Market Your Practice with Public Speaking

Despite being nearly universally feared, public speaking is one of the easiest, most effective, and most natural ways of marketing holistic health care. If you can get over the fear, developing your public speaking skills is one of the best ways to grow your business.

Although it may seem daunting, making presentations is a way to present yourself by reaching out to people with respect and caring, using the same skills and attitude you use every day with your clients. By making a presentation, you are meeting potential clients face-to-face, demonstrating a special effort to offer information that can make an improvement in their lives, and inviting them to take a positive step forward.

The essential component in this kind of natural marketing is that you care enough to step out and tell others that they are deserving of the best. You care enough to share what you know to help make people’s lives a little better.

Becoming a good public speaker can:

• Increase your comfort and ability to connect with potential clients.
• Improve your skills in educating people about the work you do and the benefits of treatment.
• Clarify understanding of your own approach and philosophy.
• Help develop your professional goals and target clientele. Do you want to work with seniors, athletes, pregnant women and young mothers, people with injuries? It would be well worth your while to hone a presentation which focuses on the benefits to your chosen target group.
• Increase your visibility and credibility with referring healthcare practitioners.

Give demonstrations. Keep in mind that giving a hands-on demonstration during a presentation can be your best selling point. And, always be prepared to send participants home with business cards, client education brochures, and other marketing materials.

Here are some resources to help you further prepare to make presentations.

PRESENTATION PLANNING KIT:

Present Yourself Powerfully, An Interactive Kit Designed to Enhance Your Public Speaking Skills. Cherie Sohnen-Moe.

BOOKS:

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds. Carmine Gallo.

101 Secrets of Highly Effective Speakers: Controlling Fear, Commanding Attention. Caryl Rae Krannich, Ph.D.

Public Speaking for Dummies. Malcolm Kushner.

WEBSITES:

www.public-speaking.org

www.entrepreneurship.org/Founders-School/Powerful-Presentations

ed.ted.com

(originally published by Natural Touch Marketing on April 1st, revised and updated Sept 16th)