177: How to Fit Speaking Into Your Marketing Plan
Raise your hand if your speaking strategy and plans live in their own silo, separated from the rest of your business. If that’s the case, we’re going to fix it, because it shouldn’t be that way. In this episode, I’m sharing how you can fit speaking into your existing marketing plan.
If you loved this episode and it motivated you to work on more polished presentations, I’d love for you to leave a review on iTunes and tell me about your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @jessicarasdall.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Let’s Build Your Calendar
Let’s start with debunk an important misconception—you shouldn’t fill your calendar up with a large quantity of speaking opportunities, but rather a few quality opportunities. When you’re planning as a component of your business, you don’t need to have tons of opportunities, but rather focus on the quality of the message you’re delivering. Here’s how you can build out what your calendar actually looks like:
What are your no's? Mark off dates (travel, holidays, etc)
Add your booked dates so you don’t double book
Building out this calendar will gives you something to check against and ensure you're not overbooking or double booking. This calendar will help you see at a glance:
Which months have speaking opportunities and which don't?
How many speaking activities you are doing each month (podcasts, summits, networking events, in-person conferences, etc.)
The Finances Behind Speaking
If you’re either using speaking as an income opportunity, there are a few things you should consider before you say yes to any opportunity:
How much is it costing you to step away from your work to speak?
How much are you charging?
While the excitement of speaking brings so much joy to new speakers, it often keeps us from thinking through the logistics. Speaking isn’t just an opportunity—there is give and take in this industry that needs to be considered.
Speaking & Your Marketing Plan
If you’re speaking in your business, you can absolutely use the opportunity to support your business. Make sure you’re approaching each speaking opportunity by asking the following questions:
Does this fit in your marketing plan?
What topics are you speaking on?
What are you launching?
Is the topic you're speaking on priming your audience to purchase?
You can serve your audience in a way that guides them to trust you and purchase from you, especially if you’ve defined those signature topics in your speaking strategy.
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Read the Transcript from this Episode
Transcript for Episode 177:
Right now, the speaking feel like it's in its own separate silo, like your marketing for your business working with your clients, and then they're speaking over on its own island. Well, it shouldn't be that way. And if it is, don't worry, we're going to fix it. Today I'm going to show you how to fit speaking into your existing marketing plan.
Welcome back to another episode of The speak to scale podcast, where we're helping business owners just like you grow and scale their companies by speaking on stages, podcasts, webinars, and so much more. And today, I want to make sure you leave this episode, feeling confident that speaking isn't just this nice thing you do on the side that happens every now and then. But it's an intentional piece of your marketing plan. And I know that might seem wild, but we're not just professional speakers here. We're not just people who are speaking for recognition or for visibility, none of that we are business owners, we have people employed, we have overhead, we have margins to worry about and taking time out of your office to speak on a stage is great. But we want to make sure that those activities are also revenue generating and they're helping us meet our goals. Speaking doesn't need to be its own separate thing. It should be working with all of the things you're already doing in your business.
So how do we make speaking a part of our marketing plan. So that speaking is really a more holistic approach that our business and our speaking strategy are completely intertwined and working together. So I'm going to show you today, what that looks like. But first, I need to get one thing super, super, super clear, because this strategy will go right over your head if you don't get it. And I've said it a million times, and I'm gonna say it a million more. But taking on as many speaking opportunities as you can, is not going to yield success. That's not a guarantee. Okay? I highly, highly, highly advocate for doing less speaking and doing it better by saying yes to less events, but saying yes to the right events, by not filling your calendar with as many speaking opportunities as you can, but instead filling your calendar with the right opportunities, that is going to allow you to keep doing the work you need to be doing in your business to move the needle forward. But it's also going to allow you to go above and beyond over deliver at those speaking opportunities and get the best results you can. So if you're thinking up until today's episode, that the only way for you to have a successful speaking strategy is to speak on as many stages as possible. Know that that's not the case. And that's not what we're going to do here today. In fact, it's the exact opposite. You can speak less, but do it more intentionally, in Niall, just as much if not a bigger impact.
Okay, so if you are ready to make your speaking strategy work with your business strategy with your marketing plan, here's what I need you to do. Get yourself a calendar friend. And now you can take whatever approach you want with this, if this is just going to be a cow, another Google calendar that you have, if you're going to get a flip calendar on your desk, or if you're going to put a giant dry erase one on your wall. I don't care where you put it. But I need you to have one that you can visually see. There's no preference to help. This is important. I myself will for actual bookings things on the calendar they all go digitally into our calendar so that our other team members can see it we can plan accordingly my schedule gets blocked. But I will tell you for my own just peace of mind to be able to see things visually at quickly at a glance, I have a giant Dry Erase calendar in my office. I don't really do a lot of like marketing planning on that. But that's because you guys know I don't really do launches around here.
