Two weeks ago I finished teaching my first 3 credit hour Internet Marketing class at a large university.

As an Internet Marketing Speaker, I am used to speaking about Internet Marketing for an hour or two.  Sometimes I even do a half day Internet Marketing Workshop.  But I was a bit worried about teaching 40 hours of Internet Marketing lecture.

I should not have been worried.  Never before in my life have I ever been so keenly aware of what 17 years of Internet marketing experience has done for me.  40 hours only scratched the surface – those poor kids.  I had to take important things out to avoid burying them under far too much information.

If you are looking for an Internet Marketing Speaker, give me a call.  I can craft the kind of Internet marketing focus that will be custom and best for your audience.  What you will NOT get from me is a general summary of social media marketing strategies, as I think this is too common and many people are tired of hearing it.  I prefer to focus on using Internet Marketing for lead generation.  This is what people really value and enjoy learning, because it can change your life in a big sort of way.

Next week I am thrilled to be teaching a 3 credit hour course on Internet Marketing at Kent State University.

It is more work and more time for lower pay when you compare it to a normal 1-2 hour Internet Marketing Speaker gig, but it is really interesting to have the chance to spend 40 hours with a small group on students that are hungry for this kind of information.

If you are a speaker and have never done a big workshop that is longer than the normal speech you might do, here is what I learned.  Break it down into 30-60 minute speeches.  So 40 hours is basically 30 smaller speeches and some time for activities, project work, Q&A, live demos and more.

The Internet Marketing class I have designed and am going to teach is not “how to do Internet Marketing.”  It is actually how to work with different kinds of clients, assess their needs and propose the best Internet Marketing strategies and solutions to meet their goals within their budget.

Of course, I will be working with students to teach them the basics of Internet Marketing as well, but more in line with improving their ability to talk about it and plan for it.  A very valuable skill, if you don’t mind me saying.

Lately I have changed my small business blog speech to a presentation on how to use blogs to build your own lead generation engine.

If you are looking for sales and marketing speakers you really might want to give me a call.  This blog speech is totally different and gives people a real, step by step process to generate more leads for them for a very small cost.

I have some client making a lot more money after they built a blog lead generation engine and stuck to it for a few months.  The system is simple, but does take consistent effort.  However, if you see the value in increasing leads, it is a no brainer and can be completely outsourced if you do not have time to do it yourself.

The two biggest roadblocks to building a lead generation engine are:

1. Not enough profit in your product – if you have very low margins, the effort may not pay for itself.
2. Saturated marketplace – if you are too broad in an already competitive environment, you will take too long to see any results, usually resulting in people giving up before it ever becomes successful.

However, if you know how to focus and have a good product, building a lead generation engine is one of the best investments you can make.  Call me to discuss having this lead generation blog speech presented at your next event.

I have an odd set of skills.  I am decent at technology, a good speaker, astute marketer and passionate educator.

I am probably not great at any of these things.  I know better technology people.  I have seen better speakers that make me keenly aware of what the next level looks like.  I make an ok living with Internet Marketing, but not like the big Internet Gurus.  And in education, where I am most passionate, I do not do enough.

Starting in January I will be teaching at my second university.  But ultimately, what I really want to do is not teach – but transform.  I would like to transform learning in ways that make it about the students.  Few people know that when I quit my job at Ernst and Young many years ago, it was to form an education company.  Then we started doing consulting to pay the bills and lost site of what I originally wanted to achieve.  Just starting to explore that topic again.  I will continue to pay the bills as an Internet marketing speaker, SEO expert and consultant, but I am really looking forward to getting back into the area of education again.

I had a great time last week speaking at the Cleveland AMA (American Marketing Association)

It was my second visit in three years.

Normally in the past I was a social media speaker, and that was how they advertised the event.  Buzz Marketing and Social Media training.  However, that topic has become so common and over done that I have become more of a lead generation speaker to give my audience more value.  In the beginning of the presentation I asked if anyone would be upset if I did not spend much time on social media and instead focused on how to generate leads from the Internet.  There was actually a sense of relief.    The fact is, most people are tired of hearing about Facebook and Linkedin.  The presentation on using the web to build a sales and lead generation process was really well received.

Wednesday I am giving a Buzz Marketing speech at the Cleveland AMA.  This is my second time speaking there, and it is an excellent group to go talk to.

They are billing me as a buzz marketing speaker but I tend to think of myself as an Internet marketing speaker – or a client generation speaker.  I am kind of tired of everyone jumping on the social media bandwagon and talking about the advantages of connecting with the audience with social networking sites.

Instead, I now talk about how to build sites and strategies to attract the right kind of people – potential buyers – and how to encourage them to take action.

The tricky thing about the AMA presentation is that I will be discussing Buzz Marketing given that that is how they promoted me.  The good news is that customer generation is all about launching a content and sales funnel, and Buzz Marketing still helps you attract more people into the top of the sales funnel.  So it is still relevant.

I just hope that people do not come ready for more of a PR and Buzz Marketing spin.  They could be disappointed with the emphasis put on measuring and tracking Return on Investment on content and web marketing strategies.  However, my gut tells me that what I am doing now is much more valuable – and so does my pocketbook.

