These days everyone wants to be an expert. Heck, everyone thinks they are an expert. I even think some people just wake up and decide to call themselves an expert out of the blue just because they can.
But what about those who want to become a true expert, a real expert, a respected expert? How to they become known as an expert? How to they get other people to say they are an expert and endorse them — instead of them saying it about themselves?
Here are 5 marketing tips to help you become a respected, go-to expert:
Expert Status Marketing Tip 1: Consumers don’t want to hire a jack-of-all-trades, they want to hire an EXPERT
Don’t waste your time being good at lots of things. These days, people don’t want to work with some who is good. Consumer expectations have risen and consumers want to work with people who are great. They want to work with brilliant experts — and they want to refer their friends and family to brilliant experts. No one wants to spend money on something that is okay or mediocre, they want to invest in awesome, stellar, and extraordinary.
Expert Status Marketing Tip 2: To become the go-to resource for your clients and customers you have to show up consistently in a valuable way
There is so much clutter in communications that you are bombarded with millions of different marketing messages, slogans, jingles, tag lines, and calls to action each day. This makes it hard to stay top of mind with your target market and audience. If you want to be remembered and referred, you need to show up clearly, constantly, and consistently, and you need to deliver value, provide help, and connect with others in a genuine way.
Expert Status Marketing Tip 3: Know NOT what you want to sell, but what your clients and customers WANT and NEED from you
Charles Revlon famously said, “I don’t sell makeup, I sell hope.” Now that’s a man who got marketing and understood his ideal client. He knew that the driving force behind women’s decision to buy makeup wasn’t the makeup itself, but the hope it gave them to look more beautiful. Often business owners get so caught up in what they want to sell, that they forget to see if it is even what their market wants or needs. You need to know what they desire and why they desire it first, and then you will be able to create products, programs, and services that deliver the same things.
Expert Status Marketing Tip 4: Constantly work at increasing and strengthening your own skills and become better and better at what you do
When you let go of the things you’re just okay at, and you focus on getting even better at the thing you are brilliant at, you’ll build an undeniable reputation that will attract clients and customers like crazy — Plus, your clients and customers will be so impressed that they will become your craving fans and best brand evangelists. Consumers respect the expert who doesn’t rest on their laurels, and instead works to learn more and become even better, especially when they communicate with their ideal clients and share their knowledge and expertise.
Expert Status Marketing Tip 5: A strong brand can make YOU the solution
Whether it’s through social media, your blog, your website, your live networking, or even your email newsletter, creating a strong brand presence that is ever-present, personal, relevant, dependable, and helpful is the easiest way to stay top of mind with your audience. It’s how you can become an expert in their eyes and the first name that pops into their head when asked, “Do you know someone who does… ?” Also be sure to always follow up. Quality follow up reinforces your expertise and commitment to quality — and it shows your prospects you care about them.
What about you? Do you have another tip to help small business owners position themselves as an expert? Have you had success with one of these strategies? If so, please share below!
