Starring You

A recent email from the smarties at MarketingProfs informed me that:

the average user of online video watches more than 16 hours of video a month and YouTube videos are watched over 3 Billion times a day! This is astounding.

Video is rapidly becoming essential to modern marketing and you seriously need to think about how to get on board before the train is so far from the station that you’re feeling impossibly behind the curve.

Before we talk about how, let’s talk about what.

Here are some potential ways to use video for your business:

1. Instead of blogging, vlog. This is running a regular video blog. Perhaps the most famous one is Wine Library TV from Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Crush It.  Gary did 1,000 episodes of this show and became very famous along the way in the internet economy and marketing world.
2. Run a retail store? Create a commercial every week that would be like a one-minute spot on TV. Feature specials, new arrivals, and an employee spotlight. Keep it light and lively so it’s fun to watch.
3. Are you a coach or consultant? Create regular videos that teach your audience.
4. Are you an artist? Shoot videos that show people how you create your art.
5. Are you a caterer? Show videos of certain signature dishes being made with your unique personality thrown in.
6. Are you a speaker? Record your presentations and edit snippets of them for posting on YouTube so you can get hired as a speaker more easily.
7. Add a video to every email newsletter you send out.

And the list goes on. There are many ways to use video to present yourself and your business in a positive way. I’ve been using ideas three, six and seven lately. Here’s an example:

3 Ways to Engage with Email Marketing

If you’re wondering if I’ve gotten business by using video, I absolutely have. I’ve heard a few times people say that they wanted to work with me after watching my videos.

The clients that are using video best to market their businesses are Aaron Parnell and Dave Crimmen, who both got the power of video a long time ago. Robert Brilliant, who shot the video shown above certainly uses video to market his business since he is in the business. David Neuendorff of 1MinuteReel edited the video above and also uses sample videos on his site.

In a future post we’ll talk about how you can create video on your own or with the help of a pro like Robert or David.

If you have questions right now, send me an email or leave a Comment.

Speaking for business is often a serious matter. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to connect with our audiences. Indeed, for any presentation connecting with your listener is very important if you want to be persuasive.

There are a few ways to connect with your audience, and one of them is humor. Using humor isn’t the easiest thing to do when you’re nervous about presenting. So, this tip is for those of you who’ve gotten accustomed to speaking and find your presentations are a little dry.

Before I share with you one of my favorite techniques, let’s start with a few don’ts. First, don’t use a joke. It is an advanced technique to use jokes in public speeches. There are a few pitfalls with this tactic:
- Some in your audience may have heard it already
- Some may find it offensive for some reason
- It’s just not funny the way you tell it

Next, don’t try to be funny right at the beginning of your speech. Get the audience warmed up and liking you first. Then, they’re more likely to want to laugh at something you say. There are many better ways to grab the audience’s attention at the beginning, e.g., use a stimulating question.

Lastly, don’t try to be funny all the way through your speech. This is very difficult and, unless you’re an entertainer, this shouldn’t be your goal. Most likely you want to inform and persuade, which will require more than non-stop humor.

All right, we’re through with the don’ts. Avoid those and you’ll be in a better position to succeed with your speech. Humor, used sparingly, and being genuine can bond you with your audience quickly. One key thing we want to do as speakers is not to seem better than our audience. If they see that you have flaws and aren’t perfect, they’re more likely to connect with you.

This is where self-deprecating humor can come in. I like to use this type of humor as I find it fairly easy and it puts me on a level plain with my audience. Also, it’s a sure bet you won’t offend anyone by making fun of yourself. Want to see an example? Click on the link below and watch the short video to see how I make fun of myself and get a laugh out of the audience.

Is Your Life in Balance?

After this humorous moment the room I felt more connected with the audience and the speech proceeded even more smoothly for me. If you’d like to improve the way you present publicly, you might like to attend my next Getting Started with Public Speaking event on August 12th. This class is ideal for beginners to lower intermediate speakers.

I’m often asked how I get new clients. For nearly two years now one of the tactics I always mention is public speaking. Without a doubt this has been one of the top drivers for growth in my business.

It’s a little known fact I stopped pursuing an MBA in the late 90s to focus on public speaking. Something told me redirecting my energy towards improvement in speaking would take me further in my career (and be more fun!). I was intent on creating my own masters in public speaking. In retrospect it turned out to be a smart move.

I’ve heard it debated on radio numerous times whether an advanced degree really pays off, but I’ve never heard anyone wonder about the value of public speaking proficiency. Have you?

