Step 7 is all about establishing your authority through public speaking. Basically, you want to get and stay visible!
You might initially balk at the idea of speaking in front of a live audience, but bear in mind that public speaking encompasses more than just giving talks at conferences.
You can leverage various mediums, including videos, Facebook Lives, webinars, podcasts, and radio shows, to increase your visibility and establish yourself as an expert.
Let’s take a closer look at webinars, videos, Facebook Lives, and summits. These are all excellent opportunities to showcase your knowledge, share valuable insights, and establish credibility with your audience.
When you host a webinar, you have a captive audience that is eager to learn from you.
Webinars can be formal or informal, and they can feature PowerPoint slides or not. If you’re camera-shy, using slides to guide your presentation can help you ease into recording.
A good webinar outline includes an introduction, a brief overview of the topics you’ll cover, 3-5 main points, and a clear call-to-action. Webinars typically last about 60 minutes and provide you with an opportunity to build your email list by requiring participants to opt-in.
Facebook Live is another powerful tool for increasing your visibility and establishing your authority.
Because these broadcasts are more casual, they’re an excellent way to get comfortable on camera while building your Facebook business page organically.
By engaging with your audience in real-time, you can answer their questions, provide valuable insights, and share your expertise.
Consistency Is Key
When it comes to videos, Facebook Lives, webinars, and summits, consistency is key.
Make sure to advertise your speaking event at least a day before and share it on your personal profile and group to get more visibility.
During your speaking event, spend the first 5 minutes introducing yourself and your topic to give people time to join.
Then, deliver your main topic and include a call to action, which can be anything from purchasing a product or scheduling a strategy session to joining your group or receiving a free gift. For Facebook Lives, keep your presentation short and sweet, between 15 and 30 minutes.
After your speaking event, you can reuse your content to build your YouTube audience and channel. Try to keep your YouTube videos under 3 minutes long and include a call to action.
For example, offer a free gift or invite viewers to join your Facebook group. This will help you continue to nurture your leads before offering them your services and products.
Hosting a summit is another great way to establish your expertise and build your list quickly. You can interview 10 or more experts that cater to your ideal audience and offer the summit for free for a limited amount of time.
People can purchase the entire summit, and you can split the profits with your guests. Even if your guests have smaller lists, interviewing 10 guests who each have 1,000 on their list can introduce you to 10,000 people.
Being a guest on other people’s summits can also help you build your list by offering a free gift to listeners.
When you are seen side-by-side with other experts, your expertise status grows because people link the two of you.
Lastly, consider getting booked on podcasts and radio shows. Podcasts are niche-driven, making them an ideal way to get your message across to a large amount of people.
The hosts already have a community of listeners that know, like, and trust them, giving you automatic credibility in the eyes of their community.
Wondering how to find podcasts to speak on?
There are several ways to do so. You can research on iTunes, IHeart, Stitcher, BlogTalk Radio, and Google to find shows that feature guests. On the show’s website, you can find contact information, such as email addresses.
Be sure to read and follow the host’s guidelines when applying to be on their show.
If you don’t want to do all the research, you can pay someone to do it for you, or you can use a service like SpeakerTunity, which offers a free 30-day trial.
They’ve already done all the research for you, making it a great place to start.
To increase your chances of getting booked, have your speaker sheet ready. Your speaker sheet should include your picture, name, area of expertise, bio, and 1- to 3-topic titles that you speak on, along with testimonials of your speaking.
You might also include a second page with a list of potential questions for the host to ask you.
Submitting a speaker sheet makes the host’s job easier, and it shows off your expertise and professional mannerisms.
Additionally, speaking in front of live audiences is always an excellent way to establish yourself as an expert.
Even though most speakers do not receive a fee for speaking, there is still a significant amount of money to be made from speaking.
If event coordinators allow it, you can sell from the stage. If not, you can offer a free gift in exchange for their contact information, including email. You can use the same speaker sheet that you use for online speaking gigs, or tweak it to fit the organization you are speaking to.
Consider joining related Speaker Associations to receive opportunities to speak both online and offline.
Your assignment today is to choose your speaking platform, list three topics that you can speak about, and schedule time to follow through by creating a YouTube video, doing a Facebook Live, contacting potential hosts or event coordinators.
Next Up: Step 8
Great job! You only have three steps left to go! The next one focuses on using public speaking to increase your visibility and build your authority.
