So, if you know you want to become a speaker in addition to being an author, there are some tactical ways to grow your visibility and increase your chances of booking high-visibility conferences and events.

CREATE A SPEAKING REEL

Realize that YOU know your content inside and out, but the world doesn’t know you and how well you interpret your content for an audience. Therefore, you need a speaking reel.

WHAT IS A SPEAKING REEL?

The usual reel contains highlights of your speaking style, including clips from more than one talk. It should be short enough that the person watching doesn’t lose interest, but not too jumpy/quick that the person watching starts to wonder if you had to edit out tons of “ums” and “you knows” to make your reel seem professional. It’s also beneficial to include an audience in your reel. Bureaus and other conferences want to see you in front of a group of people and they want to see their reactions and engagement.

HOW DO YOU GET A SPEAKING REEL IF YOU DON’T HAVE TALKS?

Ah ha! Here’s where you may need to stick your head out a few times and offer your services for “free” — knowing that you’re building your brand while “giving away” your content. Think about how you could get out into your community and start speaking about your topic.

While a group may seem “too small,” remember that it’s always a chance for you to hone your message and practice engaging with audiences of varying types. (Note: I’m not saying you do this for years on end, but 3-5 times so you have enough content to edit into a quality reel.)

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

If you want to start being paid to speak at conferences, you need to start going to conferences first. What can you offer conference organizers where you hope to speak one day? Can you do a poster presentation or speak on a panel? Even if they just offer you a travel-only stipend, each event you participate in will help increase your brand awareness. Don’t go overboard with the free engagements, but each time you do agree to work with an organizer, s/he/they are more likely to keep you in mind for future gigs.

Wherever and whenever you speak, wow them with your introductory presentation and good things will come!

We also want to share some of the nitty-gritty specifics that you’ll need to know after you’ve landed a few events and feel more comfortable on the stage.

WHEN YOU HAVE AN EVENT IN THE PIPELINE

THINGS TO ASK

Will the organizers be filming the event? If so, can you get a copy of the footage? If not, may you record (or hopefully have someone else record) your presentation? If they are recording you, will they charge you for the footage? How long will post-production take? If you’re speaking to a group that is run by volunteers, these are key questions to ask. Pro-tip: get a recommendation and hire a videographer and provide the videographer with a formal shot list s/he should record.

WHAT TO WEAR?

What clothing will help (subtly) reinforce your branding? One of our team member’s former clients with orange in his brand continues to wear orange suede shoes to all his speaking gigs. While you may not take it that literally, think about TV anchors and their clothing: I’m not telling you to get out the hairspray and go big, but I am warning you to stay away from strong patterns and contrasts in your fabrics. Create 3-5 go-to “speaker outfits” that coordinate with each other so your reel won’t clash.

THINKING BIG PICTURE: WHAT’S YOUR PITCH?

How will multiple speeches work together? If you have a voiceover in mind before you start the process, it will be easier to find the right clips and edit them into a strong speaking reel.

• Write out a 2-3 minute pitch that explains your WHYs.
• Why is your take on the topic unique? Why do audiences like to hear your message? Why should someone pay you to talk to their group?

Recently, a client asked us if it’s more important to have intelligent content or if the entertainment factor outweighs content when seeking to land conferences and relationships with speaking bureaus. Obviously, both are important; however, we think that audience engagement pulls ahead as the key factor when deciding between the two. Remember to include it in your sizzle reel!

Hone your message, ask good questions, and be prepared!

Previously published as a contractor for Worthy Marketing Group

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WHY BOOK CLUBS?

As a new author, you want to get the message that you’ve worked so hard in crafting into the hands of as many people as possible, right? (Yes, many authors come to us wanting to reach best-seller status). Obviously, you don’t have to create a book club discussion guide to get your book in front of people, BUT it is a nice perk to have on your website. We often advise and assist clients in creating a “lead generation magnet” when trying to promote their book. From pre-order incentives to a chapter download, the usual goal of digital assets is to capture the mighty email address and “list build.” However, a book club guide is a great way to get folks to your site and give them something for free — with no email required.

