Teleseminar Marketing: 10 Secrets to Being the Guest Expert EVERYONE Wants to Interview

I interview guest experts all the time for my Business Innovators Radio show. Most of the time, the preparation for the interview is fairly easy, as the guest expert sends all the requested information in a timely fashion.  However, sometimes getting the info from the expert (or the expert’s assistant) is a nightmare.  The requested info comes in bits and pieces, and that’s only after multiple email requests have been sent.

Then, recently, I hit the guest expert nirvana. In one document, this guest sent me EVERYTHING I would need to promote her program to my list, in my ezine, on my blog — you name it!  Included in her packet were pieces of information that I hadn’t even though of requesting but would be useful in getting the word out about her program.  It’s no wonder that this guest expert gets invited to speak again and again.  She and her team have made it extraordinarily easy to work with her.

Now, contrast this with another guest expert I contacted, whose work I like and admire.  Her team’s response to my inquiry was to send me a two-page form to complete to determine if she was the right speaker for my event.  There were all sorts of questions that would be applicable to me if I were asking her to speak at a live event, but I only wanted her to show up for a guest webinar.  I took one look at the form and asked my assistant to tell her team that we had decided to go with another speaker, which was too bad, considering that I thought she had a message my members could use.

How can you make it easy for your colleagues to ask you to speak to their group or their membership or on their radio show or podcast?  Here are 10 elements that you can provide in your media packet to make it painless for your host to ask you to be a guest and promote your call:

1. Compelling title.  If your signature speech title doesn’t pack a punch, it’s not going to catch the attention of the audience. So many times my guests have send me their talk descriptions and I’ve had to help them “punch it up” a bit and add a hook so that it is compelling to my audience. Take a look at some titles that have captured your attention and see if you can add a “hook” to your talk title with an especially compelling benefit or outcome.

2.  Invitation to sign up for the affiliate program.  No one speaks to hear themselves talk — there’s always a call to action to buy a product or service.  Inviting the host to sign up for your affiliate program makes the host much more eager to promote your special offer, as the host will earn a commission on any sales made of your product or service.

3.  Audience handout.  Rather than simply providing a handout, offer the handout via a squeeze page so that you can capture the participant’s name and email address.  This is a unique idea that I’d never seen previously.  It’s a great strategy for helping you as the guest expert build your list.  Typically if you’re a guest for someone else, they promote you and build their list with signups for the program.  This unique strategy helps level the playing field.

4.  Downloadable headshot photo.  Offering your headshot in a variety of sizes and in both color and black and white from a download page on your site makes it easy for your host to pick the best version to use for your program promotion.

5.  Web copy.  Create a compelling description of your talk, including 4-6 “learning points” outlining what participants will gain by participating in your call.  Typically this will include 2-3 introductory paragraphs, your bullet points, and an invitation to participate in the call.

6.  Sample email broadcast. By composing a sample email broadcast, you have eliminated the heavy lifting for your host. Well-written copy for your host means that all she has to do is fill in the time and date of the call, as well as how to sign up, and the broadcast is ready to send to her list.

7.  Bios.  Create both a long bio (200 words) and short bio (100 words) that the host can use to tell her audience about you to promote your program, and note which one (or provide the version) to be used to introduce you during the call.

8. Sample questions and answers.  Typically, when you are a guest on a teleclass, the host will interview you, rather than asking you to provide a full presentation.  Make the task of being a guest easier by providing your host with sample questions to ask you, along with sample answers.  This will enable the host to be a better interviewer and ask better followup questions, thus making the interview flow naturally.

9.  Article. Create an article that is written about the topic of your interview and provide that to the host to use in her ezine or on her blog.  Don’t duplicate the points of your presentation; rather, touch on those that you don’t have time to cover in your talk.

10. Social media updates.  Help your host tell her followers and friends about your call by providing 5-10 140-character status updates that she can use to help promote your talk on the primary social networking sites.

If you follow these ten tips, you’ll be the guest expert that all of your colleagues will want to interview!