Over the years, I’ve measured the marketing that we do at Appletree (because measuring your marketing is very important!) and I’ve noticed a trend. Every year, about 40% of our new business comes as a result of me speaking in public about marketing. Speaking also works well for many of our clients, so this blog will show you how you can use it for your service business too.

When you run a service business, you don’t necessarily have a product that you can show to people. Unless you’ve written a book, or produced a mug with your company logo on, you don’t have anything tangible to promote. This means that the marketing you need to do for your service – whether that’s coaching, consulting or training – is very different to how you would promote a product. When you provide a service, your clients are really buying you and your expertise. You need a way of ‘displaying’ your wares, which is where speaking in public comes in. Let me tell you how some of our clients do it and how we do it at Appletree.

How does Speaking work for our clients?

Tom is a very talented and very funny street performer and magician. He’s been wowing audiences with his tricks and humor since he was a teenager. After a number of years of earning a living from performing on the streets of Covent Garden, come rain or shine – and rather of lot of rain through the winter months – Tom decided it was time for a more grown up job. We talked through all the marketing options available to him. Because of his talent to speak to crowds of people, we knew that speaking in public would not be a problem for him. The challenge would be finding him the initial speaking opportunities, as Tom wasn’t well known in his local area for speaking – just for messing around on the top of a uni-cycle.

First we created a simple, professional website at www.TomBalmontTalks.com, which prospective clients can look at and that shows Tom’s credibility. Then he started attending networking events, where he could meet potential clients and give short talks. His talks are full of advice and tips – he generously shares much of what he’s learnt as a street performer to help business owners become more resilient. No sales pitch, just advice. After one such event, Tom was approached by someone who runs a large company in Oxford. They asked him to deliver a short talk at the company’s summer BBQ. 10 minutes for which Tom was paid hundreds of pounds! That’s a nice way to earn a living.

Use public speaking, in combination with your other marketing tools, for a really effective way of growing your service business.