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.

There is such a diversity of Internet Marketing Speaker Topics that I thought I would list a few that I prefer and more that others may be more appropriate for.

My favorite Internet Marketing Speaker Topics are:

1. Build your own lead generation engine
2. Internet Marketing Strategy and Overview
3. Employee Brand Ambassadors
4. Business Blogging
5. Social Media and Lead Generation
6. Online Brand Building
7. Word of Mouth and the Web
8. Email as a Relationship Building Tool

Now some Internet Marketing Speaker Topics that I do not do:

1. Pay Per Click Marketing
2. FaceBook for Business Results
3. Online Advertising
4. JV – Joint Venture Strategies

Sure there are more, but those are just some ideas whether you are interested in hiring me as an Internet Marketing Speaker or you are looking for someone else.  Make sure you do not go too broad (Like just Internet Marketing) becauce a broad topic like that will not be of great value to anyone.

Internet Marketing Workshops for business need to have a focus on how to generate real, targeted and exclusive leads frm the Internet.  Ron McDaniel is the perfect choice as your Internet Marketing Speaker for Internet Marketing Workshops because his specialty is how to use social media, blogging and other Internet tools to build powerful, online lead generation engines.

In fact, he has engineered his own Lead Generation Software that produces leads every day for a wide range of clients.

But the Internet Marketing presentation is not about the lead generation software.  It is about how to think like your prospect and help them find you and make them a clear offer to encourage the visitor to become a lead for your company.  This powerful strategy has produced millions of dollars of leads only a few months after its release.

The Internet Marketing Presentation will make a great deal of sense to the small business owners that have been struggling with Internet Marketing and assuming that their product just does not sell on the web.  In fact, you need a complete strategy, not just a few web pages.  When business owners understand that, and the value the additional leads can produce, it completely changes the attention and effort that small business owners pay to Internet Marketing and online lead generation.

A B2B Lead Generation Speaker that is really a good value and enjoyed by a wide range of business owners and sales professionals is someone that can show people how to use simple tools to build an online B2B Lead Generation Engine.

Imagine that a few days after attending a business conference or a workshop, you start receiving targeted, exclusive leads into your sales funnel.  People that really want you to call them and provide a product or service to them.

This is just the kind of B2B Lead Generation Speaker that Ron McDaniel is.  He builds online lead generation engines for businesses every day and helps them cut through the complexity of SEO and the myriad of social networking tools and focus in on those things that will produce great leads the fastest.

If you are looking for a marketing speaker that will be of great value to B2B sales people, give Ron a call.

If you are looking for a marketing speaker for your non profit event, there are two things that are very important to consider.

1. Does the marketing speaker have non profit experience?  For example, I am on two non profit boards, and one of them I have been on for three years and hold a non profit officer position.
2. Can the marketing speaker present to the non profit in a way that addresses the individual needs of the non profit?  This is easier said than done, especially because a non profit workshop or seminar on Internet Marketing, for example, may have a variety of people that need different things, even if they are in the same non profit industry.  For example, are they more interested in SEO or Non Profit Blogging or PR?  Do they want to drive up clients?  Drive up donations and fundraising?  Do they want to pass levies or influence politics?

Keep in mind that the marketing speaker you choose for your next non profit event should be flexible and ask what the goals are for your group.  A good speaker can always adapt their materials to the needs of your audience, but it takes planning up front.

Many people in organizations think about Sales and Marketing as the same function.

If you work in those areas, you know just how different they are.  A Marketing Speaker should help your audience generate leads.  For example, I am a Lead Generation Marketing Speaker.  I train people in how to use Inbound Marketing to generate leads through improving business blogging, calls to action, social media and more.

I do not do Sales Speaking because, even though I am closing sales all the time, I do not feel like I am good enough to teach others to do it.  In fact, I believe the only reason I am good at sales is because I am great at generation high quality, targeted leads.  I really only have to talk to people that contact me, and I close a fair amount of sales.

This means that if you are looking for a sales and marketing speaker, there is a good chance you are looking for two professional speakers because it is hard to be a true expert in both these fields.  And anyway, a marketing speaker that does a speech will then segway into a sales speaker that will talk about the sales funnel very well.

Before attending any Internet Marketing Workshops or training opportunities, always define exactly what you want to get out of the program before you sign up – and look at the agenda to be sure that it is going to meet your needs.

I am an Internet Marketing Speaker and I always tailor the Marketing Presentation to the audience.  That is sometimes easier said than done – especially if you know that people are going to come in with unrealistic expectations.

