9,000 Ways to Share Your Message Today with Jackie Lapin
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:20:30] If someone is just kind of nonresponsive and you sort of alluded to the answer there. But if someone is not responsive, when would you advise that they actually you reach out to them? Again, if they’re not responsive, just write them off entirely? Or do you circle back in three months or six months or something like that
Jackie Lapin [00:20:47] Circle back when you’ve got another topic? It might just be that the topic isn’t right
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:20:51] for them personally, for them. Yeah. OK. All right. So you’ve gone through you’ve got to talk about how to get your speaking. How does this change if we want it to do something else? It wasn’t the stage. If we wanted to do radio, podcast or virtual summit?
Jackie Lapin [00:21:08] Let me make one point. By the way, conferences are another ballgame entirely. And the thing about conferences is a majority of them have calls for speakers and you have to fill out a form and there is much less latitude in what you’re submitting. You’re basically submitting what they’re asking for. So just be aware that that is something that and as of right now, we don’t have a conference outlet and we’re hoping to add something like that in the future. So. So that was that. So on it’s on to other things like podcasts and and radio shows. And keep in mind, that podcast today are videocast, about half the time people are now doing their podcast in such a way that they’re also putting it on YouTube or they’re doing it Facebook Live. And, you know, and they’re stripping the audio for the podcast, but they’re also doing a video version of it. So don’t don’t assume that you’re showing up and it’s going to be brought audio and you’re showing up in your pajamas, you know, assuming that you’re going to show up dressed. So when you’re going to propose yourself for those kinds of vehicles, there are there are two different vehicles to do that. One is a pitch letter, which is a little bit like the proposal letter, but it’s more in depth. You can go as long as a page and a half of it. And the first part of that pitch letter really speaks to the problem you solve or your your your own dramatic story and how that led to the problem that you solve of something that’s really catchy in that first paragraph that gets people excited. It might be something timely. You’re keying on a holiday or a trend that’s going on in society or something that’s in the news. You need that make that first paragraph really impactful. Then the body of the pitch talks about your credentials, why you you know, and when you say I’m the author of, that’s a big credential. And then the last part of it is expanding on what you’re going to present, what is what is the audience going to hear? And a lot of times we give a short description that we do bullet point and the audience will listen and we’ll hear the audience discover he will or she will speak to this these six points and then the call to action, please book me, etc.. So all of that goes into a pitch letter that really summarizes what it is that the audience is going to hear. The second option is much is simpler and sometimes a couple, the two of them together, and that’s called a podcast introductory sheet. And that’s, again, something else that we do at the community where it’s a one sheet, not a two, like the speaker sheet, it’s a one sheet. And it basically has a short bio and then four or five topics that you like to speak on. And then a couple of testimonials. It’s like and it’s beautiful. And podcasters that are in a hurry, they just take a quick look. This would be good and they’ll extend an invitation. So those two tools are really helpful to have if you’re going to pitch yourself for those those resources. And so and again, you know, you talked about, well, where do you book yourself? We’ve got two different products that we are designed to make this easier for leaders who want to get on podcasts and radio shows and video guests. One is Speakertunity Radio Insider that gives you 40 different life enhancing radio and podcast shows that are looking for guest presenters that are looking for guests. And then the other one is Speakertunity Radio Insider for Business. So if you’re looking to get on B2B radio shows and your audience is business people, then that that product will be really good for you as a great resource. Now, that’s if you want to get on the established, ongoing evergreen kinds of shows. But there is another kind of vehicle that has that has been around a while. But it got a big boost over the last year when everybody was going online as opposed to being in a room to to introduce their resources. And it’s called the virtual summit. And if you don’t know what this is, this is where one leader gets a whole bunch of other leaders together to talk on a related topic. Everybody has something different, but it’s somehow feeds into the same topic. And everybody who is a guest presenter in that organization, that summit is sending out to their audience to get people to this, so the benefit to being a guest speaker, guest presenter on one of these is that you are going to be exposed to people you’ve never seen before. And if you actually have a good and irresistable free offer, like we were talking about before, I lead Magonet, you’re going to be attracting people from everywhere. And it is a fabulous list, growing opportunity. But the benefit is you might also sell some books or you might get people interested in having a further conversation and