Create Once, Publish Everywhere

The idea behind COPE is to take every piece of content you produce and share it in on multiple platforms and in different formats.

Why? Because we all have our preferences for what kind of content we consume and where we get it from. By repurposing and promoting your content across various channels in alternative formats, more people have the opportunity to see your content with little extra effort on your part.

The Three Types of Media to Use

To get the most out of your content, you’ll want to share it across three types of media:

 – Owned Media. These are the platforms you control, like your website, blog, email, social media pages, webinars, events and podcasts. Since you own the space, you decide when and how to share your content. Plus, as long as the information stays relevant, you can keep reposting it multiple times to reach new people.

 – Earned Media. This is exposure by third parties that you don’t pay for, such as media mentions, social shares, guest articles, and speaking opportunities. By promoting your content, the third party is giving you more credibility and sharing your expertise with its audience.

 – Paid Media. This includes any marketing you pay for, like social media ads, sponsored content and paid event placements. While it requires additional money, it helps ensure your content gets in front of the right people.

Repurpose, Don’t Reinvent

To really make COPE work, start thinking of ways to repurpose your content. You can:

– Turn a long article into a series of short posts or vice versa

– Pull out key quotes or tips for social media

– Design an infographic or chart summarizing written content

– Convert a live presentation into an article or webinar

– Create a video version of a blog post

– Adapt the content for different audiences (e.g., beginners vs. advanced, those in different industries, etc.)

– Add updates and re-share content that’s still relevant

Yes, it takes a little extra effort to tweak things. But it’s much easier than coming up with something brand new every time. And, each new version provides another opportunity to share your expertise through all the different marketing channels mentioned.

Repetition is Good

Don’t worry about people noticing that you are sharing the same information. Studies show that people need to see or hear a message multiple times before it sticks. Plus, people are busy. They miss things. They scroll past. They delete emails. They forget.

Repetition helps reinforce your message and reach more people where they are and how they prefer to learn.

COPE saves time, increases exposure and keeps you top of mind with your audience. So, always ask yourself whether you’ve gotten the most out of the content you’ve already created.

If you need help with creating and marketing your content, contact us for a free consultation.

To receive our COPE Checklist, email info@rdtcontentmarketing.com.

Benefits of Email Marketing

Most professionals get the bulk of their business through referrals. The key to getting more referrals is to stay top of mind with contacts. Email provides a perfect platform to do that. Contacts can be regularly reminded of what you do and the value you bring to relationships. When email is used to educate readers (rather than trying to sell your services), it helps you build trust, highlight your expertise and establish authority to drive new business.

While everyone won’t open and read your email, you can still benefit from sending it. Every email has your name as the sender to remind recipients who you are. It’s like being at a networking event and seeing people you know in the room. You remember them even if you don’t get to speak to them. Of course, that shouldn’t be your goal. You want people to read your material.

Maximize Results

To get the most out of your emails, here are a few tactics:

1. Have a plan. Pull together your email list and decide who you want to send emails to and your marketing objectives. Consider what type of content will help you achieve your goals. Sign up with an email marketing platform (Constant Contact, Mailchimp, etc.). Then, set up a schedule and allocate resources to getting the work done.

2. Segment your list to target your emails. Segmentation involves dividing your email list into distinct groups based on various criteria such as industry, job role, client status, or past interactions. You can also target individuals based on their area of interest. This allows you to send more personalized and relevant content, which can increase how many people engage with your emails.

For example, you can send current clients information relevant to their situation (ex. explanation of a new law that affects their business). Share educational content and case studies with prospects to build trust and interest in your firm. Invite industry/professional contacts to programs of interest.

3. Create valuable content. To be successful, you must deliver the right content. Provide your audience with insightful, informative, and actionable content that addresses their pain points and interests. You can share relevant news, industry trends, case studies, articles, blog posts, eBooks, invitations to upcoming speaking engagements, etc.

4. Send it consistently. Monthly emails are a good choice because they are frequent enough to be remembered but not so often they annoy people and take up too much of your time. You can send it more often than monthly, but make sure you have quality content to fill it and you should keep a close eye on your results. Always test the frequency of your emails to find out what works best for your audience.

