Summary: What works better: offline or online marketing? Live events – no way! I hate speaking to a crowd of people. Yellow pages have always worked great for us, so why change our strategy now? How about we stick to Facebook and Google AdWords and forget the rest?<br> These are questions that pop up in a lot of small business owners’ minds.<br> Actually they are thinking patterns. They are so ingrained in people’s belief systems and marketing agendas that it’s become hard for them to open up for new ways of driving sales and thus taking the business to the next level.<br> This is the fourth part of the Small Business Owners series I started recently. In the previous months, I covered the topics of <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-social-media/">social media</a>, <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-facebook-advertising/">Facebook advertising </a>and <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-amazon-kindle/">Amazon Kindle</a>. Today, I’d like to shift from the online to the offline world, that is I’d like to talk to you about harnessing the power of live events.<br> Adding Live Events to Your Marketing Portfolio<br> The fear of public speaking is considered one of the biggest phobias across the world. According to the Chapman University survey on American fears, published in <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/30/clowns-are-twice-as-scary-to-democrats-as-they-are-to-republicans/?utm_term=.01a7914593f9">The Washington Post</a>, 25,3% of Americans say they fear speaking in front of the crowd – making public speaking the number #1 phobia in the country.<br> By now, I can hear some of you loud and clear:<br> “Great Krisz, now you suggest I get up in front of some unknown people and talk about my stuff?”<br> Not so fast, my friends.<br> What I suggest is the following:<br> 1. Allocate part of your marketing budget to running live events. You don’t have to start with a crowd of 300 people; do a live workshop with say 10-20 people.<br> 2. Prepare yourself to talk to a crowd of people that is made up of your ideal prospects. Don’t make the mistake of talking to an unknown audience. Know the crowd. Know their problems, frustrations and pains. Know what they are looking for. This will put you in the best place possible and take out some of the fear you have for public speaking.<br> 3. Master the topic you’re going to talk about. If you’ve been in business for some time and you’ve achieved a certain level of success, your audience will definitely want to know how you got there and more importantly, how you managed to overcome all the obstacles and roadblocks along the way to turn your business around. It’s what savvy small business owners do: they want to learn from successful peers.<br> How to Pick the Right Format<br> There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question.<br> Some of you will want to talk about best practices; others will prefer to walk the audience through a checklist that has proven to work. Some of you will focus on features, benefits and advantages of certain products; others will do live demonstrations and ask each participant to repeat the process.<br> Whatever topic and format you choose, make sure you follow these guidelines:<br> <br> * Add massive value.<br> * Know what you’re talking about: make sure you have a ton of experience and a proven record.<br> * Answer all questions. In case you don’t know the answer to a question, you email the person the answer later on.<br> * Provide transcripts and other useful materials related to the topic you covered.<br> * Include a strong call-to-action at the end. Make a compelling offer that is hard to refuse.<br> <br> The last rule on the list is critical.<br> You’re talking to your ideal prospects and clients.<br>