WHAT SHOULD A GUIDE CONTAIN?

Any good book club leader has a set of questions s/he will keep in her back pocket, so don’t think about adding all the “obvious” questions to your guide. Instead, what insights can you share as an author? What are your favorite quotes? See our guide for Lisa Kohn that implements some of her favorite quotes with photos (created as social media share memes) and questions that flush out important themes Lisa wants readers to realize with her memoir.

Click to read the text

click to read the reverse side

WHO’S YOUR AUDIENCE?

Gretchen Rubin provided different versions of her guide for various types of book club groups. If your book could be a business or personal group pick, consider doing the same or at least working on questions relevant to various types of audiences.

	For Friends and Family
For Teams at Work	For Faith-Based Groups

WHAT ELSE CAN I OFFER?

If you feel so inclined, put on your Martha Stewart hat and get creative. These can be bonus ideas listed on your website and/or posted on social media.

Food/Drinks: Are there particular foods or drinks that would make sense with your book? If so, share a favorite recipe that goes with your story/theme.

Music: Do you mention specific music in the book? Create a playlist for a book club to play in the background.

Station Ideas: if it makes sense to break a book club meeting into sections or stations, list them out for your readers. Amy Blankson’s book club used tabletop easels to define the spaces and relate the food back to her book’s themes. 

This was originally written as a contractor for Worthy Marketing Group.

The post The Guide to Book Club Guides appeared first on Alexis Bierman.

It is so tempting, it seems so easy—boost this post and great things will happen! Right? Wrong.

In most cases, it is a waste of your money to use the boost post feature in Facebook.

WHY WE DON’T LIKE IT 

When we get access to client accounts and take a look at the advertising spends they have done, we often cringe—if you are just boosting a post (and not working on any targeting or audience demographics) you’re just growing Facebook’s annual income (and not yours).

The best thing about Facebook advertising is the ability to test audiences and discover where your message resonates. But, if you’ve got a slew of general boosts, don’t try to delete them from your record. Instead, ask what can you learn from general boosts. Take a look at the insights from your general boost. Who responded? Use that data to build a targeted campaign. Age? Gender? Look for trends. Then create a systematic, targeted ad campaign—what some people are calling “dark ads” to really get a return on your investment.

SO I CAN’T EVER DO A BOOST?

The world is not black and white and the rules for Facebook ads aren’t all or nothing either. With the Facebook apocalypse (aka ever-changing algorithms and efforts to make people’s feeds full of friends and family) you should plan to spend money to reach your fans and boosts can feature into that plan.

If you have a special message that you want to make your existing fans aware of, go ahead and use the boost post and make sure you select for your fans. If you’re advertising for a talk in Chicago, narrow your audience to a geolocation that makes sense. No matter how much that busy mom in California loves you, she’s probably not going to fly in for your talk. (If you have a team of marketers helping you build your reach or you want to really dig into FB ads, then you can create an ad to look like a post that gets better reporting, especially if you’re sending them to make any kind of conversion outside of Facebook).

Since Facebook is only showing a small (and reportedly smaller and smaller) portion of your content to your fans, you SHOULD plan a weekly or bi-weekly boost to ensure they see your content. However, encourage your clients to follow your page—see first, not just to like it. This tells Facebook that you are creating great content that people want to see and interact with. (But you have to follow through and be worth it, as there are limited spots for “see first” and people won’t bother if you’re occasionally posting random thoughts.)

Here’s a sample video that we helped past clients Amy Blankson and Michelle Gielan create for their GoodThink newsletter that explains the Follow First concept to their subscribers.

SO TO RECAP:

1) Boost sparingly and only to your tribe

2) Don’t boost if you’re asking for any kind of conversion (do a real ad instead)

3) Ask your fans to follow first vs like your page

This was originally written as a contractor for Worthy Marketing Group.