But that's more I like to use that for these out of office, big speaking engagements and things like that. Because I don't know about you, but managing my energy levels plays a big role in the success of my business, and how I feel outside of my business and my relationships and homeschooling and parenting and all the things and I know that if I cram a particular month full with a vacation, a conference speaking it some stuffs summits giveaway, whatever. I'm going to be so drained and exhausted. And last year after having, you know, developing an autoimmune disorder that I know is very, very sensitive to stress and overwhelm. I've been very intentional about keeping an eye on my calendar, and making sure that I have consistent visibility speaking opportunities. But then I also say No, when I need to. So by having a giant calendar in front of me for the whole year, I'm able to mark off, first and foremost, what are my nose, right, any days out of office, any holidays, any pre planned family travel, block all of that first. And those are protected, that I know that time is already spoken for.
But now I can quickly look over over across the room, I'll share a picture with you on Instagram of it. But I can look over across the room and see at a glance which months have speaking opportunities on them and which ones don't. And I can very quickly see where do I need to be strategic? Where do I need to find an opportunity to fill in the gap? Because here's what I can tell you that if you're looking for consistent growth, new leads, new email subscribers, new clients reaching new audiences getting more visibility, than you have to keep showing up in front of new audiences. I know it sounds great to just like, well, I'm going to pitch as many podcasts as I can this week, and I'm going to focus on that for the next three months. That's awesome. I'm all about a sprint. But that's not going to serve you two quarters from now. Okay, so it's going to serve you so much better to commit to having one to five, however many of you want, you get to select the number. But how many speaking activities are you going to do every single month? When we say speaking activities, though, that could be a podcast interview, that could be a summit, you're a part of that could be an in person speaking opportunity that could be going to a networking event, like there are so many different things that you could be putting on that calendar. So here's how I want you to approach it. First and foremost, let's talk about why. Why is this so important? Why do we need to have a speaking calendar? Especially if you're saying just like, I haven't been booked for anything, why would I have a speaking calendar?
Trust me, I'm going to get to that. So as you're doing your research for conferences, as you're saying yes to incoming requests, this gives you something to look at to check against your calendar and make sure you're creating that consistent, intentional visibility, to make sure you're not being double booked. But more importantly, I don't think you're going to do that you're going to you're going to see it when it's on your calendar, not double booked. But what can happen is we can just start saying yes. To the incoming requests, it will you know, somebody will ask us to be a part of a summit, we get really, really excited. We say yes. And then the next thing we know a few more of those requests trickle in, and we say yes, they're our friends, or we're flattered, or it sounds like a great opportunity. And the next thing you know, oh, my goodness, all of March is full, you've committed to three different summits. And now you're feeling like Oh, my goodness, how am I going to share this with my audience? How am I going to send out these emails without overwhelming people? How am I going to keep up with connecting with the attendees in the groups, you're not? Like, you're just not going to be able to do it, you're not going to be able to reach as many people as you thought you would, you're going to miss out on connections and collaborations. And you would say yes to something that you didn't get to maximize. So while it may feel difficult, at first to say no to opportunities, it allows you to say that time doesn't work for me. Are you doing that summit again later this year? I guess I'd love to be a part of your summit in October instead. So instead of just saying yes or no to things by having that intentional speaking calendar, you get to drive the ship. If somebody is asking you, you know, Hey, Jess, I love for you.
I want to hire you to come teach in my community. Can you show our members you know how to write a talk? Yes, I would love that. Let me look at the calendar. How does April sound right? By being able to select the dates by being able to fill that calendar ideally, you want to have a new activity happening every single month, because that means you're getting in front of new people. You're generating new leads, you're impacting people you never would have met. And this allows you to create that steady, consistent flow of leads. It allows you to customize your messaging to fit your schedule, and really be intentional about the places you're showing up. But this is incredibly important. For those of us who are tier one and tier two speakers, so if you are somebody who is speaking to increase your credibility to be seen as the go to expert, or you're speaking to get new customers and clients, this is important, because if you're getting paid for your opportunities, it's probably not the main source of income, right? You're either not getting paid for your time, but you're getting paid on the back end with clients and customers and sales, or you're getting paid a small amount to present but you're still making more money with your clients and customers on the back end. If you are a professional speaker who's getting paid, you know, $10,000 or more to deliver your presentation, then fill that calendar up, right?
