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How to Write Effective Seminar Marketing Materials Powerful Copywriting Strategies, Tactics and Tips to Fill Seminar Seats By Jenny L. Hamby © 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. www.SeminarMarketingPro.com 815-254-4939

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How to Write Effective Seminar Marketing Materials

Powerful Copywriting Strategies, Tactics

and Tips to Fill Seminar Seats

By Jenny L. Hamby

© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,

without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the

preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the

information contained herein.

www.SeminarMarketingPro.com

815-254-4939

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. * All Rights Reserved i

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: THE ROLE OF COPY

Uses for Copy ............................................................................................................... 1

The Real Cost of Attending a Seminar ........................................................................ 2

STEP ONE: RESEARCH

Four Key Topics to Research Before Writing Copy .................................................... 5

Research Topic #1: Your Event ................................................................................... 6

Research Topic #2: Your Audience ............................................................................. 9

Getting Information About Your Audience ................................................................ 16

Picturing Your “Muse” ................................................................................................. 17

Research Topic #3: Your Competitors ........................................................................ 18

Finding Your Competitors ........................................................................................... 20

Research Topic #4: Keywords ..................................................................................... 21

Sources for Keyword Information ............................................................................... 22

Interviews to Conduct .................................................................................................. 22

The Interview Process .................................................................................................. 23

Questions to Ask Past Participants and Prospective Attendees ................................. 25

Questions to Ask Your Instructor ................................................................................ 26

Positioning Your Event for Success............................................................................. 27

Start with the Big Picture ............................................................................................ 28

Features and Benefits .................................................................................................. 29

Your Unique Selling Proposition ................................................................................. 30

COPYWRITING BASICS

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Characteristics of Good Copy vs. Bad Copy ................................................................ 33

Pressing Your Prospects’ Buttons ................................................................................ 40

Illustrating the Difference of Good vs. Bad Copy ....................................................... 45

The Writing Process ..................................................................................................... 47

Breaking Through Writers Block ................................................................................. 49

STEP TWO: WRITE YOUR COPY CHUNKS

What You’ll Learn ........................................................................................................ 52

Who Should Attend ...................................................................................................... 60

How You’ll Benefit ....................................................................................................... 61

Event Title .................................................................................................................... 65

Creating a Tagline or Subtitle ...................................................................................... 68

Headline ....................................................................................................................... 68

Background / Introduction.......................................................................................... 72

About the Instructor .................................................................................................... 74

When and Where ......................................................................................................... 78

Contact Information .................................................................................................... 80

Cancellation Policy ....................................................................................................... 81

What You Get ............................................................................................................... 82

Naming Your Price Without Causing Sticker Shock ................................................... 89

Selling the Boss and Other Decision Makers .............................................................. 94

Satisfaction Guarantee ................................................................................................. 96

Testimonials ................................................................................................................. 100

Getting in Touch with You ........................................................................................... 104

Calls to Action .............................................................................................................. 105

ii © 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. * All Rights Reserved

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Closing the Sale ............................................................................................................ 106

Registration Form ........................................................................................................ 107

What You’ll Miss .......................................................................................................... 116

A Detailed Agenda ....................................................................................................... 116

Frequently Asked Questions ....................................................................................... 119

Travel Details ............................................................................................................... 119

A Notice about Tax Deductibility ............................................................................... 120

Availability of Continuing Education Credits ............................................................ 120

Equal Opportunity Statement ..................................................................................... 120

Availability of On-Site Training .................................................................................. 120

Home-Study Course .................................................................................................... 121

Case Studies ................................................................................................................. 122

Client List ..................................................................................................................... 122

Presentation Style ........................................................................................................ 123

About the Training Company and/or Host ................................................................. 123

Next Steps .................................................................................................................... 123

STEP THREE: BUILDING YOUR MARKETING FOUNDATION

Writing a Brochure ...................................................................................................... 126

Fliers ............................................................................................................................. 141

Sales letters .................................................................................................................. 146

STEP FOUR: BUILDING YOUR SUPPLEMENTARY PIECES

Emails ........................................................................................................................... 160

Postcards ...................................................................................................................... 163

© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. * All Rights Reserved iii

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Press Releases ............................................................................................................. 169

Landing Pages .............................................................................................................. 172

Teleseminar and Webinar Descriptions ...................................................................... 176

CONCLUSION

Parting Words .............................................................................................................. 179

Samples ........................................................................................................................ 180

iv © 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. * All Rights Reserved

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION: THE ROLE OF COPY

You know how spectacular your seminar is. When you talk to people one-on-one or even in group settings, you find it easy to transmit what you know and convince them that your seminar is the place to be.

The only problem? You are one person. You can’t possibly talk to everyone who is or should be interested in your seminar.

Copywriting is your answer. Copywriting – the writing of words that can be used to generate interest in and registrations for your events – is the trusty servant that will carry your message to the world.

Copywriting is the foundation that allows you to create marketing tools to serve as your around-the-clock salesforce. Copywriting is the tool that allows you to capture and distill your marketing message so that it magnetically attracts prospects to you, pierces their hearts, infuses them with passion for your event, and motivates them to register.

Uses for Copy

Famed ad man John E. Kennedy defined copywriting in a succinct, no-fuss manner: Salesmanship in Print. It’s no surprise that most people think of direct mail and other forms of text-driven advertising when they hear the word copywriting. After all, this is where copy traditionally has been found – in direct mail letters, advertisements, postcards, brochures, fliers and the like.

With the birth of Internet marketing, copy made its online debut in web sites, emails, banner ads, and pay-per-click advertising campaigns.

Yet, text is not the only place where copywriting is essential.

Video and audio scripts also use copywriting. Telemarketing scripts? Same thing. Need “sound bites” to use during media interviews? Copywriting is your answer. You can even argue that copywriting is essential when crafting your platform presentation to transform audiences at your live presentations into buyers.

Yes, copywriting is salesmanship in print. In fact, it’s salesmanship in writing. How and where you use that writing is limited only by your creativity.

In this manual, you will walk step-by-step through a copywriting process for event promoters. This process is designed to make it faster,

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

easier and less painful to write the text you need to help promote your seminars, workshops, conferences, teleseminars, webinars and other learning events. So you, too, can have salesmanship in writing … even if you hate to write.

