Tag Archives: connect with audience

Unleash Your Brand Song: A Powerful Tool to Connect to Your Target Market

“Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave”

~Brave by Sara Bareillis

Brave has been on heavy rotation on my iPod recently. The song inspires me to push forward when I catch myself holding back or play small.

This was one of the many songs played during a storytelling workshop I recently hosted for a group of entrepreneurs. I use music, and songwriting, as a tool when working with clients because it is a clear example of the power of storytelling. In a matter of minutes a well-written song captures an experience, describes an emotional experience and makes the listener feel as if he is on the journey with the songwriter.

I find a lot of entrepreneurs are hesitant to share their stories or use storytelling as a way to build relationships with prospects. You wonder why your story is important or how it can create connection with your target market.

When you are clear about the story you are here to share you will draw people to you effortlessly.

What’s Your Story?

I want to share a quick exercise with that demonstrates the power of storytelling.

I want you to take a deep breath and as you exhale I want you to think of your favorite song.

It can be any song; a love song, a song that fills you with joy, the song you sing in the shower each morning (C’mon, admit it. You love to sing in the shower).

Now that you have a song in mind, I want to you think about how it makes you feel.

What emotions, thoughts or feelings does it bring up?

Do you notice how your mood or energy shifted?

And you didn’t HEAR the song.

That’s the power of storytelling.

A powerful story is like a great song. It can take people on an emotional journey in just a few minutes.

It can light you up, empower you, soothe you and make you feel understood.

If you can make your clients feel understood, you will build trust and connection with them.

So, now I want you to pick a theme song to keep you motivated and inspire you to move towards your goals. Choose a song that best represents represents you, your brand or what you want to create in your business and life.

What is the song you want to sing?

Once you pick the theme song, play it daily, dance to it, sing it, share it with others.

Be BRAVE and share your theme song in the comments below. I’d love to know which songs fuel you.

Three Strategies for Finding Your Ideal Speaking Opportunities

Today’s topic is finding ideal speaking opportunities. You’ve spoken at events in the past, but are looking to find the “perfect” event for your business. With thousands of events, both live and virtual, to choose from finding the “right” speaking opportunities can be difficult.

To help narrow down the choices, think about the end goal for the speaking engagement. For most speakers, that means connecting with new prospects and clients, and the events where they gather. Here are a few steps to help you select your ideal client and events.

1. Create Your Ideal Client Avatar

If you could fill a room with hundreds (or thousands) of your ideal client, who would that client be? If you’re scratching your head right now, here are a few questions to narrow this down: which of your current or past clients did you really enjoy working with? What was it about that client that made it fun – personality? Results? Sort though your current and past clients (going back about six months) and create a list of qualities you look for in a client.

Then gather data. Look at the demographics of your clients – what gender are they? What are are they? Where do they live? Do they have children? Also, consider psychographics including the clients’ values, beliefs, interests and lifestyle.

2. Find out where your ideal client spends time networking.

Once you’ve created a basic profile of your amazing client, determine where they hang out in large numbers. Associations are a great place to start. Most industries have a national association and many have chapter meetings in major cities. If your ideal prospects are small business owners consider BNI, National Association of Women Business Owners, and local organizations like the Chamber of Commerce or public library. If you’re unsure which organizations your clients are members of  – ask them. A quick email or phone call to your top clients will yield a list of groups for your to check out.

3. Attend the events.

Once you have a list of target associations and groups, attend their networking meetings. Most organizations host a monthly meeting and many will allow guests to attend. By attending the event you can find out how many people attend the events, get to know their members and build a relationship with the meeting organizers.

Once you’ve attended a few events and become familiar with the organization and its members you can create a list of your “ideal” speaking opportunities. This will give you a targeted list to focus on so you can book more engagements in less time.

Your assignment for this week:

Use the steps above to create a list of ideal speaking opportunities. Attend several networking events and start building key relationships.

Speaker Spotlight: How to Engage An Audience Through Storytelling

Nathalie Lussier

Nathalie Lussier

This week’s Storytelling Spotlight features Nathalie Lussier, owner of Nathalie Lussier Media, a digital strategy company that offers trainings on building and optimizing your first website.

Lussier helps her clients build their online presence. But it is her in-person speaking engagements that have helped her create meaningful connections with audience offline. In the following Q&A, Lussier shares more about engaging and audience and the power of using your voice.

Q: What was your first speaking engagement and how did it come about?

Nathalie Lussier (NL): One of my first speaking engagements was for a local health food store, back when I was building my first business in the health-coaching realm. I emailed the health food store and pitched a talk that was related to Halloween and healthy eating. They checked out my website and booked me.

Q: Were you nervous? How did you overcome that fear?

NL: I was nervous up until the talk started. For me, something just clicks when I’m on a stage or need to be fully present to give people my best, and the nervousness drops away. But working up to it, I remember trying to breathe slower and just allow myself to feel the nerves and not let them get to me.

Q: You were a new business owner, but thought it was important to speak in front of groups. Why was it important to get out there and use your voice?

NL: It’s really important to use your voice, and to be yourself, too. For my first speaking gig at the health food store, I wore my witch’s hat because it was Halloween time, and I also made sure to let my little quirks shine. No one wants a fully polished “non-human” robot speaking to them. We want to connect with real people, and that’s what using your voice is about to me. If you make jokes without meaning to, awesome. If you get on a rant and preach, go for it.

Q: How has speaking benefited you and your business?

NL: Speaking publicly has really changed my perception of myself, because it showed me that if I could speak to a room filled with hundreds of people, I could do anything. But most importantly, I’ve seen that speaking from the heart about topics that can help others really has an impact on the people who hear you.

Public speaking changes the way people perceive you. It’s not just about the “cool factor” of being a speaker, but being able to hear someone’s story in person really changes how you think of them. I love webinars and livestreams and all online forms of speaking, but in-person events and speaking have created connections for me that wouldn’t have been possible online.

Q: What advice can you share with people who are just getting started with speaking?

NL: Flesh out a few potential talks that you want to present, and write a sales page for these talks. You can then post these on your website or send them to conferences when they open submissions for speakers.

 

Now it’s your turn. I’d love to hear about how speaking at live events has helped you connect with your audience. Leave a comment below!