to work with you. So you really get to promote everything in your funnel if you’re doing it right. But the most important factor is at least to capture those emails. And so one of the things so people love this. If if you’re at the beginning of your journey and you need to grow your list. And so one of the things we created is speaker community summits, which gives you virtual summits that are looking for guest presenters. Most of the time people learn about these summits when they show up on their desks and they say, oh, I would have been perfect for this, why didn’t I know about it? So we solved that problem. We give you on the very first day of the month a list of summits and are looking for people and we also give you giveaways. Now, if you don’t know much about the giveaway world, one of the ways that people are building their opt in list again is by by doing these collaborative giveaways. It’s like a summit without an interview where you give a free gift and 40 other people give a free gift and everybody promotes and you get people piling into your free gift offer. And so and if you attend summits, our minute limit and minimum list size. So if you don’t have an email list of two thousand or above you, you’re not going to get invited. So it behooves you to build your list using giveaways so that you can get invited to more summits. And so that’s why we put them both in the same product speakertunity summits makes it easy for you to find them.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:27:57] Yeah, that’s that’s all amazing gold there. We’re going to be doing a virtual summit in April. National Dissertation Day is coming up. For those of you don’t know, on April twenty sixth, we’re going to be doing a virtual summit for that and I’m looking forward to it. Give be a lot of fun. But to have people who are looking to get into those summits and and have a resource for that is great. Certainly our our new authors being able to talk about their new book is an amazing opportunity and just the sort of thing, because most of them correct me if I’m wrong, but most of the summits that I’m aware of, the interviews are pretty short, usually know 10, 15, 20 minutes.
Jackie Lapin [00:28:34] No, most and most of them are longer than that. They’re half an hour to an hour on the ones that we’re used to. Now, that may be different in your side of the business, but and
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:28:45] so how many how many folks would be featured in a summit if they’re going that long? And as this is done over several days,
Jackie Lapin [00:28:51] anywhere from 10 to 40. And yes, they do often spread over several days. It just depends on the host and what they’re doing. Yeah, exactly
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:29:04] Right. It’s your show. You get what you want to do. OK, so the podcast, Virtual Summits, these are great. What about something a little bit more traditional? You have anything to tell folks about the radio shows or television, any of that? Any advice for those vehicles?
Jackie Lapin [00:29:21] The radio shows are going to be shorter. And the challenge with radio today is that a lot of the local radios have gone to national programing. So there’s less local programing to get on, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t you look for morning drive shows, you can also get on health and wellness shows. Our local public affairs shows that are produced locally. Getting on the national shows is a little bit harder. And you really need to have established yourself. You need to have a hot topic. You need to have a more traditionally published book sometimes, like with National Public Radio. So it’s not to say you can’t, but there’s a there’s a higher barrier to getting on the national shows. But the locals take advantage of them as much as you can look for what you what you can locally. And and the other thing. Oh, television. So the only thing I would tell you about TV is, one, if you’re writing your pitch letter, it’s very same similar to your radio pitch letter. But the difference is, if there is a visual component to what you’re doing, you want to mention that in the pitch letter? I’ve got video, I’m going to demonstrate. I can show, you know, that will enhance the ability to get on those shows in your local morning show. This is your prime time capability. Also, you’re talking about the news, but these days, given the last couple of years, it has got to be something compelling, you know, because the news is dominated by obviously things like either the political situation or the health care situation. The opportunities for a lot of the featurette kinds of things is less and less than it’s been in several years. So it’s got to be really topical.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:31:15] But one of the things that I that I’ve heard is a good way to get on the news is, first of all, you have to be have a bit of a relationship with people that are doing the booking. But then there’s this technique called newsjacking, that if you if you know, there’s something that’s in the news and it relates to what you do, then tell them you can talk about that. And I’m a I’m a dissertation coach. I help people get their doctoral degrees. And there was this guy talking about Dr. Jill Biden the other the other day. You know, can I can I add into that? Can I speak to that part of the conversation? Several people on or you might be the one person that’s featured for a little while, but there’s no such thing as bad exposure. So just be ready for it and then take advantage when that’s there.