The Real Cost of Attending a Seminar

To get yourself in the right mindset before writing copy, it helps to understand exactly what your prospects are evaluating when they decide whether or not to attend your seminar.

As marketers, we focus on the price – can we get our prospects to spend the amount of money we want to charge. But when promoting an event, the tuition is not the only thing prospects are evaluating.

Attending a seminar costs a lot more than the tuition only. There are:

Travel costs, such as airfare, driving to and parking your car at the airport, as well as taking a taxi to and from the hotel.

Lodging costs. By the time you add the various fees and taxes to your hotel bill, prospects could easily spend $150 to $200 a day for lodging.

Food. People have to eat. If you’re holding your event at a hotel, the price of food is going to be significantly more than they would spend at home.

Opportunity cost. If I’m at your seminar, I’m not at work. And for many of your prospects, this means missed opportunities and missed revenue. Whether it’s because they get paid only when they are at their desk working or because attending a seminar means they aren’t out landing sales, many of your prospects may lose money in the short term because they are at your event.

Here’s an example of how much a prospect could reasonably expect to attend a seminar with a $695 tuition price tag:

Tuition: $695

Hotel: $139 x 2 nights = $278

Food: $40 x 2 days = $80

Airfare: $400

Parking at airport, cab to hotel: $100

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Time not working: $400 x 2 = $800

REAL Cost: $2,353

As you can see, $2,353 is quite a bit more than $695. (Even if prospects don’t calculate the opportunity cost, you’re still looking at $1,553 – more than twice what you’re charging to get in the door.) This is why lowering your tuition doesn’t always help boost response rates – you are limited in what you can do to lower the other costs of attending.

When promoting a seminar, it’s also key to understand that you are not asking prospects to invest only their money. You’re also asking them to invest their time – and this can be far more difficult. Time is limited. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. And these days, people are busier and seriously questioning where they want to spend their time.

Think about a three-day seminar. As promoters, we think it’s a three-day event. What your prospects see is this:

3 days away from home and work to be at the event

2 travel days – one to get to the event and a second to get home

1 day to prepare to be out of the office – putting in extra hours to get ahead on your work or to delegate important tasks to co-workers and subordinates

1 day to get caught up on time away from the office

That’s a total of 7 days!

Finally, there’s “Hassle Factor.” This is the category for the energy, stress and emotional cost of preparing for time away. Prospects look at:

The chaos that results when they aren’t at work or home

The stress of getting ready for a trip

The time they’ll need to spend to get ready to go, as well as get caught up

The inconvenience of traveling (does “inconvenience” remotely describe the joys of going through airport security these days?)

Having more to do when they get back. As promoters, we get excited about all the great ideas we’re going to deliver. Our prospects are attracted by the promise of ideas, as well. But in the back of their minds, many are aware that ideas need implementation to generate a

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

return on investment. Attending a seminar to get ideas means returning home with a lengthy to-do list. If they aren’t certain they will take action, they may opt to attend your seminar at a later date.

So … when you’re writing your promotional materials, remember what you are really being asked to prove – that your event is worth the real investment you’re asking prospects to make:

Time + Money + Energy =

The Real Cost of Participation

If your copy doesn’t convince prospects that your event is worth at least as much – or more than – what you are asking them to invest, you will lose registrations. At best, prospects will be interested (and slightly more interested that the average Joe in attending the next time you offer the event). At worst, they’ll toss your promotions aside and automatically think “too expensive” whenever they see future promotions.

The rest of this manual will help you write the marketing copy you need to demonstrate the true value of what you offer. This is the same process I use to develop marketing copy for my clients and myself.

If you’re ready to get started, let’s dive into Step One: Research.

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

STEP ONE: RESEARCH

You know that you have an event to promote. You might be tempted to sit down and start writing whatever promotional piece you’ve decided to use to put butts in seats.

Before you dive in, though, there’s something else to do first: Research.

If the very word research makes you tense up in anticipation of a dull and precision-focused process, good news. We aren’t talking scientific research. The type of research we’ll do is more along the lines of gathering wood, nails, tools, sandpaper and stain before building a table. It’s gathering as much information as possible to make your job as easy as possible.

Do your research first and you’ll discover that you won’t have to struggle or hunt for the right words to say. Your promotions will practically write themselves. You may even read the copy you’ve written about your own event and think, “Dang. Even I want to sign up for this event.” Best of all, your copy will hit its mark faster by eliminating some of the guesswork needed to figure out exactly what works when talking to your ideal audience about your seminar.

4 Key Topics to Research Before Writing Copy

There are four main areas you need to research when preparing to write promotional copy for your seminars, workshops, teleseminars, webinars and other events.

Your event. It m ay sound silly, but yes, you should start by gathering all details about your event into one place. It can be helpful to see at a glance everything that you offer and that prospects will receive when they participate.

Your audience. One of the keys to successful copyw riting is being able to crawl inside the heads of your prospects to understand where they are, what they want, and what makes them tick. The better you are at positioning your event as the solution to their problems, the easier it will be to fill seats.

Your competitors. Understanding your com petitors gives you a better idea of how to help your event stand out in the marketplace.

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords. Event prom otions are largely Internet-based these days. Knowing what keywords your audience is using to try to find you and other sources of information allows you to incorporate the keywords into your web copy. This will help you boost your ranking in organic searches, as well as pay-per-click advertising programs. For example, the Google AdWords program evaluates how well the keywords on which you are bidding and that you have incorporated into your ads match the keywords on the landing page to which you are directing traffic. Obviously, to do well, you have to know what keywords your audience uses to search.

Let’s take a closer look at these elements and exactly what you need to research in each area.

Research Topic #1: Your Event

The first item to research is your event. Even if you are writing copy to promote your own events, it helps to pull together a summary of everything you are teaching and offering. Gather:

The instructor’s manual, participant’s manual, or presentation outline – any source of material that outlines what you plan to teach during your event.

Testimonials from past attendees. If you don’t have testimonials yet because you are promoting a brand-new event, gather testimonials that offer proof that your events in general are high-quality and worth the investment. Another alternative is to round up testimonials that talk about the instructor’s level of expertise.

