When you provide a service, such as coaching, consulting or training, the best ways to promote what you do is by showing people what you do. Anyone who is looking to buy a service is unlikely to pay a lot of money to someone they’ve not heard of, who they’ve not met or who hasn’t been recommended to them. Your prospects need to get an idea of what you can do for them, before they part with their hard earned money. They need to trust that you can do what you say you can do – that you will actually deliver the results you say you can. Just reading words on a website or in a brochure about how great you are will not be enough. You need to get out there and show off your knowledge, experience and skills.

Just like many of the bands and musicians do these days. With so much music available for low prices over the internet, most musicians no longer rely on making money by selling ‘records’ – if you can remember them! Downloads are so cheap and there is so much competition now, with new acts popping up in bedrooms all around the world. The bands who are serious about their craft know they need to get out there and perform.

Last year at a music festival I discovered two new UK bands I’d not heard, or heard of before. After thoroughly enjoying dancing in a field on a warm, August evening, I went home and bought copies of their CDs. Seeing a band play live if much more compelling than just hearing one track on the radio. I still listen to those CDs regularly and both bands have new CDs coming out soon, so they’re on my Amazon Wish List! As well as being paid to appear on the stage, those bands found a new customer (me) through their appearances last summer. And I know that I wasn’t the only person in the audience to enjoy their music, so they will have found more new customers that night.

That weekend, we were also treated to live performances from four unsigned acts. They had been ‘discovered’ in a local pub open mic night by the organizer of the festival. He was so impressed that he invited them to come along and perform a couple of their songs each. All of them wrote and performed their own music – none of this manufactured rubbish that TV programmes spit out.

Now I’m not suggesting that you have to take to a festival stage to sing your heart out in order to show off what you do. But you do need to take to a stage to show people what you can do. Speaking in public to groups of potential clients is a great way to promote your business. It’s not about standing there and boring the audience with how great you are. It’s about sharing your knowledge and expertise with them. It’s about being generous and helping them through your experience. It’s about giving them a taster of what you do and how you help your clients.

So your homework for this month is to look for ‘festivals’ where your prospective clients hang out, especially when they’re having fun and not thinking too much about work. For example, if your target clients are Accountants, think about where they go to network and learn about developing themselves or their businesses. Look for annual conferences and events where your prospects are open to learning, rather than ones where they’re just focusing on selling their services.

Then get out there and get on stage, to show off your talents to your prospective clients! In the meantime, I’m off to hear some more great, live music this month!

Live Date for Your Diary

2 September 2016 – Marketing and Sales Bootcamp for speakers, in London. I’ve been asked to run the Marketing half of this full day workshop that’s being put on by the PSA (Professional Speaking Association.) The workshop is aimed at people who want to develop a speaking business. It will also be ideal for any coaches, consultants and trainers who are looking to use speaking to grow their businesses. We’ll take you through my simple 9 stage process to help you to work out what’s the best marketing for your business and then create a schedule to help you actually carry out your marketing and get the results you want! Book online here.