How to Reach a Larger Audience with Speaking

According to the American Marketing Association, speaking is one of the top ways to build your brand.*

Use speaking to define what you want to be known for.

Brand positioning is “the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market.” (Kotler, Principles of Marketing)

In short, you’ll become known for the topic of your talk - whether you’re speaking on a real stage or in front of millions of YouTube viewers!

An awesome example of someone using speaking to extend their brand positioning into new avenues is Richard St. John.

Richard St. John’s most popular TED Talk is called “8 Secrets of Success” and it has over 12 million views.

Before TED, Richard was a marketing executive but he wanted to become known as a “Success Expert”. So he wrote a talk about success. This talk reached people all around the world, and now, his brand is inextricably linked with the word “success”.

To do this for your brand, decide what you want to be known for.

• Choose a topic that brings you joy and passion
• Talk about something that makes you smile
• Fill a gap in the market no one else is covering
• Take a stand for something you believe in

Choose a topic that dives deep and makes the audience think. To build your brand, you’ve got to get people talking. As speakers, we want to change the world one talk at a time.

Speak in locations that share your brand’s values.

Where you speak is just as important as what you say. Start reaching out to organizations that align with your values and pitch yourself as a speaker for upcoming events.

Choose venues or events that directly reflect what you want to be known for. This may be evident in:

1. The types of speakers they feature
2. The mission of their organization 
3. The types of events they’re known for hosting
4. The audience they’re known for having

Aligning with brands you believe in helps you to connect with like-minded audiences.

Use social media to gain widespread appeal.

Another way to build your brand is to use social media. Many social platforms allow you to upload a video of you speaking or to “go live” and deliver your talk live.

In the digital era, it’s important to be on camera as much as you can if you would like to become known as a speaker.

Simply record yourself delivering a speech. Encourage people to share it, and use the features of the platform (like hashtags, meta tags, etc.) to get your video in front of more viewers.

You will have people from all different backgrounds, countries of origin, and personality styles, viewing your videos and getting exposure to your brand.

Ask them to leave comments and questions on your posts, and respond to them as often as you are able to. 

Connecting with people around the world is the fastest way to broaden your circle. And using social media is a great tool to gain brand awareness and position your brand with speaking.

Confidence is the ultimate brand positioning tool.

Having confidence is key. We’re all human, and we all have insecurities. That’s ok! In fact, that’s actually what makes you great. 

The most important thing is to be relatable. You can be loud and gregarious or calm and collected. Just being yourself is what matters. Let the real you shine through.

The audience wants you to succeed. 

You’re Awesome.

With your dedication, a strong topic, and stage confidence, more and more people will discover you. And they’re going to want to watch you speak because you’re you and you’re awesome.

What do you want to be known for? Comment below and let me know!

Just remember. Imperfection is beautiful. “There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” - Leonard Cohen

*https://medium.com/ama-marketing-news/how-to-use-speaking-opportunities-to-build-your-brand-cc1ec0a2ccc9