How’s that for provocative question?
Has the meeting planner page on your speaker website become obsolete?
For years I (along with other fellow experts in speaker marketing) have preached the need for a meeting planner page. “Have everything in one place,” we said. “Make it easy for decision-makers to hire and work with you.” We aren’t wrong. Those things are still vitally important – but is a “meeting planner page” the right place for it?
I say no, not any longer.
A few things have shaped my decision over the past years.
- We aren’t all marketing to meeting planners. Think about it, are you always hired by someone with the title of meeting planner? Of course not! We are hired by CEO’s, HR departments, conference organizers and more. There is a possibility that you are missing the mark when you use the term ‘meeting planner’.
- I have heard more and more “meeting planners,” say – “Stop calling me a meeting planner – I do so much more than that”. And it is true. These amazing wizards keep so many balls in the air and work miracles – do you want to risk offending?
So if we still need to have everything within easy access, where do we put it?
That part is easy – a Speaker page. Anyone who is hiring a speaker knows that the Speaker page is where the information on the speaker will reside, but there is more to it than that.
The speaker page is often chock full of ‘stuff’ and here is where the page layout gets vitally important. In addition to your video (and insider information – they want more than just your sizzle reel) and your speaking topics, they want easy access to the following
- Why Hire You. Yes, spell it out. Showcase your uniqueness and give then your top or top 10 reasons why you are the thought leader, the expert they need
- Testimonials. Vitally important. They want to know that groups similar to theirs have hired you and found value. They want to know you weren’t a diva, that you stuck to your time, that you stayed and spent the day with the audience participants. They want to know you were invested in their success.
- Your Biography. Oh, the boring speaker bios I have read throughout my time. No one wants to hear about your years of experience in the first paragraph. You are a storyteller by trade, tell them the story of you, and where your passion to share this particular message came from. Show them your credibility – don’t simply tell them.
- Client List. Keep adding to your credibility with your list of clients. I like to group them into industry if at all possible.
- AV requirements. If you only use a lavalier microphone, or you always need a flip chart etc. Don’t assume they know.
- Marketing Material. For those of us who are booked to speak as part of a conference where the organizer has to create marketing material, it is going an extra step above and beyond to have everything they might need available to them.
- Introductions. Bet you hadn’t thought of that had you? There are hundreds of things on the mind of the person running the show. Have your intro pre-written and available for download so they don’t have to chase you to get it last minute.
- Photographs. Print and web quality for use in all of their own marketing material
So how do you get all of that on one page AND make it easy to navigate?
Simple, I like to have a “Work with Me” section as a sidebar and each of the bulleted items above becomes a separate page, with links to show the website user what do do next. The sidebar item should stand out, but not more than the other key elements, your topics
So what do YOU think? Is it time to take a fresh look at your website?