For a long time I have not taken LinkedIn very seriously for event promotion.  The fact is, I think Facebook is good for event promotion.  I think twitter is the easiest, but also the noisiest.

However, I am seeing more and more events being promoted by people forwarding them to me on LinkedIn and I am taking notice.  I would actually say it is a toss up how I find events I attend.  25% Blogs – 25% Facebook – 25% LinkedIn and 25% Word of Mouth.

This does not include those that I am acting as a marketing speaker at, as that is an entirely different thing.

I know this is not very scientific, but it is worth hearing from time to time how people are choosing the events they attend and if you see trends, you need to pay attention to the medium.  The interesting thing about all the ones I mentioned is none of them have to cost money – but they do take time to build an audience.

A good business to business marketing speaker is going to have some characteristics.

1. They are going to work in both small businesses, large businesses, different industries and at different levels.
2. They will have worked in business to business sales successfully.
3. A good Business to business marketing speaker will understand quality lead generation.
4. Business to Business Speakers better understand trends in Internet Marketing and social media.

If you need someone with all of these traits, give me a call.  After all, we help companies around the world, both big and small, build Internet Marketing Business to Business Lead Generation sites and people that learn that, end up with many more hot, targeted leads.

Speaker pricing is a tricky thing. I am a huge fan of having standard pricing and a package that is easy to talk about. As an SEO speaker and lead generation specialist I know that I can teach people to create millions of dollars in new leads, so in theory charging $300,000 for a two hour training session to 25 people would seem like a fair price.

No, I have not done any of those yet.

The reality of speaking fees is that many speakers are flexible but you cannot expect them to be always flexible. For example, they may be paying a commision to an agent or agency. They may be very busy and not do discount speeches. They may also be very selective about who they speak for.

For me, I try to do local free and low cost speeches if I am avalable and if the group is generally the kinds of people that stand a chance to buy from me.

I have even travelled across the country at cost to address the right groups. One I did last year has produced a huge number of clients and sales.

Why am I writing about this? Because if you are shopping for a marketing speaker and you are not sure who you can afford, you should just call and ask. But have a budget in mind, know what your audience will look like and if the speaker is not in the Baal park or just foes not seem interested, then move on and find another.

Good Sales and Marketing Speakers are not going to just hope to motivate a sales and marketing team for a few days.  Of course, the presentation should be like a jump start, but if you are bringing in a sales and marketing speaker you should also try to bring someone in that will give the team at least one new tool that will impact the bottom line.

For example, I teach people how to build lead generation engines.  This is a simple technique to use content, targeted keyword research and clear calls to action to attract the right people and encourage them to contact the client.  Sounds hard to someone that does not like technology, but I assure you that anyone can do this if they simply stick to it past the first couple of months were you need to build the momentum.

Speakers on sales and marketing may also teach your group how to use LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter or Blogs to attract more leads.  Just having an account with these things is rarely going to yield results.  You have to learn how to work the tools.

Regardless of the tools of the Sales and Marketing Speakers that you consider, make sure you bring in someone that will teach a new skill.  Even if the speaker only helps your team add 5% to the number of leads they are getting, that can be significant over time and that is a whole lot better than a little motivation that fades in one week.

I am a marketing speaker and I try to help the event planners as much as I can with events.  Sometimes that means showing up on time and keeping out of the way, and sometimes it includes some serious consulting on how to promote the event better.

It currently looks like I will be speaking on Internet Marketing in Chicago on Halloween weekend.  It kind of makes me sad because I have a 4 year old and I do not want to miss trick or treat.  However, if I can find out some good info, we can always go do it in Chicago.

But the reason I am writing this is that the event planner and I were discussing how much Halloween would effect event attendance.  Personally, since I have young kids I am 100% sure I would not go to the event, just as an attendee.  However, that will not effect people local to Chicago nor people that do not have young kids.  So I am just not sure how big of an impact it will have.

What do you think?  Leave a comment.  Would you go to a seminar on Halloween?  How much do you think it will effect attendance?

If you are looking for a Social Media Speaker and you want to get a great speaker and a great value for your audience, make sure that you are not booking a Social Media Speaker that is only going to talk about free internet traffic sources.

Free Internet Traffic from social media sites is great, but if your website or blog has not been optimized to convert visitors to leads, you are really wasting your time.  High traffic does not matter if your conversion rate is zero.

Here are some questions to ask your potential Social Media Speaker:

1. How do you make money with social media?  Does the speaker’s answers fit with your audience and industry focus?
2. How many different social media topics will you cover in one hour.  Hint: more is not better – anyone can give you a laundry list.  Far better to go into greater depth with fewer social media tools.
3. How do you capture leads from social media?  If they talk about relationships and do not talk about particular lead capture tools, then you are not talking to an expert.
4. Lastly, ask how much your Social Media Speaker makes in a given year from social media.  If they do not know, then they are not marketing speakers at all – marketing speakers know they have to measure results.  And if they are not making much money, then they do not really know what they are talking about.