Now back to small business marketing. Inside everyone is a speech waiting to be made. What about you? What’s the speech you could make to promote your expertise, your products, your services? Where could you give it? Who would want to hear it? How would it help you get clients?

If you can answer these questions, then you’re on your way to delivering a speech that could give you a marketing boost.

If you’re one of those people who would rather die than give a public speech, then you do have to get over that first. But take heart, it can be done! I was once so nervous when taking the stage I would sweat and shake.

I’m going to be providing a public speaking workshop in the near future to help small business owners start utilizing this effective marketing weapon. Let me know if you’d like to be on the list to be notified first when it’s ready for registration.

For now, here’s a 2-minute video tip to help you get just a little bit better. I know I look like a wax figure in this screenshot. It looks better while you’re playing it!

Public Speaking Tip: Eye Contact

Want to learn more? Start by watching the other public speaking tip videos I’ve recorded. You can catch all my videos through the YouTube link on my Wibiya toolbar at the base of your window. If you’re serious about improvement, then you might like to visit my Public Speaking Coaching page to learn about how I can help you directly. Have a question about public speaking? Please post it here. I respond to all comments.

December is a time when many professional businesses slow down. This presents a real opportunity to create new content for 2011. What do I mean by new content? Well, here are a few ideas:

› Blog posts (write enough to take you through all of January

› Create videos you can post on YouTube, Facebook and your website

› Create a free seminar that promotes your expertise that you can deliver all throughout the new year

› Create a fee-based program that goes beyond your free seminar for those that want to learn more

› Write an e-book that you can sell or give away via your website and promote through social media

› Write articles you can publish online or in printed publications or newspapers or share with clients and prospects

› Create a webinar that you can present online once a month to generate leads (or sales if you make it fee-based)

The opportunities to create new content are endless. The holiday slowdown represents a real opportunity for you to leverage this slowdown and accelerate the growth of your business in 2011.

I plan to create a new seminar and workshop on public speaking. I currently coach people 1on1 in public speaking but I haven’t ever delivered a full workshop on it. I have people already on the waiting list for it, which is enough motivation for me to get it done.

I’m also going to create new versions of my social networking workshops – advanced use of Facebook and understanding YouTube, Yelp, Twitter and Foursquare for beginners. I expect these workshops will do well since there’s such a surge of interest by small businesses in social networking these days. I anticipate the trend will only strengthen next year.

So, what about you? What will you create in December? I’d love to hear about it.

Recently I wrote on the necessity of being remarkable. Today let’s talk about the mindset you need to have at all times if you want to win in business: You are in a competition. You may not know what you are up against when you start the day, but you’d better play to win every time.

We compete for dollars. We compete for attention. We compete for talent. We compete for referrals. We compete for publicity. We are always competing. Get used to this idea and embrace it for that’s what it takes to win in any economy, especially this one.

All right, let’s get to some specifics on competing at all times. First thing, look the part. I often see people dressing too casually when they’re working. Why? Because it’s comfortable? Be comfortable on Saturday. Look successful Monday through Friday. When you look successful it creates an impression that you are and who doesn’t want to work with someone who’s successful?

Next, be able to talk about your business anytime, anywhere. You never know when it’s going to be your turn to deliver your elevator pitch. Will you be able to rise to the occasion each and every time? If your answer is no, then fix this fast. Your competition is ready and they will eat you up if you’re still thinking about how best to say what you do and how it can benefit people.

How about your approach to sales? Are you selling with a process or are you simply winging it with prospects and existing clients? I know contractor’s school didn’t come with sales training and neither did law school or medical school. But now that you are on your own competing for dollars you have to be able to sell. Learning a basic and effective sales process will go a long way to help you in this critical area. Continue learning after that.

When it comes to competing for attention do your ads resonate with people? Are you testing different ads? Are you trying out multiple channels of marketing to see what works and what doesn’t? Are you at least marketing consistently? The war for attention is so intense now that you have to be savvy in marketing to get anywhere, or hire someone who is. Otherwise you’ll just be burning up time and resources. What marketing books have you read this year? Please tell me you’ve read at least one.

And now, technology. Are you using technology as a competitive edge over your competition? I’m always looking for new tools to save time or improve service. I’m now seriously considering buying a LiveScribe to better capture notes for myself and my clients. Don’t be afraid of new technology. Adopt it earlier rather than later and it will become your valued ally as you compete to be productive and efficient.

