Business Card Design

The Hermit poet and I were discussing business card design last night. He was particularly pleased with how his new card as editor of Box Car Poetry Review looks. Mine is very basic so I took out my cache of your cards collected at conferences across the continent, and through daily business to look them over. Mine is OK but not stellar. Here are six ideas I think might improve our business cards and make them more usable. Of course the card will not compensate for a dirty shirt, or a dab of Dijon’s on your chin.

Getting Attention: The Core Concept of Marketing

Putting together a lecture tour is hard work. I only gave myself seven months lead time, a big mistake. You need time to build relationships with potential host genealogy groups. Its been claimed that the essence of marketing services like genealogy lectures and workshops is getting attention. Recently I learned about four main ways to get attention; clearly communicating your marketing message.

The four ways to communicate your marketing message are by communicating the following:

Negotiating Speaking Fees: The Speakers View

 

Recently, on the Genealogical Speakers Guild list I posed some questions about speakers fees. I was curious about how flexible speakers were on their fees, knowing that a good one hour lecture represents and investment of 50 hours work -time that could be used serving paying clients. And thus a four lecture seminar means a 200 hour investment. At $25 per hour thats a $5000 investment. Speakers were asked if they would barter for part of the fee. I was surprised at the large number of respondants who reduced fees, and how few mentioned bartering for some of the fee. But its the desenters, the speakers who would not budge on fees that made most sense to me.

Take Your Brick-wall Problems into Surgery

 

I spotted a notice in a British genealogical publication that some noted professional genealogist was holding a surgery at a certain time or place. I smiled. My English cousins speak as peculiar a language as my American nieces and nephews, just not the same language. A surgery is an event where you can visit a specialist and discuss a problem or issue. In North American English we often use the term “clinic” the same way. So what is a Genealogy Clinic and how could it be used?

Negotiating With Speakers

Meet Marsh William Hambrook (1805-1874)  my immigrant ancestor, and by necessity, a pretty fair hand at negotiating a deal, especially to obtain a good horse. Those bargaining skills  are often neglected in our credit card society but are very useful if you are shopping for talented speakers, workshop leaders etc for your library or  genealogical society. Here’s what I mean.

The Independent Information Entrepreneur

Recently I encountered a professional seminar speaker who called himself an “independent information entrepreneur”. So I Googled the term. What intrigued me was the fact this speaker was not trained in library and information sciences. In the library world the term refers to librarians who contract to do research. Although few librarians are interested and success may be dificult, those with strong reference and research experience and skills may become an independent information entrepreneur.

Prime the Pump

Here’s a piece of advice for genealogy speakers that may surpise you. When you find a column, article, or blog in an area similar to your expertise, you should write to the author and compliment them. one speaker reports that she begun doing this in earnest and was astounded at the results. The key, apparently, is to sincerely compliment them on something they’ve said, and offer to be a resource for them. However, you need to remain humble. Don’t promote yourself, your book, Web site or blog.

Seminar Announcer: Leads to Free Learning Opportunities

This photo of my grandparents with my Mom on granddad’s knee is a reminder of their educational philosophy. Granddad was a curious, pragmatic rancher. Grandma grew up in a home in England where indepenent learning was prized. They taught Mom a very

pragmatic approach to independent learning. Which brings me to this post. How would you like to get weekly announcements of audio lectures, many of them free that could help you improve your genealogy business. Check out Seminar Announcer
http://www.SeminarAnnouncer.com

What do you think?

Seven Deadly E-zine Killers

Tommy Yan, a dynamic Asian-American motivational speaker has some interesting ideas on e-newletters to elevate them to a higher standard and motivate your potential and present clients for your genealogy speaking venture. Too many of those e-newletters or E-zines are 100% information free. Here’s Tommy’s seven deadly sins for e-zines

Build You Client Base With an E-newsletter

  In the last year or so I have been thinking about doing a free newsletter to serve certain potential clients. E-newsletters or E-zines can be a very simple way to add value to my services and keep my name and services before the public. Many professional seminar speakers have them, as do genealogy service outfits.