Tag: speech
Top Tips for Hosting an Engaging Webinar
It’s true. No one wants to hear you drone on and on. But unless you take steps to keep your viewers engaged during your webinar, that’s exactly what you risk happening.
Top presenters have learned several tricks for keeping their viewers interested (and listening) even if the webinar seems to go on longer than they anticipated.
Hold Your Questions
If it seems like your viewers drop off the call just as you’re about to make an offer, you’re not imagining things. Many viewers attend for the training, with no thought to buy, and will leave the minute it’s clear the training is over.
You can curb that with one simple trick: hold the questions until after your offer. By breaking up the training with an offer in the middle, you’re more likely to hold your audience’s attention for the duration of the event.
Host a Contest
Much like holding questions until after the offer, the same effect can be had by hosting a contest in which the winner is not announced until the end of the webinar. Alternately, you could offer a prize to the first viewer to answer a question correctly—the question, of course, is based on the content of the webinar. This virtually ensures your viewers are paying attention.
Turn the Tables
Don’t let your viewers just sit and passively watch. Instead, get them talking.
Most webinar platforms have some kind of chat or question feature, so make use of it by chatting them up. At the beginning of the event, be sure to ask them to let you know if they can hear you and see your slides. Throughout the call, as you make a point or reveal a great tip, ask for their acknowledgment. Not only will this keep them interested and listening, but it will also help them learn how the chat function works, so when it’s time for Q & A they don’t have any trouble.
Tell a Story
Everyone loves a great story, and if you’ve got one, now is the time to tell it. Whether it’s the time you nearly got arrested in college, or how you had to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a month after your car died, if you can link your story to your webinar message, it’s a good candidate.
Just remember to practice telling it first, because if you’re not a natural-born story teller (many of us are not) then it can quickly backfire.
The last thing you want is for your webinar to be a boring, hour-long event that drives viewers away. It’s pretty depressing to watch the attendee number drop before you’re even halfway through your slides, but if you put these tips in play, you’ll have much happier—and attentive—webinar viewers.
To start – fill in the The Complete Assessment for a free assessment
Webinar Timeline: A Proven Outline for Webinar Success
Does the thought of putting together a training webinar stop you cold? If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the possibilities, you’re not alone. Many small business owners freeze up at the prospect of creating an hour-long presentation.
The good news is, it’s not that difficult, if you have a plan to follow.
First 5 Minutes
Here’s where you’re going to introduce the subject matter. Tell your audience what they can expect to learn. Much like sales copy, it’s a good idea here to tease them a bit to get them excited about the subject matter.
Your Introduction
Next up, it’s all about you. Your listeners want to know who you are, how you gained your knowledge, and why you’re the one teaching the webinar. Don’t be afraid to get a bit personal here. Share pictures of your family vacation, you “working” on the beach, or anything else that will help created a connection.
Remember, we buy from people we know, like, and trust, and this is your audience’s chance to get to know you better. Plan to spend five to ten minutes on your introduction.
The Main Event
The next 30 minutes or so will be devoted to training. While 30 minutes might seem like a lot of time, when you’re teaching a complex subject it will go much faster than you can imagine.
Break up your training into three or five main points. Any more than that and you’ll run out of time. Remember that you should have approximately one slide per minute, and your slides should be short and punchy. A single word or image will speak volumes, and will help keep your audience attentive.
The Pitch
Most times, this is the reason for the webinar, so don’t skimp here. Plan to spend ten minutes or so selling. Share the benefits of your course or coaching or service (whatever you’re promoting), clearly explain any bonuses you’re offering, and emphasize any discounts the audience will receive for acting fast.
For most new—and even experienced—presenters, this is the most difficult portion of the webinar. You’ll want to be sure you practice it until you’re comfortable, preferably in front of a mirror or even a camera.
Q & A Time
Finally, you’ll want to offer your audience a chance to ask questions. It’s a good idea to hold this section until the end of the call (after the pitch), so your viewers don’t drop off before you have a chance to present your offer.
By breaking down your presentation into very specific chunks of time, it’s much less overwhelming to outline your webinar. Start by determining the approximate number of slides you’ll need, then block off the five webinar sections. Once you see that you really only need about 30 teaching slides, it’s suddenly much easier to fill that time.
To start – fill in the The Complete Assessment for a free assessment
Three Marketing Strategies to Skyrocket Your Business
Website? Check.
Great sales copy? Check.
A variety of products available? Check.
Now all you need is steady flow of potential clients in your market.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? The truth is, though, marketing is the one thing that holds coaches just like you back from success. Maybe you don’t know where to begin, or perhaps you’re afraid of putting yourself out there, or maybe consistency is your biggest problem.
Whatever the case, if you want to grow your business, you must master marketing. Start with these proven strategies, and you’ll be well on your way to coaching stardom.
