Increase your Visibility with Speaking Engagements

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What does visibility mean in our industry? How does it really shake things up for our business?

I recently had an insightful conversation with Steph Wurton about her journey in our industry. She is a Latina Leadership and Visibility Coach, known for her rule-breaking approach and her dedication to living the “whole damn vibe” in life and business. Her expertise lies in empowering individuals to boost their self-assurance and achieve significant visibility without tethering themselves to their mobile phones.

Steph shared her remarkable story, where she transitioned through various careers before finding her calling as a coach. She noted that being a coach means gaining confidence in your identity as a leader and as a person, allowing you to take up more space and create a more significant impact. In essence, it’s all about building that community and the ability to connect with them, sharing your truth and your story.

It’s a means to shift perspectives and help more people who can benefit from your experiences. People genuinely need what you have to offer to find success in their businesses or simply to feel acknowledged because the life of an entrepreneur can be incredibly isolating. 

The need for connection is real, and visibility provides precisely that!

How did Steph transition from Brand design, brand strategy into visibility?

In the midst of a career transition, Steph found herself at a crossroads. She had a strong desire to venture into coaching, but her journey began in the world of design and brand strategy. What she initially perceived as merely helping her clients find their brand’s essence turned out to be a coaching process in disguise. Through brand strategy, she realized that coaching is her thing. 

Opportunities, clients, and money came effortlessly through her speaking engagements built through partnerships, collaborations, and referrals. Then came the big “aha” moment. She realized that she needed a game-changing strategy. This allowed her to uncover her true passion and discover a way to be more effective and enjoy her work even more.

What does visibility mean for entrepreneurs and their business growth?

If you want to create impact, you need to take up space – collaborate, go book yourself to speaking engagements, be in front of people to amplify the power of who you are and let them know the beauty of your stories and your business!

It’s not about regurgitating what’s readily available online or reteaching what you’ve already learned, as you can find endless resources for that. The real power lies in your story, your voice, your personal experiences, and your background in order to help more people and make a difference!

Quality > Quantity visibility engagements

The quality of visibility engagement is far more important than quantity. Aligning your values and intentions when seeking visibility opportunities should be what you are after. Because doing so many things can lead you to misalignment.

This divergence in values and audiences sometimes led to less than optimal results and a lack of enthusiasm when sharing opportunities.

So, evaluate the opportunities for how you can position yourself to serve the right audience rather than trying to be everywhere at once. The goal is not just about being everywhere and gaining visibility for its own sake but about finding meaningful connections and opportunities that align with your values and goals.

Where would one start, you ask?

Fear may start to creep in with the idea of taking up more space, and so to overcome this, the first step you can do is practice.

You can use your marketing platforms to take up space and see it as if it’s your stage.

Ask yourself – What would this feel like? How do I want to show up? What kind of presence do I want to take up in the online space?

Knowing the answers and having clarity of what your goal is can actually help you build up more confidence because you already are a speaker. You’re already a thought leader. So, the first step is to leverage your own marketing as your stage.

Even if you have 200 followers on Instagram – 200 people is a lot. Try to fit 200 people in a room. It’s an audience. It doesn’t matter. You don’t need to have over 10k followers in order to share value with your audience.

If you are stuck in your creativity, thinking you have nothing valuable to share – it’s time to redefine your value.

As a creative and designer, you sure have a wealth of knowledge about brand strategy. And there’s always a brand story, the brand values. Share your experiences, stories, and journey when it comes to speaking and building connections. That is valuable because it builds deeper connections. 

You don’t have to be the person who knows everything. It’s about how you can be YOU. How you can be yourself, how you can share something that’s finally going to help somebody who’s creating an impact.

When you become more visible, you get to define what your brand is all about. You get to define how people perceive you, where you bring more of yourself in.

Your voice is your power to be successful – show up, speak up, and take space.

Visibility is your opportunity to represent, assess, and determine how you would want to run your business and how you want to show up. 

In our world now, things are becoming more automated, so be your authentic self. It’s okay to show up with your flaws, imperfections, and even if you’re introverted. There are so many ways to show up that don’t have to make you feel like you have to be somebody else.

If you’re introverted, you can do a lot of mindset work to help you put yourself out there

There are so many opportunities for you to show up. You can do pre-recorded videos where you can just stop the camera anytime and edit it out. You don’t have to literally talk to a soul in order for you to speak.

I know you may also struggle with being rejected, pitching yourself, reaching out to people, and that’s okay. It takes practice. It’s not going to be perfect at first.

The visibility mistakes

1. Visibility goes beyond mere exposure.

It’s about connecting what you share with what you have to offer, and it’s keeping the engagement going beyond the initial exposure to build stronger, long-lasting relationships with your audience.

Be intentional with what you speak about. Ask yourself – how do you keep the connection alive? Some may not immediately take action, so focus on nurturing the relationship and ensure they get to know you better.

2. You don’t have to be perfect and sound polished.  

You don’t have to be THE expert. All people need from you is for you just to show up and share your story. Just get out there and start building confidence. We often criticize ourselves, worrying about not saying the right things or the right way, but really, people don’t even notice it. 

People often relate more to your authenticity, so let it be imperfect and overcome that self-doubt!

So now that you’re ready to put yourself out there – what’s the next action step?

The easiest and most straightforward way is to pitch yourself. Just proactively promote yourself!

This may be time-consuming but this is an essential step in building relationships and should not be seen as a nuisance.

What do you do after getting those speaking engagement opportunities?

A great way to boost your reputation as a speaker is by setting up a speaker page on your website. This provides an easy-to-access showcase of your speaking experience and credentials.

When you’re out there speaking, whether it’s at events or online, don’t forget to record it. Even the behind-the-scenes moments or casual collaborations can serve as proof and credibility, too!

You can use these to market yourself and attract even more speaking opportunities.

Steph has a visibility challenge for you!

It’s a 30-day bite-sized video challenge and prompts. 

Every day, you’ll get some solid guidance to level up your video marketing game and position yourself as a sought-after speaker, all while drawing those speaking opportunities to you. So, instead of constantly having to pitch yourself (which is still something we encourage), this program actually gets you invited to speak. 

The key here is accountability. You see, we often know what we should be doing, but sometimes it’s a struggle to get it done. That’s where the visibility challenge comes in. It keeps you on track for 30 days and helps you set up your own visibility tour to grow as a speaker, boost your brand, and, as a bonus, bring in more revenue. 

Scroll down, and you can find the link to the challenge!

Steph’s Instagram: https://www.instagram. com/stephwharton_/
Steph’s podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1RhvC3iM3L4x1ECAlB5kVD
Steph’s Visibility challenge: https://stephwharton.com/visibility-tour