Approximately ten days ago when I did my “Promoting Your Music Career” seminar at the 2nd Lake Martin Songwriters Festival, I got to a point where I was specifying some resources that the attendees could use to try to get more bookings.
While I cited eight different websites, the truth is that there are certainly lots and lots more. BUT, you don’t just get more gigs from online destinations that you check periodically.
If you listen to my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast and/or read this blog every Monday, and heck, if you follow on, say, Instagram, and even receive the weekly e-newsletter, you know that this has been a very active year for me out on the road. It’s part of the reason that I have an entire website devoted to all the speaking that I do.
So, let’s use all my 2022 activity to get your wheels turning for methods you can use to get yourself more opportunities.
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Way back in February I spoke at a Mega Marketing event in the greater Tampa Bay area (pictured above), sharing with the attendees about podcasting. How did I land that one? I was contacted via email by someone who’d had me as part of an online event during the pandemic. So, there are two lessons there. One is to make sure you’re checking your email regularly – including the Spam or Junk folder. And second is that if someone has a good experience with you the first time, you should look to see if the two of you can do something together again.
Let’s jump ahead to April to two events that I didn’t speak at but will be a part of the next time they happen.
One was a hybrid event through an organization that I’d spoken for in the past, but they had personnel changes that resulted in my candidacy getting lost in the mix for April 2022. Thus, “You’re first on our list for (back to in-person in) 2023,” they assured me. The second was an online event with someone who I’d been put together with through a mutual connection. This individual actually hired me first to write a couple press releases, and that turned into, “I’d love to have you speak.” We couldn’t pull everything together in time then so we’re aiming for his Q4 event. You should be noticing a pattern here with relationship building, but don’t overlook starting out doing one thing with someone first and it then turning into something else. (I remember one time moderating a panel and it turning into one of the panelists asking me another time to be a speaker at his event.)
In May I was a speaker at Podfest Multimedia Expo in Orlando. This was a combination of having a strong relationship with the organizers AND having spoken at the event in the past. As I mentioned above, don’t undervalue the ability to get asked back somewhere – if you brought value the first time and were easy to work with and people (attendees) had a good experience with you.
Most recently, I had two speaking engagements last month that both were via unique sources.
When I went out west to the 18th San Francisco Writers Conference & Writing for Hollywood Summit, it was my first time going to the event and I knew no one involved with it. I had made a connection with someone on Stage 32 and as the two of us chatted ‘offline,’ so to speak, she told me about that event. I asked if there was an opportunity to be a speaker and voila, just like that I was now on the inside.
One week later when I put on the seminar that I mentioned at the start of this blog, it was because I simply proposed it! I had gone to that festival last year simply to record interviews for the podcast. However, I saw something that I could provide that would add an additional component to the event for them and felt that the worst they could say is No.
Spoiler alert. I’ve got another speaking engagement later this year that I haven’t announced yet. It happened because I saw an Instagram post about it, went to the event website to learn more and track down a contact address, and then send an introductory, “I’d love to speak” email. (There are a couple others yet unannounced too, and both are events where I’ve done workshops in the past and now they’ve come to me asking me to do the same again in 2022.)
As you can see, there’s not just one way that I’ve gotten all these opportunities this year.
What from all of this has sparked some thought for steps that you can take to start getting more bookings?
What questions or concerns do you have that are posing a challenge for you? Let’s talk about them one-on-one in a private, video consultation. I’ve been helping independent artists, authors, entrepreneurs, and podcasters for 18 years. Let’s get online together and have a confidential conversation to keep you moving forward with what you’re doing too. I’d love to meet and talk with you and share some insights.