5. Use automation to nurture leads. Email automation allows you to send timely and relevant messages to your audience without manual intervention. For example, new subscribers to your email newsletter can get a series of welcome emails about your firm and key content (articles, videos, etc.). Individuals who register for a webinar or download an eBook can get regular emails with related content.

6. Promote your email newsletter. Include a signup form on your website. Add a link to the signup page in your email signature and social media pages.

7. Optimize your design. Your emails should have a responsive design to ensure they look good on desktops, phones, laptops and tablets. Generally, it’s best to have a clean look with large fonts, buttons and short headings. Your emails should also have the same branding as your website (logos, colors, fonts).

8. Test and track results. To continually improve your emails, track key metrics such as open, click-through, unsubscribe and conversion rates. You can test different email subject lines, day and time sent, types of content, length and design. As you experiment, you can gauge results based on your metrics.

9. Keep email lists up to date. Check your email bounces regularly to identify bad email addresses. Make sure you’re adding new contacts and updating old ones.

10. Have a call to action. Every email should have a clear call to action (CTA) that encourages readers to take a desired action, whether it’s to go to your website and read a blog post, sign up for a webinar, contact you for a consultation or another step. Make sure you include links in your email so readers can engage with your content and you can track those clicks. The more time they spend interacting with your content, the better they will remember you.

Don’t discount email. Use it to help you stay top of mind with your contacts so they remember you when they need to hire or refer a professional like you.

If you need help with email marketing, contact us for a consultation.

So, why aren’t you actively using social media to build your business?

Social media is a powerful tool that complements and amplifies everything you do, so you get the best results possible when promoting your practice. Here are a few social media musts to get you started:

1. Develop a social media marketing plan. Identify your target audience, goals, and message and commit sufficient resources to implementing the plan.

2. Choose the right platforms: Focus on platforms where your target audience is most active. Start with one platform; then add more when you’re seeing results.

3. Optimize your profile. Create a compelling and informative profile, especially on LinkedIn.

4. Share content. Regularly provide valuable and relevant information, including your articles, blog posts, videos and personal anecdotes as well as useful third-party content.

5. Interact. Like, comment on and repost other people’s content. Respond to comments to your posts and participate in discussions. The goal is to foster meaningful connections.

6. Test and evaluate results. Experiment with different strategies and review your analytics to identify areas for improvement.

For more tips, see my article in Law Practice Magazine, “Using Social Media to Build Your Practice.”

P.S. The article focuses on law firms but the advice is applicable to any professional service firm.

1. Create an Event on LinkedIn. On your home page where you have the box to ‘Start a Post,’ there is an option that says Event. Click it and follow the instructions. You will also find Events on the left sidebar of your homepage. Just click on the + sign next to Events. Once you create an event, you can invite your connections, share your event as a post in your feed, send a message to people you think would be interested and easily share it on Facebook and Twitter. Importantly, you can create an event from your individual profile and/or your company page if you have admin access.

Note that not all LinkedIn users are eligible to broadcast live content on LinkedIn Live or LinkedIn Audio Events.

2. Share your event on your personal LinkedIn page and company page. As noted above, if you created the event on LinkedIn, on your event page there are options to share your event as a post. However, if you didn’t create a LinkedIn event, you can still create a post from your homepage.

3. Create multiple posts about your event beforehand. For example:

– Post related content that highlights why this topic is important to your audience and what they need to know. This information can be your original content or third-party content that would be of interest to your audience.

– Develop a survey that you can promote on LinkedIn and provide the results at the program. This can increase interest in your event and help inform your presentation with audience feedback. There are many simple and inexpensive survey tools like SurveyMonkey or you can just create a series of polls in your LinkedIn posts. To create a poll, click on the text box to Start a Post on your home page. You will see … at the bottom of the box. Click the dots to see the option to Create a poll and follow the instructions.

– Ask people to submit questions in advance. They can include them as comments to your post or send you a direct message.