I do a lot of Internet Marketing Workshops for Non Profits, and these can be very challenging.  If the audience already thinks that they can use the Internet to drive up fundraising, they are not going to like what they hear.  It is easy to set up a fundraising page and a donation process, but it is much harder to build relationships with people via the web to make them want to give you money.

I sit on the board of several non profits, and in one case, I saw everyone get very excited after another Internet Marketing Speaker talked about the “Tell a Friend” feature on the software he is selling.

That stuff can work, don’t get me wrong, but you have to ask yourself – what percentage of visitors want to forward an email to a friend about mental illness?  It takes more than the tool – it takes a compelling message and a realistic look at how your are developing the relationship.

Internet Marketing Workshops and Training are important and valuable, but don’t go to one and allow yourself to be sold.  Go to the workshop and know in advance what you want to get out of it, and ask yourself if the information fits with the vision of where you want your organization to go.

If you are putting on an event where there will be a lot of small business owners, you want to do an assessment of your small business speakers before you choose which one to hire for the small business event.

Of course, there are a variety of elements to look at.  What is the small business crowd interested in and what will make your event spectacular?

Begin by doing this:  What is the most important to your small business audience?  Of course, if you will have multiple speakers you will hire multiple small business speakers to fill there roles.

1. Entertainment – Funny and Enjoyable Speaker?
2. Celebrity – Do people know the small business speaker and wish to have similar success?
3. Training – Do you want someone that will teach valuable information to small business owners?
4. Motivational – Do you want a motivational small business speaker to inspire people to reach their goals?

While every speaker wants to bring elements of all of these to the speech, you can be sure they do focus on one or two more than the others.  Could you imagine a big name celebrity doing a training speech?  So your first assessment might be to ask a small business speaker, if they have to pick one, which of those four best describes them.

Personally, I would answer that I do training and motivational speaking, depending on the audience.  While I am fun as well, I am also passionate about giving people the tools to go back to the office and make big time changes in their income stream.

Next, you should write a list of Small Business Speaking Topics that you consider of interest to your audience.  Then put these in order of interest, highest to lowest.  You might even do  a survey in advance to let your audience tell you what they will find most interesting.

Your list might look like this:

1. Low Cost Marketing for Small Business
2. Sales
3. Branding
4. Employee Management
5. Health Care Costs

You then take your narrow list of up to 10 topics, and as you interview possible Small Business Speakers, you ask them to put them in the order of their expertise.  They can simply mark off those topics they do not cover at all.

The reason you do this is that many speakers can adjust their presentation to fit many needs.  For example, I speak on Business Blogging, Branding, Word of Mouth Marketing, Lead Generation and more.  Fairly broad – but they are all inter-related.  So if you are looking for a small business marketing speaker, I could fit the need in a variety of places, but you would want to know what is my strongest area.

Of course, you take these two sets on data and compare them to your need.  Don’t pick the person you like the best of that you found by accident, let the numbers to the talking.  Who best matches your goals.

Now before you hire the speaker, you do want to look at testimonials, experience, speaker cost, etc.  There are still a lot of intangibles that must be considered – but if you go into the search with a clear idea of what you want, you are more likely to produce the event that you intended.

If you are looking for an Professional Public Speaker and that is an Internet Marketing Speaker, you may want to narrow your search a bit.  Internet Marketing is even broader than advertising or small business.

Think about what you want an Internet Marketing Speaker to speak on:

1. Coding a Website?  HTML?  XML?
2. Video Production?
3. Search Engine Optimization?
4. Viral Marketing?
5. Lead Generation?
6. Blogging?
7. Social Media?  FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter?
8. Wikis?
9. Linking Strategies?
10. How to Attract more Traffic?
11. How to do Google Adwords?
12. Flash?
13. CRM Integration?
14. Email Marketing?
15. EBay?
16. Personal Branding?
17. …. you get the idea ….

This list can get very long.  Remember, just like when you start building a website, you need to start with the exact outcome you want – then you choose the vehicle to get there.  If your case, what do you want your audience to learn or get out of the presentation, THEN choose the Internet Marketing Speaker to get the job done.

If you are looking for an Internet Marketing Speaker that will help people use Social Media and Business Blogging to achieve a HIGH increase in leads on the web, then I am the best Internet Marketing Speaker for you.  You can request more information here.

If you are doing an event and the audience is business owners and sales and marketing professionals, it makes sense to make sure your Speakers for business topics are going to provide a high value to the companies.

Of course, they have to be entertaining and informative.

Sales and Marketing Speakers in particular can have a big impact on the audience if they can truly increase the sales and marketing effectiveness.

