Position Yourself as the “Go-To” Expert in Your Industry
How to Position Yourself as the Expert in Your Industry
Want to become the “Go-To” expert in your industry? One of the easiest ways to drive prospective clients and customers to your business is to become “the” expert in your field. The term Expert carries credibility and prestige that can open many doors for you. Oddly enough, the term is relatively easy to acquire. This simple three-step process can help you quickly and easily set yourself up as “the go-to” expert in your field.
- Determine a Specific Niche and Position Yourself as the Expert of that Niche.
- Write about Your Niche — Your Speific Area of Expertise in Your Industry.
- Look for Opportunities to Speak about this Niche. The Person Who Presents on a Topis Is Automatically Seen as an Expert.
I first realized this about 20 years ago after struggling to build my new company. The reason why we are called “The Leaders Institute” is that, in the beginning, I was trying to teach leadership training to everyone. Since I was really good a promotion and marketing, I was able to generate some customers. However, growth was slow in the early days.
Then, by accident really, I built up an expertise in a certain niche. One of my clients was a commercial builder who introduced me to the local Associated General Contractors. After teaching classes for this association for over a year, I became known as the “leadership coach” for the construction industry. The word spread within the industry very quickly, and The Leaders Institute was born.
Let’s go into more detail on each of these steps.
Step 1: Determine a Specific Niche and Position Yourself as the Expert of that Niche.
It Is Easier to be Perceived as an Authority on a Niche.
Instead of trying to be everything to everybody, narrow down your focus to the things that you are really, really good at. A friend of mine set himself up as an expert at leadership training for water treatment facilities. When he told me what he was doing, I asked, “Is there any money in that?” He smiled and said, “Every city’s got one, and I’m the only leadership expert in this field in the country.” He was frequently quoted in trade journals and asked to speak at their conventions.
When Covid-19 first hit many cities and companies were shutting down. A law firm that we had previously done a lot of work with wanted us to develop a virtual escape room for them. My team worked for weeks creating a number of options. We delivered the first one a couple of months ago, and it worked so well that we have done dozens of them since then. 90% of all of them that we have done have been for other law firms.
Keep in mind that we are not the only company in the world who does virtual team building or virtual escape rooms. However, because we have a lot of success in that industry, we don’t have a lot of competition there.
Find your niche, and you’ll eliminate your competition.
Step 2: Write about Your Area of Expertise
After you determine your niche, write articles to position yourself as the expert of that niche. Just begin to catalogue your expertise in blogs or articles. By the way, the easiest way to get these articles published is to put them on your own website.
Every week, I write one to two 1,000 – 2,000-word articles for each of my blog websites. As a result, my websites receive hundreds of new visitors each week just through Google searches.
For instance, a few weeks ago, I wrote about a Personal Vision Statement Generator. It took a few weeks, but if you type that term into Google, my website will often show up in the top three places on Google. Now, this may just be temporary. But over the last month, we have averaged over 500 people every week coming onto that page and generating a Personal Vision Statement.
A Few Easy Places to Post Articles that You Have Written.
If you don’t have a blog, LinkedIn is a fantastic place to post articles about your industry. As long as the articles are informative (and not blantant marketing,) you can then post the articles into LinkedIn groups within your industry.
If your industry assciation has a newsletter, they are probably constantly looking for new articles. Reach out to them and offer to be a guest writer.
I spent ten years as a trainer before someone, out of desperation, asked me to write an article for her trade journal. A few months later, another editor saw the article and asked if she could reprint it. Before long, I began to get inquiries from companies in that industry, and a snowball effect began to occur. The more business I did in the industry, the more of an expert I became. I followed with other articles, and within a short period of time, I became a recognized expert in an industry that I had never received any formal education in.
Write a few articles, and you can become a recognized expert in any field.
Step 3: Speak as Often as You Can. The Easiest Way to Do This Is to Start a Podcast.
When your articles begin to get published, you’ll start to receive requests to speak more often.
95% of the population has some type of nervousness about public speaking. So when you stand up and say what you want to say, the way you want to say it, you are doing what 95% of the population wish they could do. When you speak about your industry, you set yourself up as THE EXPERT on that topic. You gain instant credibility.
If you are uncomfortable speaking in front of a group, make sure to start listening to the Fearless Presentations podcast. It can really help. The more confident you are when you present your ideas, the more competent you will appear in front of a group.
After you have 10 or so articles published, you might consider starting a podcast. A podcast is just a series of audio recordings that people can access via any smartphone. Phones today all come with a podcast app preinstalled. You can either read your articles into a good external microphone, or if you want to really gain a new skill, try recording them spontaneously based on the content of your articles.
Regardless of the approach that you take, the more podcasts you record the better you get at delivering them. You will gain confidence episode after episode. You will also begin to attract an audience that has always perceived you as being the “Go-To Expert” in the industry.
Follow these three simple steps and you will position yourself as the expert in your specific niche.
