experience!
October 15th, 2007 at 2:02 am
Hi Shama
This is the first time to drop into your site.
Enjoyed reading your blog.
I am a business trainer too, in Sydney Australia.
Just returned from my 2nd public speaking gig in Malaysia.
This event was organized by other people, but I am seriously considering my own event next year.
My question to you at this point is if you are taking an option 1 – Webinar, is there any good way to promote the webinar, if you don’t have a large mailing list? And is there a Webinar Software you can recommend?
Thank you for your tips.
Ken Shimizu
SuccessCreator.com
October 15th, 2007 at 4:00 am
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October 15th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Hi Ken,
Thanks for taking the time to post such valuable questions! The best way to promote webinars is to reach out to bloggers and others who have “lists” of subscribers. The reason this is a good idea is because most people on their list are already internet savvy. Also, you can reach out to businesses that offer services complimentary to yours. So perhaps for your first webinar, you can partner with another business trainer.
As for the software-I have heard good things about Liveconference.com. If you really want to bootstrap-you can post a pdf presentation on a website and let your participants go through it as you talk using a free teleconference method. Instantconference.com is a free service.
Best of Luck! And keep the valuable questions coming…
October 19th, 2007 at 12:29 am
Hi Ken,
This is what some Seminar organiser do, may be you can try it out. They give FREE talk for an hour or two like the one you give in Malaysia. That was Excellent and I highly recommended for any business men and women to attend. Excellent Content, Simple illustration that every one can understand and, no management and business jargon. I am opps off the point.
The Free seminar is a bait to collect contacts and mailing list. if You do that regularly, you list will grow.
Regards,
SK
October 20th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Thanks for the great information Shama. I hold seminars and in the beginning it can be tricky to fill those seats. The key is to be consistent, persistent and use tips like this!
December 18th, 2007 at 12:31 am
thanks for accepting my facebook invitation! and thanks for the useful tips here! i never thought about calling an eseminar as webinar. cool!
July 9th, 2008 at 3:50 am
Great post, thanks Shama. In my work with health practitioners many are considering running seminars in their respective fields. I encourage them to start building their list of contacts now if they haven’t already. Provide a gift of value (e-book, how to guide), in exchange for contact details, nurture this list, and it will be ready to recieve your webinar followed by seminar launch when you are ready. A common approach I know, but I thought it was worth mentioning here. How easy it is to forget!
All the best,
Krishna Everson
http://www.healthpracticesuccess.com
February 17th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Shama
This is such a helpful post + could help the people at biznik too.
Are you leading seminars yourself? I think so much of your savvy I’d be delighted to tell others of your session. Even in this bad economy I can see a corporation that sells to small business owners hosting/sponsoring your sessions
Of course #2 in your post really resonates with me..
– another fan of SH
March 15th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Shama,
Another valuable tip is to offer a playback recording link of the talk, to motivate them to enroll even if they can’t be there live. Also, they can review your seminar when it’s convenient for them.
Phillip Mountrose
http://www.heartandsoulofsuccess.org