Let’s talk about the marketing materials you need to develop a paid public speaking career.  There are a few essentials:  a DVD, a website, a book, a one-sheet.  And a number of should-haves: a social media presence, a blog, a press kit, handouts, YouTube videos.  And after that, the only limit is your imagination.  The Carrot Principle authors sent 4-foot stuffed carrots to speakers’ bureaus to catch their attention (it worked).  A speaker we know sent live goldfish to speakers’ bureaus for the same reason (the goldfish mostly died).  Seth Godin reaches out to his base with promotions, seminars, special deals, unique offers – almost daily.  He’s a brilliant marketer, and it shows (and it works). 

But let’s talk about the essentials first.

First, the DVD.  Many people have the wrong idea about what should be on a speaker’s DVD.  It really needs to contain one thing and one thing only:  a 20-30 minute excerpt of a speech similar to the kind you want to book.  The sound should be good, the lighting should be adequate, and it should not look like your brother-in-law held a flip cam on you from the back of the room.  It should include audience reaction shots, so you need a 2-camera shoot, maybe even 3.  It should not focus on your head and shoulders exclusively, and it should not show waiters walking in front of the camera. 

This is not a “greatest hits” or “sizzle” reel.  That kind of thing – brief clips of you in front of a variety of audiences, or on TV – is not much use to speakers’ bureaus and meeting planners, because they figure that everyone can be brilliant for 30 seconds at a time.  They want to see you holding an audience (preferably a large audience) for 30 minutes, because then they know that you can do the same thing for them. 

This little object is harder to acquire than you might think.  Having worked with many clients, conferences, video crews and so on, I’ve learned that everything that can go wrong will.  The lighting will be horrible.  The sound will be worse.  Your message will change.  The audience won’t cooperate.  Waiters will walk in front of the cameras.  You’ll wear black in front of a black background and be invisible.  You’ll wear light colors in front of light colors and look like an animated fruit tree.  Everything that can go wrong will. 

Nonetheless, get the best DVD you can and get on with life.  Here’s how to approach the subject.  Imagine that for the rest of your speaking career, you will be looking to acquire more video footage of yourself.  Every time you give a speech, bribe the A/V guys to give you a copy of the master tape.  If you’re always in video acquisition mode, you’ll get plenty of chances to improve your DVD. 

Second, the website.  The next place a meeting planner goes after watching your DVD is to your website.  He or she will get a good idea of how much you’re worth, how current you are, and whether or not you should be hired, from the website.  So, it’s worth putting a good deal of thought into, and (get used to it) plenty of time.  Amateur-looking websites these days mean amateur speakers.  Here are some good ones:  Steve Farber: http://stevefarber.com/.  Susan Ershler: http://sueershler.com/.  Adam Hartung: http://www.thephoenixprinciple.com/.  Notice how having the blogfeed (and other social media feeds) on your home page keeps the site fresh. 

Bottom line is that you simply cannot be hired at $20K per speech if your website looks like it was designed by your kids’ former babysitter. 

Third, the book.  I just did a whole series on the public speaker’s need for a book, so I will be brief here.  You must have a published book (not a self-published book, under most circumstances) to sustain a public speaking career.  It’s a way for audiences to continue the relationship with you, and for meeting planners to feel secure that you are an expert in the field that they’ve hired you speak about. 

Fourth, the one-sheet.  Called a one-sheet because it used to be one page, this document has pictures of you looking great, your speaking topics, a brief bio, testimonials, any media hits, a description of your book, and anything else that is relevant for potential bookers to know.  It should be designed, almost certainly not by you, unless you’re a designer (and even then) and while you probably should print a few up on expensive stock, usually you’ll send it out as a pdf.  This document should be irresistible, fascinating, and delightful.  It should motivate your reader to reach for the phone and hire you.