That is why Ron McDaniel is the best Sales and Marketing Speaker for your event if you are looking for effective, easy techniques to grow sales through simple, free marketing techniques on the web.

Most Speakers for Business make the audience feel good, but how much does it really impact the audience a week later?

Instead, imagine you have a session that is entitled “Build Your Own Lead Generation Engine in 60 Minutes.”  Business owners, sales people and marketing professionals will be lining up for that one.

And that is what Ron speaks about.  Ron McDaniel is a sales and marketing speaker for businesses that want measurable results. Using simple web tools and solid lead generation strategies to help people find you and buy from you.

Contact Ron to see if he is available for your next event.

Recently I overhauled my marketing speaker website to focus on better search and better lead generation.  I am breaking up the blogging aspect into various categories that will interest people looking for particular topics for particular audiences.

• Board Speaker
• Branding Speakers
• Buzz Marketing
• Company Speaker
• Corporate Speaker
• Marketing Speaker
• Presenter Internet
• Sales and Marketing Speakers

I wanted to create information that would help event planners actually make the best choices possible for hiring a marketing speaker – even if that speaker is not me.

• SEO Speaker
• Small Business Speaker
• Social Media Speaker
• University Speaker

Sample list of past speaking opportunities.

Social Media Buzz, Ohio Association of County Boards of MRDD
Columbus, Ohio 2009 Spring Conference

Racing Symposium, Race Track Industry Program
University of Arizona, 2008 Tucson AZ

American Society of Women Accountants
Akron, Ohio 2008

Corporate College, Buzz Marketing for Entrepreneurs
Cleveland, 2007

BMW Owners Club, Buzz for Membership Growth
King of Prussia, PA 2007

Solar 2007, Creating Buzz for Renewable Energy
Cleveland, Ohio 2007

Internet Marketing, Babcox Publications
Fairlawn, Ohio 2008

Institute of Management Group,  Internet Marketing for Small Business
Cleveland 2009

Small Business Marketing, AAF Michiana – MAC Michiana
2008 South Bend, IN

Business of Design, Designing Profits, Inc.
2007 Las Vegas, NV

Coleman Professional Services, Private Sales Training
2007 Kent, Ohio

Social Media Marketing, Sales and Marketing Executives International
2008 Canton, OH

Celebrity You, Designing Profits, Inc.
2006 Atlanta, GA

Buzz Marketing Workshop, ASID Carolinas
2008 Myrtle Beach, SC

Non-Profit Blogging, Mental Health Care America
2008 Denver CO

Social Media, Kent State University Guest Lecturer
2007 Kent, OH

The Ruby Group, Private Buzz Marketing Workshop
2007 Cuyahoga falls, Ohio

Word of Mouth & Buzz Marketing, Boardroom Magazine
2007 Boca Raton, FL

The Women’s Network, Buzz Marketing
2009 Akron Ohio

Word of Mouth Marketing, Boardroom Magazine
2006 Los Angeles, CA

Word of Mouth – Levy – Kent city Schools
2007 Kent, Ohio

Word of Mouth Marketing, American Marketing Association
2007 Cleveland, OH

Kent AIGA – University Presentation on Personal Branding
Kent, Ohio 2008

Chambers of Commerce

Fairview Park Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Kent Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Streetsboro Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Aurora Ohio Chamber of Commerce, North Olmstead Chamber of Commerce, Olmstead Falls Chamber of Commerce, Lakewood Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Hudson Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Cuyahoga Falls Chamber of Commerce, Twinsburg Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

Internet Marketing for Small Business, Tallmadge Rotary
Tallmadge Ohio 2009

Also many other Rotary and Chambers.

One of the advantages of hiring speaker in your state is that they should give you a discount.

Why?

Because when I am speaking within a two hour drive, I can come to the event, speak and return home on the same day.  This certainly entitles someone to a big discount.  When I speak someplace where I have to fly, I often miss 2.5 days of work, which means I have to charge much higher rates to make up for the travel time.

So if you are looking for an Internet Marketing Speaker in any of the following cities, give me a call and we can discuss your event.

• Speakers in Cleveland, Ohio
• Speakers in Akron, Ohio
• Speakers in Pittsburgh, PA
• Speakers in Toledo, Ohio
• Speakers in Erie, PA
• Speakers in Columbus, Ohio

Slightly outside of this radius but still entitled to a discount are events in Buffalo  New York, Cincinnati  Ohio, Detroit Michigan, Dayton Ohio, Fort Wayne Indiana and Indianapolis Indiana.  Plus, I really enjoy visiting Toronto, Canada so invite me up and I will be there.

To request more information on hirig a speaker for your next event, submit a request.