How to Set a Speaking Fee

Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip

is written to help authors, business owners, and non-profits

spread their message like wildfire.

This week's focus:

Getting paid to speak is a great way generate more influence and revenue for your books, business, or non-profit organization. Yet, setting and negotiating a speaking fee can feel so uncomfortable that some people avoid speaking altogether. Don't let fear cause you to miss out on a lucrative opportunity. Use the following approach to navigate the process in a win-win manner.

In our Western society, people tend to attribute a lot of money to items or services that provide a lot of value. For example, we perceive a new Mercedes-Benz automobile as a luxury vehicle that's reliable and loaded with lavish technological features. Since most people agree that Mercedes equals value, a lot of individuals are willing to spend a lot of money to purchase one. The name "Mercedes" is a perceived symbol of quality, status, and comfort. Their high value equals a high price tag that thousands of car buyers are willing to pay.

In contrast, a used car covered in rust with a busted engine equals little or no value. Anyone trying to sell an old jalopy will have to settle for a low price. The lower value creates a perception that equals lower money to purchase.

This same principle applies to setting a speaking fee. For instance, if you're a recent bestselling author or a high-profile business leader, then your perceived value will generally be quite high. Therefore, you can command a high speaking fee. For instance, many politicians, celebrities, and athletes routinely receive $5,000 - $25,000 for an individual speaking engagement. On the contrary, authors, non-profit directors, and business people with little name recognition may have to settle for $250 - 2,500, or even speak for free.

Likewise, establish your speaking fee at a level that helps you secure more bookings, and then raise your fee as your value increases. If you become a better speaker, win an award, or gain the ability to attract a following, increase your fee accordingly. Otherwise, start at a level that allows you to gather experience and grow your track record. Seek experience over money. As you get better, the money will come.

If you secure a few paid bookings and no one balks at your fee, then it's probably too low. Lack of resistance usually means you're leaving money on the table. Try raising your fee by 10 - 20% until you get a little resistance. That will help you identify a realistic range.

Above all, treat every speaking engagement with importance, and give it your utmost effort, regardless of your fee or audience size. When people hear your speech and consider you a "Mercedes-level" speaker, then you'll be in the fast lane to higher fees.

To receive Rob's Monday Morning Marketing Tips directly in your email inbox, click here

© Rob Eagar 2012. All rights reserved.

Monday Morning Marketing Tip - "Steal from Yourself for Better Marketing"

Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip

is written to help authors, business owners, and non-profits

spread their message like wildfire.

This week's focus:

When I consult with authors, non-profits, and businesses about marketing issues, a common complaint arises about the need to generate a lot of content for free resources, newsletters, and social media pages. This need to write articles, blog posts, or updates gets labeled as a nuisance, because the client thinks it will be difficult to continually come up with new information. However, generating new content doesn't have to be difficult. The simplest way to stay resourceful is by stealing from yourself.

When you steal from yourself, take old material that you've already written and re-purpose it. For instance, take past articles, blog posts, or newsletters and reuse them. Or, modify the original material by putting a new spin on it. Take parts of a book and break it into smaller chunks of content. Turn videos into written articles. Or, take written material and turn it into an audio or video podcast. In addition, steal from interesting experiences in your life or organization to generate new information. For example:

Authors - Steal from yourself:

- Break your non-fiction books into short articles

- Break your novel into short stories or create back stories.

- Give sneak peeks into your upcoming manuscripts.

- Write about the challenges you face as an author.

Non-Profits - Steal from your organization:

- Use your inside perspective on current events to stress the need for your service.

- Take old newsletters and modernize the content.

- Ask recipients or donors to provide success stories for articles that highlight the importance of your cause.

Businesses - Steal from your internal intellectual property:

- Use the history of your company to write about the longevity or strengths of your business.

- Ask customers to provide success stories for articles that showcase the use of your product.

- Ask employees to rotate providing new articles that examine your industry; Reward them for participation.

Stealing from other people is illegal and a bad reflection on yourself. However, stealing from yourself is a legitimate way to generate plenty of content and keep your marketing plan on easy street.

To receive Rob's Monday Morning Marketing Tips directly in your email inbox, click here

© Rob Eagar 2012. All rights reserved.

Monday Morning Marketing Tip - "How to Use Pinterest to Market Books"

Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip

is written to help authors, business owners, and non-profits

spread their message like wildfire.

This week's focus:

"A picture is worth a thousand words"...especially if those words represent word of mouth.

There's a new kid on the social media block that is changing the way people communicate online. Facebook and Twitter rely on text to share information. However, a unique website called Pinterest (www.Pinterest.com) allows people to use pictures as the focus to organize, discuss, and spread their ideas and interests. My wife recently discovered Pinterest and is addicted to it. "I love using pictures to remember stuff and tell my friends," she says. "It's so much more fun than Facebook." Her comments really got my attention.

Pinterest is described as a pinboard-styled social photo sharing website. The service allows users to create and manage collections of images based on a theme. For instance, my wife likes to collect and display images of home decorating ideas, recipes, travel spots, and her favorite books. Her friends see pictures of the items that she recommends, and they can click on the picture to get more information or even make a purchase. Multiply this effect by millions of users, and there are incredible opportunities to spread digital word of mouth like wildfire.

