Ever wanted to see the words “Industry Expert” in front of your name? In the quest for thought leadership, the speaker circuit can, if executed strategically, drive both brand awareness and lead generation.

Speaking on timely, industry-relevant topics will help establish you as an industry expert, and your company as an industry leader. The key is to make sure you get behind the right podium, and generate results from the appearance. Here are some tips to help you do both.

Know Your Targets On the speaker circuit, similar to any public relations or marketing activity, you should identify primary target audiences – the event attendees – and ensure they correspond to your company’s target prospects. Having identified the audience, typically by title, company or industry, you can determine the right speaking opportunities with media outlets, analyst firms and/or trade associations.

When researching the speaking opportunities, don’t write off virtual tradeshows and webinars. In fact, BtoB magazine says virtual events are one of the five technologies to watch, and they are becoming increasingly important, whether the event is online-only or a supplement to a real-world event, both in light of the economy and the need to provide better metrics on attendee engagement.

Timing Is Key Start pitching your speaker to the event director as much as 6 or even 12 months before the conference date. This may seem extremely proactive, but event planners need to secure their agenda well in advance, to allow them enough time to promote the educational sessions and drive attendees to the event. When pitching, persistence is everything. Depending on the conference size, an event director may receive hundreds – even thousands – of speaking proposals, and may have only ten or twenty speaking slots to fill.

Make Your Speaker Pitch Sing “The Sexiest Jeans for Your Body” or “Nine Ways to Never Feel Tired” – although these headlines have little to do with business-to-business, when writing a speaking proposal headline, it pays to think of the Cosmopolitan front cover. Even the smartest, most solid BtoB content can benefit from an attention-grabbing, drama-driven headline! As we discussed in our March 2010 issue on business writing, captivating content is key for companies looking to gain market share and accelerate growth. Here are a few surefire ways to write a speaking proposal that sings:

• Refer to larger trends and analyst research
• Add a relevant case study
• Outline key take-aways from the presentation
• Identify your target audiences, or “who will benefit”
• Suggest a co-presenter and/or moderator – if you’re a vendor, suggest one of your customers as co-presenter

Preparation Is Never Overrated Congratulations! You’ve secured a spot behind the right podium… now what? First, work with the event director to confirm the presentation format, such as a panel discussion, co-presentation or webinar. If multiple presenters are involved, schedule a planning call to discuss logistics and who does what. For example, how long does each presenter have, are slides needed and how many minutes should be left for a Q&A session?

Once the agenda is ironed out, if a PowerPoint is needed to complement your presentation, make it short and visual. Remember, less is more – high-level stats and facts, case studies and real-life examples, and anecdotes all capture attention. And don’t forget to include contact options on the last slide, such as your website, email, phone and Twitter handle.

Leave Them Wanting More In an in-person event, a “leave-behind” document is always useful. Case studies, white papers, fast facts or at least your business card can be encourage a post-event dialogue. In an online event, a leave-behind can be provided virtually as a web page. But don’t stop there. Follow-up with attendees afterward by email, and add them to your lead nurturing program and newsletter mailing list. If someone selected to attend an event you spoke at, treat them as a high-quality lead until you know otherwise. Continuing the conversation and moving it forward is equally important to generating true results from your speaker bureau effort.

Using social media for business is as much about relationship building as it is marketing and branding. As marketing and public relations professionals, we do our best to “woo” new Twitter followers and keep that spark going with our current ones. But, like any interpersonal relationship, there are highs and lows, beginnings and ends.

Why do consumers fall out of love with your brand on Twitter? According to The Social Break-Up report by Exact Target and cotweet:

• 52% leave because…
  • Content became repetitive or boring
• 41% leave because…
  • Twitter stream became too crowded with marketing posts
• 39% leave because…
  • Company posted too frequently
• 27% leave because…
  • Company didn’t offer enough deals
• 21% leave because…
  • Tweets were too promotional

Don’t take it personally. According to this report, nearly half of all consumers who created a Twitter account no longer use Twitter. They aren’t just breaking up with brands, some are leaving Twitter altogether.

So, how do you get back that loving feeling? Don’t use Twitter, or any other social media platform, as an online billboard for your company. Take the time to monitor what your followers or people on Twitter in general are saying about your company. Listening to consumers or brand enthusiasts online creates the opportunity to try new tactics that might send former followers running back into your brand’s arms!

What are some other methods your company has used to engage or re-engage your followers?

*Originally posted on WriteAmbition.com

Fresh into the first week of my summer internship with Arketi Group, I attended Business Wire Atlanta’s Media Breakfast on May 26. (They’re already sending me to cool things!) The topic was “CRISIS! Expect the Unexpected: Plan, Manage and Respond,” and three expert panelists shared their insight on effectively managing the unexpected: Andrew McCaskill, vice president and group director at the William Mills Agency; Chris Joyner, reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; and Chris Sweigart, manager of digital content at 11Alive.com.

Throughout the panel discussion, five main points continued to be addressed as the three professionals echoed complementary – and even at times, overlapping – advice for handling a communications crisis. They are as follows:

1. Establish open and honest relationships before a crisis. As a public relations professional, you want to establish positive relationships with your media contacts before a crisis strikes. “If I don’t have a relationship with you prior to a crisis, I’m not going to build one during a crisis,” said Joyner. Reporters are more willing and flexible when working with contacts who have already taken the time to cultivate an open and honest relationship.