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Sometimes known as lead magnets (freebies, giveaways, etc.), these are items that authors and other businesses create to entice you to give up your almighty and powerful email address for the practice of list building. The format is typically a PDF that is relatively short, 1-5 pages, and shares quick, actionable, super-useful content and is 100% free in exchange for the reader’s email address.

For authors, one of the easiest things to create is a book club guide (read our story about creating those here). In addition, digital downloads are a great way to give a free chapter of a book, a research report/white paper, or other bite-size information that you want to offer your audience.

The thought is that the person reading it will be able to take your idea and become a brand ambassador for you. They might say “I just did this really thought-provoking declutter worksheet from this really great author — you should visit her site and get it.”

CASE STUDY: AMY BLANKSON

In 2017, we worked with technology and positive psychology researcher Amy Blankson to launch her book The Future of Happiness. Worthy CEO Jayme Johnson recently discussed the book launch process with Amy on a Facebook live (watch the session below).

Some of Amy’s assets were created as fun items she could advertise to her growing social media following. For example (as pictured here), her intention screens are images of a few key messages resized for various types of phones. Amy does not tell her audience to run away and live in the hills without tech, but instead, she wants us to use tech with intention. So, having your phone ask if you’re opening it to meet a goal or not is a way to help you change your tech use habits — perhaps like checking social media more than once or twice a day.

Some of Amy’s downloads were created to incentivize preorders of her book. Preorders are the new normal of modern publishing. They are how books reach The New York Times bestseller list the day they’re released. Publishers—as well as a whole industry of warehouses holding “preorders”—have taken notice! Yet consumers could often care less unless it’s the next installment of a wildly popular series. So what’s an author to do? Enter the pre-order incentives.

Some publishers will take the lead on this, creating branded “swag” that gets mailed to consumers who submit a receipt showing proof of purchase. We’ve seen coffee mugs, journals, pens, wristbands, and bookmarks most commonly. If you’re a new-to-the-scene author and represent more of a risk to the publisher, they may suggest digital assets or may not even be helping with a pre-order campaign much at all (where Worthy often finds a sweet spot to assist authors).

The good news about digital assets is that you don’t have a bunch of boxes in your garage and you don’t have to handle shipping. However, fear of drop shipping shouldn’t keep you from making an asset. For example, our client Lisa Kohn wanted to do something extra personal (so not digital) for her readers that took the time to preorder. So we created custom bookplates and bookmarks. While these are tangible things that Lisa will actually sign and personalize, they can still be mailed in a first-class envelope without any extra padding or shipping, so we feel it’s often the best of both the digital and branded product worlds.

See all of Amy’s assets here on her RESOURCES tab.

This was originally written as a contractor for Worthy Marketing Group.

The post Why You NEED a Digital Download appeared first on Alexis Bierman.

Let’s say it like this: a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Trite? Perhaps, but still true. People are coming to your website and bio sections looking for information about you. If your photos are pixelated, dated, sized improperly or otherwise wonky, you’re not making the best first impression.

So how do you get a photoshoot that meets your needs as a professional author, speaker, and business owner?

As the wife of a professional photographer, I have some insight into the mind of a photographer and how you can help make your photoshoot deliver the results you want. I’ve been there when he’s had a shoot go well (sometimes I get to assist on fun projects) AND when he’s been trying to redo a native file to make magic because the client didn’t know what they wanted when the shoot happened. Save yourself time and money and keep your photographer happy.

START WITH A LIST OF PHOTOS YOU NEED NOW

Assess the needs of your current website and marketing materials. Consider:

1. 1. social media bios
   2. business cards
   3. brochures/flyers
   4. website

EXPLAIN THE LARGER GOAL WHEN BOOKING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

We recommend: “to create a searchable library of brand-specific -cohesive- images to be used in multiple formats and areas.”

DETAIL THE STYLE YOU WANT TO EXPRESS

For example, “I am presenting a fun, active brand: photos should reflect that and not be stuffy or overly formal, more photojournalism style rather than the traditional “glamour shot” style portrait.

COLOR(S)

Do you have colors that you’re using in your branding that you want to keep in mind for the photoshoot? Think ahead and share a branding guidelines doc with your photographer (you have one of those, right?).

