Public Speaking Training: How to Get the "Butts in the Seats"

Once you get good at public speaking you'll want to start doing your own seminars because you can attract a tightly-niched group of prospects. But doing your own seminars presents a major hurdle: how do you get people to show up? How do you get the word out to your target market without breaking the bank?

Unfortunately, seminar marketing is not an exact science because there are a huge number of factors that affect your turnout. Your seminar attendance hinges on how you market your event, and the costs to market range anywhere from free to extremely expensive. Free seminar marketing & promotion methods include doing public speaking engagements, posting flyers, and networking.

More costly seminar promotion methods include taking out advertising space in newspapers and magazines, buying mailing lists and sending out direct mail pieces, or even hiring an outsource company to handle outbound mailing and incoming registrations for your seminar. On top of that, there are many factors that influence seminar turnout - the weather, the time of day, the day of the week, and where you hold your seminar can affect your turnout.

Not to mention your seminar theme, seminar title, and your promotional "sales copy". The best approach to seminar marketing is to start out small, don't go out and spend thousands of dollars on an advertising and direct mail campaign. Instead, mailing out a few hundred postcard invitations to a very tightly niched group each month is a very cost-effective way to test your seminars.

Yes, you must market your seminar consistently every month in order to gauge results. You can't just test by sending out one mailing and that's a very common mistake people make. In fact, postcard mailings to a very tightly-niched target market of prospects have proven extremely effective to promote seminars. Look for ways to get a tightly-niched list of prospects. Contact your vendors or suppliers as they have a vested interest in you getting more business because you'll ultimately be using their products and services.

Once you have your list you need to design a compelling invitation that fits on a standard postcard, and you should make that invitation benefit heavy. In the U.S., use the USPS online "click to ship" feature and they'll handle all the printing and mailing of your postcards.

Send yourself one to gauge reaction and effectiveness of your mailing piece.

Set your monthly budget and stick to it. Students who've taken my public speaking trainings are currently using this method to market and promote their seminars with terrific success, and so can you.

Keep in mind you may have to alter, fine tune, and polish your campaign over time. Also remember that when you seek out public speaking training you want a well-rounded training that covers the business side of speaking.

Best of success in your public speaking & seminar marketing and promotion efforts!

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