Contact information for past or prospective attendees. Ideally, you should interview three to six people who have been through the course, asking them a series of questions. Offering a brand new course? If you aren’t familiar with what prospective attendees will want (for example, if you work for an association and are responsible for writing promotional copy for all of your events or if you are a business owner and really want more help crawling inside the minds of a new target audience), find prospects who would be interested in offering their opinions and guidance.

Seminar details. Put together a sum m ary of basic details about your event such as:

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your event title. If you don’t have a title yet, list your working title and refer to pages 66-68, which provide instructions for writing event titles.

The seminar agenda or schedule. You don’t need to have the entire schedule timed to the minute. At the very least, you need to have starting and ending times. If you can indicate when meal breaks will be, that can be beneficial.

What attendees receive as part of their registration fee.

Registration fees, as well as any discounts or package prices you are offering.

Details about the event location, such as:

The property’s physical address

Web site URL (for attendees who want more information about the location)

Contact information (if attendees need to call the property with questions or for directions)

Code needed to reserve a room, if you’d secured a room block with a hotel

Amenities included with your room block

Parking instructions and fees, if applicable. For example, does the hotel have valet parking or a parking lot? Do guests have to pay for parking, or is it included in their hotel fee?

Travel instructions, including:

Driving directions from the north, south, east and/or west – whatever is appropriate for your location

Airports – not only which airport(s) to fly to, but also how far away the property is from the airport

Shuttle information for people who are flying in and don’t want to rent a car

Satisfaction guarantee. Suggestions for writing a satisfaction guarantee are included on pages 98-100.

Cancellation policy. (See pages 81-82.)

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Instructor bio. One item that prospective attendees w ill be evaluating is the skill and experience of your instructor. A bio provides the information prospects need to determine whether the instructor is right for them.

A word of caution if you promote seminars for other people or if you invite other speakers to share their expertise at your event: Just because an instructor presents you with a written bio does not mean that you are obligated to use it as written. As you’ll learn later in this manual, many trainers, speakers, authors and other experts use bios that do not support your claim that they are the perfect instructor for this event.

If your instructor provides a bio, quickly review it to ensure that the questions listed below are covered. If you are going to be writing the bio yourself, use these questions to gather pertinent information:

What is your current job title and employer?

What do you do? What are the top three things you help clients do (or alternatively, what are the top three things you do for clients)?

How do clients benefit from the services or products you provide?

Please provide the job titles and employers of past positions you’ve held. Which jobs relate to the subject matter being taught?

Please provide a client list or the names of six to twelve of your most recognizable clients.

Please provide the names of any books that you have written or co-authored.

Please provide the names of any books to which you have contributed.

Please provide the names of any audio programs that you have created or co-created.

Please provide the names of any videos that you’ve (co)created.

Please provide the names of any movies you have appeared in.

Please provide the names of any big events at which you have spoken.

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

If you have taught or spoken at events outside the U.S. or worked with clients outside the U.S., in which countries were these events/clients located?

Please list any awards you have won.

Please list any degrees you have been earned, as well as the schools or programs from which you earned them.

Please list any certifications you have earned, as well as the schools or programs from which you earned them.

Please list any additional facts or pertinent information about you that qualifies you to teach this class.

Please list the email address, phone number and/or other contact information you would like students to use to contact you.

Research Topic #2: Your Audience

From a copywriting perspective, researching your audience is essential in discovering what to say to successfully grab prospects’ attention, enable them to recognize their need to attend your seminar, and persuade them to make the investment of time and money needed to participate in your event.

You probably have a good idea of who should attend your seminar. “Who” is most often described by titles or demographics – for example, sales managers or women over 50. Although these facts are important and will be used once you start writing the “Who Should Attend” section of your copy, additional research will help you understand the mindset of your audience.

One goal when writing the “Who Should Attend” chunk is to put hooks in your copy that help prospects recognize themselves. The more hooks you include, the more likely you are to snag any one person.

One way to gather information for creating these hooks is to identify:

what your seminar teaches

how attendees will benefit by learning what you’re teaching

the problems your seminar will help to solve

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

common scenarios that cause the problem you’re solving

and then, finally, who struggles with those problems

Let’s go back to the example of a seminar that teaches people how to start their own businesses.

What your seminar teaches:

How to start a business

How attendees will benefit by learning what you’re teaching:

You’ll discover an easy way to learn how to start a business.

You won’t be overwhelmed or confused by all there is to learn.

You’ll save time or money by learning what to do … and what not to do.

You’ll have the knowledge you need to build a company that will give you financial independence.

The problems your seminar will help to solve:

You’re not able to find a job (so make your own).

You don’t like being tied down to a corporate position – you want to be your own boss.

You don’t want to invest all of your energy into building a business for someone else.

You want to start a business … but are confused about what to do first.

You already own a business, but you know that you’re not doing things correctly.

Common scenarios that cause the problem you’re solving:

After a person has been laid off, especially if they have some experience in the industry.

New mothers who don’t want to return to work.

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

New college grads who have joined the rat race and hate investing their time and talent working for someone else.

New business owners who have a great business idea (they think) but are struggling to find clients, pay bills and turn a profit

Baby Boomers who have retired, but find they aren’t ready to live the retired lifestyle and want to do something else with their experience

Who struggles with those problems:

People over 50

New college grads

People with less than 5 years in the workplace

New parents

People who have retired … but aren’t ready to be retired

Company owners who have been in business for less than 2 years

Other information you will want to collect includes:

Demographics, w hich are objective data such as gender, level of education, age, profession or job title, income, and ethnic background. Gather this from your own experience, from researching your competitors, and from surveys (both your own and others).

Geographic location. Although geography is m ore often important when mapping out your marketing plan, it can come into play when describing who should attend. Is your seminar being targeted to people in certain regions, states, cities or neighborhoods? If so, you’ll want to mention it so that prospects know that the event is truly targeted to them.

Psychographics, w hich is the term for attr ibutes that relate to buyers’ interests, opinions and attitudes. Here are some questions you can use to gather this type of information:

What do attendees like — and dislike — about your event?

