There are actually THREE audiences that you must know to make the most of your speaking engagements. The first audience is one you are familiar with; those faces looking back at you as your deliver your speech. That audience is the one you sell your message to. However, selling your message is not the same as selling your talent.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Who does the booking?
- Who makes the marketing decisions for the actual event?
- Who do THOSE people answer to: a board of directors, an event planning company, a non-profit organization, members?
Once you know who that audience is, figure out what they are looking for and what is most important to them. Is it flexibility? Price? Keeping their job? Pleasing their superiors? The easier you make their job, the more likely they will be to recommend you for further engagements.
Third is the media audience… those television, radio and newspaper reporters that can give you FREE publicity. Knowing that audience requires a bit of advance research. Before you arrive in that town, you need to know WHO does the news there. The basics include their mailing address, phone number, email addresses, etc. But there is more… Find out if there are opportunities to appear on local news talk shows. Who are the news directors? Who decides what will go on the air? Since your speech engagement would be considered “soft” news, find out what days are slower than others. There are days when news departments are scrambling for news coverage and that is your prime opportunity to get that coverage. Holidays are often “slow” times for news.
Knowing the media audience also involves making their jobs easier. Newspaper press releases and press kits are not the same as those you would send to radio and television. For example, sending a photograph to a radio station with a press release tells that news department that you don’t know their needs. Your photograph will end up in the trash. And newspapers are more likely to print a press release if it is short, precise and well written.
Knowing your audience is, essentially, putting yourself in their shoes. In the case of the media, you need to know what is important to them regarding what types of news stories they generally broadcast or print, what is the local importance and what benefit your story provides to them. Benefits include viewer ship and interest.
The news media’s job is to inform and educate, NOT to advertise. When you contact them, it is best to downplay any sort of profit that comes to you, such as books you might be selling. Instead, focus on the issue that directly impacts their viewers and readers.
As an example, a company was putting on a great event that would benefit a non-profit and help underprivileged children. Instead of focusing on the event or those children, this company kept attempting to “slide” their name into the press releases. When they called a radio station newsroom to attempt to get an interview, they identified themselves FIRST as being from that company and then wanted to send a representative to talk about the great things their COMPANY was doing with the event. This was a very blatant attempt to get free advertising. Advertising is the media’s profit and income. Understandably, the company got very little coverage for the event or the cause.
What that company should have done was promote the event and those children first. They could have sent a rep from their company, but only to accompany representatives from the non-profit as support.
There are tricks to subtly slipping in references to your book, tapes, and workshops, ONCE YOU GET THE INTERVIEW. The key is, focus directly on the issue that directly impacts the viewers and readers of the media entities to get the interview first.
Which brings us back to knowing your audiences. You need to first know what issues will impact those viewers, readers and the media in general. If you can do that, you are almost guaranteed coverage.
