11 Ideas to Make Your Speaking Business Boom in 2011

The New Year is here and optimism abounds. We all have visions of a better year than last year -- even if last year was great -- but progress won't be made magically. You have to DO something. So, what will you do to make a great year in your speaking business? Here are 11 ideas to get you started:

1. Launch an e-learning program. Virtually everyone you speak to during the year is a potential enrollee, as are your book buyers, website visitors, and others. You could even offer customized programs for individual client organizations as add-ons to your keynotes.

2. Target new, largely untapped (by you) sectors or industries. Maybe there’s a particular market you’ve always felt you could help, or maybe you’ve had great success with a few companies in a certain industry. Develop and launch a campaign with maximum relevance for those prospects.

3. Think about how you can educate prospective clients about what you can offer and how you can help them instead of just how you can “advertise” to them — a subtle, but significant shift.

4. Update and/or enhance your website. Make it a more valuable resource for visitors (of all sorts, from consumers, to planners, to executives) and load it with content that will improve your search ranking for your most desired search terms.

5. Start (or overhaul) your e-newsletter. Consistently sharing valuable content with prospective clients and customers is a great way to cultivate business.

6. Lower the barrier to entry for prospective clients and customers. What options do you currently have for someone to buy from you, book you, or hire you? Offer some valuable resources for free to get people in the door. Instead of offering just a keynote, would offering virtual programs like webinars make you more accessible to certain clients? Obviously you want the “big sale,” but you’ll lose a number of the prospective “big sale” customers if you don’t offer intermediate options.

7. Start (and regularly update) a blog. (This is another application of #10 above.) For improved efficiency, you can use your blog content to put your e-newsletter on autopilot.

8. Collect more email addresses (from your website visitors, event attendees, book readers, everyone!) and market appropriate products, services and solutions to them.

9. Do an inventory of your business assets (contacts, relationships, content, marketing materials, etc.) and look for untapped opportunities to leverage them. For example, do you have quality content that’s currently collecting dust? There’s material for your e-learning program, blog, newsletter, articles, and more. (See how so much of this ties together?)

10. License your content to associate speakers, coaches or trainers. To me, a successful speaking business is one in which you maximize your reach and maximize your revenue (and specifically, your profits). It’s hard (actually, impossible) to do that if you don’t involve others.

11. Engage with a coach, consultant or mentor to help you reach new heights. If there’s a ceiling or obstacle you haven’t been able to break through yet, a coach who can challenge you, teach you and inspire you may be the missing ingredient.

Which of these ideas are already on your radar for this year? Which do you think will have the biggest impact on your unique business?

Whatever you do, just remember the words of Napoleon Hill:

"Plan the work. Work the plan."

Make it a great year!