Speaker - October 2009

updates can keep you top of mind and provide ammunition to for your bureau to sell you.

Updates may be short, but link back to your blog to elaborate on noteworthy appearances or information. Post updates such as TV appearances, published articles, video testimonials, raving client reviews and new material. Your intention is not to brag about how great you are, but simply to increase the touch;points;where;bureaus;can;find out about your value proposition and accomplishments.

“Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter may eventually be footnotes as newer portals emerge,” says Rich Gibbons, president of Speak Inc., and past president of IASB. “Embrace digital platforms with wide-open arms, but you’ll never be able to synthetically reproduce the organic chemistry of

people in a room together.”

For clients and bureaus that want a hard copy, there’s a new product on the market called DualDisc—DVD on one side, and audio CD on the other

( www.dualdisc.com). Minimize your production and shipping expenses by sandwiching your material. Beware of tech morons who won’t know what to do with your disk. Make sure the packaging clearly labels what’s on it and how to use it.

Social Media Updates

Social media may be the craze, but are

your clients listening? Do they respond, react or comment on your posts? Are you posting updates that make you more marketable for them?

Bureau executives like Gail Davis have a daily routine of scanning social media sites to catch up on speakers who pique their interest. According to Davis, “We are all inundated with email and phone calls, so social media is a non-invasive way to keep someone like me informed. It’s an easy way to be aware of their [speakers’] schedules, travels and audiences.” Regular

Mobile-Friendly Marketing

When people leave home each day, they take their keys, money and cell phone with them. With the increased capability of mobile devices, people are accessing more and more of their data on those devices. Not only do they make phone calls, they also send and receive text messages. Now they are surfing;the;Web,;searching;on;Google, looking for videos and downloading files.;Get;ready;to;make;your;Web;site, videos and emails mobile friendly. For example, cell phones don’t display Flash, so your Web site needs to be coded in HTML.

Given the small size of the screen, and the short attention span of users, it’s unlikely that they will watch a 60-minute virtual presentation on their cell phones. There’s an increasing number of people, however, who want to take an initial peek at a speaker’s profile;and;info;while;on;the;go.