– Feature the organization hosting the event, sponsors or your co-presenters. Create a post and mention them by name by typing “@theirname”. LinkedIn will give you a dropdown with possible matches to the name you typed. Pick the right one and LinkedIn will create a hyperlink to the page of the person/organization and notify them that you mentioned them in a post. Hopefully, they will like or comment on your post which means that their contacts now may see your post, thus expanding your reach.

– Share marketing materials and posts created by the event organizers, sponsors and co-presenters. Make sure you mention them when you share it so they are aware.

4. After the event, create multiple posts.

– Write a LinkedIn post with a recap of the event with the main takeaways.

– Provide the PowerPoint or selected slides from the program.

– Share photos from the program.

– Repurpose the program into related content (e.g., articles, eBooks, white papers, blog posts, infographics, etc.)

– If the program was recorded, provide instructions on how to access the recording or create short video clips with key points. Get it transcribed to make it easier to repurpose the content into written material.

5. Use relevant hashtags to expand your reach. Research hashtags that relate to your topic and/or audience and include them in all of your LinkedIn posts. Generally, you want to use 3-5 hashtags in your posts and look for ones with 2000 to 10,000 followers so you are hitting a sizeable audience but aren’t lost in a sea of other posts. Hashtags make your event more discoverable because those interested in a topic will follow the hashtags.

6. Encourage your employees to share the event and your posts on their LinkedIn pages. The more people promoting the program, the better.

7. Post information about the event to relevant LinkedIn groups. Check the group’s rules to determine if you are allowed to share a post about your webinar/seminar. In many cases, it will be allowed provided it is educational.

8. Consider using LinkedIn Ads to promote your event to a wider audience. LinkedIn Ads allow you to target people based on job title, industry, location, and other criteria, but it can be costly, so consider the ROI.

LinkedIn is an excellent platform to promote your public speaking but not the only tactic you should use. For the best results, market your program using multiple channels. For more tips, check out these related posts:

Top Strategies for Marketing Your Speaking Event

8 Ways to Promote Your Virtual Event

10 Do’s and Don’ts for Creating a Great Presentation

If you need help with your marketing, contact us for a consultation.

Let’s say your piece of content is a 500-word blog post. You can:

1. Shorten it. Create multiple social media posts from your post that you can share over weeks, months or even years, so long as the information stays valid. Just pull out interesting excerpts for each one.

2. Lengthen it. Expand your blog post to turn it into an article, white paper, book or eBook, webinar/seminar or podcast. This is easiest to do if you have several blog posts on a related topic that you can combine into a longer piece.

3. Change the format. Record your post to create one or more video clips or a podcast. You can also turn it into an infographic.

4. Rewrite it for a different audience. If it was written for fellow professionals, revise it to appeal to consumers, business owners or referral sources (or vice versa). You can also tailor it to different industries or types of clients. For example, discuss how a new law might affect manufacturers, technology companies, or retail businesses or adapt it for different geographic regions. Most of the content could be the same but just highlight relevant differences.

5. Update it. If there have been changes since you wrote your blog post, revise it and republish it. Even if the updates aren’t significant, it shows that you are staying abreast of new developments.

6. Tailor it to different marketing channels. You can share content from your blog post on social media; in an email newsletter, client alert or press release; to pitch to a journalist, publication or organization; as a guest blog post on a third-party website; and so on. In each case, you aren’t simply copying your blog post somewhere else. You must adapt it to the platform. For example, on social media and in email, you may be giving a teaser to encourage people to click to read the whole piece on your website; in a pitch, you are focusing on why a publication’s or organization’s audience would be interested in your content.

7. Add visuals. Studies show posts are more likely to get views and engagement if they have visuals, such as charts, photos, graphics, videos, etc.

8. Mix and repeat. These options can be combined to create numerous variations. For instance, lengthen and rewrite the blog post into a presentation that you pitch to an organization. The presentation can then be recorded and turned into a full-length webinar, multiple video clips, and transcribed and edited into an article.

Maintaining a steady stream of content to market your expertise is difficult but not impossible when you learn to repurpose everything you do. Remember to ‘create once, repurpose everywhere’ to save time and money and help you attract more business with your content.

If you need assistance with creating or promoting high-quality content, contact us for a consultation.