TOPICS

Since you want the most ROI for your photoshoot, think through all the topics you may want to express visually in the next year or two. What are your two or four main speaking topics? What are the subtopics you address in each important chapter of your book?

For example, when our clients Team Sherzai wanted to create an image library, we broke their topics into the following categories with notes about how we envisioned representing the topic visually:

• Nutrition (include cooking and prepping shots, include some of healthy options to share with friends and family—could be optimize/nutrition crossover)
• Exercise (include seated bikes, biking outside, walking outside, walking on beach, yoga)
• Unwind (include meditation, stretching, tai chi )
• Restore (include sleeping images, sleeping bedroom set up, Dean in sleeping mask, show dean with favorite pillow, show kids in PJs)
• Optimize (show family singing together, playing instruments, doing puzzles, social connection with family/friends)
• Science/Brain Health (hold/use brain model, lab coats, scrubs, stethoscopes, also shoot brain model so that they can use the model as a reference photo to show areas of the brain when needed)

SHOT LIST

Once you have your topics figured out, think through some other questions:

1. Do you ever include your family (or a business partner) in your work?  If so, you should note that you need that topic (Topic 1) in a solo shot and a family shot.
2. Crop for multiple uses: we recommend that you ask the photographer to take each shot from multiple angles so that you have options to use for creating graphics with text–make sure you’re not in the center of each final picture output.
3. Create your shot list (specific images that must be captured during the event) from the topics + questions 1 and 2 here.

First written while working as a contractor for Worthy Marketing Group, Spring, 2016

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Image by Marekuliasz/dreamstime.com

Cultivate a positive outlook to increase productivity and job satisfaction for yourself and your team.

By ALEXIS BIERMAN, GoodThinkInc.

The Houston Apartment Association likes to have fun. From zombie blowing tournaments to gala receptions honoring young industry professionals, HAA throws a good party. And now there is more reason to enjoy the fun – the new field of positive psychology proves that an emphasis on enjoying work is not just good for morale, but good for the bottom line, too.

We’ve all been there: It’s the end of the week, and your to-do list is still far from complete. You’ve got calls to return, the stack of forms to file is piled high on your desk … and your coworkers are asking you to join them for happy hour. What does your mind tell you to do?

It’s likely if you grew up in America, you’re going to feel guilty if you take a break and join your coworkers. We’ve been taught that the secret to happiness is to work hard, put in extra effort, and then we will be happy – then we will have time to go out for happy hour. We think that a hard worker with her nose to the grindstone is what every boss wants for an employee, right?

Studies have shown that when we turn this formula around and rewrite the secret to success, we have 37 percent greater sales, are 31 percent more productive, 40 percent more likely to receive a promotion and three times more creative. It turns out that happy people are more likely to live longer and even have 23 percent fewer fatigue symptoms!

THE POWER OF A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

The field of positive psychology is showing that employers should be looking for something other than this stereotypical “hard worker.” Employers who are schooled in this research are now looking for employees with a positive outlook. Turns out that the “secret to success” we were taught is backward. When we put the happiness off until the end of our goals, it makes us less productive.

Studies have shown that when we turn this formula around and rewrite the secret to success, we have 37 percent greater sales, are 31 percent more productive, 40 percent more likely to receive a promotion and three times more creative. It turns out that happy people are more likely to live longer and even have 23 percent fewer fatigue symptoms!

So it’s time to rewrite that message that plays in our head when we’re confronted with our daily choices. Realize that happiness brings success and that success orbits around happiness. Happy workers are smarter, more motivated and therefore more successful.

HABITS OF HAPPY PEOPLE

So, how do we get happiness? How do we overcome the stress and fatigue of our over-scheduled lives? You may have been told that you’ve come from a “sad family,” or you may think that you can’t be happy because you have had a rough time with life – but again, science proves that we are more than our genes and our past experiences. We are able to change our levels of happiness with our own mindsets and habits.

