Keynote Speaking: Brand Promotion vs Speaker-for-Hire

Delivering a keynote speech undoubtedly builds credibility — but what type of credibility you want to build depends on what type of speaker you want to become. There is a difference between seeking paid speaking engagements versus promoting brand awareness or establishing yourself as an expert. 

A TEDx talk builds credibility for you and your brand and can help establish you as a thought leader in your industry. But you will not be paid to give a TED or TEDx talk. Corporate events and conferences often hire keynote speakers to kick off the show. These speakers are paid — and often very well — but they’re also given guidelines to follow when preparing their talk. 

In both cases, you’re building credibility, either as a thought leader or as a vibrant speaker-for-hire.

Public Speaking for Brand Awareness

There is a difference between brand awareness and brand recognition. Brand recognition is the ability of your brand to be identified. Visual elements, like colors, logos, fonts, etc., are key factors in brand recognition. Brand awareness is so much more. It is top-of-mind awareness because of its familiarity and trust. Building your brand awareness creates an instant trigger for people who need your product or service. For example, when someone says let’s get a coffee, Starbucks often comes to mind — that’s brand awareness. When you’re driving down the road, you recognize Starbucks locations based on their logo and green coloring, but in your mind, you’re already aware you’re looking for a Starbucks.

That is the power of building brand awareness. 

Public speaking is one of the fastest ways to build that awareness … especially if you speak on a big stage with a large YouTube following of your ideal client or customer. Here are three ways public speaking helps your brand: 

• Increases market impact. When you deliver the best talk of your life, your audience will leave excited. This shift causes them to engage with your social posts, blogs, and other content. They are more likely to click on your articles that come up on search engine results pages. All of these positively contribute to market impact.  
• Establishes a personal connection. Effective speechwriting uses storytelling. Our stories connect on a personal level. In fact, a study reported in the Harvard Business Review shows that our brains are naturally wired for storytelling and respond best to stories over any other form of content sharing. This is particularly true if the stories involve people. 
• Builds trust. Multiple positive associations with your brand create trust. What’s important here is that your message is consistent in your talk and across all touch points with your ideal customer. 

Keynote Speaking for Hire

Paid keynote speakers work within a particular genre, such as business leadership, career, or wellness, and talk generally and specifically about topics within their genre. They often have real-life experience from working in the field, so have more knowledge than one can find searching the internet and putting together a generic talk. Because of their experience, they are able to weave storytelling into their talk to engage the audience. 

Keynotes are hired to set the tone for an event, which may be to: 

• Educate
• Motivate
• Shift behavior
• Initiate change
• Raise money
• Promote a cause
• Entertain 

Often keynote speakers are hired through a speaker’s bureau, where the client selects speakers based on topics first and speakers second. They are paid for their knowledge and their delivery. 

Someone who wants to become a paid keynote speaker will focus on delivery—how the audience perceives their talk. Speakers-for-hire focus on building a strong speaking portfolio, asking for reviews from event organizers and attendees, and promoting their keynote speaking business. 

Brand Promotion vs Speaker-for-Hire

Speakers who deliver talks to build their brand are paid on the back end with opportunities that skyrocket their brand. Those include book deals, spokesperson deals, and fully booked calendars for coaches, consultants, etc. Their focus is on thought leadership, and they speak from their experience. 

Speakers-for-hire are paid on the front end. They earn money from the events where they are hired to speak. Their income is tied to delivering engaging speeches that move the audience to perform as the event organizers wish, whether that is to sign up for something, learn something, or get involved. They speak on topics within their genre, often given to them by event organizers.

At Wise Whisper, we work with clients to develop a 10 to 15-minute keynote to have in their back pocket. We help people become professional speakers to skyrocket their personal brand. That doesn’t mean that you won’t be hired to speak as you build brand awareness. In fact, that is a trajectory many people take and can be a great launching pad for a public speaking career.