Interview your potential Social Media Speaker for your Social Marketing Workshop or event.  Make sure they are not just covering the basics that almost everyone knows by now.

A Primer on How to Choose the Right Internet Marketing Speaker for your Web Marketing Seminar

When selecting a speaker for you internet marketing seminar it is best to consider first the topic of your marketing seminar. The second thing to consider is the type of audience that is expected to attend. If these two important considerations are neglected then you risk the possibility of not matching the right internet marketing speaker to your topic and audience.

Most people have a mindset of selecting the most popular marketing speaker available. This is understandable because most, if not all, famous internet marketing speakers will have their own website, so when someone searches the internet for a speaker, the website of the famous speakers appears first. Hiring a well-known internet marketing speaker will always draw a large number of people, but they also cost more.

Fortunately, there are plenty of suitable internet marketing speakers to be the keynote speaker of your internet marketing seminar. The well-known speakers are the quickest and easiest to find, but with a little more searching on the internet you will surely find speakers that are not so well known but are equally qualified and knowledgeable as the famous ones. Hiring a lesser known internet marketing speaker may not draw as much people, but they cost less and can even tailor-fit their message to your specific web marketing seminar topic which will be more beneficial to your targeted audience.

Aside from the fame or status of an internet marketing speaker, there are also different types of speakers such as:

Celebrity Personalities

These speakers are famous their stardom in radio, television, or the movies, rather than their knowledge and expertise in internet marketing. Celebrity speakers will always draw a large number of people. As long as you can afford their talent fees and are able to book them in advance, then a celebrity as your main speaker will definitely have people interested in attending your internet marketing seminar.

Educational Speakers

These speakers are the one who have “been there and done that” and are able to share their knowledge and experiences first hand. Educational speaker really have very important information to provide, however, some educational speakers are not able to convey their message without causing the audience to doze off, or cause the audience tune out the speaker midway through the seminar. Think university college professors.

Entertainment Speakers

These types of speakers can certainly hold the attention of the audience; however you will seldom find an entertainment speaker who has in-depth knowledge and can really educate the crowd and entertain them at the same time. Entertainment speakers are great when you have information but do not have the necessary public speaking skills to do it personally, an entertainment speaker can voice that information for you. Simply provide them with your own content and let them speak and entertain your audience at the seminar.

Motivational and Inspirational Speakers

These types of speakers are the ones that make the audience feel good about themselves. However, the one thing to keep in mind about motivational and inspirational speakers is that there are really no qualifications to meet in order to become a motivational speaker. Anyone can claim to be a motivational speaker and of course the audience will enjoy having their self-esteem and self-confidence raised a little bit. One thing to keep in mind when hiring these types of speakers is to make sure that they at least have some understanding and knowledge about internet marketing, and the specific internet marketing topic of your seminar.

Once you have decided on the type of speaker for your internet marketing seminar and have negotiated their rates and ensured that they also comply with your conditions, then you virtually guarantee that your seminar will be a success because you have an internet marketing speaker who will not only educate and entertain your audience, but they will also speak directly about your marketing topic, therefore, making it a worthwhile and beneficial experience to everyone who attends your web marketing seminars.

As a professional marketing speaker I can tell you that the idea of posting to my blog and writing articles on the road, in lines or waiting for a meeting to begin is sweet. I wish I could type a bit quicker and with less errors, but the iPhone is new and I will get better.

This post is just a test of the new wordpress app I just downloaded.

Anyone that has been a professional marketing speaker for any length of time can tell you that one of the advantages of being a professional speaker is that you get to know so many different people and industries.

I would have never thought a few years ago that I would help 100’s of Interior Designers grow their business. But after speaking at three different events and doing a webinar, I know that I have done that.

Country Clubs are another area that is interesting. When you are asked to speak to a group, the first thing you want to do is get to know the unique issues around the industry. With country clubs, I was speaking to vendors and managers, so it was a mixed message.

The country club managers wanted to increase membership and retention. Twitter is not going to do that! Country clubs have an issue with their entire business model. I would argue that the problem for Country Clubs is that business is less exclusive than it used to be. Resources are spread more evenly and there are less people willing to pay a country club membership fee. Especially if they cannot take their family in to use the pool. It is actually a very interesting thing to watch them try to retain their older members while reinvent themselves for the new reality they face.

Then there are the vendors that sell to country clubs. These people will spend a year or more trying to build a relationship and get their products into the country club. With how quickly the board members for the country club change, they can spend a year or two building the right relationships only to see it evaporate when the board members change.

In both of these cases, online buzz, social media and Internet Lead Generation may not seem like a perfect speaking topic. However, there is a variety of ways it fits in.

For the country club, having public events to get new people to experience the club can be very powerful. I recently drove two hours to Pittsburgh to attend an event I saw on Facebook.

For the vendor, managing and enhancing their online reputation and visibility can increase the odds of a sale – sooner. It may also help them jump start the new relationships. Since the online reputation is something you can do essentially for free in the evenings, it does not cut into your business hours.

I am often surprised at how Internet Marketing can be adapted to any audience. Obviously, some groups can get more out of it than others, but it is rare to not find some way to tie it in.