1. Who is the desired audience for your content? This is the most important question of all. Identify who you want to read your content. Is it existing or past clients, prospects, referral sources or others? Then break it down further. What are their key demographics and behaviors? This can include:

• Age, gender, profession
• Job title and responsibilities
• Company size and revenue (or personal income and wealth)
• Industry
• Location
• Role in deciding to hire you
• Budget and priorities
• Interests, concerns and pain points
• Information sources
• Level of knowledge about your services.

Essentially, you are creating a buyer persona, which is a detailed profile of the person you want to attract. You can gather this information by analyzing and talking with your client base and referral sources as well as through internet research.

The reason you are doing this is that the better you define your audience, the more effective your writing will be at reaching them and appealing to their interests.

2. What does your audience want to know about? Your content has to focus on what your audience is interested in, not what you want to talk about. Ask contacts what is important to them. Write about the frequently asked questions you receive. Also, do research. For example, identify and subscribe to publications your target audience reads, set up Google alerts to monitor areas of interest to them, and use social media to “listen” to what topics they care about. You can do this yourself or use paid media monitoring and business intelligence tools to gather information.

3. In what way can you offer something unique? Your goal is always to stand out from the competition. If you are talking about your business, you should focus on your differentiators – your unique selling proposition and unique value proposition. Similarly, if you are creating substantive content, such as a blog post, presentation or article, you want to offer your unique insights and analysis on that subject. This is a big problem when professionals write or speak on a topic. Dry factual recitations are not particularly interesting and are available from multiple sources. Clients and prospects want to understand how something affects them and what they need to do to solve or minimize their problems. This is an opportunity for you to shine by providing your audience with genuinely helpful information that highlights your knowledge and expertise. Yes, this requires more work, but your audience wants to see that you understand their concerns, have the know-how to handle them and want to educate them as opposed to give them a sales pitch.

4. What do you want to accomplish with your content? There are many reasons you may be sharing a particular piece of content including to increase visibility, drive web traffic, build credibility, establish expertise, stay top of mind with existing contacts, generate leads, etc. Your content won’t be successful if it doesn’t take into account your goals. Having concrete objectives enables you to establish metrics and measure the effectiveness of your content, including looking at which types of content are best suited for your purpose. In addition, when there is a clear reason for producing content and measurable results, it’s easier to stay motivated to continue to produce similar content.

5. How will you promote the content? Just because you created the content doesn’t mean it will be seen. You need a plan and appropriate resources to make sure you are taking full advantage of all available marketing channels to reach your target audience, including owned, earned and paid media outlets. Use social media and email marketing extensively. Encourage everyone within the firm to share your content with their personal networks. Incorporate strategic SEO tactics to increase the probability that your content will be found by search engines. In addition, don’t forget to test different marketing tactics and revise as needed to improve results.

6. Do you have a call to action? This goes along with # 4, but it is about accomplishing your goals at a micro-level. What do you want readers to do immediately after seeing your content? Contact you? Sign up for your email newsletter or event? Make sure to have a clear next step for your audience. You want to encourage people to continue to engage with you in some way. Ideally, your content should be leading people through your sales funnel. For example, you may have content that is intended to attract a large number of potential leads to your website. Once on your site, the next call to action may be an offer to receive related information in an eBook. This allows you to continue to nurture those leads who are not yet ready to make a decision.

CONCLUSION

Content is a valuable marketing tool when used strategically. If you take the time to understand what specific content will appeal to your audience and focus on your objectives, you’ll write content that will drive the success of your business.

1. Blog posts. The key to successful blogging is to consider what types of questions or concerns your audience has and answer them in your posts. This allows you to share your expertise, increase your visibility and enhance your credibility. It helps you stay top of mind with existing contacts as well as reach new people, all of which increases your chances of generating business.

On LinkedIn, you can share blog posts in 2 ways from your home page:

• Click “Start a post,” draft some teaser/introductory text from your blog post and then share a link to your post on your website; or
• Click “Write article” to use the LinkedIn publishing platform to write and share your post.

For tips on what to write about in your blog, see 5 Tips To Help You Develop Great Blog Post Topics.

