STEP #1: Create a seminar on the problem you can solve for clients. For example: How to love the body you are in. How to be organise and stay organised. How to reduce the pain and expense of divorce. How to find the love of your life in no time. How to make more money doing what you love. Choose a subject that will appeal to the new clients you want to attract.

STEP #2: Get a flier prepared to promote the seminar. On the flier, display the title, explain the various points or problems you will discuss, add your photo and include your biography. Include a space for the time, date and place of your program.

STEP #3: Get a co-sponsor for your seminar. If your seminar is business oriented, you might ask the local chamber of commerce to co-sponsor it. Or a local network group. If it is consumer oriented, ask a local newspaper or TV station to co-sponsor it. All way choose a co-sponsor based on the size of the audience they reach, how many of your ideal clients are in that audience, and how willing they are to promote your seminar to their audience, membership or mailing list. (This can save you a tremendous amount of money in promotion costs, including printing and postage.)

STEP #4: Promote your seminar to your co-sponsors audience. Provide them with a flier about your program. Given them the whole information about your seminar makes things easy. If you rely on them to create the flier, it will probably contain nothing more than the title, time, date and place. But if you provide it, you can go into great detail about the information you will present and the problems you can help prospects solve. The more you explain about your programs content, the more prospects you can expect to attend.

STEP #5: Promote your seminar with newspaper publicity. Contact your local daily newspaper or business paper (depending on the nature of your seminar). Announce that you are presenting a seminar. Discuss the problem your seminar will address and emphasize how many people in your area are affected by this problem. You can even ask the editor to interview you for an article to help alert the community to this problem and your upcoming seminar. You are in a stronger position when you approach the editor in writing with a letter discussing your seminar and what you will present. Give the editor at least six weeks advance notice of your program.

As an alternative -- if you can not get advance promotion from a particular media outlet -- invite the editor to send a reporter to your seminar who can write an article about it for the newspaper. I have seen editors put articles about my clients seminars on the newspapers front page. This article would not help seminar attendance because it would not appear until after your seminar. Still, it makes a powerful reprint and may bring you new clients.

STEP #6: Promote your seminar with direct mail to your past clients, current clients, prospects and referral sources. I have used this method successfully. Many people on your mailing list may want to learn about your subject. Also, they may have friends and colleagues they can invite to attend with them.

STEP #7: Present your seminar, addressing the subjects you outlined on your seminar flier. Discuss clients you have helped in the past so prospects see you have experience in these matters. Share actual case histories of what happens when prospects make good decisions, and what happens when they make bad decisions. Then offer something your prospects will find attractive, such as a free office consultation, free telephone consultation, free report, a free manuscript, audio, e-zine or whatever you wish.

In all likelihood, if you reach qualified prospects, you will get new clients as a result of this educational seminar.

@2006 Joyce Oladipo