2. Have a plan and follow through the steps. You can never be prepared for a specific crisis to strike at an exact time, but you can be prepared with the tools needed to properly address the crisis. During a crisis response, Joyner advised examining the following questions in order: 1) Who’s in charge? 2) What’s being done right now? and 3) Who’s responsible? Companies should pay particular attention to question three and acknowledge the disastrous implications of the inability to admit fault. (Anyone remember the BP oil spill last year that no one wanted to fess up to?)

3. Develop a social media policy. Educate employees as to what is appropriate and inappropriate communication via social networks. Because reporters monitor employees’ personal Twitter and Facebook accounts to follow conversations, it is imperative that employees do not share confidential information on social media sites. Employees should be advised to not publicly disclose sensitive information online while fully understanding the liabilities for not staying tight-lipped.

4. Manage employees and appoint the most seasoned professionals to act as spokespeople. When a crisis hits, it is important to manage employee relations first and get the most senior person in your office as soon as possible. The larger the disaster, the more experienced the reporter will be who is assigned to cover the story; therefore, it is crucial that only the most knowledgeable within the company are designated as spokespeople.

5. Be as transparent as possible throughout the crisis. “Be as transparent with your communication team as you would be with your legal team,” said McCaskill. Most importantly, as a spokesperson, be aware that saying, “No Comment” is often perceived by the public as an admission of guilt. Rather than refusing to comment, try to educate the public as much as possible while avoiding sensitive information that cannot be shared, especially for legal reasons. The more open you are about why you cannot share particular information, the more positively you will be perceived by the media and the public. As Sweigart said, “If you have nothing to hide, show them everything.”

Is your organization prepared to handle a communications crisis? If you found yourself nodding at each point, it’s safe to say yes. If not, it may be time to reevaluate your crisis communications plan to better prepare, manage and respond to the unexpected.

If you think Vegas is the number one destination for a tradeshow or conference, think again. As companies continue to watch their budgets and try to reach a larger audience for fewer dollars, the ideal event location may be just a mouse click away.

According to a recent survey from Unisfair, more marketers are taking their events virtual. Key findings of the research include:

• 60% will increase spending on virtual events and environments in 2011, while 42% will decrease spending on physical events
• 67% would like to host 10 or more virtual events this year
• 87% predict hybrid (part physical, part virtual) events will represent at least half of all events in the next five years
• 62% want the ability to attend a virtual event from a mobile device

As marketers, one of our top reasons for hosting a virtual event is to generate leads. Think webinars. However, organizations aren’t limiting their use of technology just to that. In fact, over the next 12 months, survey respondents said they will host virtual events for a number of purposes, including:

• Training (42%)
• Customer engagement (36%)
• Internal collaboration (34%)
• Lead generation (29%)
• Networking (8%)

As you might imagine, saving money and increasing productivity are two of the primary drivers why organizations turn to virtual events. But one additional fact might surprise you: 24% of survey respondents say they can get the same or better results as a physical event for less effort.

If you are starting to think virtual events might be right for your marketing program, there is a drawback: the participant’s level of engagement. For instance:

• 58% of survey respondents cited the ability to multitask as the best part about attending a virtual event
• 42% of respondents have attended virtual events from a variety of locales, including the car, the kitchen, a baseball game, the patio and a retail showroom
• 14% find the ability to be “invisible” until they want to engage with colleagues or vendors to be a primary benefit of attending virtual events

Whatever your goal may be – save a few dollars or be more productive – it may be worth it to poll your prospective audiences – customers, employees or partners – to gauge their interest in going virtual. It may turn out that meeting in cyberspace is more popular than a trip to Vegas!

There’s a saying, “Will it play in Peoria?” which questions whether a given product, person or event will resonate with mainstream audiences. In the face of increasing workloads and internal expectations, there are several, common concerns that are generating the collective attention of marketers today – regardless of geography.

This year’s Unica Annual Survey of Marketers found continued interest in the shift to online marketing, a greater emphasis on website personalization, and a general dissatisfaction with IT support for marketing’s technology needs.

However, marketers around the globe now are far more interested in how to create actionable campaigns; in essence, creating and sending information that makes their target audiences take action.

When marketers were asked about their key issues, “turning data into action” leapt into the lead for North American and European respondents. “Determining optimal channel and contact frequency,” an issue that ranked fairly low in the previous survey was also in the top. Despite the buzz and media hype, social media pulled in last with only 19 percent of respondents selecting it as a top issue.

The accelerated pace of mobile adoption is also piquing the attention of marketers who want to better leverage mobile into integrated campaigns. Forty-three percent of respondents say they currently use the mobile marketing, with another 23 percent planning to do so within a year. Yet, as with other tactics, marketers realize there’s work to be done to integrate these efforts into other marketing programs.

Measurement analysis and learning moved into the lead spot as the biggest bottleneck marketers face within their organizations, holding a solid 10 percentage-point advantage over last year’s number one, “IT support of marketing technology needs.”

Here are additional findings from the study that was published in a Harvard Business School Executive Education communications piece:

The results are based on the responses from 300 online and direct marketers with more than $100M in annual revenue, while the largest block (54%) reports $1B or more per annum, and management responsibilities across the complete spectrum of marketing roles with 35% marketing executives.

To read the complete findings from the Unica study, click here to access the PDF file.