As of last week, Pinterest was the third most popular social networking site behind Facebook and Twitter. In addition, over 58% of the traffic is female with 59% between the ages of 25 and 44. For individuals and businesses trying to reach men and women between the ages of 25 to 44, Pinterest is a great social network to utilize.

If you're an author or publisher, Pinterest offers legitimate opportunities to create online word of mouth. Here are five tips on how to use this new service to market your books:

1. Place "Pin It" buttons on your author or publisher website that let people easily add a picture of your book covers to their Pinterest profiles. For example, put a "Pin It" button next to all of your book covers with a link back to your site or an online retailer, such as Amazon. When Pinterest users "pin" your book covers to their profiles with a brief description, it gives their followers a one-click opportunity to buy your book based on their recommendation.

Use this link to get the code for a "Pin It" button: http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/ The "Pin It" button is made to look like and function similarly to both Facebook's "Like" and Twitter's "Retweet" buttons. Placing them all together will increase the social awareness of your products.

Pinterest says that "while a description is optional, it is recommended; specifying it lowers the friction for your users to pin your products. You can have multiple Pin It buttons on each page. Just make sure that each button is next to and associated with the correct product, visually."

2. If you're a fiction author, you could use Pinterest to help your novels come alive. For instance, you could display images of the settings, locations, history, or details within your story. If you wrote a novel set during the Civil War, you could show images from the actual battlefield location, clothing that was worn by men and women during that period, pictures of historical leaders, etc. Use imagery to add a new dimension to your books. (These ideas also apply to non-fiction books.)

3. Create a Pinterest profile and use it to show behind-the-scenes images of your life as an author or your organizational culture as a publisher. For instance, you could display pictures of your writer's cave, favorite writing tools, recommended resources, top 10 lists of books, etc. Publishers could display pictures of their staff and an inside look into the company. Use imagery to help make the impersonal become more personal.

4. Display images on Pinterest that represent coupons or discounts that users can redeem when buying your books. For example, show a picture of a printable coupon or a discount code that can be used on your website or redeemed at a retailer.

5. Use Pinterest to host a contest. For instance, you can pin a selection of your book cover photos, and to participate in the contest, users have to repin your book photos, choosing their favorite. This can help your titles go viral, and you can randomly select one user who re-pinned the book that got the most attention. This also gives you the opportunity to find out which of your books are the most popular. Another way to hold a contest is to ask users to pin their own photos of your books. The one that gets the most attention from other users walks away with a prize.

Pinterest is the visual version of Facebook and Twitter. And, most people would rather look at interesting pictures than read through boring text. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Pinterest may be worth a thousand sales.

This Wednesday, 8:00pm Eastern, March 14th - Teleconference Series for Authors:

The Cure for the Bland Author Brand

Every author has a brand whether you know it or not. If you don't know it, then that means your brand is usually negative. This session explains how to take control of the branding process to positively influence the public's perception about your books. This recognition helps separate your books from the rest of the crowded marketplace. Register early for only $49 / $59 afterwards. All attendees get an mp3 audio recording of this material to listen again. Click here to register.

To receive Rob's Monday Morning Marketing Tips directly in your email inbox, click here

© Rob Eagar 2012. All rights reserved.

Monday Morning Marketing Tip - "Why Word of Mouth Fails"

Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip

is written to help authors, businesses, and non-profits

spread their message like wildfire.

This week's focus:

Have you ever read a book, watched a movie, or visited a restaurant that you really enjoyed, but never told anyone until someone else brought it up in conversation? Once you were reminded, then you began to tell numerous friends. This situation identifies two common problems for authors, businesses, and non-profits who want to generate more word of mouth. First, most people won't tell their friends about your product or service unless you make an obvious request. Second, you must make the ability for people to tell friends as easy as possible.

Most people are willing to spread word of mouth, but they're busy or forgetful due to all the distractions in our hectic society. Thus, if you want more people to tell others about your product or service, you need to make it blatantly clear. For instance, if you're an author, you must specifically tell people, "Please tell your friends about my book." Then, provide free tools on your website that makes it easy for readers to do so. If you run a non-profit, you must openly ask people to donate. Then, provide compelling success stories and easy ways for people to contribute to your cause. Otherwise, most people will never stop to think about forwarding your information to someone else. State the obvious in order to start a word of mouth wildfire.

New Two-Day Workshop for Authors:

Join me in "Hot-lanta" Georgia on April 27 - 28th for a new two-day author workshop, "Sell Your Book Like Wildfire." This event will be the opposite of a typical writer's conference. You won't get generic instruction lumped in a room with dozens of other authors. Instead, you'll get two days of direct instruction on your specific book in a small group setting. You will leave making significant progress in these key areas:

• Identify your book's value in a way that makes readers flock to it.
• Distinguish the target audiences who are most excited to buy your book.
• Develop a brand that guides your career and sets your books apart from the crowd.
• Maximize exposure for your books via media interviews and speaking engagements.
• Use a website and social media to effectively promote your message.
• Develop a personalized marketing plan that focuses on your strengths.
• Fiction authors: Discover special marketing tactics geared specifically for novelists.

Early-bird pricing is $750 by April 1st. For details and registration, click here.

Note: Don't wait. I will need at least 8 people registered by April 1st to conduct this event.

To receive Rob's Monday Morning Marketing Tips directly in your email inbox,
click here

© Rob Eagar 2012.
All rights reserved.