This brings me to the last topic, the competition for improvement. What are you doing to make your business better on a regular basis? I love this thought from the late Peter Drucker, “Look at your business as a customer would and think about what changes you’d make.” So incredibly simple, right? All right, raised hands time, who’s done it? I haven’t. I do listen to feedback and make changes, but I haven’t done exactly as Peter suggests. I am thinking that way now.

Your turn now. What ideas do you have to share in how you compete to win everyday. I’d also like to hear your comments on what I’ve shared. May you win today.

I just finished a weekend with Steve Siebold and Dawn Andrews at the Bill Gove Speech Workshop. This is the premier workshop for speakers worldwide and has been for the last 63 years. I now understand why it’s so esteemed. The content is very rich.

When you go through a learning experience like this people ask you what you learned. It’s a natural question. I’m going to share one essential point here that I need to accept as an area I need to work on with my speaking and that’s sameness.

What is sameness? It’s when you present using one style the whole way through your speech. We all have a comfortable style of speaking – and it might be very good. Your voice is clear and easy to listen to and your pace is good – not too fast. That’s important. We need to get here first before we can grow beyond it. But once we’re there here’s what happens; we present in the same tone and at the same pace through our whole speech.

Sure we have those few moments when we get animated and our voice rises or emotional points where our voice drops to a hush. There are also those times when we intentionally slow things down to emphasize a key phrase or bit of dialogue. What you need to consider is whether these moments are occurring often enough in your speech to keep your audience engaged. I suspect that I”m not injecting enough of these moments in my speeches.

That’s okay if your talks are 5, 10, 15 minutes, but if you’re presenting for longer, you’re going to lose your audience. They’re going to fall asleep, look at their BlackBerry, or check their watch. Count on it.

Bottom line is to check yourself for sameness the next time you rehearse. You do rehearse, don’t you? If you’re not sure if you’re guilty of this, record your next presentation and watch yourself. How often are you mixing up your delivery style? I’d be happy to watch your recording and give you my humble opinion if you’d like it.

Vanquish this enemy and you’ll be on your way to improved speaking.

Small business ownership in the beginning is really tough. You have to work like crazy and do everything. You have to invoice, pay bills, write advertising, create marketing plans, budget, network, sell, interview vendors, look for alliance partners, join service clubs and referral groups, keep up with technology, get great at time management, learn new things, and so much more. It never stops, does it?

Everyone in this situation is wondering how to make enough money to hire someone to help with everything. I have an answer for you. It’s not the only answer, but it is certainly a genuine one. And that is to leverage your talents.

We are all gifted with certain talents. We typically figure out what these talents are in school when we realize we’re better at some things than others. Additionally we discover our gifts when we follow different interests, join the scouts, help out at church, or participate in a non-profit.

When we enter the working world we’re often asked to do a mix of tasks that may or may not leverage our talents. When the tasks do, we’re fulfilled. When they don’t, we become dissatisfied. This dissatisfaction may grow to the point where we decide to quit and start our own business where we can pursue our gifting.

Only problem with this strategy is that we realize that owning a business has us doing much, much more than what we’re good at. We get frustrated all over again, but we can’t blame the boss or the company anymore.

You can get mired in this frustration or you can do something about it. Enter The Growth Coach Strategic Planner to help you do something about it. I coach small business owners to focus a good deal of their energy on what they are good at. Not only are they likely to get better results, they’re also going to be happier.

You need to think real hard about your top three talents that can make you money and figure out how you can do more along those lines. What can you do to maximize those talents? I ask clients to commit to the hard thinking and the creative execution of the ideas that result from the hard thinking.

What’s directly above this section is where you would have to enter in how much you’re worth per hour. If you’re not making what you think you’re worth, it’s probably due in part to not leveraging your talents enough.

What’s beneath that section of the planner is also very important to this equation. It’s the clutter section. This section actually has lots of lines because the average life has lots of clutter. These are tasks that may need to get done, but not necessarily by you. If you delegate them, then the time and energy freed up can be dedicated to your money making talents. Can you see how these three parts work together to get you greater results?

My talents are writing, speaking and creative thinking. The reason I went in to the business coaching and marketing consulting business is because I would have lots of opportunity to exercise these talents to make money.

I am mired in tasks just like you, however, I’m forcing myself to clear out clutter to make more time to leverage my talents. I’m constantly looking for new ways to free up my time by moving clutter out of my life. The more writing, speaking and creative thinking I can do, the better off I’ll be.

