Whether you’re a professional public speaker, therapist, business consultant, coach or entrepreneur, being an Enrichment Lecturer on a cruise ship is a great way to market your practice. You can do something you love to do, promote your practice to a whole new audience, and have a first-class vacation at the same time. It’s a truly unique marketing opportunity: thousands of captive prospective clients you’ll be mingling with for 7, 11, 14 days and nights. I’m a coach, I present enrichment lectures regularly for the Royal Caribbean cruise line, and I’m the author of “Presenting on a Cruise.”
Here are some tips on how to get chosen for this unique opportunity:
Apply through an agency, not the cruise lines. Cruise lines use booking agencies for lecturers just as they use travel agents to book cruises. It’s industry protocol that the cruise line not tell which agency they use, and the booking agent not tell which cruise line they book for. There’s help with this in my ebook.
Cruisers want topics of personal (not professional) interest. It’s a vacation — time to get away from the job. Self-help and wellness titles sell, as well as innovative topics only you can think of — the history of chocolate with samples, or international protocol. Weak in this area? Brainstorm with a marketing coach.
Choose a catchy, fun and upbeat title. Titles are a major selling point both to get you chosen and to get people to your lectures once you’re on board. Work on this a lot. Brainstorm with a marketing coach until you get the hang of it.
Use positive promising titles. “Smooth Sailing Through Life’s Storms” works better than “Transitions”. “Ride the Waves to Fun & Happiness” works better than that.
You’re allowed to bring along a guest. Consider bringing along another coach or presenter. The cruise lines like the two-fer and you’ll have help managing the promotions, logistics, and audience so you can make the most of this marketing opportunity. You’ll also get an extra day and a half vacation.
They’re on vacation, so be entertaining. Know the rule dress one level higher than your audience? A cruise gives you a lot of leeway. Wear a memorable outfit. Have games and prizes. Have fun and take some risks.
Be prepared to present under any circumstances, with only what you bring with you. Luggage gets lost. Equipment breaks. What you request may or may not be there. Conditions are quite different from “on land.”
Expect the unexpected. A nationally-known celebrity showed up at my talk on “Strengths,” to find out how to build her life around her innate talents. More than with any other speaking engagement, you don’t know who your audience will be. Get there early and mingle. Elicit responses from the audience early on so you can find out ‘who’ they are.
Get to know the cruise director and make yourself useful. Have a 4th presentation ready in case it rains a day in port and the guests need extra entertainment. Make sure the staff know you for when it comes time for them to vote on you.
Find out beforehand if you can self-promote. If so, bring exceptional handouts and be sure your name, URL, and phone number are on them and on the pens/pencils you provide. You want them to know how to reach you. Give away a month’s free coaching or one of your courses for prizes. Pass around a sheet so you can capture their email addresses. More importantly, you want to be able to reach them.
Prepare. Read all you can about the presenting conditions on a ship and ask around because they’re very different.
For more tips, see my ebook “Presenting on a Cruise: The Perfect Working Vacation.”
Susan Dunn, MA, Marketing Coach,
http://www.webstrategies.cc. Marketing consultation,
implementation, website review, SEO optimization, article
writing and submission, help with ebooks and other
strategies. Susan is the author or How to Write an eBook
and Market It on the Internet. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc
for information and free ezine. Specify Checklist.
