To Grow Rich as a Public Speaker, Pick a Niche

Do you have a message you’re passionate about and the desire to book speaking engagements so people will hear your message, but you just can’t seem to secure the bookings? Many public speakers, including myself, have been faced with this dilemma. So what’s the solution? It’s simple. Pick a market that will benefit from hearing your message and focus your attention on marketing to that specific niche. A mistake that many public speakers make is marketing to everyone. Generating real wealth and lasting success begins when you focus on a niche. Here are five tips to help you Grow Rich in a Niche! You will need to adapt these examples to fit your niche.

1. Focus on a specific niche. It’s pretty obvious that my book and presentation entitled, From College to the Real World,® are designed to benefit college students. It would not make sense for me to market this public speaking topic to businesses. So my attention and energy is focused on getting my message out to coordinators who book public speakers at colleges and universities. Ask yourself, “who wants to hear my message and which market would benefit most from my message?”

2. Design promotional materials for that niche. All of your marketing materials should be designed to relate to the public speaking niche you’re targeting. For example, since the information on my speaking brochure is focused on helping students succeed in and out of college, listing one of my corporate programs on my college speaking brochure would not be practical. Make sure that your marketing materials are designed for your targeted niche. Ask yourself, “is everything listed on my marketing materials targeting the niche I have chosen?”

3. Find the decision-makers. The fastest and most effective way to get booked for public speaking engagements is to find the decision-makers for your niche. When I began marketing to colleges and universities, I sent my brochure to professors and quickly learned that professors don’t book speakers for college events. Instead, college coordinators are in charge of booking public speakers. I located several college organizations whose members include thousands of college coordinators who pay public speakers to speak at colleges. I then joined the organizations, got the mailing lists, and mailed my speaking brochure to each coordinator. Immediately, my number of bookings increased. I am now a member of over ten different organizations and have a database of over 10,000 decision-makers that could book me to speak at colleges. Ask yourself, who are the decision makers for the public speaking niche I am targeting?

4. Write articles for niche publications. Many public speakers run ads to market their services. I have a simple philosophy for running ads versus writing articles. People perceive that if you run an ad you are trying to sell them something. People perceive that if you have written an article you are an expert on your public speaking topic. I rarely read speaker advertisements. However, I always read articles written by speakers. Instead of running ads, I write numerous articles for publications that are read by the decision-makers in my niche, the college and university market. I get many bookings as a result of a college coordinators reading an article I have written. The following three steps will help you market yourself: 1) Determine which publications are read by the decision makers in your public speaking niche; 2) Write a few short articles that are appropriate for their publication and make sure your bio and contact information is listed at the end of the article; 3) Send these articles to the editors of the publications because editors are always looking for articles!

5. Have a three-year plan. Most people fail within the first year of starting a new business. Why? Because they get so excited about their business and think it will quickly take off. In reality, starting a business always takes longer than we anticipate. When I decided to become a full-time public speaker, I didn’t immediately quit my full-time job as a financial consultant. Instead, I created a plan to transition into a full-time speaking career. This allowed me to not only save a large amount of money in case I needed it for expenses, but it also allowed me to integrate myself into the public speaking market by attending conferences, planning regular mailings, and making telephone calls. My name was consistently kept in front of event coordinators and decision-makers for several months, which allowed me to become known in the lucrative college speaking niche. I highly suggest that you make a three-year plan.

By following these five simple tips, you will find that your public speaking bookings will tremendously increase while you become a recognized expert in your niche.