One proven business-building technique that works for virtually any service business is to conduct seminars and workshops on topics that will attract and appeal to your target market. I covered one aspect this in another post with some tips for putting on customer "Lunch and Learns."

In addition to the Lunch and Learn format, which is logistically complicated and can be expensive, you can accomplish a similar outcome through the use of well-executed web-based programs, as well as working to get yourself selected as a speaker at someone else's event. I'll write about both of these in future posts, so (here comes the shameless plug [:O]) be sure to subscribe to this blog if this kind of stuff interests you.

But whether you put on your own live seminar, conduct a webinar, or speak at someone else's event, a big factor in your success is in picking the right topic, and finding a catchy and compelling title for it. The more compelling and relevant your topic is to the target audience, the more participation you will see, and the greater the likelihood that you'll end up with some new clients as a result.

Unfortunately, like most things in business, this is easier said than done and there is no "one-size-fits-all" answer. But here are a few things that might help:

1. Go With A Subject You Know. The place to start is with YOUR own expertise and service offerings. If the ultimate goal is building business, then you'll want your topic to relate to something you know a lot about, and are good at. So, if you have a strength in network security, use that as a topic. If you have practice around disaster recovery and back-ups, go with business continuity.

2. Develop a Solid Topic. You need to come up with a good theme or main idea for your topic. So while you might speak about "Network Security" or "Business Continuity" as noted above, both are way too broad. Those would be your "subjects," not topics. Don't go the other way, though, and make the topic too narrow. For example, if your subject is Network Security, you wouldn't want to have your topic be around "How to create strong passwords," which you could explain in five minutes or less. What is the business point do you want to get across?

3. Factor in Your Target Audience. If you are targeting a fairly broad group of prospects -- such as small and medium-sized businesses -- then your topic will need to hit on the lowest common denominator that would be of equal interest to all, whether they are in real estate, construction, law or the public sector. But if you are targeting a specific vertical market, then you'll want to narrow down to hit its specific hot buttons, such as HIPPA or Electronic Medical Records for Healthcare providers, or Printer/Plotter options and 3-D apps for Architects.

4. Develop a Compelling Title. If you expect busy business people to take time out of their day to attend your event -- or select your topic over the next guy's -- then you better promise that they will come away learning something. Starting your topic with "How To" is a pretty straight-forward way to communicate that you will be delivering meaningful information. If you are reading this post now, you can see what I mean. An example might be, "How to Automate Your Inventory Management on a Budget" for an audience of small retail business owners. Your title promises that they will learn how to solve what is probably a nagging problem they have, in an affordable way. Alternatively, if you are going to offer up concrete tips and suggestions in your presentation, count them up and include that in your title... something like, "Ten Tips For Protecting Your Computer Assets Against Theft And Damage."

5. Try To Make Your Topic, well, "Topical." Keep an eye on the headlines and see what the big issues of the day are. If the issue is big enough more than just a passing news blip for the day, try to tap into the inherent interest in the topic. For example, if you are located in the Southern or coastal parts of the US, this is hurricane season, and a good way to tie in the importance of disaster recovery. We're also in the political season... is there something in the tax or technology proposals of the major candidates that fits into your business? Of course, you could always pull something out of what's topical in the industry, like the growth of 3G Networks for mobile computing, Google's release of Chrome, etc. But just be careful not to get too far ahead of your audience, who may not be following these trends as closely as you.

It's pretty easy to "test market" your ideas. Take an hour or so and brainstorm with others in your business about possible topics based on what you are experts in, what you sell, who you sell to, what they want/need, and what's "topical" today. Come up with the biggest list of ideas you can. Then take the top three-to-five and bounce them off some of your existing customers, who match the profile of your prospects, asking them to rank the topics in order of interest.

P.S. If you do serve specific vertical markets, I came across a pretty good list of "pain points" for several of them from Eric Louis of Louis Consulting. These pain points could be helpful to you in developing topics for Lunch & Learns, webinars, speaking engagements or even newsletter articles:

Non-profits - Customer relationship, outreach/call center, donation management, volunteer management, cost management

Legal - spam, electronic publishing, paperless office, network security, encryption, tracking billable hours

Retail - uptime, point-of-sale, inventory management, theft control (video surveillance), accuracy of receivables and payables, margin calculation, sales projections, marketing, integration of all of the above

Construction - durability, IT environmental (heat, dust, dirt, grime) problems, project management, material cost/inventory, portability, temporary networks

Medical/dental - HIPAA, electronic medical records, backups, uptime, disaster recovery/prevention, recall, patient scheduling, payment processing/billing, insurance interfaces, printing, secure email

Real estate/mortgage - Customer relationship, portability, marketing via e-mail, websites, marketing brochures/graphics, up-to-date listings and lending rates

Architecture - workstation speed/performance, data storage, 3D applications for presentations, color printing/plotting, materials lists

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