How do they perceive your competitors’ events? What differences do they perceive between what you offer and what

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your competitors offer?

What attracts them to your event?

What makes them register?

What type of media do they respond to the most?

How much money do they have available to invest in your event?

Are they conscious of brand when making buying decisions for your type of event? Are there competitors dominating your industry that you somehow have to compete against, or is it enough that you have expertise? (You want to avoid situations where your prospects will have a knee-jerk reaction against you because you’re not the name they recognize.)

Who makes the final decision about whether your prospect gets to attend your seminar? If it’s not the person you’re marketing to, you will need to address the decision maker’s need for information, too.

What is their social class or status?

What are their hot buttons that, if pressed, will make them buy? (Are they bargain hunters who will register once they realize how great of a deal you’re giving them? Will they be more attracted to your event if you are strongly positioned as a guru? Do they want cutting-edge information that will give them the competitive edge? Are they attracted by the prestige offered by gaining knowledge, skills and training that few people have or can get access to?)

For example, one past client was an association of professional writers, whose members tended to be very frugal. Knowing that our prospects were very price conscious, we typically offered an early bird discount. For one event I marketed for the association, every single participant signed up before the early bird deadline so they could receive a $20 discount. We didn’t receive a single registration after the deadline, which is highly unusual.

Why should your prospects buy now? (For example, seating is limited, so if they don’t register, they might miss out. Worse yet, their competitors might be smart enough to attend.)

Emotions, fears and deepest desires. To succeed at

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marketing, you must understand the emotions that drive your prospects, and you must be able to sympathize with them. You don’t just want to understand the challenges someone feels is objective – although it’s important you understand why they’re upset or frustrated or feeling whatever emotions they’re feeling. But you don’t want to be a step removed from the situation … a mere observer. You want to step into your prospects’ shoes, becoming them for a brief period. You have to step inside their heads, feel the same gut-twisting anxiety, overwhelming relief, joy and elation or whatever other emotions your audience is dealing with.

Here’s an example that may help illustrate the difference a bit more. When my daughter was four, she went through a period where she resisted sleeping in her own bedroom. For at least 30 minutes after we’d put her to bed, she’d call us back and ask for just one more kiss and hug, and then she’d cry when we’d leave the room. After about two weeks of this pattern, she finally cracked and told me what was really bugging her: all of the noises she could hear in her bedroom terrified her. Our bedroom, on the other hand, was not only safe and cozy, it was dead-silent.

I was sympathetic to the situation. After all, you know that most kids aren’t crazy about thumps and bumps in the night. I could understand why she was afraid; therefore, her reluctance to fall asleep and stay in her own room made perfect sense. I was seeing the situation from the objective eyes of a parent. I explained what the noises were and assumed that would be enough to settle her down.

Silly me. Maggie didn’t seem the slightest bit reassured that I could explain what all the noises were. She keep repeating, “But, Mom, I don’t want to sleep in my bedroom all by myself.”

I’ll admit, I was a little bit frustrated. Then I stopped and really put myself in her shoes. I thought back to one of my most vivid early memories, when I wasn’t much older than my daughter. I remember lying in my bed, being utterly paralyzed with fear because my closet door was open a crack, and high up near the top of the closet, I could see an eye peering out at me. Actually, even thinking about it now, I get a tiny little twinge in my gut and my mouth gets a little dry. That’s sympathy – where you experience the same feelings as your prospects.

Here’s how sympathy can help you become a better marketer. For starters, you can talk about what, exactly, your prospects are experiencing. This shows that you understand them. Then continue by explaining how you (if it’s true) or others have successfully overcome a similar problem.

In my daughter’s case, I shared my story with her. I told her how I

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was so scared I couldn’t close my eyes, get up to find my mom or dad, or even to call out for them. I was positively terrified that whatever was attached to that eye would get me if I so much as moved. Then I shared how my dad eventually rescued me when he came in to check on me, by opening the closet door to show me that the “monster” I had envisioned was just a cardboard box that was emblazoned with a logo that looked like an eye.

Sympathizing with my daughter enabled me to become a much better “marketer.” Once she knew that I really did understand her fears, I was able to get her to listen to my explanations of what the noises were caused by, help her develop a plan to overcome her challenge of sleeping her room (a combination of her telling the house to be quiet when it was being too noisy and getting one of our dogs to sleep at the foot of her bed to alert all of us if there ever were a noise that was truly alarming or dangerous), and ultimately sell her on the idea that she could stay in her room without fear.

To dig into your prospects’ emotional state, ask the following questions (giving credit where credit is due, I learned many of these questions while studying the work of Dan Kennedy, www.dankennedy.com):

What are their deepest fears and worries – the things that keep them up at night and popping antacids like they’re candy?

What are the biggest problems your prospects deal with on a day-to-day basis?

What trends are affecting them?

Why are they struggling with these problems? What’s causing the problems?

How does their struggle with these problems make them feel? (For example, frustrated, depressed, angry, wanting to “give up,” embarrassed, entitled to more than what they’re getting, etc.)

What type of physical symptoms might they be feeling? (You might want to work mention of this into your copy.)

What are some scenarios in which they might be experiencing these feelings? For example, during a bad game, a golfer typically will get frustrated. And when he’s golfing with his buddies, the “friendly” ribbing he’s getting might make him angry and embarrassed.

How do they see and describe themselves? (For example, are they

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entrepreneurs who see themselves as people who are smarter than average and who have a hard time admitting that they may not have all the answers? Are they patient, loving parents who will do whatever it takes to ensure that their kids get the skills and support they need to succeed in life?)

What is the ideal solution to their problem? (Tip: Your seminar should solve the problem or teach them how to solve the problem.)

What do they say they want? Examples include more money, a promotion, better employees, or kids who are happy and well-adjusted. These are things that you can introduce as direct benefits … or as natural byproducts of attending your event.

What do they really want, but perhaps won’t admit to you … or even themselves? For example: to not just get a promotion, but to someday run the company, because your prospects believe they’re smarter than the jokers in charge. Or not just to have happy kids, but to be the mom that the other mothers hold up as an example of Supermom. To not just be financially independent, but to be filthy rich and a philanthropist.

What’s standing in their way and preventing them from getting what they want?

