One of the key elements of strategic marketing involves developing, speaking at and running your own one to two hour seminar as an effective lead generation and marketing communications tool. These short seminars provide an excellent opportunity for you to connect with your prospects and your clients on a one-to-one basis and to demonstrate your expertise with an insightful and interactive presentation.
Unfortunately there are too many examples of businesses and organizations promoting short seminars as educational, when there are nothing more than thinly disguised or blatant sales pitches with some not so friendly sales tactics during and after the seminar. So, anyone thinking of running a short seminar needs to be very strategic and very ethical in their planning and delivering these seminars. Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach suggests the following strategic elements that need to be present before deciding to run a short seminar.
Strategic Element #1: There must be a clearly defined compelling reason and purpose for developing and presenting the short seminar.
Strategic Element #2: There must be a clearly defined focus for the short seminar.
Strategic Element #3: There must be a significant number of prospects and clients located in one geographic area. In other words, the seminar must be held in a location near and convenient for your prospects and clients.
Strategic Element #4: There must be a professional looking facility, with a professional staff, and with a proven track record of hosting short seminars for your short seminar. This seminar is a reflection of the level of the professionalism of your business or organization.
Strategic Element #5: There must be a clearly defined target audience for your short seminar. The development of a profile of your ideal attendee would be very helpful to select your invitees.
Strategic Element #6: There must be something of clearly defined value to share with attendees. You must deliver valuable insights and information to the attendees. The biggest caution here is to always remember – the seminar IS NOT A SALES PITCH!
Strategic Element #7: There must be a very professionally prepared presentation. If the necessary skills to prepare a professional presentation do not exist “in-house,” seek outside assistance. The level of professionalism in the presentation is a direct reflection on you and your company.
Strategic Element #8: There must be a professional delivery of the presentation by a competent professional who is comfortable and capable of standing in front of the room and delivering the presentation to your attendees. Once again, if you do not have such a professional on staff, seek outside assistance.
Strategic Element #9: There must be a strategic marketing plan developed to market the short seminar. These seminars may require a significant investment of time and marketing dollars and therefore it is critical to create a marketing plan for the seminar to ensure good attendance.
Strategic Element #10: There must be a planned follow-up to the short seminar. And that follow-up must include a THANK YOU for coming to the seminar and an opportunity to gain feedback from the attendees.
If you have the above ten strategic elements in place, then you have confirmed it is time to run a short seminar. Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach encourages you to fully realize the benefits of presenting short seminars on timely topics. If you would like to learn more about how a strategic thinking business coach can facilitate and guide you in that endeavor to gain a strategic marketing advantage, please contact Glenn Ebersole today through his website at www.businesscoach4u.com or by email at jgecoach@aol.com
Strategic Elements To Confirm Its Time To Run A Short Seminar, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach - To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Ebersole's Website.
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