As we measure the degree of damage, or more precisely, reduced revenue and increased costs from the downturn, advertising spending tends to be one of the first cuts owners make. Yet this may be a great time to expand marketing to take a share of the market away from your competitors.
The key is marketing without little or no money through efforts like community engagement, referrals or sending a press release to local media. Another method is becoming a recognized expert who is called upon by media and other outlets to speak, write and lend your expertise.
Related: Five Ways to Boost Referrals to Find Customers
You want to be recognized as an expert in your field, a specialist with trustworthy credentials that establishes your credibility. How does one become an expert? The traditional path is to spend a lifetime in the industry and earn relevant educational certifications and degrees. But the traditional method takes a long time and is impractical for the new entrepreneur who wants to enter the business arena as a player.
There are alternative paths to reach the goal of being recognized as an expert. Here are 12 ideas:
1. Learn about what’s important in your industry today and become current. Every commercial niche has one or more trade magazines. Obtain a few back copies, three at least, and read them cover to cover, particularly noting the editorials as their topics are what’s currently on the minds of the industry leaders. You should understand and adopt the opinion of the lead editorial from the lead magazine in that genre. The editors and writers know what is best for their industry. You should be adept on the subject and have an opinion or two of your own, of course, as you are an industry expert.
2. Note the advertisements. These will also tell you what’s new and important to the industry, as well as what the leading businesses are talking about and selling.
3. Write an article and submit it for publication in one of the industry magazines. This often isn't as hard as it seems. Once done, you are a published writer in the industry. If you have trouble getting an article published, write a letter to the editor or respond to one; that’s easier, and it will start the process going. People will see your name and read your material.
4. Create a website and a blog. Begin to communicate with your market, discussing industry issues and creating an open forum with you as an expert. Highlight your involvement, as well as your diverse commitment to the industry. You can further establish your credentials and publish your materials, including press releases, articles, and so forth.
5. Create podcasts (video or audio) based on your blog entries. Post the video on YouTube. You can post your audio to iTunes. Some people find it easiest to start with services like Audio Acrobat (www.audioacrobat.com); you can phone from anywhere to record your podcast, and Acrobat feeds it to podcast hosting sites such as iTunes.
Related: How to Start Video Blogging for Your Business
6. Offer to speak at a local college. Just about everyone lives near a university, college, state school, technical school, or some other bastion of higher learning. Offer a professor or department head the opportunity to have you speak at a forum run by the professor or department head on a subject relevant to you and the educator’s interest group—at no charge, of course.
7. Offer a local club, association, or service organization programming chair the opportunity to have you speak on a relevant subject both at no charge.
8. Run your own seminar. This is a smart way to continue to build your credentials.
9. Become a corporate speaker. If your subject matter has commercial application, you may be able to get a local business to let you speak after hours, during lunch, or at a business meeting. Being a public speaker at leading businesses and corporations adds to your credentials.
10. Send out media releases to the local press. Repeat your credentials and promote your speaking, writing, seminar or whatever you have to promote that you believe is of interest to and important for the general public to know about.
11. Join a national trade organization for your industry and offer to write a monthly column on interesting aspects of the industry for the organization’s newsletter or magazine. Of course, mention your name and business at the end to insert yourself subtly and tastefully. Be sure your article at least includes a byline with your web address. Now that you’re writing a monthly column for the industry trade magazine, you must be a respected expert.
12. If you can afford it, give a seminar at your industry's national trade show. Or have a booth, or get on the board or any committee for the organization. All these options give you enormous credibility and visibility. Speak at the trade show; sponsor an event; be a presence.
You have begun to cement your reputation into a solid foundation of respectability. Now you can add to your credentials the facts that you are a nationally recognized and published author, a lecturer at universities and colleges, and a nationally renowned expert on your area of interst. In the end, marketing you as the expert leads to more business.
Related: Get More Referrals by Asking
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Comments:
I do have a vast knowledge in certain areas one of them being infiltration of counterfeit materials in existing inventories in the Middle East regions where I was an expat. However, I do have a concern of sharing some of my areas of expertise and is the possibility of being exposed to any retaliation from my former employer because the implications of sharing some of the lessons learned. I understand that the essay must be kept neutral but this is something that might create some waves up to the US Congress and the company has been only concern about the financial implications ther than LHS issues. Any advice is welcome.
I am glad that most of these are free means of establishing your credibility and it can work well for small businesses.
I think the key word is "Recognized". Yet, if one is not careful on step 1, the possibility of becoming a leading airhead of your industry can materialize. We are looking at several of these steps but having done about 5 years of homework on step 1, we actually think we have something worth saying.
Great, try some of these out, let me know how it works for you. Don
Excellent Kris, do it, you will benefit
Thanks Marc for the confirmation, hopefully the readers will use some of these ideas to help boost their marketing efforts.
I appreciate your kind words, but most important is that you actually put some of this to use, thats the payoff. Try it and let me know how it worls for you.
