What I’ve learnt from Podcasting.

Early 2019, I started asking around my clients and colleagues about what would be a suitable theme for our conference, the Professional Services Marketing Conference. After many discussions, the theme was agreed on “Think Bigger, Grow and Succeed”.

From Small Businesses to Business Coaches to large city based firms, the theme was supported and of interest. Business owners, marketing managers, coaches, micro businesses wanted the same thing – they were looking at widening their understanding, learning approaches that had been tested and worked then taking on the thinking & mindset of successful people.

Now, I’m closely approaching having completed 40 of these podcasts and I’ve learnt so much:

1. It is a great way to have a conversation and get to know an influencer or someone who you may be able to connect with afterwards

2. Each and everyone of my podcasts has some inspiration and motivation in the discussion. It’s by doing these interviews that professionals can share their experience and inspire other to have the courage to move forward.

3. As a content creator it is brilliant! I’ve , of course, recorded then transcribed then collated and in the process of putting the transcriptions into a book.

4. Each guest has their own wisdoms and experiences to share. This is the part I enjoy the most. Of course, there are times when points of view are supported. It is each individuals approach that is so inspiring.

5. For me, series of 20 is a manageable size. There are many steps in the process – organising the guest, the preparation of script and promotion for the interview, holding the interview, editing and uploading the recording and script onto one or more podcasting platforms to maximise social media impact. To finish, the interviews can be transcribed for use for other content.

If you’re looking for some inspiration and motivation, go to our podcast Think Bigger, Grow and Succeed and hear our experts – see https://thespeakerspractice.com.au/think-bigger-grow-and-succeed/

 

Adrienne McLean, The Speakers Practice runs weekly interviews on Think Bigger, Grow and Succeed. Adrienne is a Certified BookYourselfSolid Business Building coach and can be contacted on adrienne@thespeakerspractice.com.au and on mobile 0414 367 960.

Networking to build your reputation

Networking functions help Service Professionals to build their audience, grow their skills and connect with other businesses to build opportunities to refer.

Networking helps to raise your profile, make connections and have you talk about what you do. All the important parts that go together to build a reputation.

Networking is:

  • meeting with people one-on-one,
  • sending personalised emails
  • attending networking functions
  • building an online community

Things to think about:

🔆 Your brand and your reputation are very closely aligned. Nurture your reputation and build your brand.

🔆 Networking is one of the parts that go along the business development process and how important it is to keep in contact with your audience.

🔆 It takes anywhere from 5 to 15 touch points to make a sale so Service Professionals need to be keeping in touch with their audience.  When you network face to face with someone or pick up the phone and have a constructive conversation, these are useful touch points in the process of building trust.

 The focus of The Speakers Practice is to help Service Professionals with navigating the business development journey and building confidence with strong presentations and going out to promote themselves.

This is not always as easy as it seems. 

Adrienne McLean is a BookYourselfSolid® Certified Coach, SpeakersTrainingCamp® Internationally Accredited Instructor and the Principle of The Speakers Practice. Offering marketing discovery audits, online training programs, Public Speaking for Professionals, Effective On-Camera Presenting workshop and much more.

Email on adrienne@thespeakerspractice.com.au or ring on 0414 367 960

Positioning Yourself as an Expert using Content Marketing

When you are speaking or writing about your topic of interest, you are displaying your expertise in that niche. The more you do this, the more you display your skills, understanding and knowledge in that area, helping to build trust and credibility. By continually creating content to promote on social media platforms, where your target market will see, you become the category authority and, over time, the “go to” person in your niche.

Building a body of content in a niche helps grow your Intellectual Property which can be used in a number of ways – even monetised. But before you get started, preparatory foundational steps are required to ensure the content you create addresses your target audience’s problems, ensuring it’s valuable and answers market questions.

Being clear on these five points is the preparatory work required, before you get started on your content creation:

Determine your niche
Look at content already created for gaps
Determine your ideal client and target market
Determine the problem you’re addressing and the solutions you offer
Create a list of content topics

Speaking

Presentations & Signature Speeches

Speaking helps to convey your message to large groups of people and efficiently spread the word. However, delivering presentations is a craft – a learnt skill that requires connecting with the audience through the use of stories, examples, statistics and any other device that connects your audience with the topic.

Preparing a signature presentation can be something you can develop and hone. Then promoting your expertise to event planners can help get you in front of the right audiences at the right time. Not only that, talking one to many is a fabulous way to connect and grow your audience and your network of influence.

Video

Using video to promote your business topic is a great way to talk one-on-one, but many times. Developing the skills to prepare great video is invaluable, helping you speak with impact in front of the camera with a script that truly connects with the audience. Naturally, the more comfortable you are in front of a camera, the more you will be able to get your message across in a meaningful way.

However, there are skills to learn and develop – planning, the presentation skills to camera and then the post-production work, including editing the video with your branding. Your video can also be transcribed and repurposed for blogging and eBook/Book creation.

Webinars

Webinars offer a multi-faceted approach, but require some planning/up front considerations, including:

the webinar topic
the webinar platform and how it will run. (Are you running it with a business partner or alone?)
where people will log in?
pre-webinar promotions to get people to sign up
post-webinar promotions (uploading on to YouTube and Vimeo for circulation)
contact detail collection
Webinars can also be used as online training programs or broken up into smaller promotions.

Writing & Blogging
Writing about your expertise is a wonderful way to create your own Intellectual Property and to explore areas of expertise that may even surprise you. The blog creation process helps convey your expertise, with each blog article being able to be amalgamated to form longer articles and eBooks – even chapters of a book.

Audio
Doing interviews with experts in other areas can help highlight your own expertise and, as with video, your audio can be transcribed and repurposed for blogging and eBook/Book creation.

Radio

Speaking on radio not only displays you as an expert, the Mp3 recording can be uploaded to create a podcast.

Podcasting

Finding a suitable podcast platform is useful to share your interviews with the world. Mixcloud and Anchor are my favourites. It’s easy to upload the Mp3 recording and then the platform will make it easier to share.

Opportunities with Content
By creating video content, you can also prepare an Mp3 recording for audio use and have this transcribed using an app called Otto. From the edited transcript you can then go on to prepare a blog article or eBook. Then, you can create an online training program using the video or audio, prepare some slides, pdf questionnaires and so on.

The repurposing opportunities are enormous, so take the time to consider how you can fully utilise your information assets, remembering that everything you create helps position you as the expert in your field.

Seven Tips for Creating Content
Ensure your content adds value to your ideal clients and prospects
Create content on topics that resonate – aim to inform
Upskill as necessary to create good content – blog writing or production of video and audio content
Create a Content Calendar
Amalgamate your content to create eBooks and Books
Develop your own IP by creating online programs
Build a community to help promote and share your content
Summary
Before you proceed, consider the purpose behind what you are creating. Perhaps you’re doing fortnightly blogs, which can be read aloud to create audio files, then slide decks and supportive video can be created. Use your imagination and see what amazing content you can produce.

Most of all, have fun and enjoy the process!

Adrienne McLean of The Speakers Practice helps professionals with Marketing & Communications. This was written by Adrienne McLean and first published for the Spin the Sourcebottle, Source bottle – https://www.sourcebottle.com/blog/POSITIONING-YOURSELF-AS-AN-EXPERT-USING-CONTENT-MARKETING