If you don’t have a blog, check out How To Start A Successful Blog In 2021.

2. Third-party content. Many of us already share articles by other people on social media. But what you may not realize is that assuming you share useful and interesting information, doing this shows people you know what they care about, and you want to be helpful. And since it’s not your content, it’s not self-serving so it puts you in a good light. It also saves you time and effort because it is easier to share something that someone else wrote than creating original content. Now, you can share a stranger’s content (ex. a news article) or information from someone you know. If you do know the person, it can also be a good way to engage, connect and build your relationship with your contacts.

A key point to remember when sharing third-party content is to tell people why you are giving them this information. Add some introductory text to your social media post that says what you liked about the article or how it might help others.

3. Visual content. You know the expression a picture is worth a thousand words? People have short attention spans and studies show we are much more likely to respond to and remember visual information than text. So, use photos, infographics, charts, and videos in your posts. It may seem overwhelming to try to create good visuals, but there are many low-cost and free sites to buy images or design your own graphics (ex. Canva). When it comes to posting video on social media, it is acceptable to do it yourself. However, it is a good idea to invest in a ring light and microphone to improve the quality. If you plan to include these videos on your website, always use a professional.

4. Short text-only posts. While visuals often get great results, it is not universal because sometimes they can get in the way of compelling content. On LinkedIn, ordinary text posts often do well if they offer good content. Think of these posts as mini-blog posts. Try sharing tips, how-tos, do’s and don’ts, checklists, takeaways from something your heard/saw and motivational messages as text posts. The important point is to provide information helpful or interesting to your audience. Basically, follow the same rules as you would for regular blogging.

When you publish text-only posts don’t include a link to another website. This is another reason why these posts may do well. There are various opinions that LinkedIn prefers posts that don’t link away to another site and promotes them more heavily.

5. Accomplishments. On LinkedIn, you can let people know about awards you received, media mentions, speaking engagements and articles published. In fact, these posts often receive more views and engagements than other types of posts because your contacts want to congratulate you. However, I believe in the 80-20 rule when touting yourself. It is okay 20 percent of the time to talk about how great you are as long as the rest of the time, you focus on providing information of value. Now, much of this “promotional” information can be shared in a helpful way so make sure you couch it that way. For example, if you wrote an article or were quoted in one or you will be speaking to a group, let people know what information they would find useful in your article or speech as part of your introductory text. Then offer an excerpt or the full text if possible.

6. Nonwork/personal activities. The main purpose of social media is to allow people to get to know each other better. Therefore, go ahead and talk about organizations you belong to, causes you support, volunteer work you do, and interests and hobbies you have. You can also share personal stories that show others more of your personality. If you have photos from these activities, add them to the post as well. The only caveat to this is that LinkedIn is a business platform so you want to be mindful of discussing things that are too personal or may reflect adversely on your professional image. The best advice I ever read is not to share anything that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the New York Times.

Creating and sharing great content on LinkedIn is not as difficult as you may think. Use these tips to help get the best results.

If you need help with your social media marketing, contact us for a consultation.

1. Develop a plan. Who is your audience for the blog? What topics will you write about? Who will write the posts? How often will you publish? What are your goals for the blog? What resources do you need to keep it going? How will you market the blog? Before you start, you must answer these questions. Put it in writing to keep you accountable and help ensure your blog will help your business.

2. Decide where to host your blog. Most people have it on their business website, which has many advantages. However, there are also services that can host and help promote your blog. A good example is LexBlog for legal blogs.

3. Create an editorial calendar. One of the toughest aspects of blogging is figuring out what to write. Ideally, try to brainstorm at least 3 months’ worth of topics at a time. For advice on developing blog topics, read 5 Tips To Help You Develop Great Blog Post Topics. Once you decide on topics, put them on a calendar. That means set a due date and assign responsibility to the appropriate author/editor. Build in time for reviewing and editing the material and add reminders to your calendar before the due date.

4. Include a mix of timely and evergreen posts. Evergreen content is information that doesn’t go out of date. It is always of value to people reading your blog and it can continue to drive traffic to your website for years to come. In contrast, timely posts are on a current development or trend. While they may give you a big boost in the short-term because people want that information, there is less long-term value.