What are your top three talents? Measure how much time you’re dedicating to the leveraging of these talents in a week. If it’s not at least 25% of your schedule you’re under utilizing your talents. You must look at the clutter in your life to root it out and spend more time on your talents. Remember, this is an answer to being more profitable in your business and being happier. Worth an examination, right?

Let me know your thoughts on this by clicking on the Comments link below. If you’d like help with thinking of ways to better leverage your talents, let’s talk. I’d like to help.

As a public speaking coach I'm
often asked to help people with their presentations. It's certainly a labor of
love to create a presentation that's going to impress an audience.

Or is it not a labor of love for you because you don't like giving presentations?
Whichever it is I'm going to help you to make your next presentation that much
better with my formula for putting one together.

Step 1. Start with an agenda or outline for the presentation. To do this you
need to know exactly where you're going to go each step of the way with the
talk. Problem is you might not know yet. Well, you need to figure it out
because without a clear outline you're likely to take much longer to create the
presentation, and worse, you might lack cohesiveness from beginning to end. I
find that once I'm done with this it's much easier to create the presentation
since I'm essentially connecting the dots with content.

Once you're done with your agenda, print it and keep it in front of you as you
create your presentation.

Step 2. Have one of your older presentations to borrow from. There are usually
certain slides like the title page, Ground Rules, Agenda, and About the
Presenter that can be updated and used in a new presentation. This saves some
time. There may also be certain slides in an older presentation that have a
unique layout or embedded graphics I'd like to use. That also saves time.

Step 3. Know about how many slides you'll have to work with. My typical
presentation is 75 minutes long. I've found that I can comfortably do about a
slide every 3-4 minutes. That means somewhere in the area of 20 – 24 slides. I
know that if I go much over that number I'll have to rush my content or will go
way over. I don't like to see that when I'm in the audience so I seek to avoid
it with my talks. Be ruthless about staying within your slide count. It will
force you to eject fluffy slides and keep the best you have to offer.

Step 4. Start building your presentation at least 3 days in advance. It may be
all right to pack the night before a trip, but you absolutely want to avoid
building a presentation the day before you have to deliver it. Odds are you
won't come up with your best content this way, AND, you won't have time to
rehearse.

This step is so very important. It allows your mind to essentially work on the
content in between times sitting down at the PC. I find that my mind goes in to
serious contemplation, idea generation, and data gathering mode in the last 3
days before delivery.

Step 5. Just about clear your calendar the day before. Although you started 3
days in advance, it's very unlikely you're done. So, give yourself plenty of
time the day before and you will have time to refine it a few times making it
really good. Plus you'll have that valuable rehearsal time, which will polish
your delivery.

Of course, this isn't always possible, but do the best you can to have most of
the prior day free. You'll thank yourself each time you do it.

Step 6. Have a good tool for help in building slides. I like to use images of
web pages fairly often and my tool of choice for grabbing such imagery and
converting it to a simple to insert jpeg is Snagit. It's very easy to
use and works like a charm. I wouldn't want to build a presentation without it.

Step 7. Once you're done go through each slide with a very keen eye looking for
typos, bad alignment, fonts too large or small, URLS that aren't hotlinks, and
so forth. I almost always find little things to fix when I go back through a
presentation. You probably will, too.

Step 8. Rehearse and make final edits. Of course, rehearsing gives you
confidence when you actually present the content. However, it also alerts you
to awkwardness in the content. You thought it was good, but when you actually
tried to elaborate on what's written on the slide you stumbled. Or, you thought
this slide flowed well in to the next one, but it doesn't once you speak to it.
You will make changes during the rehearsal and that's a good thing.

Now you should be done and sitting on a very good presentation. Go give it! And let me know how it went. If you have other steps that you use when putting together a presentation, leave a comment so we can all benefit from hearing it.

If you'd like help with you next presentation, get in touch and we'll work on it together. Learn more on my website about this service.

Did you know that YouTube is the second most used search engine? I didn't until I saw it stated in the Socialnomics video on YouTube. That's amazing. For some time now I've wanted to start promoting my business using video. Well, now I have finally gotten started doing it.

Here's my first video on YouTube, which is an introduction to The Growth Coach. It's not brilliant, but for one take, it's not bad. I do need to improve the lighting, tighten up the backdrop and probably smile more. Feel free to give me your feedback.

If you have any questions about using YouTube to promote your business or my services after watching the video, please contact me at 650.373.2022. And now the movie…