First you will want to make sure that you understand how to properly monetize your speaking business. You and your favorite musician are not much different when you think about it.
Regardless of if you are with a speaking bureau or working with a booking agent you have to do a lot of your own legwork as a professional speaker.
When these meeting planners are booking speakers it almost always starts with a list of about 7 speaker suggestions. From there they shrink it down to a short list of a couple of speakers.
Motivational speakers generally only do enough online just to get booked but that is no longer acceptable if you are looking to stand out in this new digital age.
Anyone that looks you up should be able to consume at-least 30 minutes of your content easily to get to know you and provide them the social proof that you need.
All it takes is ONE piece of content to change the entire trajectory of your speaking business. In this article I go in depth on how to develop that one piece of content, and how it may already be within your archive.
How To Monetize Your Speaking Business
Use macro versions of your speeches to build your digital real estate. Showcase your expertise across your social media platforms, and earn money from streams by capitalizing on platforms like iTunes.
My good friend and client William King Hollis just had his latest speaking album “Pain and Purpose” go GOLD as a motivational speaker! That means he amassed over 500,000 streams on his speaking album without singing or rapping one word.
Distributing speeches via streaming platforms may be the best kept secret of the speaking industry for some time now. Back in 2012 Dr. Eric Thomas reached the billboard top 100 songs with a motivational speech track. He is now recognized as one of the top speakers in the game.
Media becomes mass media once its reproduced in quantity. Mass media is what is going to help you stand out from the pack of all of the other speakers out here. Every piece of content that you create has viral potential!
The next step is to develop your message. You may feel like it’s hard for you to come up with fresh speaking material, but it does not have to be. Once you develop your messaging and really hone in on your signature talk creating content will be second nature.
Developing Your Message
If you are looking to find your voice I’d advise you to simply pull out your phone and record a few voice memos. Try and do this without writing anything down. If you want to make it fun; grab a book and freestyle a speech on the first word that you see.
You’ll want to develop an easy way to come up with content so you can put the energy that it takes into marketing and distributing your material the right way. I’ve found that recording phrases and one-liners can be the starting point to some great material.
Your speeches have the opportunity to entertain and educate people of all backgrounds and demographics. No matter your topic, delivery, looks, etc. there is an audience online that you can tap into that will embrace you.
Your next opportunity does not always have to come in the form of a speaking engagement. Voice over opportunities exist and are yours for the taking.
I’ve had a client Greg Jackson literally record a speech in studio and get paid the very next day by the studio so they could use his speech as apart of this video “Black Lives Matter Street Mural”.
Once you’ve got your messaging figured out, and you understand how to monetize your message you are ready to put your motivation in motion.
Standing Out From The Pack
As a motivational speaker your craft provides you with all of the material that you will ever need to go viral. The best part about it is that is already likely within you. Your signature talk is what people book you for, and what will get you booked!
Event organizers just need to see that you are an expert that can deliver a solution for the problems that they are having or foresee having. When you can find ways to exemplify that and do it creatively is when you have found your sweet spot.
It is imperative that you host some king of recurring material that consistently shows your expertise. Viral content often comes from a recurring piece of content where it be some kind of web series, podcast, blog, daily motivation, etc.
This is because when you consistently put something out there you are developing a core audience that will look forward to consuming your content.
When you create something more entertaining, funny, or thought provoking than usual they will share it with there audience which could start the snowball effect of social traffic.
Algorithms across the web generally only show your post to about 20% of your followers initially. As the engagement increases on your content your reach will increase as well. Don’t be ashamed to ask for engagement on your material.
Share your post in direct messages to people and ask for likes, comments, and shares until you don’t have to do it anymore. The traffic that you could possibly get is well worth it. Most content does not go viral immediately it often takes some time.
Not all marketing campaigns are created equal but I strongly believe that every motivational speaker has a lot to offer the world. Positivity always prevails and cream always rises to the top.
About The Author
Today I am one of the most positive people that you will meet but it was not always like that. After a year of going the college route and making the deans list for the first time I hit a wall, and went into a rough period of my life that ultimately led to me dropping out of college.
To help me get out of my funk I began to start doing music. To promote the music I would often stand by the local corner store and sell my CD’s to people outside. One day I ran into a guy who was impressed and invited me onto his radio show for an interview.
The location of the interview was a broadcasting school, and the radio show was on the airwaves at the school because he was a student. I was blown away by the school and ended up enrolling for the next semester right on the spot.
From there I began to transition out of music and into more of the behind the scenes aspects of production. I feel in love with the process of creating material from scratch, and all the things that went into a completed video or audio composition.
I began to focus entirely on motivational content early in my career when one of the alumni students asked me, “Is this what you want to put out to the world”. From there I would do skits, short films, jingles, etc. all based around motivational content.
I got started within the speaking business by sheer divine intervention. A motivational speaker ran into my content one day and asked how we could collaborate.
From there we collaborated on a speaking album that featured speakers in over 12 countries. Speakers from the album found value and asked what it would cost to have there own album/marketing material produced.
Which was when I noticed gaps within the speaking industry, which certain music industry techniques could fill. Today I’ve worked with some of the topic speakers in the game, and wouldn’t replace what I do for anything.