Speaking to Build Your List
Ali Brown is one of the leading experts on ezine marketing (Ezines are essentially the same as newsletters). In this article, she offers some great tips that organizers can adopt right away! If you want to try #3, the drawing, but you’re not speaking to people with business cards, hand out a form to fill out with their name, email address and a phone number. You can also add a check box for a complementary phone consultation.
– Allison
“The Public Speaking List Machine”
by Ali Brown
Do you do public speaking? Then you’ve got an automatic list machine!
Remember that in business, your fortune is in your follow-up. And publishing an ezine is the easiest, most automatic, and least expensive way to do this for you. The key is getting as many prospects on your list as possible — ethically.
Whenever I’m the featured speaker at an event, I make sure to give the audience members an easy way to sign up for my ezine. There are generally three ways to do this:
1. The Signup Sheet
Mention your fabulous ezine and all the good stuff it will do for them. Then pass around a signup sheet to collect their names and e-mail addresses. At the top of the sheet, give an attention-getting headline, a 25-word ezine description, and your privacy policy.
It’s amazing what peer pressure will do — it’s rare you’ll see someone pass on your sheet without adding their name and e-mail! I even had someone who was already on my list sign up on the sheet at an event. She told me later she didn’t want to look like she was the only one holding out. 
2. The Presentation Notes
I’ve seen many speakers who use PowerPoint announce to the audience that they can get a free copy of the entire presentation if they simply hand in their business card. Then as an aside, they mention that you’ll also get a free subscription to their ezine.
Sounds like a slam dunk, right?
However, when I’ve seen this in action, I notice that not everyone hands their card in, so this will ONLY work well if you give a dynamite presentation and the audience really wants a copy of it.
3. The Prize Drawing!
This one’s my favorite.
It’s amazing how grown adults go nuts when the speaker announces she/he is going to give away something for FREE. I swear you could raffle off toenail clippings, and people will climb all over each other to get their business card in the bowl.
When I speak, I’m usually selling my Boost Business With Your Own EZINE System, so what I do is first explain what that includes.
After I review all the benefits these programs bring, I pause, smile, and say, “Who here would like to get this all right now… for FREE?”
This is when people jump up and go “Ooo, ooo, me! Me me me!”
I say, “Great, because I’m going to give away one now! Please get out your business cards, and my assistant will come around and collect them. Make sure you have a chance to win! You’ll also get a free subscription to my award-winning Highlights on Marketing & Success ezine, which will give you tips on marketing your business online and offline.”
(NOTE: I want you to actually rehearse saying this so it’s extremely smooth and confident. Remember, they’ll see your offer as YOU see your offer. You want them clamoring to get on your list!)
If it makes you more comfortable, you can tell the audience that if they do NOT want to be subscribed to your ezine, they can put a “NO” on their card. I did this for over a year, but I found that during that entire time of speaking to thousands of people, only ONE person had ever written “no”! So I don’t even bother anymore.
My rule now is if you want the chance to win, you get signed up. Hey, it’s tough love, but it’s good for them. My ezine could change their life!
Remember, people you meet in person will be your MOST valuable subscribers, because they’ve already met you. And we’re all more likely to buy from others whom we know, like, and trust.
© 2008 Alexandria Brown International Inc.
Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown publishes the award-winning ‘Highlights on Marketing & Success’ weekly ezine with 36,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.AlexandriaBrown.com
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