Part 5 (1/2)

What Makes a Great Partner?

Like any relationshi+p, trust and shared values are essential to building strong agency partnershi+ps Every ti your brand, reputation, and financial success in another agency's hands Here are so and selecting partners: Services: Services encies Crossover services can create confusion a partners who have different styles

Pricing: Therefor partnershi+ps to work Ideally both agencies use sie For exa 1,500 to 3,000 per n specialist fires 400 per hour

Process: The most efficient and productive partnershi+ps will share very sieencies will search for partners who use the sarations For exanals' Basecaement syste, production, and delivery of joint services

Perforet and on tihest quality work You must have complete confidence in your partners' ability to perform at the levels you deth: Do not be afraid to ask the tough questions about your partners' financial health Agencies that struggle financially often are under pressure to keep overhead costs dohich directly impacts the quality of their staff and their capacity to take on new projects Be especially cautious with soloists and specialists who are enerally less stable You cannot rely on partners who are stretched too thin or are too dependent on you to stay afloat

Diversify Your Revenue Streay, and they will deliver a results-driven blend of digital and traditional services, but the most important factor in their ability to surpass traditional financial performance benchmarks lies in diversified revenue strea into software developins and lucrative licensing fees, but the encies will be to explore channels as educators, publishers, value-added resellers (VARs), and affiliates

Educator and Publisher

Once an agency positions itself as a thought leader, and establishes a proven performance track record, it opens up opportunities to create and capture value on a larger scale through speaking engageital publications, book publishi+ng, and teaching

In order to e and capabilities outside of services, you have to differentiate yourself and bring real value to audiences Do not be afraid to start s revenue through education and publishi+ng requires that you build up significant reach and influence through online and offline channels

Seven Steps for Building an Effective Speaking Strategy A sound speaking strategy can have a draency, and it can position your professionals as thought leaders and innovators Here is a step-by-step guide we often use to help clients looking to build speaking strategies that deliver results

Step 1-Identify Topics

Speaking topics establish the foundation for a sound speaking strategy These topics, which will evolve over time, and support the identification and pursuit of opportunities

Step 2-Select Audiences

Define, seget audiences

Step 3-Define Objectives

Establish quantifiable objectives to provide direction to the program and define success These may include number of appearances, content downloads, SlideShare views, and leads generated

Step 4-Research and Evaluate Opportunities

Identify venues for potential speaking engagees, trade shows, conferences, seanization events

Establish a valuation system to rate each opportunity based on defined criteria, such as event organizer, audience, topic, date, location, and objectives

Create an event calendar of opportunities at targeted venues

Contact venues to inquire about subee, past speaker status and feedback, attendance history and projections, and first-hand experience with venues

Monitor and assess trends to identify tieted venues

Step 5-Positioning and Placeraphy, bylined articles, testianizers and attendees, topic list, photos, contact inforh it anized and prepared

Research and evaluate anizations

Build the speaker's resu network of business and trade organizations, as well as acadeh PR and contentthe subeted outlets

Use the event database built in step 4 to pursue high-priority speaking opportunities

Maintain coeted venues

Define protocol and prepare responses for declining unsolicited opportunities that do not meet defined criteria

Step 6-Preparation

Attend events at which you plan to speak in the future For example, if you want to present at South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive, attend it first to gain an understanding of the audience, content, and venues

Create presentations

Step 7-Evaluation

Establish a grading syste appearances