This article is incredible an relevant-- full of practical anecdotes that I can actually start to implement today. Thanks for sharing!
I agree . Being able to position yourself as an expert is essential in entrepreneurial marketing. dr. Marc Logman Author of Entrepreneurial Marketing. A guide for startups and companies with growth ambitions (Garant/Central Books/Coronet Books)
I need new tools to move foward, very good
Your wife Knows best...usually, but really t is you who has to detrmine if you are an expert and then take it out to the world, but others recognizing you as one counts allot, its really everything.
excellent, good luck.
These are great tips for marketing myself as an expert, and will definitely work them into my personal branding.
Starting off as an expert would be good. However in the second line of the third paragraph you write "How does one become an expert?" And your top tips follow on from that question, as a quick short-cut to becoming an expert rather than through studying for degrees, obtaining certifications & spending time in the industry. You seem confused about your subject matter. And appear to believe that being well-known is the same as being expert.
Giving it away always pays you back.
Do it Yura, You will get results, it is a building block concept, more gets more.
Yes, an always evolving discussion and presentation, staying on top of what's happening, and even leading the way.
That is an extremely negative context, as the opposite is probably more true, that the editors are leading the way and stating the truth. Developing their ideas is taking it a step farther, not parroting not being sheep but using it as a starting point. I find there is much to be learned by reading and listening to what other experts have to say.
How true.
Well said.
Good point.
How true, you must know your stuff before you declare yourself as an expert.
It is a building block program, one block at a time.
yes, thanks, but doing it is what is important.....action.
You are on te road to success, do what seems natural for you, find your path.
Thanks....try it out, see how well this all works.
Thank you, a new word for me.
Thank you, now the challenge is go out and do it.
It is about developing your reputation, you start off as an expert, but letting others know is the challenge and the rewards that come out of it are many.
Nice work, and yes giving it away always has a return.
This is perhaps the best way to create an aura of expertise, although it is a huge task.
I find giving it out works, and not everyone ha the budget and do have the time.
Amen!
How true, one step at a time, its having the goal in sight and working towards it that works.
My apologies, how unfortunate my sloppiness prevented you to get the value of the article, I suggest however that perhaps the issue of this error was less important then you are suggesting.
Go out and try a few, see if it works for you, it will.
All the above mentioned 12 points are awesome. I hope these are very helpful to meet the level of recognized expert. Very informative post.
I became a Firearms expert when a State Court certified me and accepted my qualifications, then compelled me to testify at a trial in a Criminal Court about terminal ballistics. Wrongful death suit. Then again in a Civil Rights Violation trial of the same Police Officer. It was explained to me, that I was an expert because the court said so... (You can't argue with 'The Men In Black'...) Funny... My wife sez I'm not an expert, just a know it all...
The fact that you are a cardiologist is a huge start! Volunteering your services is a good start for networking and get your name out there; if there is an opportunity for press releases for these events, have the press there, etc.-- great way and inexpensive tool to get your name out as an expert. As Nike says, Just Do It! Good luck! Pat M.
I'm sure there is some useful information here. However, a glaring typo/error in the first sentence of the second paragraph, which presumably should read "The key is marketing with little or no money...", stopped me from reading further. How can we take your advice on becoming an expert when there are errors in the final piece?
These 12 bullet points are all awesome. Some newbies don't realize that every expert didn't become one overnight. It takes a lot of perseverance, and sometimes one break (perhaps a school visit or a request for a quote for an industry article) can lead to so many opportunities, and hence, expert status.
@Rodleefe: I absolutely agree with this.
If I can post a suggestion, it would be this. Rule #1: Love your field!
Or just buy the time on your local TV station and speak your mind. If you're saying smart things, people will recognize your expertise in large numbers, and quickly. Its cheaper than wasting your time chasing small audiences. If you are an expert, your time is too valuable.
Very good advice. If possible, I would like to add one more, that is publish a book. If you have no time to write by yourself , let a pr firm or publisher to help you.
You can also do what I did and not just give a talk at a university, but become a professor of your area of expertise. In my case: marketing management. (Actually, small business marketing strategies are my specialty, but that's considerably more advanced). But twice a week at night I teach 35 students for 1:15 semester-long sessions. Universities hire adjuncts and "visiting professors" all the time to teach short-term. Go meet the department head and/or dean of the particular school you're interested in and pitch yourself. I've found there are many other rewards besides the recognition of expertise, as well!
This article is about becoming recognised. It's about promoting your business. It's about appearing to be an expert. It's not about becoming an expert. There are no short cuts to becoming an expert. Assume you need a brain operation. You'd want that carried out by an expert brain surgeon. Not somebody who has read a couple of magazines, noticed who's advertising, set up a website and made a few blog posts and given a lecture at a college...
Outstanding Advice, This article is so on the money its awesome. I'm hoping to write a piece on "Achieving your inner Twaddle potential". Twaddle is a an old (Ye olde) english word for a niche cottage industry / craftsman skill and this article is simply dripping with it!
This is a great article. Lots of creative ideas. Thanks!
Hi, I have a need to present myself as an expert in cardiology and would love to have a go at surgery but, so far, have neither interest in nor the ability to understand the subject matter. Which of the above 12 items of advice do you suggest i should focus on? Maybe the public speaking as others suggest? What do you recomend as a subject? I've read that Training and competence assurance are big ticket items in whatever literature I can understand. Maybe I should promote myself as a trainer of cardiologists in order to establish myself as an expert? How can I best leverage my latent networking potential and cross-polinate where relevant? I have already started to volunteer my services in my local community in order to make a name for myself...(here's hoping! fingers crossed!).
good idea
good idea .but some of your methods can't get business well fast .but they will be helpful in future.
Item no.6 has been a blessing for me. What started out as a past time in my corporate life, has led to consultancy opportunities after my employment days. Lecturing on Lubrication Management in a university also helps to market my services to potential clients. But a word of caution: updated technical skills must go hand-in-hand with presentation skills. One without the other either unmasks you as a pretender, or puts the audience to sleep!
Interesting. You are describing well how to become recognized, but there is very little in your article telling how to become an expert. I assume you are not talking about becoming recognized _technical_ expert, since becoming technical expert requires more than reading magazines and speaking publicly. Or perhaps you assume the reader is an expert already, in which case you article could be titled, "Already expert? This is how you can become recognized".
it's important to give publicity to yourself.
Inspiring article!! Need to work hard and need to work smart as well!!
Yes, serving other by solving their problems is an excellent way to build status and recognition. I agree.
How true Matthew, couldn't agree more, radio interviews also lay a role in public speaking and can even draw a national audience.
Amen, we have a non profit division in Second Wind from which we service those that need our help and cannot afford our fees, we do this for no fee at all and we believe it is our responsibility to ay forward and by doing s give thanks for the blessings we en joy. I agree whole heartedly Andre, we must all be generous and help others.without expectation of a return.
Yes Andrew how true, thanks for the tip.
Yu are correct aaroneden, however that is one f our responsibilities, to stay current.... and yes thanks to RSS it is easier but we all still must do the work and read them...daily. Don Todrin www.secondwindconsultants.com
"You should understand and adopt the opinion of the lead editorial from the lead magazine in that genre. The editors and writers know what is best for their industry. You should be adept on the subject and have an opinion or two of your own, of course, as you are an industry expert." Really? So much for those of us who can think on our own and actually have value to add. Why did we need education and years of practical experience when all we had to do was re-brand and market the opinion of an actual expert? Furthermore, it's the "opinion or two" of so-called "experts" who parrot whatever the latest trend is that really throws a spanner into things. Parrots, sheep. Why would anyone want to waste time and money getting a rehashed, diluted (and probably bastardized) version of knowledge? But they do. Smooth delivery trumps substance and fact. Grifters of the knowledge age. Knowledge buyer beware.
I love the first item on your list: Learn about what’s important in your industry today and become current. The challenge when it comes to the social media marketing industry where I belong is that change happens in a blink of an eye and you have to stay updated all the time. Thanks to RSS readers out there; made my life a breeze ;)
A very good and helpful article at this time when all we can read is unemployment rates going up almost evrywhere. It helps those with specific experience in specific fields, rather than being part of the problems, they can become a solution to the problem of unemployment. I will endeavour to achieve this by putting it into practice.
yes, this sounds like a good way to become an expert. x, an unkown quantity, and spurt, a drip under pressure!
Build parallel network connections related to your core business. Cross pollinate where relevant.
Great article! Another suggestion would be to "Volunteer" as another way of possibly getting your name out there as an expert. I have an opportunity to conduct an 8-week course on Public Speaking in the Mercer Co, NJ area, and it provides me the chance to give back, strengthen my skills, and hopefully make a name for myself. Sometimes it's "GIVING" that exposes someone not only as an expert but someone who cares about helping others elevate...that's a TRUE EXPERT. Volunteer your time!
I myself have started out with blogging and hope to begin an organization that works towards successful entrpeneurial development. Making podcast, videos and taking on speaking engagements need to be my next steps though in order to further my reach and brand awarness. Great tips. entrepreneurialambitions.com
something i really took form this article is the public speaking, I could'nt agree more about that. Once you do a public speaking event,you are instantly an expert in the publics eye and you will be respected by those who see you, depending on how good your content is and how you solve other peoples problems. we set up and email course to help you make money online just as we talk about in our public speaking events. its worth checking out. http://online-money-today.com/
All the point shared with us to be the known expert in own marketing field. One more point is to find the people who has query and problem and try to solve them in such a way that not need to find the other place for the solution , this can create the reputation. And also necessity is to know about the each update that occurred in the own market field and holding the each and every point knowledge.