Small Business Marketing Ideas – Mini Seminars To Establish Yourself As The Authority In Your Area

A great way to not only promote your business but also to increase your position as an authority in your industry is to hold mini-seminars. Many small business owners over think this and think this is too complicated or expensive to do for their business. It really isn't and you can start small with it and grow it as you get the word out more.

It doesn't matter what industry you look at, people are always wanting more information and want to feel that they made an educated decision in their choice of company that they work with. By putting on a small mini-seminar, you can use this method to educate your prospects about the industry so they make a better choice and at the same time establish yourself as the expert.

You don't have to have a room of 100 people in your first mini-seminar. You can start with a room that will only hold ten people. It doesn't have to be huge right away. You can also use this as scarcity in your marketing and promotions for the event. If you can only take 10 people, then they need to register right away.

You can either rent a small conference room at a hotel or look to your local library or Chamber of Commerce to see if they have a room you can use. Depending on the situation, you might be able to get the room for free.

The timing of your mini-seminar can be as small as a two hour presentation. You don't have make it a full day event. Again, start smaller and expand as needed. Especially if you are doing the event at no cost to your attendees. You want to give them a great educational experience but remember that the goal is to also get them to see you as the expert and hire your company for their needs.

You will also need to decide on the price.
There are advantages to both free and paid seminars.

Free Seminars
1. More people will register for something that is free
2. You then get in front of a lot more people that way
3. You can some times get the room for free if you are not charging for the event
4. You can then establish yourself as the expect first and wow them with your knowledge which will make them more likely to trust to buy from you.
5. Can be shorter (2-3 hours)

Paid Seminars
1. Covers any cost of the room
2. You can make a profit on the event itself and make it another source of income
3. People will be more serious about the event since they are invested
4. It's ok to have a smaller group. Attendees will appreciate the more personal attention they will get

If your main goal is to get more prospects, you might even want to charge a small fee (under $25) in order to get still cover any expenses but also be able to get more people to attend. Most people won't think much of spending $25 for an event they are interested in.

Be sure to give a lot of great information in your presentation and really over deliver in what you are teaching about as you want attendees to really be excited about the even. Even if they don't buy your product right away, you left them with a positive experience and they will tell others.

And most importantly, be sure to follow up with the event. Make sure that you have complete information for every person that attended the event. This way you can follow up with them in the future and turn them from prospects into clients.