When I started my business, I thought that with all my titles MPhil, ACA and others, it would be a breeze establishing myself as an expert.
I had a shock when I realised that titles ALONE didn't cut it. In the entrepreneurial world, people don't care much about the degrees you have! They don't care about you. They only care about what you can do for them.
The person who stands out is the one who is great at promoting themselves and their expertise. They are the ones able to establish themselves quickly as experts, "go to people" or authorities in their fields.
And guess what, these people attract all the customers they need (plus yours as well) because they are seen as the people with the solution. That is why you need to seriously think about how you can apply this simple strategy in your business. These are practical tips that will help both newbies (those with no experience or titles) and the "professors" alike promote their expertise in a way that the market ranks and pays attention too.
So, I decided find out exactly what the experts where doing so that I too could establish myself as an expert! I figured out what the "experts" were doing and I started doing it. Just like magic I started getting more street credibility than my academic titles have given me. Both my peers and my target clients were now taking me seriously. Clients were now approaching me instead of me chasing after them and I was getting more speaking gigs as well.
So to spread the word, I'm going to share the 3 key things experts do that sets them apart from everybody else.
1. Experts produce top quality content that gives people insights, valuable tips and solutions to their problems. The content can be in any form blogs, videos, articles, blogs etc. The best experts produce content in all these mediums, regularly and consistently.
"To demonstrate world-class expertise, avoid quickly-written, shallow postings. Instead, invest your time in thorough, value-added content that attracts paying customers" - Jakob Nielsen
Every tweet, post or content generated and shared via social media counts towards establishing yourself as an expert. So make it a positive contribution.
2. Experts promote their content. There is no point producing great content that can help people and not getting it to the people that need it the most. Great experts work really hard to get their content to the people that need them the most using all the tools we have available today to marketing our business. This is also how you get rewarded financially.
3. Great experts nurture a community, tribe that their messages resonate with. This doesn't happen overnight, but you can only truly be a commercial success when you have people who love what you do and are willing to spend their hard earned money to pay for your expertise.
Without the employing all three steps, it will be impossible to be seen as an expert by today's media savvy consumers.
Martin Lewis, the British money-saving expert and self-styled consumer champion employed these same three steps. He produced very useful tips and tools on saving money, which he promoted via traditional and social media. He built a strong community (myself included) that really valued what he had to say about saving money. Guess what Martin, recently sold his website (www.moneysavingexpert.com) for a whopping £87 million. He apparently started the website in 2003 with only £100!
This is a great example of what achieving expert status can do for your business and pocket! (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18295587)
You can check out my book "How to become an expert in 7 simple steps" for a step by step guide on how you can go about establishing yourself as an expert.