Public Speaking: Articles — Written by You, Written About You, Promoting You

If you have ever been in a position to do sales or marketing, you have undoubtedly heard someone ask, “How can I get my name out there?” I’ve heard that question many times, though the answer has often been vague. As a professional public speaker, you have the perfect opportunity to get your name out there. Simply recycle your public speaking presentation materials to create promotional materials and products. Turn them into demo tapes, an online press kit, one-sheets, and articles written by you and about you. Articles written by you and articles written about you are good to have to add to your online press kit.

While articles written by you are easy to get, obtaining articles written about you may take a little ingenuity. One public speaker has had success in getting articles written about her by tagging her subject to something that is happening in the news or to some well-know topic. For example, if you speak on growing a greener lawn, you might approach a landscaper and offer to speak at the company’s annual springtime open house. Barter to have your name mentioned in their advertising materials promoting the event in exchange for your presentation.

To entice a publication to have a reporter personally interview you with the purpose of writing about you, contact the editor who handles the section your topic covers. Tell the editor that you give presentations on a topic that you think would be of interest to their readers. Do your homework first to ensure their readers would like to read about your subject. If you are speaking on mixing house paints and the publication targets homeowners, then the editor would probably agree that the readers would like to hear what you have to say. If on the other hand, you call the editor of an art magazine to sell the same story, the readers of that publication would have no interest and the editor would turn you down.

As you write more and more articles and reports, you can begin to put them together to form chapters. When you have a few chapters, you’re ready to compile them into a book. That gives you a product to sell. From there, you can audio tape your articles, create E-zines, post them on your web site and use them every way you can think of to promote yourself and produce income.


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