How to Raise Your Professional Profile Through Public Speaking

Public speaking is one of the most powerful ways of improving visibility, getting more traffic and increasing your connection with your customer base.

People often underestimate the power of public speaking. After all, isn’t it better to spend your time trying to attract 5,000 online visitors through paid traffic or SEO than to speak in front of 500 people?

While that line of thought is understandable, it misses the point.

When you get on a public stage, several things happen. First of all, your company is instantly legitimized. You get instant credibility. You get instant expert status.

Furthermore, you have an uninterrupted block of time with which you can sell yourself and your company. The people in your audience will generally either be potential business partners or ready to buy customers.

==> It’s Not Coincidence …

Numerous studies have shown that people who speak regularly in public earn significantly more than those who don’t.

Is it because public speaking causes people to earn more? Or is it because once you’re earning more, people expect you to speak? It’s probably a little of both.

It’s not a coincidence that public speakers are some of the most professionally successful people in the world.

==> One of the Best Ways to Build a Connection

Imagine meeting someone who could help your business for the first time. Let’s say they’re a potential investor. You’ve got 60 seconds to pitch them on your proposal and land a second meeting. How do you feel?

Now imagine this exact same scenario, except you’ve just gotten off stage. While speaking, you gave a hard-hitting speech about one specific problem and how you’re solving it. You got a standing ovation. Now, you have 60 seconds to land a second meeting with this potential investor. How do you feel?

Likely much more confident. When you speak in public, making important connections becomes much easier. Often times you won’t even have to try and make the connections yourself – they’ll come to you.

==> Visibility and Transparency

Speaking in public is a great way to increase transparency and visibility.

If you want more people to know about your company and if you want more people to trust your company, speak in public.

LifeLock, the identity theft monitoring service, had trouble getting customers before their CEO went public. Then, one day they came up with a brilliant campaign: for the CEO to publically state his social security number as proof of how confident he is in his service.

Visibility and transparency went up and sales instantly skyrocketed.

If you’re not in public light, people will only see your company, which is very hard to build a connection with. However, if you’re speaking publically regularly, people have the opportunity to get to know who’s running the company and who’s behind those products. They can come to trust you first, then your product and your brand.

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Author: jm

Joan Mullally has been doing business online for more than 20 years and is a pioneer in the fields of online publishing, marketing, and ecommerce. She is the author of more than 200 guides and courses designed to help beginner and intermediate marketers make the most of the opportunities the Internet offers for running a successful business. A student and later teacher trainee of Frank McCourt’s, she has always appreciated the power of the word, and has used her knowledge for successful SEO and PPC campaigns, and powerful marketing copy. One computer science class at NYU was enough to spark her fascination with all things digital. In her spare time, she works with adult literacy, animal fostering and rescue, and teaching computer skills to women.