How to Promote Yourself Through Other People’s Teleclasses - If you’re looking for a way to get massive amounts of free exposure for your coaching business, one of the best moves you can possibly make is to get booked regularly to speak on teleclasses hosted by other people or organizations.
How to Promote Yourself Through Other People’s Teleclasses
By Milana Leshinsky
Mar 23, 2011 - 10:16:25 AM
If you’re looking for a way to get massive amounts of free exposure
for your coaching business, one of the best moves you can possibly make
is to get booked regularly to speak on teleclasses hosted by other
people or organizations.
These days, you’d have to be living under a rock not to notice how
popular teleclasses are for achieving online visibility. Barely a day
goes by when I don’t receive e-mails, read Twitter posts or see Facebook
announcements and invitations regarding someone’s newest teleclass
offering. And despite the explosion of these events, I can’t imagine
them diminishing either in number or effectiveness any time soon. If
anything, this form of marketing is still in a major growth phase.
Why have teleclasses become such a popular marketing tool? Simple:
they cost little or nothing to produce, can fit into a variety of
schedules, allow for direct connection with potential clients during
question and answer times, and can later be sold as standalone or
packaged products via mp3 recordings, CDs, transcripts and so on. As a
result, the people and organizations that regularly provide teleclasses
want and need a steady supply of fresh speakers and topics to offer to
their followers or members.
That’s where you come in.
If you do your
homework up front about who provides teleclasses on a regular basis,
what target audiences they reach and what kinds of subjects they like to
cover during teleclasses, you’ll find a host of new pathways for
sharing your own messages and services at no cost to you.
Here are the steps you need to take in order to get yourself booked on other people’s teleclasses:
1. Brainstorm topics that you can knowledgeably
talk about and have a level of passion for. Select one or two that you
think would make the most appealing teleclasses. Not sure what to talk
about? Type “teleclass” into a search engine to see what topics other
speakers cover in order to get ideas of your own. Or go back and take a
look at some of your more popular articles or blog posts and see which
ones can be developed further.
2. Keep your internet antenna up for people who
already offer teleclasses with guest speakers. You can use search
engines to locate people, watch your Twitter stream to see who is
promoting teleclasses (or go to http://hashtags.org and search the term
“teleclass” to find the latest tweets about them), and skim your
Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media pages invitations to upcoming
teleclasses.
3. Note that there are now a ton of virtual professional associations
that use teleclasses to attract new members. Look for the ones that
do, and whose members might show the most interest in your topics.
Associations exist for many professions and trades, business people and
entrepreneurs, coaches and writers of all kinds, virtually every sort of
hobbyist and enthusiast, and so forth.
4. Once you find people or associations you think you would like to contact
with your teleclass idea, attend some of their teleclasses first to see
how they go. Many of these are free to dial into, except perhaps for a
long distance telephone charge. Take note of their format. Are they
done as interviews or does the guest speaker give a talk, followed by a Q
and A session? Does the person sponsoring or conducting the teleclass
introduce the speaker with a bio, and allow the speaker to mention his
or her website or other contact information? During question times, do
listeners participate? Getting a feel for these things will enable you
to better prepare for when your own speaking opportunities arise.
5. Send an e-mail to those people or organizations that
you would like to do a teleclass with. Indicate your background, offer
a couple of options for topics you could cover, and explain why you
think their members or followers might benefit. Continue this step with
a number of people and organizations until you have a solid number of
bookings.
6. Once the teleclass is arranged, don’t just
leave the promotion to the sponsor to handle. Send press releases
publicizing the class, talk about it on Twitter and Facebook, mention it
in your newsletter or blog and so forth. This makes the teleclass a
win-win for both you and your host.
The real beauty of teleclasses that get recorded and distributed via
CD or mp3 is that they have a way of immortalizing you somewhat.
Someone may discover you and your services on a CD long after you gave
the interview or held the class. A 30 or 60-minute talk given this year
can bring you positive publicity for years to come.
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