5. Don’t be self-promotional. People don’t want to hear about how great you are. They want helpful and practical information that answers their questions and assists them in avoiding or minimizing problems. By giving free advice, you will be demonstrating that you are knowledgeable, so you don’t have to “sell your services” overtly.

6. Focus on quality over quantity. Yes, it would be great if you could publish a post at least once a week or even more often. However, every post must be good. It’s better to publish high quality content less often than low quality more often.

7. Improve your communication skills. Maybe you’re not a great writer. If you have good ideas, you can work with a writer to develop well-written content. Alternatively, if you are comfortable speaking, you can create videos, which can also be transcribed and edited so you have both oral and written formats. If you want to try to improve your skills on your own, here are several posts on how to make your writing more effective.

7 Tips For More Effective Blog Writing For Your Business

5 Do’s To Help You Create Content That Your Audience Wants To Read

5 Things Not To Do If You Want People To Read Your Content

8. Leverage all marketing channels. On your website, your blog will help with your search engine optimization. When people are searching for information online, Google looks to deliver high-quality relevant content. The more effort you put into your blog posts, the more likely your content will appear in search results. However, your social media and email marketing are also important ways to promote your posts. In addition, you may also want to consider some form of paid advertising.

9. Include a call to action. What do you want readers to do after reading your blog? Contact you? Sign up for something (newsletter, webinar, eBook)? Make sure to have a clear next step for the reader. You’re using the blog to help your marketing, so you want to encourage people to continue to engage with you in some way.

A blog can be an effective marketing tool for your business, but you must make a commitment. If you need assistance, a professional writer can help you develop compelling content as well as promote it to the right audiences, so you get results.

If you need help with blog writing or marketing your existing blog, contact us for a consultation.

Owned media. This refers to marketing channels you own or control, such as your website, email, and social media. It also includes events, webinars, videos, podcasts, or publications that you host or create. Since you decide what you are promoting and when and how it appears, it is a waste not to take full advantage of owned media. Yet I regularly see professionals who forget to use these channels.

Tips:

• Promote your activities on all marketing channels you control. For example, if you speak at a conference, include it on your website, social media, and email.
• Pay attention to how your message is presented. Update the design and copy on your website and in your email template. Write compelling headlines and intro text on social media and add images to posts.
• Test different marketing tactics/strategies to improve results. Vary email subject lines, social media text, design and images, and the day/time when you send out promotions.

These activities will not cost additional money but can have a significant impact on results.

Earned media. When someone voluntarily mentions you, it carries more weight than what you say about yourself. As a result, earned media is highly coveted and the most difficult to get. Examples of earned media include client reviews, awards, press coverage, backlinks, and invitations to speak and write for third parties. Public relations firms are paid well to help their clients. However, professionals can do a decent job themselves if they are willing to put the time in.

Tips:

• Ask clients, vendors, and contacts to give you reviews on Google, social media, and other relevant websites.
• Reach out to organizations where you are either a member or have good relationships with those in charge about opportunities to write or speak.
• Let your contacts know you are looking to write or speak and ask them if you can guest blog on their websites (and offer to reciprocate).
• Follow relevant organizations and reporters on social media to learn what issues they cover so you can develop a relationship with them, offer assistance and make appropriate pitches to them.
• Sign up for HARO (Help-a-Reporter-Out) which publishes requests by journalists/editors for people who can help them with a story they are working on.
• Research awards that you can apply for to boost your visibility and credibility.
• Share your good publicity on your website, social media, and email.

These efforts take time, but they add up. As a result, once you have established credibility and have garnered some earned media, you will find that new opportunities will come to you.

Paid channels. Ads, sponsored content, event sponsorships, pay per click advertising, and paid social media can be helpful, but expensive. However, advertising today is very sophisticated allowing you to carefully select the audience you want to target and track results in detail.

Tips:

• Don’t engage in one off advertising. It’s expensive and unlikely to bring results.
• If you want to advertise, you need to commit to doing it for at least a few months to gauge results.
• Be clear on what you want to accomplish and carefully review your metrics. Clicks to your site and phone calls are great if your goal is visibility, but if you are looking for good leads, you need to pay close attention to who you are attracting.
• Test different ads, keywords, etc. to improve results.