I work for GoodThinkInc., a positive psychology consulting firm. Founder Shawn Achor is the best-selling author of The Happiness Advantage. Shawn speaks to companies throughout the world explaining that this “happiness stuff” is not your grandma’s hand- holding and rose-colored glasses but actual research that presents qualitative methods to improve outcomes in any industry.

The following habits are recommended throughout the field of positive psychology.

I encourage you to pick one habit and share it with your team, and encourage each other to complete the habit for at least 21 days.

Gratitude

Everyday list three things you’re grateful for. Think of three new items each day so that you actively reprogramming your brain to search your world for positive elements.

HOW TO DO IT: These don’t have to be fancy. Why not get some sticky notes for your team and create a gratitude wall?

The Fun 15

Exercise for at least 10 to 15 minutes a day. Yes, the research still supports this one. Our bodies were meant to move, and when we exercise we experience brain benefits and reduce our levels of stress.

HOW TO DO IT: Support your team in exercising. Allow 30 minutes of workout time as part of their paid hours or lead a group walk around the property at lunch.

Conscious Acts of Kindness

Spend two minutes writing an email (or a card) thanking someone for something he or she has done for you. This activity helps you remember a kindness in your life and creates a kindness in the recipient’s life as well.

HOW TO DO IT: Allow your staff five minutes in the morning to write this email or start every meeting with someone sharing something he or she is thankful for in relation to the teamwork.

We can increase our level of happiness in a number of ways throughout each day. If performed habitually, over time these activities can permanently increase our happiness baseline.

Alexis Bierman is the social media advisor for GoodThinkInc., Want to know more? Visit Good- ThinkInc.com and sign up for the newsletter to get two additional happiness habit tips.

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How do you keep people coming back for more of your content/product/brand? I like to compare the process to my former job of working in museum public programs (the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC and the Witte Museum in San Antonio, TX). On the surface, my start in museum work and switch to digital marketing may seem like entirely different careers, yet the links between the two formats have helped me grow my clients’ tribes in authentic and honest ways.

A ONE-TIME VISIT

Let’s start with the museum model: a museum has an exhibit. They want visitors to come and see it, however after the visitors see the exhibit, there is not much reason to return. Enter the education and public programs departments to keep visitors coming back time after time, for adult, intergenerational and school programs.

For authors and businesses, it’s quite similar. Someone buys your book or hears you talk (and of course loves it!), but then what? How do you keep engaging with them? How do you turn them into broadcasters for your brand?

WAYS TO CONVERT ONE-TIME VISITORS TO REPEAT VISITORS

• First – take the time to figure out who your ideal audience is and don’t waste your time trying to attract the general public!
• Second – figure out what that audience is interested in. Not everything has to be straight-on. If you are trying to promote a book on Yoga, don’t just look for students at yoga studios…What other things are yoga students interested in? Are there specific brands, fitness styles, or other areas of interest? Make a list.
• Third – are there other thought leaders who are attracting the audience you’ve identified? Make a list of those people, too. Remember — you’re thinking about if the audience might be interested in your content, not the specific thought leader.
• Fourth – take your list of audience interests and thought leaders and use that list to make a new list of content to create and/or share on your social media platforms that those people will like. Make it a mix of other people’s content and content you create yourself.
• Fifth – make a plan. Remember that your audience is made up of a lot of people with a lot of different interests. Some like to read, some listen, some watch videos. Some want free content every day or every week. Some will be ready to invest in what you’re offering to work more with you. Plan for different price points for your paid offerings that allow those who are just testing the waters to invest a little and those who are ready to jump in can invest at a higher level.

REPEAT VISITORS BECOME YOUR TRIBE

Social media (combined with an email list) allows brands to continually engage with customers and clients. Sharing authentic stories on social media builds trust between you and your fans. When your fans understand and believe in your message then they become brand ambassadors, helping to spread your worthy message.