Nail Your Brand
Here’s the single most important part of any marketing plan—and one of the most difficult to pin down. It’s more than just a logo and the colors on your site. It’s not about your font choices or your “voice.” But it IS about all of those things and more.
Branding encompasses everything from who you are to who your ideal client is. A solid brand will instantly identify you no matter where you are. The way you write and speak and the language you use will resonate only with your ideal client. Your personal style will shine through, and make it impossible for anyone to mistake your content, graphics, ads and other materials for anyone else’s.
Host Free Webinars
Before a potential client becomes a paying customer, they must “know, like and trust” you. There are lots of ways to get there (solid branding helps) but one of the fastest is by creating and hosting free webinars.
These training-focused events help you show off your skills with real, actionable content. Attendees will know in just a short time that you really do know what you’re talking about, and they’ll want to learn more from you.
Not only that, but live webinars give you the opportunity to show off your personality, too.
Make Good Use of Paid Traffic
How will you entice people to register for your event? Through your website and newsletter, of course, but those are people who already know you. If you’re looking to grow your reach, then it’s time to break into paid advertising.
Facebook is one of the easiest and most cost effective advertising networks. Not only does it have incredible reach (nearly everyone has a Facebook account) but it also allows you to narrowly target your market, so you can reach your perfect customer. Add a retargeting component, and you’ll find that paid traffic is really quite cost effective.
You don’t have to have a degree in marketing to make it as a coach, but you do have to take steps to get in front of your audience. Start with the basics, and build from there, and soon your coaching practice will grow and thrive.
To start fill in the The Complete Assessment for a free assessment
Why We Love Group Coaching Programs
While one-on-one coaching might seem to be the holy grail of business, life, and even health coaching, the truth is, many people actually prefer a group program.
With one-on-one coaching, it’s just you and your coach. The focus is all on your business, what you did (or did not) accomplish in the last week or month, and how you can improve. In other words, it’s a bit of a vacuum.
Group coaching, on the other hand, has a much more social dynamic, and you might just find your clients actually prefer that.
Group coaching offers a sense of community that’s not found when it’s just you and your coach on the phone. With a group program, there’s often a Facebook group or forum where members can support one another, gain insight into other business models, and get advice in real time from people who have been there.
Need a shoulder to cry on about your landing page flop? How about a few cheerleaders as you prepare to step outside your comfort zone for your first keynote address? A group coaching program offers all that, and best of all, with a community of like-minded members, the help and support is actually, well, helpful.
Here’s another win for group coaching programs: the price. While it might be nice to work with that in-demand coach on a VIP day, the fact is that many people won’t be able to shell out that kind of cash.
A group program gives them many of the same benefits at a fraction of the cost.
Lastly, with a group program, you’re very nearly guaranteed a successful outcome—especially if the program has been around for a while. Group coaching programs such as Wael Badawy’s incredibly successful “Entrepreneurship License” has long been proven to change the lives of those who take the course. Naturally, participants must actually do the work, but the fact is, the model is solid, and clients know that going in.
Are you thinking of creating a group coaching program? Keep these points in mind. You might just find out your potential clients have been waiting for you to take this step for a long time.
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Book Marketing Made Easy: If You Write it, They Will Come
Here’s a big fear we all have when it comes to writing a book: What if no one buys it?
While that is always possible, with a little planning and advanced buzz, it’s highly unlikely. The key is to get others excited about your book, and to get them talking and sharing the news with their friends.
Host a Launch Party. Weeks before your official publication date, it’s time to start revving up the launch engine. Offering bonuses for early purchases, incentives for a review, and free chapter downloads are all proven strategies for building the buzz for your upcoming book.
There’s a lot of moving parts in a successful book launch—landing pages, mailing lists, JV partners, social outreach, and more—so if you need help with the plan, The Complete Speaking Business Assessment
.
Make the Interview Rounds. Two to three months prior to your book release, have your virtual assistant begin researching podcasts, blogs and other media outlets for potential interviews. Create a press package to send out, including headshots, book cover art, blurbs and testimonials, and let everyone know that you’re looking for interviews and guest posting opportunities.
Blog About It. You are your own best publicist; so don’t be afraid to toot your own horn on your blog, in your email newsletter, and on social media. Include images of the cover, blurbs from advance readers, and give your audience plenty of time to get excited about the upcoming launch, so when the buy button finally goes up they’re eager to get a copy.
Boosted Posts. Facebook is a terrific way to get new eyes on your book. Paid ads leading to your launch page are ideal, and can generate a lot of traffic for a very low cost.
Free Kindle Days. This technique alone can catapult your book to bestsellerdom in a matter of days. The key is to build up a buzz on your mailing list, share, share, share on social media, and ask your friends and colleagues to do the same.