Jackie Lapin [00:32:00] Yeah, and that’s what I meant by being topical, really keying into what’s going on in the news. That’s exactly right.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:32:08] So are you able to be topical and just present to someone, hey, I can help you out with this kind of story. I can help you create a story, a small feature about this sort of thing, or do you need to have a relationship of some sort with the folks there? Should they know you? Is there a way to cultivate and nurture that?
Jackie Lapin [00:32:27] Well, you can you know, there’s always a first time to get to know somebody but you. But they don’t take lunches, for example. So you’re going to have to just put in that first phone call and start to get them familiar with you. But send that email first and then do the follow up phone call. And with the newsroom, they are busier and tell what they’re really looking for is a media alert or a pitch letter that basically speaks to what it is that they know is going to be topical for them and you. And it just it comes in by email and then you do a follow up phone call. But a lot of times they’re going to be so busy that they’re not going to really pay much attention to you. The best thing, the best time to get them the morning shows you want to get them either before they go on the air or after they come off the air. Don’t call when they’re on the air and the newsrooms. You got to leave in the morning to deal with all their immediately news. Getting everybody out the door and some of midday is a better you know, somewhere in the 11 o’clock to one o’clock range is a better time to get those guys.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:33:38] OK, good advice. So it’s really the relationship is going to be built upon you reaching out to someone and saying, here’s something in the news and here’s something I can help you with right now. Yeah, in print, they talk about people having pages to fill every single day and you’ve got the same thing. You’ve got minutes to fill, I guess, on on television every day. Somebody can tell you how to fill yours in the next couple of days. They’re doing you a favor essentially by coming on your show and giving something topical.
Jackie Lapin [00:34:08] Great to talk about TEDx.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:34:11] Yeah, I know that you mentioned that kind of in the context of stages, but TEDx in particular, what what do people do a little differently? Because I know you’ve got a list of all those tennis. Right.
Jackie Lapin [00:34:21] Absolutely. We’ve got a directory of four hundred and fifty ten events in the US and Canada so that you don’t have to wander around the site. And we’ve identified them. By what time wise, what is what’s close to you? We’ve got them all sorted by states or province and then also which I’ve gone virtual and which ones are still alive. So it makes it really easy to find them. But once you get you know, you start hunting for them. Many of them have themes. And so you want to look and establish what is the theme and is this a theme that you can tie in with? Some of them have the same theme annually, like this is a tech one or this is, you know, and some of them and change themes every every year. And new ones pop up every year. So you want to you know, if you can go look at what they’ve done in the past, it’s going to give you a pretty good idea of what that particular one likes to book. I will tell you that this is not an easy thing to pitch. First of all, every one of them have a different way to apply. Some of them have an email. Some of them go through their website for that particular one. Some of them tell you to apply through the main TEDx, a big mega website. You know, if you can if you know somebody or you can get a hold of that person, that’s the best way we try. And you know the names of the directors in every case, but not everybody has provided all their emails. But if you can get a hold of them, you know, and if you can try to talk to them, that’s one thing. But sometimes they just have a methodology. Some of them want you to submit a basically an audition, you know, your 18 minute audition tape. So everybody is different in terms of what they’re willing to to do and what they’re looking for. So you’re going to you know, you have to feel your way with that one to see really what are the right things in this particular case for this particular TEDx. But knowing that and here is one tip I would give you when. These are open again physically to come and watch. Go to the local ones you want to get booked on, and while you’re there, get a chance to introduce yourself to the organizer, you talk about relationships. That’s the first and best way to start. Start that door getting open.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:36:53] Always being a customer and and being there face to face. Those are two things that will ingratiate you really quickly to anybody. Yeah, well, when you mentioned the theme, I’d like to just reinforce for people get good at figuring out how to connect the dots between what you do and other things, like send out emails to our folks on a regular basis. And I’m just looking at some of them. And in the past week or so, it was near Miss Day because an asteroid came kind of close to the earth like 30 years ago or something like that. And now it’s near Miss Day every every day. Well, we talked a little bit about that and connected it back to dissertations. We had Einstein’s general theory of relativity being published, Act-Happy Day. We tied in St. Patrick’s Day. That’s the easy one. Right. But all of these things you look at and you think about me like, what does that have to do with anything? You can tell a story to connect your what you’re doing to almost anything. So get good at telling stories and making those connections. And before you know it, this idea of telling the TEDx people, here’s how I fit into your theme will be hard. It will actually sound like you don’t fit into the theme, but you are part of their theme that you don’t sound like you’re trying to put a round peg in a square hole if you get good at that. All right, so how far ahead of time would you say that you should begin this process of kind of seducing the TEDx organizers?