Which marketing channels are missing from your toolbox? If you’d like help with your marketing, contact us for consultation.

1. Email. Email is an easy way to let your contacts know about your event. However, make your emails as targeted as possible. As noted in the previous post, you should clearly identify the audience you want to attract and send your emails to those who best match that profile. Hopefully, your contact database is segmented – that is, your contacts have been put into categories which allow you to select the appropriate group that would be most interested in the program. For example, you could have segments for past and current clients, different types of referral sources, prospects, or groupings based on industry, profession, job title, age, or income.

Your marketing copy should also be targeted. You want your invite to appeal to those individuals. As a result, you may want to revise your email copy for different segments of your list. Highlight the key points that would resonate with the specific group.

2. Social media. All of your event marketing should be shared through your social media channels. In addition, you may want to consider paid ads to reach more people because you can narrowly target your audience on social media. Also, many social media channels provide additional tools for promoting events. For example, LinkedIn Events and Facebook allow you to create, manage, and promote an event. Note these tools are different from LinkedIn Live and Facebook Live which are used when you want to live stream your event using the social media platform. The Events functionality is a promotional tool that works for any event regardless of where it will be accessible.

3. Website. Create a landing page for your event where you can provide more information, such as the full description and agenda, speaker bios, sponsor material, and potentially links to related content or resources. You may also want to enable people to see those who have registered already so they can connect with each other. This is something often done for large conferences and has its advantages and disadvantages for smaller events.

4. Blog posts. Marketing copy describing your program is fine, but also give people something educational – information they can use even before your presentation. Provide content that highlights why this topic is important and what your audience needs to know about it so they can ask well-informed questions during the program. Blog posts like this can help generate interest in the event and in you. Ideally, people will want to register to learn more about the topic, but if not, the posts still highlight your expertise and credibility. You can share this content on your website, social media, and email. Remember blog posts can be in video as well as written format.

5. Surveys. Last year, a client decided to survey industry professionals regarding a new law that had passed. The client’s plan was to conduct a survey and then follow up with a conference with a panel of speakers where the survey results were revealed and discussed along with related issues. After the event, a full report was published with an analysis of the results as well as additional commentary from the live event. The survey served to build interest beforehand, provided discussion points during the conference, and offered important takeaways to attendees after the event. It also provided a wealth of marketing opportunities for the firm. This was a substantial project, but you can do something much simpler and gain some of these benefits. Ask your target audience a few questions about their top concerns or their thoughts on a particular issue. You can also survey their level of interest in certain topics and encourage them to submit questions in advance. You can promote the survey prior to or along with an email invite. By the way, Survey Monkey is a great tool for creating surveys and gathering responses online.

6. Employees. Leverage your employees by asking them to share information about your event with their own social media networks. This is a good way to expand your reach as well as encourage them to feel vested in the success of the firm, so they become more effective employees.

7. Third parties. Partnering with others enables you to take advantage of their marketing channels. This can take several forms. For example, if you are doing your own event, you can look to bring in a moderator, other speakers, or sponsors who can add value to the presentation as well as help to promote the event. You can share your marketing with them as well as pass along their materials to your own network. Remember to provide links back to their social media pages and websites so they get as much publicity as you do. That will encourage them to reciprocate. If an organization is hosting the program, it will be doing its own marketing, but you can give them materials to use in promoting the event as well as share their marketing with your own network. The more credibility the organization has the more you want to promote them because it reflects well on you. The organization will also be appreciative as it helps their visibility.

8. Publicity. If your program has broad appeal or involves a timely or newsworthy topic, it may be useful to do a press release or contact media outlets to promote the event. For example, many local publications or websites publish information on upcoming events. You could also reach out to relevant organizations or groups you belong to about sharing your event.

These ideas can help you maximize your event, so you are more successful in reaching your target audience. However, remember that your public speaking should not stand alone. It has to be integrated into all the other marketing tactics you use to get more clients.

If you need help with your marketing, contact us for a consultation.