The Difference between Strategies and Metaphors
I love metaphors. Those clever slogans and concepts give the marketplace a clear mental image about your expertise. Speakers love them and can think up some great ones. Unfortunately, many experts also confuse metaphors with market strategy. Result: a cute gimmick that doesn’t get you booked.
“Concepts” won’t work for speakers who think strategy is just a slogan to describe what they do. Too many speakers don’t know their most profitable path; they approach the market with what they do have—creativity. So, they create a clever metaphor and call that a “strategy” or even worse, their “concept.”
Strategy vs. “concept”
There’s a big difference between them. A strategy links your most profitable audience to that part of your uniqueness that the market will buy. It is based on market intelligence and uses that information to pinpoint your most profitable “uniqueness.”
A metaphor or concept is the vehicle that makes that strategic connection come alive. It applies the strategy in a way that the marketplace buys into. It is based on creativity and word play. How to create a killer concept? Here are the keys:
It’s about them
Before going on the magical metaphor tour, start with strategy. What does your most profitable audience care about? What is their environment like? What do they face every day? Slogans should start with the market’s condition, not yours.
Example: Rick Butts’ “Survival Skills for the 21st Century Jungle.” Who hasn’t felt that it’s a jungle out there?
Big mistake
Instead, too many speakers focus on themselves, their hobbies and interests. Another example: one speaker likes to snow ski, so he used something like “dealing with the moguls of life”. Problem: no one cared.
The only time this kind of metaphor works is when the speaker is a celebrity, such as an Olympic skier. The market immediately gets that connection.
Apply your expertise
Now that you have the picture, put yourself in it. There’s a lot of strategy to that, too. Of all that you have to offer, do you know what the market finds most available? What do you have to offer that is the most attractive to your most profitable audience.
Key strategy: Use the market’s environment as the basis first, and then position your expertise with findings that thrive in that environment. Rick Butts used the “jungle” concept to link his varied background to the suddenly-changing environments of his marketplace.
A metaphor without strategy is like a balloon without a string – it just floats away in the sky, taking with it a lot of money spent on videos, websites and promotional materials. And that can be deadly. When the economy was good, speakers had enough money to waste on tools that wouldn’t work. Not now. Investments aren’t so easily replaced, so creating strategy before that clever slogan can make sure those tools bring in business fast.
Finding great support
One of the most-asked questions I get is about Vicky Likens, my virtual assistant (VA). Instead of an employee with demands of his or her own, I work with a fellow entrepreneur who sees me as a valued client. We’ve worked together for over a year now, and it’s been great.
On the other hand, I hired a VA to do some PR work—with disastrous results. Lesson: not all VA’s are created equal. Here are two things that will help you separate the good from the bad and the ugly.
1.Don’t assume expertise based on certifications or communities. There are training schools for VA’s that act like “communities” to help you hire the right VA. These organizations claim to “certify” VA’s and tout their more rigorous standards. Some even have ethical codes. I bought in – bad move.
I used the same organization to find both VA’s – they wanted me as a reference for finding Vicky Likens, but refused to enforce their so-called “ethical code” when I brought up possible violations by the other VA. Perhaps the code is simply a marketing tool.
Action item: Ask the executive director how they deal with ethical violations and other problems. If they are not willing to enforce their standards, then assume they don’t have any.
2. Never underestimate the power of the grapevine. Because I was in a rush, I interviewed 20 VA’s in 4 days. I also used references to make my decision. If I had just checked them out with my own sources, I wouldn’t have hired the VA from hell.
I asked around after both were hired and found out that Vicky Likens was a leader in her industry. I also learned that the other VA was expanding into areas she wasn’t qualified in. She was “learning” (while charging top dollar) by working with people like me.
Action item: Ask other VA’s about your top picks BEFORE hiring them. You’ll get the inside scoop that isn’t on any website.
I learned these things the hard way. Don’t make these small but significant mistakes and you’ll find the right VA to help grow your business.
Got Speaker’s Bureaus?
Everyone is wanting a list of speaker’s bureaus,
so check out the bureau locator function at the International
Association of Speaker Bureaus: http://www.igab.org Remember, these folks are deluged with calls
from speakers, so contact at your own risk.
New Year, new stuff!
Hold on to your seat belts…I’m adding more stuff to the website. You can now email friends this issue of Splash, along with our ever-popular Tips and Trends column, articles and special reports. You can also get print versions without the graphics. Coming soon: new products, special reports and more!
A branding expert I hired came up with a great
concept that is really “me”. The decision-makers seem to like it, but don’t choose me. Why isn’t
this concept getting me bookings?
There’s a big difference between liking something and buying it. Two common reasons why a “concept” can sound good but may not work:
1) Your expert didn’t know enough about your most profitable market, so the concept is cute but not compelling. This happens a lot if the expert is from media, advertising or public relations. They tend to focus on verbiage and word play, rather than markets.
2) Or the concept is tied so closely to you that the buyers think it’s cute but not relative to them. This happens a lot in the $3,000 to $5,000 range, where buyers of these sophisticated audiences are pitched concepts meant for audiences who need more basic information. Again, when experts don’t know the audience demographics of the different fee ranges, they will focus on the client’s uniqueness instead.
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