Attitudes and beliefs about your seminar. The final area of information I like to gather about prospective attendees relates to how they could likely perceive the event … and how I need to position the seminar for maximum interest. Here are the questions to ask yourself; as you answer these questions, put yourself in your prospects’ shoes:

In a nutshell, how will your seminar help your prospects solve their problems and ultimately get what they really want? How can you summarize what your seminar will do for attendees in a sentence or two? What is the big, overarching benefit of your event?

What’s the best case scenario a prospect could expect by attending? Alternatively, what’s the worst-case scenario if they decide not to attend? (You want to consider both because some people are motivated more by carrots than by sticks. Generally, people are motivated by pain, whether that’s a problem they’re dealing with or a loss they fear, but you should work both types of motivation into your copy.)

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What objections do they have to what you’re offering? If you had the chance to talk to each prospect personally, what would you say to them to overcome these objections? The more of these objections you can uncover early in the marketing process, the better your promotional materials will be.

One client was an ERP implementation expert. When promoting his seminars, we discovered two interesting objections. First, prospects expected the ERP software vendors to provide the training my client provided. Two, they were used to vendors coming to them and, therefore, did not want to travel to attend a seminar. As a result, the overall response rate to his seminars was low. However, because many attendees would go through his training and then decide it would be easier to simply hire his firm, the events were highly profitable.

Getting Information About Your Audience

Now that you know what to learn about your audience, the next question is … how do you find this information?

Much knowledge will come from your past experiences and familiarity with your audience and industry, of course. You can supplement your knowledge and assumptions by:

Reading industry publications to get a clearer picture about what pressing problems and trends are affecting your prospects.

Talking to other experts who serve your target market.

TIP: You may want to take input from colleagues and clients with a grain of salt. Consider the source: If they aren’t your ideal prospect, be aware that their answers may not be correct for you … though their input is still a good starting point.

Visiting and participating in chat rooms, social media sites and blogs. Better yet, consider starting your own blog so you can have a conversation with your clients.

Setting up a focus group.

Interviewing past colleagues and clients. (You’ll read more about this in a bit.)

Survey clients and prospects about their greatest problems, #1 question or challenge, or merely to gather valuable demographic and psychographic information. There are few ways you can gather this

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type of information.

You can mail a printed survey to your database, pass out surveys at your events, or even incorporate some of these questions into the seminar feedback forms you distribute at your events.

You can post a survey online and request your list to participate. You may even want to ask your colleagues to request their databases to take your survey.

Alternatively, you can use an evergreen survey, which runs nonstop. For example, you might ask every first-time visitor to your website to take your survey, and then periodically tally and compare the results to previous surveys. This way, you may begin to notice trends in the responses your audience provides.

Picturing Your “Muse”

So what to do with all of this rich information? You’ll definitely be using the insights you’ve gathered when writing “Who Should Attend” and other chunks of copy. For now, though, you can use this valuable information to write a description of your muse. The most effective copy writes to a single person. It will speed and ease your writing process to picture a single person when you sit down to write, rather than the masses of people you know (or hope!) will eventually read your copy.

So … why not sit down and write up a profile of the person you’ll be writing to. Here’s an example to get you started:

Dave is in his early 50’s. He’s had a successful career as a consultant. He’s looking ahead and knows that he needs to start laying the groundwork for the next phase of his life. He wants to start leveraging his expertise by reaching more people with seminars and information products. He wants to retire within the next 5 years ideally so he can enjoy time with his family. He doesn’t want to be rich and famous – he just wants to be comfortable and have more free time. He tried promoting his own events before, but didn’t have much luck. He’s frustrated because he’s spent a lot of money on his marketing while seeing relatively little result. He’s embarrassed that he can’t figure the problem out on his own and is beginning to doubt his abilities. He knows he has a lot to offer and he knows his content is valuable, but is at the point of throwing in the towel on his seminar business. He spends lots of time searching online for the “magic cure” that will save his fledgling seminar business and turn it into a cash cow.

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Research Topic #3: Your Competitors

Competitors are another key area to research. Seeing what other experts and training firms say when promoting their events can provide great clues about how to speak to your audience, as well as how to position yourself as a unique solution in the marketplace. While researching competitors’ events, dig deep to answer these questions:

How much is the registration fee? Does this include any discounts or package pricing (e.g., buy 3 seminars and attend the 4th event free)?

What do attendees get with their tuition?

Who is the seminar being promoted to?

What benefits are mentioned in the promotional copy?

What problems are prospects dealing with … and how is the seminar supposed to help solve the problem?

What exactly is taught?

According to the testimonials from past attendees, what do attendees like, what problems do they have, what did they learn, and how did they benefit from participating?

How they’ve positioned themselves in the marketplace – what is their identity? For example, Henry Goudreau bills himself as America’s #1 Business Coach for Contractors.

If you want to make the creation of your own copy a tad easier, identify the major sections of copy that you’ll be writing … and then compile everything your competitors are saying in those sections. Your goal: create “cheat sheets” that show you at a glance what all of your competitors are saying in their promotions. Rather than having Competitor A’s copy in one file, Competitor B’s copy in a second file, Competitor C’s copy in a third file and so on, you’ll have all “What You’ll Learn” copy together, all “Who Should Attend” copy together, etc.

Here’s how to do this: Create a new file in Microsoft Word (or whatever word processing software you use) for each major section of copy – such as what you’ll learn, who should attend, benefits of attending, etc. When you locate a competing seminar, copy and paste the pertinent copy into the appropriate document. When you’re ready to write your own copy, sit down and read what all of your competitors have written for ideas and inspiration.

Note: The idea here is not to change a few words of your

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competitors’ copy and call it your own. That may have been acceptable when writing term papers in junior high. As an adult, it’s tacky and a potential copyright violation. Instead, use your research to see what others are saying in these key sections of copy, so you can see what elements are most common (e.g., if everyone mentions three of the same benefits, it’s a good idea for you to do so, too), but also to spot areas where you can establish your seminar as unique.

Some “topics” you might want to research include:

Problems they’re dealing with

Why the problem(s) exists – why are they struggling

What solution they want or need

Why they haven’t found a solution that works – why what’s out there NOW doesn’t work for them

Who should attend

Benefits they want

What they’ll learn

Finding Your Competitors

So how do you go about finding your competitors? Here are some places to look.

