NaturalMarketingSystem

Speaking at Invest in Property Show

Last Friday (13th!), Saturday and Sunday I hauled myself up to London each day to speak at the Invest in Property Show at Earl's Court. Unfortunately for the show, it fell on the hottest weekend of the year so far which meant it wasn't as well attended as it could have been but I was over-the-moon that all three of my talks were packed out. This was especially satisfying since the guy who was on before me on the Sunday (a particularly quiet day at the show) didn't even bother speaking as nobody showed up!

I do enjoy speaking at shows like this for many reasons, which I've listed here because I would urge anyone in business to get out there and get speaking engagements at events that fall into their niche. Here's why I do it:

- it raises my profile and looks great when I can list these events on my promo materials;
- every time I speak, even though I've been doing it for many years, I feel I'm improving my presentation skills;
- I love the appreciation I get from audience members when I share my knowledge;
- you never know who is in the audience and what other business can come from the contacts you make;
- the great questions from the audience make you work and exercise your intelligence muscles (if you want to learn something more deeply, teach someone else);
- it's a great opportunity to actually sell.

On the last item, I've already now booked up 3 property mentorships with me on the back of these talks, so it was certainly worth the train fare and my time getting up to London.  All in all, it probably cost me around £130 for this publicity (and a large chunk of that was payment for the 3 x Kir Royales I enjoyed at The Metropolitan in Park Lane whilst waiting to meet Marilyn Manson - but that's another story). What other great marketing (with lucrative sales) could you buy for this small amount?

Learn to present on your subject and get out there and do it!

A New Website to Build the Brand

Things are pretty exciting chez Maria right now because I've finally completed work on a website focused on one of my two speaking niches - property investment.

Women in Property Investment (WiPi) now boasts book reviews, resources for property investors, a great discussion forum, property investment speakers and more.  It'll work hand-in-hand with my presentations/naturally marketing yourself site to both establish and market my personal niche and brand.  If you take a look at both sites:

www.naturalmarketingsystem.com

www.womeninpropertyinvestment.com

you should notice certain similarities.  Although they're completely different sites, the colour scheme and the "feel" is the same - take a look.

So here's what you need to consider: 

• what are your niches within your niche (beware of creating too many or you'll split your focus and muddy the waters when trying to tell people what you're about)
• what is the look and feel you need to create (this includes colours, fonts, layout, page size, etc.)

Then, I suggest you get feedback from others.  Get them to take a look and let you know whether the marketing materials convey the same message and are recognizable as being a part of your brand.

Websites are a great starting point because they can be easily changed and easy for people to view and give you instant feedback.  Once you start shelling out for printed materials, you're much less likely to chuck it all out and start again if it's not quite right, so use your website as your testing ground.

Oh and, by the way, let's have your feedback on my sites please!

One Minute Presentations

This morning, I attended a BNI (Business Network International) breakfast meeting, standing in for a good friend who was unable to make it.  It involves a pretty early start - 6.45am!!  Which, for me, requires a 5.30am rise (the time taken to get ready increases with age, I find).

The aim of the meeting is that each of the members gets to give a 1 minute presentation stating:

• what their business does
• why people should do business with them
• what sort of business referral they're looking for this week

The idea behind BNI is a sound one - that everyone has a chance to get to know, like and trust each other and find out how they can refer clients to each other's business.

It's also a perfect example of how learning to give an impactful presentation - even for just 1 minute - can make a HUGE difference to the amount of business you can get.

I have no doubt at all that none of the attendees this morning think of themselves as presenters, but the fact is that everyone in business is both a presenter and a salesperson.

So if you're resisting learning how to market yourself by learning to give EFFECTIVE sales presentations because you like to think you don't need to present, get over it and learn. It's a skill that will not only remain with you forever but the training will pay for itself many times over in increased business.

Look out for an announcement of my next Powerful Persuasive Presentations Seminar COMING SOON!

Here's what some of my previous delegates said:

"I had high expectations. This weekend really did deliver more than I expected in every way"

"Valuable secrets into the tricks and techniques great presenters use to deliver inspiring presentations.  Maria shared these freely and honestly"

"The feedback session on each presentation was particularly valuable in understanding ways to improve"