Tweet

An Elevator Speech an Indispensable Tool for Self Promotion

Written by: Molly Gordon

Article Overview: An elevator speech is an indispensable tool for promoting your work. It is a sentence or two that you can deliver in the space of an elevator ride that expresses the essence of your unique offer. Learn how to prepare it.

An Elevator Speech an Indispensable Tool for Self Promotion

SPADEWORK FOR YOUR ELEVATOR SPEECH
An elevator speech is an indispensable tool for promoting your work. What is an elevator speech? It is a sentence or two that you can deliver in the space of an elevator ride that expresses the essence of your unique offer.

Believe it or not, your elevator speech can be a lovely specimen from the garden that is your practice or business, a unique and authentic expression of the offer that you are and thus an invaluable tool of self promotion. This is the first step in creating such a speech.

Take five minutes and invite into your awareness those aspects of your work that amaze and delight you. Jot down words and short phrases as they occur to you. Don't worry about making sense or connections. You are gathering raw material here and, believe it or not, the less sense you make at this stage, the more authentically you will be able to articulate your passion and purpose later.

Choose two words that you find especially evocative. Trust yourself and go with your instincts here. There are no wrong choices. Look up each word in a dictionary and a thesaurus, faithfully copying the definitions (all of them, even those that seem not to apply) and the synonyms. To go deeper, look up the roots of your words in an etymological dictionary.

Reflect upon these words, their meanings and associations, and write down what you notice. Was there a surprise in what you found? An "Aha!"? A dissonance? A resonance?

Keep your notes in your notebook where you can draw on them whenever you need to tell someone about your work.

SOUND TRACK FOR YOUR ELEVATOR SPEECH
Review your notes from the Spadework for Your Elevator Speech. What theme song would you like to have playing in the background when you use an elevator speech? Get a copy of this song and play it often while you work on your marketing.

WRITE AN ELEVATOR SPEECH
Drawing on (the work you have done thus far in the course) your spadework, write an elevator speech, a one- or two-sentence statement you can make in 15 seconds or less that introduces you and your unique offer.

Your elevator speech should have the general form, "I do (nature of service) for (ideal client) so that they can (benefit to the client)."

Here are two elevator speeches I use:
-- I help independent professionals and artists build great businesses and have lives they love.
-- I help independent professionals market their businesses so their work feeds their souls as well as their bank accounts.

A good elevator speech will most likely evolve over days, weeks, or months. Start the evolutionary process by writing your first draft today. In other words, don't wait for the perfect elevator speech. Write an imperfect one, use it, and the perfect one will evolve in time.

* * *

Visit AuthenticPromotion.com to find more sound advice on self promotion, niche marketing, marketing plan components, and letters of gratitude as one of the building blocks of your marketing plan.

Related Articles
  The Dreaded Elevator Speech – Important for Job Seekers and Attorneys
  Developing Your Elevator Speech
  An Elevator Speech Can Open Closed Doors
  A Duck Walks into a Bar
  The #1 Interview Question That Candidates Find Most Difficult

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Wow! - Wow, this comes in as a close second to one of the best resources listed on EC.com. The first for me was the free Camtasia Tool.
Different Hats - CEO Sales & Marketing & Leadership Development Company Strategic Vision 10 Alliances & Growth Strategies 10 Hiring & Managing People 8 Mentoring 8-9 Strategic Planning for Clients 10 Execution of Marketing Campaigns 9-10 (i have great people who do the nitty gritty) Financial Management 9 Bookkeeping 3 (outsourced as I really hate the fine details like GST0 Administrative Follow Up 6-7 (again have great staff) Writing & Publishing 9 (getting better all the time!) Speaking 10 (so I have been told) Self Promotion 9-10 Web development & Promotion 6-7 (learning more and have brought on players who are 10+) Babysitting Employees (1 - wont do it, that's why I work so hard to hire and motivate the people I have) Great topic Kevin!! Jude
Press Release Builder Tool - Hi Shri - I would be happy to. What do you need from me? Please PM me the details. Also, if anybody has suggestions for how to make the Press Release Builder Tool more valuable please let me know!
Re: New Video - Make Money Online Selling Advertising - Hi Evan, I thought I'd been a bit dumb, but when I checked the Google Keyword Tool today I couldn't find the CPC info, so thanks for mentioning that I need to turn it on!
Facebook and Business - While on the Elevator today I read that MySpace and Facebook are surpassing adult-sites in traffic volumes - just thought that was interesting fact. As far as your business is concerned I think that having a Facebook account is viable as long as you keep it business and the most important thing to increase your traffic would be to link up with people well-known in your business-circle. e.g. if your were in the Marketing Business Circle I would link up with people like Dan Kennedy, Mike Filsame, Yanik Silver etc. People linked up with them will now start pouring into your content.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How do you keep it together on a daily basis?

Avoid Burnout: Do the Limbo Regularly

The Substance Abusing Employee

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.