Book marketing isn’t as easy as simply listing it on Amazon and becoming an instant bestseller. Anyone who tells you that is the exception to the rule. But that doesn’t mean selling your book is impossible either. With some strategic planning and a little effort, you can have a fantastic launch, whether it’s your first book or your fourteenth.
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Four Publishing Options Worth Exploring
For many people, writing the book is the easy part. Whether you have a body of work ready to repurpose (such as a blog you’ve maintained for several years) or a ghostwriter at the ready, or you just really like to write, getting your book on paper is simple.
Publishing and selling it is another matter all together. You basically have four options when it comes to publishing your book, and each one has its pros and cons.
PDF Ebook. Probably the simplest method to publish a book, all that’s required with an ebook is to click “Save as…” in your Word document and choose “PDF.” Then you can sell the resulting file on your own website, list it on ClickBank or E-Junkie, or upload it to a number of other ebook marketplaces online.
Ebooks don’t quite have the authority that printed books carry, but if you’re on a budget and don’t have the skills to format your book for print, then this can be a viable option to get you off the ground. It’s also a great way to share your book with advance readers to get those all-important testimonials.
Kindle. The darling of the self-publishing world, Amazon’s Kindle marketplace makes it easy for you to publish your book. In fact, with just a few minutes of formatting, and another several minutes spent on their step-by-step uploading system, you can have your book on their virtual shelves in less than an hour.
With its incredible popularity and the ability to offer “free days” during which anyone can download your book at no cost, Kindle is a great way to build a buzz quickly.
Print on Demand. The best choice for self-published authors is a relatively new technology that allows for a single book to be printed on demand. Until just a few years ago, if you chose to self-publish your book you’d likely have to shell out for hundreds if not thousands of copies up front, leaving you with a garage full of books to sell on your own.
Print on demand is different. Buyers order your book from sellers such as Amazon (whose Create Space arm is itself a print on demand enterprise), and the book is printed and shipped the next day. This makes it easy and cost-effective for everyone to become a published author.
Traditional Publisher. The most difficult and time consuming option, getting your book published with a traditional print publisher will also get you the most audience and press. The drawbacks are many, though. To start, it’s extremely difficult to get a traditional publishing house to take on a new author. If you do manage to get the attention of a publisher, your royalties (the amount you earn from your book) will be very small—maybe as little as 8% of the net cost. Finally, the length of time it takes from manuscript submission to final publication can be years.
All that said, a book with a traditional publishing insignia on the spine does carry a bit more weight when it comes to press opportunities than does a self-published book.
Many new authors initially choose the ebook format, and then move to Kindle and print on demand. Given enough buzz and sales, traditional publication becomes easier to attain as well. The important thing is to get your book written, and then publish where you’re most comfortable. The rest will come naturally.
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Easy-Peasy Book Writing: 3 Ideas You Can Use to Write Your Book Today
You know that a book is a powerful tool for a coach. You know that it not only helps to establish your expertise in your market, but it can also exponentially expand your audience.
Not only that, but it’s the single best way to get the attention of main stream press outlets, influential bloggers and podcasters, and to land paid speaking engagements. There’s virtually no downside to writing a book.
Except the actual writing of it.
If you don’t consider yourself a writer, you may think that the benefits are out of your reach, but even self-avowed non-writers have options.
Repurpose. This easy and popular option makes use of the hundreds or even thousands of pages of content you’ve already created, so there is almost no writing involved. You may need to edit a bit for flow and to update ideas, but otherwise, you probably have a ready-made book sitting right on your blog.
And before you start thinking, “Why would anyone pay for a book that’s just pulled from my blog?” know this: People will pay for information that is organized in a way that makes their life easier, even if that same information is available for free elsewhere. In fact, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net used this technique to publish his wildly popular “31 Days to Build a Better Blog.”
Use Private Label Content. Not enough content to repurpose? No problem. There are companies such as CoachGlue.com that specialize in creating content you are allowed to license and use as your own. It’s called private label rights content, or PLR, and (depending on who you buy from) it’s high quality, well researched content that makes the perfect jumping off point for your next book.
Two things you need to know about PLR: First, because it’s sold to more than one person, it’s important that you edit the content to adapt it to your voice, your unique view of the industry, and to include your personality. Second, you cannot use PLR to publish a book on Kindle, as this is a violation of their terms of service.
Outsource. Want a book that’s all you without having to do the work? Hire a ghostwriter. These professionals will work with you to create a book that is uniquely yours, and in the end you’ll have a well-written book with your name on it, all without typing a word.
Having a published book on your coaching resume can work wonders for your business growth. It will bring you clients, expand your audience reach, and even attract some press. But it can’t do any of that if you don’t write the book in the first place. So take one of these ideas and get your book w
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