Search engines. Go to your favorite search engine (e.g., Google or Yahoo!) and think like your prospective customers. Enter the keywords you think they would use to find you and what you’re offering (e.g., wealth seminars, business building seminar, business coach, etc.)

Note: The keywords you think your prospect should be using to find you are not necessarily the keywords that they will be using to find you. For example, “wealth building seminar” might adequately describe your event, but your customers might start with keywords like “make more money,” “build wealth” or even “eliminate debt.” Keep an open mind about the keywords that can be used to find the information you’re offering.

Pay-Per-Click ads. W hile you’re using your favorite search engine, take a look at the pay-per-click ads that pop up when you type in your keywords. Click on the ads to see what other experts are

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advertising to your target audience.

Associations. Check out the m em bership rosters for local state, regional and national associations. Investigate associations joined by your potential attendees. Your competitors will most likely to be listed as affiliate or partner members – the special class of membership created for vendors that serve the association’s main membership. Also check out organizations for members of your profession.

For example, professional speakers are my prospective clients, so I can investigate associations for the speaking profession, such as the National Speakers Association, to find my competitors. Within NSA, they are classified as Service Supplier Partners. I can also investigate associations that serve my profession, such as the Direct Marketing Association or the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing. In these associations, my competitors, like my company, are the primary members.

Survey your list. Ask your subscribers and clients to tell you what other experts they listen to and follow.

Network. The m ore you are out and about, the m ore likely you are to hear about and meet your competitors.

Read industry publications. As w ith associations, you should check out publications written for your profession, as well as publications that are geared toward your prospects.

Phone book. Don’t overlook the Yellow Pages or its online equivalents, such as SuperPages.com. This resource is especially helpful if you are marketing a local event and want to find local competitors.

Research Topic #4: Keywords

Online marketing is a critical component in building a successful seminar business, which is why I typically suggest that my clients spend some time researching keywords that prospects are using to try to find the information they offer. Keyword research serves you in several ways:

Keywords can be used to optimize your website for search engines, as well as to conduct successful pay-per-click advertising campaigns. If you know what keywords your prospects are using, you’ll achieve a better return on your investment when running PPC campaigns. You’ll also achieve better SEO results and, therefore, generate more

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traffic to your website.

Keywords may give you an idea for what to say in your copy. For example, one of my clients is an event planner who specializes in seminars. Although she called herself a “seminar planner,” a few minutes of keyword research showed that people search on “event planning” and “meeting planning” when trying to find vendors with her expertise. Although she can still bid on keywords relating to seminar planner (and will probably achieve great results when doing so), event and meeting planning is how most people categorize her. Using this information, she positioned herself as an event planner who specializes in seminars.

Keyword research may uncover other competitors, audiences and marketing angles you wouldn’t think of initially. For example, rather than focusing solely on “seminar planning,” my seminar planning client could use her keyword research to find competitors who rank high on “event planning” and “meeting planning.”

Your primary goal when conducting keyword research is to figure out what your prospective clients are typing into search engines when they are trying to find you and the solution you offer. Your secondary goal is to use the results of your research – the keywords and keywords phrases you find –to see who else and what else is out there. Pretend you are your customer and check out the results of these searches. Finally, your keyword research will help you optimize your web site copy and design to attract visitors who are looking for your type of information.

Sources for Keyword Information

There are several sources of information you can use to compile a list of keywords to be incorporated into your website and to use for bidding on the pay-per-click ad programs:

When you visit a competitor’s website, select View > Source in your browser window. When the screen of HTML opens up, look near the top of the page for the list of keywords being used on the site. (The list of keywords will be preceded by text such as “KEYWORDS” content = .…)

Internet searches. Go to Google or Yahoo and pretend that you are your customer. Think about the problem you have (this is the problem that you, the seminar provider, will help participants solve during your event). When results come up, check out the keywords for which other listings are optimized.

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Google AdWords (You will need to create an account to gain access to their keyword suggestion tool.)

http://www.goodkeywords.com

http://www.wordtracker.com

When you find relevant keywords, simply copy and past them into a spreadsheet.

Interviews to Conduct

Up until now, we’ve focused on gathering resources and doing research on your own. You probably have a big stack of materials and notes to start organizing and sifting through.

The next step is to interview past participants, prospective attendees and your instructor(s). This step can turn up a treasure trove of information about your audience and how they think – if you have the time and resources to do it. If you don’t have time to do this, don’t worry. You’ve already gathered a vast amount of information you can use. Allow a bit of extra time when preparing for your next event, so that you can incorporate these interviews and benefit from the additional wisdom they produce.

There are three groups of people you can interview when preparing for your event marketing:

Past participants

Prospective attendees

Your instructor(s)

Interviews could be conducted in a group setting. However, I find it easier to do them one-on-one, as it allows everyone equal opportunity to talk and minimizes the amount of time a participant needs to give to you.

The Interview Process

Following are the steps I take to secure interviews:

Contact the interview subject and explain what you need. I often will send an email first and then follow up with a phone call to secure an

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appointment.

Tips:

Plan to conduct phone interviews, which usually are most convenient. It also makes it easy to record the conversation.

Do NOT expect people to be able to talk to you immediately. Instead, schedule a time to talk to them. This is more respectful of their schedule and gives them time to ponder your questions.

When interview subjects have time to think about what they want to say, you get better and richer information. I recommend sending the questions you want to ask in advance of your interview.

After you have secured a time, send an email to confirm the date and time of your phone interview. Confirm whether you will be calling the interview subject or if he/she needs to call you or a bridge line. If the latter, include the phone number (and access code, if applicable) that the person is to call. Also email the questions that you would like to ask.

When it comes time to do the interview, simply go through the questions that you sent in advance. (Before starting, you may want to verify that the interview subject received the questions and had time to review them. If not, ask if it would be better to reschedule the interview.)

When you conclude the conversation, invite the interview subject to contact you if any more ideas or thoughts come to mind.

Finally, invite the subject to give you a testimonial – or offer to draft a testimonial based on the notes you’ve taken during the conversation.

