Who are you as a speaker?
Defining your specialty can be challenging as a speaker, but it’s essential if you want to be successful. That’s why Michelle Onuorah emphasizes the importance of knowing your identity. This week, she sat down with Maryalice Goldsmith on The Speaker Lab Podcast and shared her insight on the subject. Here are the top 3 takeaways from their conversation:
Develop an Expert Positioning Statement (EPS)
According to Michelle, the most important thing for maintaining a clear identity is your EPS, or expert positioning statement. This is your mission statement as a speaker; who you are and what you bring to the market. Michelle describes this as the foundational building block for your speaking business.
The statement itself is divided into three parts. It identifies the audience you’re addressing, the problem you’re solving and the transformation you’re providing. Having this information in a succinct statement enables you to have a clear vision of the value you provide to clients – a clarity which will be invaluable in successfully booking speaking gigs.
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Stay in Your Lane
A big part of having a clearly defined identity is remaining within your area of expertise. Although there’s always temptation to expand further and further, Michelle suggests that this approach can lead to confused messaging and a loss of traction.
However, just because you should remain consistent doesn’t mean that expansion is always a bad idea. But before expanding your area of focus, ask yourself if it makes sense for the direction that your business is headed in. If you stray too far from that direction, you risk diluting your message to the point of ineffectiveness.
Don’t Play the Comparison Game
A mistake that new speakers often make in defining their identity is comparing themselves to those with more experience in the industry. Michelle warns that this “comparison trap” will inevitably lead to feeling inferior because of the disparity between you and other speakers.
You don’t have to be ahead of all the other speakers, you just have to be slightly ahead of your audience. If you have that knowledge and experience in your area, you have something that’s incredibly valuable to your audience.
Want to learn more? Listen to Episode 452 with Michelle Onuorah here.
