Why I jumped on Ben Fogle to promote my event

Ok – I admit it – I used Ben Fogle in the subject line as a sexy ploy to entice you to open up and let you know that I’m running an event on Tuesday and I’d love you to be there!

Fear not – there is a Ben Fogle story below – so do read on after this commercial break.   (Ben is a very handsome British TV presenter who climbed Everest recently.)

So briefly – my event is a storytelling night, a mini workshop on how to share quick stories to promote your creative work. There will be inspiring stories by a tv music composer and a writer and a chance to meet some inspiring creative people.  It’s in a beautiful private members’ club in central London in the theatre district. If you are not far from London, I would love to meet you.

Click here for more details

So back to why I jumped on Ben…

As you may know, I have a love/hate relationship with self-promotion. I know that if I want a life on my own terms working with people that inspire me, I need to reach those people to let them know I exist. That means marketing – video blogs, social media and everything that this current era requires in order for you to stand out.

But last week I faced a real challenge.

I realised that I had left it rather late to promote the event I’m co-hosting with my friend Bev Glick, a storytelling expert. After a relaxed summer, I hadn’t quite got back into my work groove. Last week, we had hardly sold any tickets and I quickly had to step up and shout to the world.

In a pressurised state, I asked a social media friend of mine what would create a buzz on Instagram and he advised me to share a storytelling tip every day.

So I gave it a go.

At first, I didn’t get much traction. I was a bit shy and it probably came across in my mini videos. But by day three, I started to get bolder. I was at the Good Life Festival and after watching Ben Fogle do an inspirational talk about his climb up Everest, I spotted him afterwards and ran over like a breathless fan to do a spontaneous interview on his insights on storytelling. My knees were wobbling and I was nervous and fairly inarticulate, but I realised that this step was part of the bolder new me.

On day four, I did a short video while cycling to teach people that storytelling is about sharing experiences.

As I was getting into a new habit of sharing my daily stories, I began to attract followers from all over the world who were liking and commenting on my posts. More importantly, the tickets started to sell.

Phew!

I learnt two things.

First – the reason for this increase in profile was that, because I had a date in my diary, there was no backing out. The date gave me a deadline and I had to step up my game.  I talk about commitment in my ebook Thrive, and this was a great example of how commitment helps you raise your game in life.

Second – I realised that sharing daily stories actually becomes fun and easy if you are prepared to go through the initial angst. I really did begin to love marketing my event once I realised that people were enjoying my daily insights. Inspiring others feels good – so why wouldn’t I want to do that more?

So again, I’d love it if you came next week.

It’s a chance to meet me and Bev – a former music journalist – and learn a few things about storytelling to raise awareness about your creative projects.

Marketing is not about being the most polished or perfect version of you. It’s about taking a stand for your most important work, committing to doing projects that feel important and showing who you are to the world and sharing things that feel meaningful to you.

Here is the link to book – Places are now going fast and I do hope to see you there.

Nicky