When you get booked to speak for someone else’s organization, it is understood that you will help them promote your talk. This is true even if you are doing a free webinar. It’s a courtesy and it’s to your benefit because both you and the organizer want the event to be a success.

After the organizer decides that you are the right speaker, you will be asked to send the organizer the title of your talk, a summary of what you will cover, your picture for publicity, your bio, and your social media links. They will likely give you word counts to stay within. They may post exactly what you send them, or they may edit your copy. I have had organizers do both. 

Create events on website and social media 

The organizer should create an event on their website with all the critical details. There should be an easy way for potential attendees to register. Don’t make people dig for the information or they will just drop off. 

In addition, the organizer should create an event on Facebook and LinkedIn to make it easy for people to share the event with colleagues and friends. 

As the speaker, you should click “going” and share the event with your followers on all platforms. 

Sharing the event page will likely be your announcement that you are doing the webinar. Make sure you mention time zones and whether there will be a recording or not, and definitely let people know if there is a cost to attend. 

Download marketing assets

The organizer will probably create a nice graphic for your event, and maybe a few variations. One will probably be the picture on the event page. If they don’t send something to you, you can ask them for it.

I have had larger organizations ask me about my branding and what colors I would prefer, but that usually won’t happen.

I also have had organizations pull different pictures of me from my website and use those instead of the publicity picture I sent them. I didn’t like that, but I went along with it.

Promote multiple times 

You never know when people will see things on social media, or if they will see your posts. You will need to promote your event way more than you think you should to get people’s attention. Most people will wait until the date gets close to sign up. That’s just what people do. 

Send the event to your email list 

You don’t have any control over what the organization does regarding email marketing or promoting your event on social media. You can only hope that they know what they are doing, and are doing their part to make your event a success. 

If you have your own email list, and if the topic is relevant to your audience, you should promote your event a few times to your own list. 

If you have some specific people in mind who might benefit from attending, reach out to them directly. 

Offer a bonus

Offering a free download like an eBook or checklist, or a complimentary follow-up coaching session, can help boost attendance. 

You also can offer a live-only Q&A session at the end and ask people to bring their burning questions, which may convince them to attend live. It’s way more fun to present directly to attendees and interact with them. 

Remember to promote your event early, often, and through multiple channels if you want to make it a success. Good luck! 

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash