What does establishing your brand’s expertise look like?
As someone who manages your organization’s marketing, you probably know that separating yourself from the pack to stand out from your competition is an ongoing challenge. Especially if you’re running a website with limited resources. With so many blogs, and email marketers out there already, you may be asking: how do I establish expertise for my brand that stands out in a saturated market?
In this competitive environment, every business wants to be taken seriously. To do that, you’ll need to establish expertise and experience that will show customers how you can deliver excellent service or offer a quality and reliable product.
Did you know radio host and best-selling author Dave Ramsey literally packs conference halls and rooms whenever he or his team presents? How does he do it? This is because Dave has become a reliable and trusted voice in beating debt and learning to budget. (Bonus track: Dave Ramsey: You only need to know these 5 rules)
Would your customers respond in the same way? This is what happens when you become a recognized, trusted, and credible authority in your field.
Why is establishing expertise important to your small business?
Neil Patel, one of my favorite marketers out there, says establishing yourself as an authority or expert in your industry will have a huge impact on building and developing trust with your customers. Those exposed to your content before will repeatedly turn to your business for its experience and expertise. (Bonus track: Neil Patel:| Is Blogging Still Relevant?)
Customers go looking for proof of expertise all the time. Much of the time, they're doing it subconsciously. It's so important that you establish yourself as a trusted expert in the content you create. But what if your content doesn’t reflect that?
Imagine Bill, the electrician, claiming he could replace all the light fixtures in your home. Still, there’s zero evidence to suggest he knows what he’s doing on his website. If Bill had a blog post about “all the different kinds of lights that are suitable for your kitchen,” his customers would feel a lot more relaxed about him working on that recessed lighting project.
5 Ways to Establish Expertise for Your Brand
Customers want to do business with experts and feel assured they have made the right decision to choose your service or product. Let’s discuss ways to showcase your expertise through your content below.
1. Use a blog to post quality content consistently.
Blogging is important for your business. Posting blogs is one of the simplest and most effective ways to keep content on your site fresh. Not only does it enable you to deliver more detailed explanations, but you can also provide your audience with helpful tips that are immediately actionable. The next time they run into a problem, you can bet you will be the ones they remember.
We’ll be the first to admit that creating quality content is not easy. If you’re just starting out - do a little research in your industry. Visit the subreddits. Check out hashtags on Twitter related to your field. Ask your customers what they want to read about or need help with and write about it. The name of the game when you’re first starting out is quantity. Use quantity to get data and figure out what content performs the best and why. Then you can focus on quality. (Bonus reading: 21 practical and effective bloggingt tips for beginners)
You can also create blogs around your best customer’s most frequently asked questions. Take a conversive and honest approach when talking about these topics and provide as much detail as you can. Chances are more potential customers are trying to find answers to the same questions on Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
2. Nurture your subscribers and customers with email marketing.
You really can’t go wrong with a regularly scheduled newsletter. When a potential customer subscribes to an email list, it opens a window of opportunity for them to build a relationship with your brand. You can share tips, information, and open fruit-bearing conversations throughout your emails.
Keep an eye out for trends among your current customers and the industry. In 2016, a case made its way to the Supreme Court, and a decision was made that shook the web design industry to its core. We knew this was something our clients would need to know about. We took the opportunity to write a well-written email about the current landscape of web and accessibility and what clients could do to mitigate their risk. The article was well-received, positioned us immediately as experts, and opened up many conversations that led to more projects. (Recommended reading: Easy ways to nurture your customers)
3. Don’t ignore the power of social media.
Social media is the perfect place to establish your expertise. You can use social media to interact with your followers, share helpful content, answer any questions your customers might have, or point them in the direction of your very helpful blog posts. It’s really important to understand that an account on every social media platform is unnecessary. To know which platform(s) to choose, you have to know your ideal customer and where they spend the most time.
Posting doesn’t have to be difficult, especially if you were able to create a really good and engaging blog post. Breaking up long-form content like blog posts into smaller, more digestible pieces of content is an excellent way to repurpose content to work for you on social media. Your social media posts will perform better and increase engagement if you give your readers some quick wins. (Recommenden reading: Get more out of social media)
4. Use video to make it easier to position yourself as an expert.
Consider creating short helpful videos for customers to watch. These can be repurposed as social media posts or helpful responses to faqs. And if you're not camera-shy, your audience can get to know you more. With a face to a name, they're far more inclined to trust you. A video designed to boost expertise for your business should focus on addressing real needs and educating people. Here’s a couple of ideas for some videos to help you get started.
Explainer videos are about 60 - 90 seconds in length. These are generally assets you introduce to your audience when they first visit your website. When viewers click on explainer videos, it’s implied they intend to learn more about a product or service. Use this opportunity to get in front of the camera and introduce yourself. Doing this will get you a head start on establishing rapport with your audience.
How-to videos should be between two and 10 minutes in length. They drive a ton of engagement and traffic. The goal here is to teach and educate. Use this opportunity to build massive credibility and further help position yourself as an expert in your craft or field.
5. Collaborate with others in your industry.
Another fantastic way of showcasing your expertise is to be a guest on another brand's podcast, workshop, webinar, or author a guest post. The more you show your face in and around your industry, the more people will remember you.
When you first get started, it will feel awkward, you will feel nervous, but you’ll get better at it with time and practice. If you’re having a hard time finding people or organizations to collaborate with, check out non-profit organizations like Start Small Think Big, SCORE, BNI, or your local chamber of commerce. These organizations have amazing networking opportunities and will help you level up to accelerate your path towards becoming an expert.