Like, fill that thing up, speak at all the events, make your money, do your thing, make your difference. But for those of us who are business owners, and maybe you're not commanding that price tag just yet for your speaking opportunities. How much is it costing you to step away from the work that you're doing? How much are you charging people to work with you per hour, I'm not saying you shouldn't be speaking, I want you speaking. But I just don't want you to pack it all into one month, okay, you're going to overload your plate, burn yourself out, and it's just not gonna work. So I want you to get that calendar up on the wall or get that calendar, you know, set up in Google wherever you host your stuff. And then once you to start to mark everything out. So first, put, block off all the dates that are your personal dates, any important dates, any anniversaries and birthdays, any travel time any holidays, block them off and protect them, then I want you to go back to that calendar and add in anything that you already have on the books, any opportunities you've already booked, put them up there, they are sacred, they are booked. And now you can start to see the holes. Where are the places where we need to add things in. But I don't want you to stop there. This is a really good point. For those of you who have launched schedules who are maybe you know, you have set dates where you're going to be promoting a new offer, put those on the calendar. This is where the magic happens. If you're opening the doors to a program, if you have enrollment, if applications will be open Whatever it looks like for your business.
Setting up speaking opportunities leading up to those launch weeks is going to allow you to fill that launch runway to get more leads into your funnel new people into your audience so that when you present your offer, you're presenting it to even more people than before. But you can't do that you can't be intentional with those speaking opportunities. You can't get them in prior to your launches, if you don't even know when things are happening. So as you're doing your planning, as you're planning your big launches for this year, and you're setting your goals, don't discount speaking, this could be the thing that puts you over the edge, right that helps you not just meet but exceed those goals. And if that's what you're focused on this year, if you have a, you know, really in depth marketing plan, I want you to get really specific with those opportunities you're putting on the calendar. So what's the topic that you're speaking on? Are you speaking at the front of audiences that are going to be the right fit for your offer? Does the topic you're speaking on prime them for that thing you're going to be launching? Are they the right fit, that's going to help you start to really customize the people you have coming in and getting you in front of people that you design that offer for for those of you who are going to be adding a lot of podcast interviews to the calendar. Ask the question, I interview people all the time. And I always tell them this not many ask. But don't be afraid to ask not just when is the date that you're recording the episode. But when is that episode scheduled to go live? Because now you can fit that into the marketing plan. Right?
You can know that maybe on February 15, you've got a big podcast interview coming out. And you can make sure that you're doing your part on the back end to welcome in those new leads, nurture them before you launch your new product in a few weeks. So my goal for you really my ask is that we stop separating, speaking and marketing. They can work and should work together. So as you're creating your marketing calendar, as you're looking at your speaking strategy, put the two together. There's so much overlap and love between these two. But we've got to be intentional. It's okay to say no to opportunities. It's okay to say yes. It's okay to reconsider the date that the thing was going to happen to try to shift things around, make it work. What I don't want you to do is to get in that feast and famine mode, where you pack A bunch of opportunities into one month and you have none for the next three, outside looking in, when your followers when your friends when your peers when booking, you know, conference organizers and podcast hosts are watching you, when they see you consistently being featured and media outlets on podcasts on stages, you stay top of mind, and that's going to increase your referral rate.
So here's my ask today, spend a little bit of time getting that calendar set up, whether it's digitally or pen and paper, get it out there, make it visible for yourself, add all of your appointments to it, protect the dates that you need to, and then snap a picture, snap a picture, send it to me over on Instagram. I'm at Jessica Rasdall and I'll share a picture of mine today, I actually have a new at the time that I'm recording this, I just got a new one in the mail. And it stretched out on the floor under a bunch of books. I'm trying to flatten it out so I can put it up on the wall. But this is key for me. And it has helped me so much to maintain a consistent visibility plan and a consistent way to bring in new leads. And if you've been struggling on how to make that consistent growth, how to make speaking work for you without dumping a ton of extra money into ADS. This is the thing that I want you to focus on. You've got this friend, you're already doing great work. We're just going to pull it all together and dial it in. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of The speak to scale podcast. It would mean the world to us if you could just take a second and head on over to iTunes and leave us a review. Your support of this show allows us to continue creating this content for you each and every week. And we appreciate your reviews and you sharing about the show more than you know. As always, I will be over here cheering you on friend. I'll see you next week for another episode of The speak to scale podcast.
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