Tip: Record the conversation. This allows you to re-listen to the interview. It also gives you the opportunity to transcribe all or part of the conversation, enabling you to extract the exact words and phrases prospective attendees use to talk about their frustrations, desires and your seminar. By including your prospects’ words and phrases in your copy, your marketing message will resonate more deeply with them. They will feel more understood by you. They will recognize themselves in your copy and be more motivated to buy.

After the call, type up your notes, especially the words and phrases that were used. You will be using this information as you start

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writing your promotional materials.

If you are going to be drafting a testimonial, email it to your interview subject. Make it clear that it is a starting point and that the interview subject should feel free to edit it as desired. Ideally, the individual should print it (onto company letterhead if it is pertinent and appropriate to have a testimonial from a representative of a company) and mail it to you. Better yet, ask them to record the testimonial as a video or audio message.

Questions to Ask Past Participants and Prospective Attendees

When you are interviewing past attendees, look for individuals who really enjoyed your seminar and/or who produced great results from the information you shared. Also consider who your ideal client is and try to find people who match that profile. These private interviews represent a rare and powerful opportunity to dig into your prospects’ feelings and emotions so that you can see how their thinking works.

Interviewing past attendees has an additional benefit: it helps you pinpoint which issues and questions are most urgent in your prospects’ minds, so you can highlight in your marketing materials exactly how your event will help them overcome their top challenges and deliver their most-desired benefits. You can always choose to skip this step and guess about what they want. But I’ve found it’s a smart investment of your time to ask them what they want, so your seminar provides the content they want … and your marketing materials adequately communicate the message that their needs will be met at your event.

The questions I like to ask past attendees include:

Think back to when you first heard about the seminar. What were the biggest challenges you were facing?

What about the seminar appealed to you? Why did you sign up? Do you remember anything specific that convinced you to register?

What were the most important lessons you learned?

How have you used the information or skills you learned? What results have you seen?

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If you’ve attended similar seminars in the past, was there anything about this event that stood out as better than other events … or that needed improvement?

When interviewing prospective attendees, ask a slightly different set of questions:

What are the biggest challenges you are facing related to <seminar topic>?

Please describe your ideal solution – what would you want from a seminar on this topic?

What are the important things you want or need to learn?

What would you hope to accomplish by attending such a seminar? What benefits or takeaways would you hope to receive?

Have you attended any training programs or purchased any products to help you conquer these challenges? If so, what were they? What did you like/dislike about them?

So what do you do if you’re starting from scratch and you don’t have your own list of customers and prospects to interview? Here are a few tips for handling this situation:

Find people who have attended a similar seminar in the past, as well as people who again fit your ideal client profile by:

Ask colleagues to introduce you to prospects they know.

Advertise for people who would be willing to participate in a focus group or sit on your advisory board.

Build your first seminar based on what you know … and what you know people need to learn. Then start gathering additional information – including interviewing attendees and prospects – as opportunities arise.

Check out the research and seminars your competitors have already done.

Create a survey that incorporates questions similar to what you would ask in an interview. Ask other experts to publicize your survey (Tip: offer to share the results of your survey).

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Questions to Ask Your Instructor

If you’re responsible for writing copy for an event that someone else is teaching, this step will be far more valuable and important than if you are teaching the event yourself. The instructor can be a priceless source of information that will help you understand your audience – and the most important benefits of your seminar. Questions to ask the instructor include:

What are the biggest challenges the audience facing related to <seminar topic>?

Why are they struggling with this challenge? Why haven’t they been able to fix it?

What do they need to fix the problem?

What are the most important things members of our target audience want or need to learn?

How will they benefit by learning this information?

What objections will the prospects have that will keep them from attending this seminar?

Note: If you do not understand the subject matter well or if the instructor have provided only the barest amount of detail about what will be taught, ask him or her to walk through the course with you. Ask these additional questions, point by point:

What will you be teaching?

Why do prospects need this information?

How will they benefit by learning this material?

If you are the instructor and you find it difficult to write marketing copy, try this technique: Interview yourself using the questions in this section, record the “interview” and transcribe the results. If you, like many speakers and trainers, find it easier to deliver content verbally vs. in writing, you may find that the words you need to promote your course flow naturally when speaking. By capturing your words through transcription, you’ll speed up the writing process – and write better copy to boot.

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Positioning Your Event for Success

You’ll be using the various pieces of information gleaned during the research process when writing your copy. Before diving into writing the sections of copy, though, first figure out what your position is going to be. How are you going to package yourself and your seminar and carve out your space in the market?

If you can stake your claim in a niche, it will be considerably easier to promote your seminars, because you stand for something in prospects’ minds. You stand out in a crowd, so it becomes easier to capture attention and convince prospects that your marketing materials are at least worth a look. It also makes it easier for prospects to remember you.

From your perspective, identifying a niche is beneficial because it makes it easier to evaluate the plethora of marketing opportunities that are available to you. (For example, you can quickly tell if it’s worth advertising in a magazine by comparing the types of readers the magazine enjoys with your ideal prospects.) It’s also much easier to write copy, because you’re addressing a very specific audience with very specific needs and problems.

It’s much easier for me to stand out in the marketplace when positioned as the “Seminar Marketing Pro” vs. when I bill myself as “just” a copywriter … and definitely more than when I am positioned as a freelance writer. “Freelance writer” can mean anything from someone who writes newsletter articles to press releases to web copy to video scripts. Copywriter implies a specialty … but SeminarMarketingPro.com tells prospective customers that I either am – or am not – the person they are looking for.

People who respond to my positioning are customers with a very specific need. This makes them motivated to find me … and more open to noticing and reading the promotions I send out.

Start with the Big Picture

Earlier in this section, you researched your competitors. The purpose was to start putting boundaries around your industry, to gauge who was already in the space. Go back now and review what you know about your competitors. Ask yourself these questions:

How am I the same?

How am I different?

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How do my competitors position themselves?

Why do prospects like about me/my company?

Why do they choose me – my events and my products/services?

Why are my events better than others?

You may review your competitors and think that there is absolutely no difference between their events and yours – for instance, if you are licensed to teach someone else’s materials. If this is the case for you, you simply must work harder to find – or create – a unique difference. Perhaps you specialize in serving a certain audience or a particular region of your city or state.