Jackie Lapin [00:38:24] Most of them are booking six months out. OK, but you really need to get on it early on. That’s really incredible.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:38:32] Nine, 10, 12 months out to to get booked. Or like you say that when they’re
Jackie Lapin [00:38:37] you give up, give them time to get over the one they just did. So no, no sooner than 10. But they may not even be thinking about the next one quite yet. So but between six, seven, eight months.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:38:50] OK, so it’s not like it’s six months. They’re definitely schedule this late summer.
Jackie Lapin [00:38:55] Some it depends on how big it is and how important it is from the standpoint of the hierarchy.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:39:02] So if like some of a lot of our listeners here are our new authors, if you have a new author who wants to go out there, get the word out about their book so that they can start building their list and they can start attracting people that they can help in a in a deeper, more impactful way. How would you advise them to start first? You’ve given them a lot of great information, lots of things they can do. What would you prioritize as the first thing the new author should try to do to really get the word out about their book?
Jackie Lapin [00:39:32] The question you should figure out where you’re going to feel comfortable, whether it’s going to be on stages, virtual stages, or whether it’s going to be on podcasts and radio shows and podcasts and radio shows are real good. Warm up for being on a stage. I did a hundred interviews for my last book, and by the time I did that, I had nailed my stage presentation because I had done it so many times and I had made the questions in such a way that the questions were simply the organizing of what my stage presentation would be. So, you know, your practice, you ready to go and you’re accomplished and you’re feeling good and it’s going to allow you to step on stage with more authority. So that’s a really good way to get started if you just want to get started virtually. Well, there’s one thing I should tell you. There’s another thing that’s going on that if you just really want to get the word out and you want to start attracting potential clients, the virtual networking has become a real thing. And this is where people of established meetings for the my primary purpose of, well, they might promote their own product, but to a large extent, it gets people together so they can introduce each other. And on those meetings, there’s either a breakout meeting or you get to introduce yourself to the whole group. You can actually start collecting potential clients. And this is one of the things we’ve been doing very, very effectively. Show up at these meetings, tell people what you do. They say, oh, I need that. Let’s have a further conversation. So we’ve done a virtual it’s called the Opportunity Community Recurring Virtual Networking Update, where we are constantly updating it with new virtual meetings that we’re learning about. But there are two hundred of them in their 40 that are just for women. So if you really want to target specific types of audiences, this is a way to get really started. And all you really need is your elevator pitch. That’s what you’re starting with. And so you’re not necessarily having to do a full platform presentation, but it’s a really good way just to get out into the world. So that’s one way. But now, if you just want to get started going, getting on the stages, we actually have something on speakertunity says I want more speaking gigs. There’s a little arrow there and it marries a couple of products together. So it makes it really easy and we give you your regional speaker directory. So you got all these leads, the training program on on the art of feeling your speaking calendar and your speaker. One sheet, it’s all in one little package. So everything you need to get started is right there in that one little package. And and we’ve done something similar for podcasts and radio shows. And, you know, it makes it really easy for you not having to figure out, all right, what do I need next? It gives you all of those kinds of things. So, you know, I think that if you get to the site, you’re going to see that it’s it’s pretty user friendly. And I get that there’s a you know, there’s so many opportunities there. Pick one path, start there, then you can go to the next one. Whether you want to start with radio shows and podcasts, whether you want to start with virtual speaking, you know, just figure out where where you want to you’re the most comfortable starting and then you can always expand into the next one.