BUILD YOUR BRAND, NOT JUST YOUR BOOK

At Worthy Marketing Group, we’re not as much about book marketing as we are about author marketing: we want you to use your book as a marketing tool to further grow and elevate your larger business goals — to keep your fans coming back time and again. Your social media strategy should be a long-term strategy — anybody can pay for quick followers (we’ve had some clients do that and they end up with a list of Turkish men who don’t speak English (NO JOKE) – when their audience was English speaking women)

You want a tribe that wants to engage with you and your content. Those relationships will follow you through additional book launches, passive income programs, tours, or wherever else your journey leads.

If you engage with people and build your platform, instead of just focusing on the book,  your tribe will keep coming back for more!

This was published when I was a contractor for Worthy Marketing Group in 2018.

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In his work, Shawn writes that the formula to success is backwards. His field of positive psychology documents scientific evidence that we will not find happiness by waiting until we reach a goal, but instead we must be happy first and that by being happy we will find more success and more achievement as happier beings. As I said, I work with that synthesized data often, sharing studies and articles on social media with folks interested in the happiness movement throughout the world. Yet I have a secret: I find it really hard to put that research into practice.

I came to Shawn’s team from the museum/non-profit world. This was a field where there were always many more applicants for any position that was open, a field historically with few well-paying jobs and mostly volunteer-run organizations. This world of the non-profit translated into a “fun” but-low paying field that we fought over tooth and nail because we loved sharing knowledge with others, curating treasures, organizing artifacts, working with students and visitors, and sharing stories. In my museum career, I worked at a large national museum as well as a local “medium “sized museum and several contract positions in-between. The common denominator of these institutions was that a) everyone cared strongly about their job—to the point they felt it was a calling and b) everyone had too much work to do for one person. My Midwestern work ethic (honed as an honor student with seven summer jobs) was right at home here! There were fires to be put out, projects to be organized, tasks to be charted, emails to be written; this environment gave me a great sense of accomplishment to feel that adrenaline rush that comes from seeing a huge deadline and meeting it. I stayed late, worked from home, checked email with my morning coffee and felt like I was doing more than earning my keep, I was doing what a “good worker” does, I was devoting myself to my job/career/calling and finding happiness doing it!

So what was wrong with that? With the addition of two children into my life, I saw quickly how that practice was not really sustainable. I went part-time, still not getting the real message. Now, 20 years after leaving the Midwest I have found myself in my current– dream job– helping to share the message that we need to put happiness first and contributing (in my small way) to the happiness movement. But even now, working with the truth of positive psychology in my mind, my Midwestern mindset valuing hard work and touting that idle hands will do evil things still tries to rule my day. For example, this week my daughter asked me to take her to get our nails done, and I knew I should take the time to do it. But before I could say “sure,” I panic with that work ethic voice in my head: “oh man, should I do that?” Even though I’ve been told by numerous bosses that an hour of my time is worth several hours of another worker’s time (obviously not a Midwest worker, mind you), I still guilted myself over the 25 unanswered customer emails, social media ideas to sort, and a to list that I haven’t touched from last week.

Honestly, I don’t always make the right choice when it comes to choosing my priorities and this was a case of that. Sometimes the fear that I will lose my job if I’m not seen to be working hard enough (from that non-profit world of the recession when our department was cut from five employees with three and I absorbed the work of 1.5 people) keeps me from doing what I know will make me a better worker. I know that a break will make me a more productive worker. I made a meme about this very thing a few months ago, but the “work” model in my head is that I should stay at my desk and eat my lunch over email or watching videos and get back to the grindstone. I tell my daughter that we will have to wait to do our date next week. Then I spend the day at my computer checking off that to-do list like a madwoman, feeling that adrenalin rush!

Doh! But now I step back and I feel guilty that I can’t follow the model of “the happy secret to better work” (see Shawn’s TEDx talk on the topic or read our infographic). So I start another day and remind myself that each day is part of a week where I can I wean myself off the adrenaline rush, pride myself on scheduling special kid/mommy time, and take time to write and paint. When I take these steps, I know that I am working to reformulate my work ethic into one that I want to model for my children. …and that’s my happy secret!

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Daily Iowan Newspaper

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