You can also dig deeper into your experience and background to find ways to differentiate yourself. Perhaps your educational and work experience gives you a leg up on your competitors. For example, I came to marketing via the not-for-profit world, which is not experience that many copywriters have. You can also work to brand your events with you – your events will be unique merely because you are leading them.

Features and Benefits

One thing that will help you as you analyze your competition is identifying the features and benefits of attending your event. The difference between the two is that a feature is a fact – a descriptor; the benefit is how something ultimately helps or serves the user.

Take a few minutes to write down your seminar’s features and each feature’s benefit. Then, compare your list against what you know of your competitors to identify which benefits are competitive advantages. You want to end up with a handful of benefits that summarize what you give your audience.

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Chapter 3:

COPYWRITING BASICS

Before we dive into writing your event promotions, let’s do a quick review of copywriting basics. (If you’re already skilled at writing marketing copy, feel free to jump to Section 3.) The first thing we’ll look at are the characteristics of good copy.

 

Characteristics of Good Copy vs. Bad Copy

1. Good copy focuses on “you” … the reader.

If you understand this first point, you’ll instantly grasp the second distinguishing characteristic of good copy: it addresses the question “What’s In It For Me?” or WIIFM.

WIIFM is the reason you want to focus on benefits when writing your marketing copy. Prospects are concerned with themselves – and with themselves only. It sounds selfish when you state it like that, but it’s a fact of life. They don’t care what you think. They don’t care what you’re

proud of. They don’t care what you’re pleased to announce or invite them to. They just want to hear about, talk about and focus on themselves.

Strive to put everything possible in terms that talk about your audience. Look at everything about your event and help them connect the dots by explaining exactly how each feature and aspect of your event will benefit them.

Feature Benefit

A endance is limited to 15 people. You get personal a en on and assistance from the instructor.

Lunch is included in your registra on fee.

You won’t waste  me trying to find a place to eat … leaving you more me for networking.

You get a binder of slides and handouts.

Your binder will be a great place to capture notes, so you end up with a reference guide for everything you learn.

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TIP: Whether or not you use this list of benefits when developing your identity, you will want to get a solid handle on benefits before you start developing your marketing copy.

For example, when promoting my Seminar Marketing Intensive, a small-group coaching program and telseminar series, I identified several competitive advantages:

I offered personal feedback. Virtually all teleseminar series offer in-struction. If you’re lucky, you might get access to an instructor by standing in a virtual line to ask a question. But, generally speaking, there is no personal feedback from the instructor on the issues that each individual is facing. The Seminar Marketing Intensive involves personal interaction with me on a weekly basis, as class size is kept deliberately small. And participants – if they want it – can get my personal feedback and advice on their seminar promotions.

There is accountability. With many teleseminar series, you receive the instructor’s suggestions each week for how to implement the ma-terial being taught, but no one follows up with you to ensure that the work is being done. SMI students receive homework assignments each week, which they are encouraged to submit for feedback.

Finally, SMI focuses on seminar marketing – something that few other programs do – and more closely still on paid events.

Your Unique Selling Proposition

Once you’ve looked at the benefits of your event and how you stack up when compared with your competitors, you’re ready to start creating a marketing identity or unique selling proposition. (You may already have a USP for your company; you can also create a USP for your event.) The USP should describe your seminar in a way that instantly jumps out at prospects, grabs their attention and communicates why prospects should choose your event over all of the other education options availa-ble to them. Ask yourself, “What do I want to stand for in the minds of my prospects? Why is my event the best choice?”

Your USP can be based on literally anything. Consider:

The quality, quantity and/or type of speakers you bring in

Your tuition (high or low)

What your event teaches

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Who you train

The benefits of attending

What you give away with registration

Your guarantee

How long you’ve been around

TIP: You know that consumers are tuned into radio station WIIFM – What’s In It For Me? They don’t care about you, the mar-keter. They care about themselves. To get them to care at any level about your marketing, you have to position yourself in a way that lets them see what’s in it for them.

Keep WIIFM in mind to ensure that you create a powerful identity. Think about what it is that your customers want from you. What are their problems? What are the solutions they seek? What are the benefits that appeal to them the most?

The Guerrilla Marketing way to write a USP is to describe your busi-ness or event in 10 seconds or less (another way to measure it – in 7 words or less). Your goal is to arouse your prospect’s curiosity and create focus. After engaging a prospect’s interest, you can go into further detail about what you do. (For example, I help seminar promoters fill on- and offline seminars. How? By helping them figure out who they are market-ing to, how to reach them, when to reach them … and then I create the marketing materials.)

A simple formula for crafting a USP is “I help …” – I help speakers fill seminar seats. The point is to get someone interested enough to say, “Oh, tell me more. How do you do that?” The key ingredients in this formula are identify who your target audience is and what you help them to do.

Another approach is to identify the big promise that you’re making to prospects – what’s your target audience’s #1 problem … and how can you help them solve it. The more specific and/or dramatic you can be, the better. For example, “I teach speakers how to fill seminar seats for less than $1 per person” or “I help entrepreneurs save up to 35% on their tax-es.”

As mentioned above, you can develop a USP first for your business, then moving on to your seminars. Or you can create a USP for your semi-nar only. Starting with your business is a good idea because your semi-nars are likely just one portion of your business. Once you’ve clarified your business identity, creating a USP for your seminars will be easier. Plus, having a clear business identity automatically positions the semi-

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© 2011 Hamby Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

nars you do. Because I’m branded as The Seminar Marketing Pro, you automatically expect that any seminars I offer will have something to do with seminar promotion.

Finding your USP isn’t necessarily going to be a quick and easy pro-cess. Big companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and untold man-hours developing their USP. Smaller companies and solo entrepre-neurs spend months fine-tuning their positioning. If you need to create a USP from scratch, my advice is to nail it as best you can now and then continue chipping away at it until it feels perfect. You can’t hold up the marketing of your event for a year until you get a pitch-perfect USP.

The USP for a seminar is most often expressed via the seminar title and tagline or subtitle. You’ll learn more about these components in the next section of this manual.