Speaking

Ilise Benun speaks to groups of creative professionals large and small on marketing, money and other business topics.

Watch her popular recent presentation, "Problem Clients: How to Spot Them and Turn Them Into Good Ones," presented at Ad Age's Small Agency Conference:
 

Here is another sample video: "5 Things That Will Make Your Clients Love You" (in person, 5 minutes).

Here are a few of the schools and groups who have brought Ilise to speak:

• American Institute of Graphic Arts
• Graphic Artists Guild
• Graphic Designers of Canada
• HOW Design Live
• Spark Design Professionals
• Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario
• Freelancers Union
• International Association of Business Communicators
• Advertising Age Small Agency Conference
• American Marketing Association
• Business Marketing Association
• 92nd St. Y (NYC)
• The School of Visual Arts (NYC)
• Pratt Institute
• RISD (Rhode Island School of Design)
• Kendall College of Art and Design
• Sage College of Albany
• Maryland Institute College of Art
• New Jersey Creatives
• Editorial Freelancers Association
• AWAI (American Writers and Artists Institute)

More Popular Topics

10 Tips and Tricks for 21st Century Networking

In this webinar, Ilise Benun, founder of Marketing-Mentor.com, will share what’s working in the 21st century when most contact happens online. Learn to network with a purpose and use technology to your advantage. Plus, if you’re an introvert, you’ll learn how to set aside your shyness (for an hour, at least) so you can make the most of your networking experience. You’ll learn:

• How to network with a purpose
• How to talk about yourself in a way that isn’t about you
• How to start and end an conversation gracefully
• How to lay the foundation for your networking before you get an event
• Best Practices for Your LinkedIn Profile

Content Marketing for Creative and Marketing Professionals

Content marketing is sweeping the industry. It’s touted as being the latest and greatest way to build communities and attract clients who are ready to buy. But what does it mean to “do content marketing?” And how can we do it effectively?

Ilise Benun will explain how creative professionals can leverage content marketing to attract clients who are already sold. During this session, you will learn how to:

• Position your services to draw the best clients in those markets
• Develop the content that builds on that positioning
• Disseminate your content for maximum exposure

Best Practices for Proposals, Estimates and RFPs

Are you spending too much time on proposals you don’t win? Or wonder if your proposals could be stronger?

Join Ilise Benun, author of “The Proposal Bundle,” to learn how to develop the strongest and most persuasive proposal to show why you are the perfect fit for each project. You’ll learn:

• Best practices for writing winning proposals, estimates and RFPs.
• How to decide which proposals to write (and which to politely decline).
• What to include (and in what order) and what to leave out in your proposals.
• How to present proposals so you don’t fall into the black hole (and never hear from them again)

Marketing Pep Talk: The Only 5 Tools You Need to Promote Your Creative Services

In this session, attendees will learn how spending just 30 minutes a day on ONE simple marketing task will bring all the work you need. They'll discover:

• 3 essential marketing tools for creative professionals
• A 7-step sample outreach campaign to land work
• More than 9 actual topic ideas for newsletters and blog posts
• Templates for follow-up email messages

Plus, you'll get the kick in the butt you'll need to make the time for self-promotion no matter how busy you are.

Praise for Ilise's in-person appearances

"We sure enjoyed your talk — everything was pertinent, digestible, relatable, and fun…just what we want from our communications. Beyond the great insights and tips, I learned a lot observing your effective communication style: the relaxed cadence, pauses, audience exchanges, succinctness, and humor. It was a pleasure! Now, to integrating some of those brilliant strategies."

-John Ewing, EFA

"Thank you again for speaking at SVA. You were wonderful, and I know the artists at SVA learned a great deal and felt supported by your presentation.Good stuff."

-Rhonda Schaller, School of Visual Arts, www.sva.edu

"Very helpful and insightful. Your seminar was a great tool for establishing a niche market and proclaiming yourself an expert. I really enjoyed the first hand experience you shared. You are obviously poeple who enjoys what you do and that energy is contagious and inspirational."

-Greg Onowich, Nesnadny & Schwartz, www.nsideas.com

"I'm on a marketing rampage after last night's event and look forward to maintaining the consistency and quality that can get pushed aside when projects get busy. Your ability to motivate and explain the technical as well as realistic sides of marketing is awesome. You explain it so that the process is and should be fun."

-Jordan Hollender, www.jordanhollender.com

"I thought you gave a great presentation, stimulating and of real value to our members. I've forwarded your email to the rest of the JSPRAA board. Thanks again for speaking and sharing your pricing/marketing knowledge!"

-Allen Brodskey, JSPRAA

Praise for Ilise's webcasts

"When Ilise presents, she not only gives listeners the inspiration and motivation they need to succeed in a particular area, she also gives them the specific tools and guidelines by which to do so. Her honesty and positivity shine, even through a medium as challenging as a webinar! We are lucky to have Ilise as a professional development speaker that we can call upon on a regular basis."

-Michelle Pereira, RGD Ontario

"Another very valuable webinar. Ilise is a gold-mine of easy common sense advise for us who can create effective marketing for others, but find it difficult at times to do it for ourselves."

-Paul, www.thirdwave2.ca/