Build Authority in Your Niche by Focusing on These Five Pillars
They say that anyone can be an expert these days, but an authority? An authority is different.
Authorities are admired by people in their business and social lives. They also earn an average of 20 times more than experts in the same niche. They’re able to command higher fees and shorten sales cycles because people already trust them. This trust is typically built by the frequent media and events they attend.
Authorities never struggle to get new business because they are the voice of the industry. Instead of chiming in on the conversation, they make conversation. Quite simply, authorities are people others want to work with.
Becoming the #1 Authority in Your Niche
Becoming an authority isn’t easy. It requires you to break free from the confines of simplistic labels, such as coach, digital marketer, or consultant. It requires you to emerge from a group with your own personal brand that makes you stand apart from the sea of others doing the same thing as you.
Authorities don’t need labels—they need missions. Then they need to share their missions with the world. That’s where the five marketing pillars come into play.
Here are the five things you must have in place to get found, get heard, and get the reputation of being an authority in your niche.
Pillar #1: A Blog
This is your starting point. You must have a spot to point people back to so they can see at a quick glance what you stand for. If you start posting randomly on social media or other people’s websites, and then don’t have a blog to back up all of your claims, the attention you’ve generated around your personal brand is lost.
Consider your blog your digital home base. This is where you can curate all your best work and spark conversations. Don’t hold back on your opinions. Share them on your blog and your readers will start sharing your writing online, helping you build your reputation.
Pillar #2: Grow Your Email List
Today’s consumers are filled with distractions. From glancing at a smartphone while standing in line at a coffee shop to the hustle and bustle of our jam-packed daily to-do lists, it can be hard to even remember a person’s name. To solidify yourself as an authority, you must continue to make appearances in front of your audience time and time again so they associate your name with your industry.
That’s where email comes into play.
Email is not dead! When you spark a conversation instead of adding to the noise that’s already out there, people look forward to hearing from you. Your name becomes as welcome in an inbox as that of a good friend. People want to read your emails. They want to hear from you. In turn, you ingrain your name in their minds, further building your reputation.
Pillar #3: Build Your Social Media Presence
Like email, social media offers another way to stay top of mind to the people who just discovered your smarts. Unlike email, this is a place where you can further spark conversations and get people chatting about your industry.
Build your social media presence one network at a time—but don’t expect your network to grow overnight. Use hashtags to get found on Twitter, or sponsor an ad on Facebook to attract a crowd.
Pillar #4: Write Your eBook
Ever heard the expression “He wrote the book on it!” With your ebook you can make that expression about you, literal.
Writing an ebook gives you a chance to dig in deep on the topic you’re most passionate about. It’s an opportunity for you to share your mission, rather than your knowledge, and create a strong name for yourself.
Pillar #5: Create a Course
Creating a course is the final pillar. It’s also where the rubber meets the road and helps you start building your reputation in your niche.
If you can spill your brains on your blog and write the book about the problems you've solved in your niche, you’re inches away from being considered the authority in your field. To solidify your position in this space, create your own course.
You can sell this course for money, but more importantly, this will be the perfect way to bring in more people to your business. It will show your audience that you know their niche well enough to teach a class about how to tackle common concerns.
How Many Pillars Do You Have?
Having all five of these pillars is the key to establishing yourself as an authority in your field. If you’re missing even one of them, you will have a harder time earning the reputation of authority.
