Introductions to influential companies/contacts

[Sharona87]

Hi everyone! Hope you all are keeping well and safe.

So I've got no network, no money and no idea lol (maybe a few, but none that make CENTS).

I'm taking the approach in this thread, but with my own flavour: GOLD! - No network? No money? No idea? No education? NO PROBLEM!

I'm organising a virtual summit for marketing and comms professionals who work in not for profit organisations in Australia and New Zealand. I want the summit to be value packed for attendees but it also serves as a great way to collect leads/subscribers.

I'm in the not for profit sector and have had a good initial response when I raised the summit idea with colleagues in my sector. So there's a need for targeted education here.

The first topic they'd like to see covered off is Google Performance Advertising. In order to set myself apart from other summits in this space, is like to get highly influential speakers for these sessions, not just people from another agency looking for potential clients. I've actually approached a few people at Google via LinkedIn and hoping to have a productive conversation with them.

In the meantime, I guess I'm also reaching out here to see if anyone is willing to share a contact or two with me in this space?

The long game is that, through these summits, I'll get a clearer idea of widely-experienced problems that I could solve and have an inbuilt audience to test with and eventually sell to.

Feedback on this approach would be appreciated too

Thanks for reading this,
Sharon

 

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[dennisgerik]

@Sharona87 - How's your summit coming along?

Along this line, I am also curious - I'd love to read about people's experience with developing and hosting virtual "summits".

 

[Sharona87]

@Sharona87 - How's your summit coming along?

Along this line, I am also curious - I'd love to read about people's experience with developing and hosting virtual "summits".

Hey! Things are... coming along lol. I managed to secure a speaker from Google Australia and a former Wordstream employee - which was a massive win as it gives the summit credibility early on.

My goal is to get 100 registrations. I only opened registrations a few days ago and have... 5 That's with no marketing though (no money!) and personal outreach. I'm going to change my LinkedIn outreach approach as currently the copy is about helping me rather than about the benefits of the summit.

My massive weaknesses are that I don't know marketing, sales or copywriting... sigh.

Next I'm planning on getting on the phone with people who I think will be interested and inviting them to register. I'm about a month out from the summit with a day job and two young kids...

So in summary I personally think there's merit to the approach and it would be easier if you were armed with marketing, sales and copywriting skills. Trying to grow an audience from 0 with no money is hard but I don't know if I'm making it harder than it should be?

Anyway, lots of self doubt flying around here. If anyone has any pointers they would be very much appreciated!

 

[dennisgerik]

@Sharona87 - 5 registrations with no marketing - celebrate that. This says that people want to learn about more about your topic. Now, encourage those 5 to invite just one friend to join them, now you have 10 people and you are 10% of the way to your goal of 100. It's about celebrating small wins along the way.

As for "sales" and "copywriting" - some of the best advice I have heard is screw the "salesy, copywritey" crap and just write from the heart. Write as though you are writing to your best (ideal) customer. Speak to them directly. Be AUTHENTIC to YOU not to who you think you should be. (Why be an imitation of someone else when you are uniquely you.)

And, hell - if you don't like to write - record a video...describing what your Summit is about. You don't even have to be on camera - just use a series of slides.

(Now, I'm off to consider my own advice...as I begin my journey...)

 

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[Sharona87]

@Sharona87 - 5 registrations with no marketing - celebrate that. This says that people want to learn about more about your topic. Now, encourage those 5 to invite just one friend to join them, now you have 10 people and you are 10% of the way to your goal of 100. It's about celebrating small wins along the way.

As for "sales" and "copywriting" - some of the best advice I have heard is screw the "salesy, copywritey" crap and just write from the heart. Write as though you are writing to your best (ideal) customer. Speak to them directly. Be AUTHENTIC to YOU not to who you think you should be. (Why be an imitation of someone else when you are uniquely you.)

And, hell - if you don't like to write - record a video...describing what your Summit is about. You don't even have to be on camera - just use a series of slides.

(Now, I'm off to consider my own advice...as I begin my journey...)

Thanks Dennis, I appreciate that advice and am taking it on board! I think as long as I keep taking focused action then at the very least I'll learn from the experience.

Good luck with your own journey, what are you planning?

 

[dennisgerik]

After considering my own experience / challenging of working from home, I sense some other professionals may have similar challenges. Particularly teachers, trainers and other professionals that were “forced” into this working environment...so, I’ve been contemplating the different audiences and evaluating the particular dhallenges and needs of each.

 

[Sharona87]

After considering my own experience / challenging of working from home, I sense some other professionals may have similar challenges. Particularly teachers, trainers and other professionals that were “forced” into this working environment...so, I’ve been contemplating the different audiences and evaluating the particular dhallenges and needs of each.

Sounds interesting and very timely! Are you finding anything you can take action on?

 

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