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How To Be Seen As The Expert In Your Niche
Why does every entrepreneur aspire to be an expert in their respective niche? It’s the same way that aspiring influencers want to be perceived as important personalities in their respective industry.
Market leaders, industry experts, the “movers and shakers” of the industry are called such because their opinions matter. They have the loyalty of their followers and the respect of their fellow leaders.
When you have 10 million followers hanging on to your every word, you have a powerful platform to educate and entertain — something that businesses recognize. Influence is the new currency in social media, but you can’t win the game by simply being popular. You have to offer something worth following.
Being regarded as an expert in your niche leads to plenty of business opportunities like collabs with different brands/influencers, launch offshoot businesses with almost guaranteed success, provide members-only webinars and workshops, promote different brands – the possibilities are endless.
So what does it take to become an expert, and how can you leverage your influence to market your business? Here are some tips:
How To Be Seen As The Expert In Your Niche
Make Your Mark
… within your niche, that is! While there’s no reason you shouldn’t aspire to be just like the most influential personalities you know, you need to stand out from the rest by being unique. You don’t want to end up being known as a copycat; you’ll only make a mark in your niche by presenting your own unique abilities and skills then using these to the best of your abilities.
So instead of replicating other people’s success by being a carbon copy of someone else, think real hard about what you’re good at. What is your passion, what do you love to do, what makes your business different? Use this to build your popularity until you’re known for it. If you love makeup and you have a unique way of applying the product for better results, for example, focus on that. If you’re a florist specializing in rare blooms or specific arrangements, highlight that in every social post.
Be Hyper-Specific
One of the most common mistakes that aspiring influencers make when it comes to marketing themselves as an expert in the industry that they are in is being too general with the marketing. There’s no way to attract attention from the right people if you keep barking at the wrong tree.
If you want to be a self-help coach, you need to specify what kinds of services you offer. What specific things do you want to help people overcome? What makes your coaching program different from all others?
Think of the general industry that you are in, then hone on a specific area of the said industry, then hone in on that particular area to be hyper-specific.
For example, if you are a baker, choose a specific niche in baking that you love, say, pastries. Then, hone in on this specific niche to be more hyper-specific, like baking wedding treats or pretzels, churros, etc. Then perhaps, you can go even further in by offering something unique, like pink chocolate dips for churros, gluten-free pretzels, or sweet treats as wedding giveaways.
By choosing a hyper-specific niche, you’ll be able to build a marketing strategy that resonates only with a specific group of people. You are more likely to make an impact if your marketing efforts are targeting a small niche group.
Provide Value
People go to you first and foremost because of the value you provide to them. To be perceived as an expert in your niche, you need to provide solutions. You should be perceived as a problem-solver, their go-to person when addressing their pain points.
Posting free (and useful) content through your blog site and social media pages is one way of providing valuable information to your target audience. You can also offer free content like an ebook, newsletter, a mini email course, or exclusive content to your readers in exchange for their email addresses. You can use the contact infos for future marketing.
Providing better customer service, engaging with your target audience on the comments section by answering questions, sharing your personal insights, providing professional advice, starting a conversation, or keeping the conversation flowing also add sparkle to your brand that no other business has.
Team Up with Industry Experts
Connecting with the right people will take you places, and if you really want to be seen as an expert in your niche, you need to team up with industry experts. Forging partnerships with personalities that your followers look up to will improve your brand’s credibility. That’s because the opinions and recommendations of industry experts hold a lot of weight. Even a quick shoutout from a beloved influencer is enough to send hordes of buying customers your way! By teaming up with other influencers, you can also market your business to a whole new audience.
Contact popular personalities via email with a collab proposal. You can do guest blogging, accept guests for interviews on your podcast, or arrange a giveaway/contest. What you need to keep in mind is the relevance of your business to the influencer. For maximum appeal, the influencer should be famous in the industry that you belong to. It would be more impactful if your makeup products appear on a makeup junkie’s social media than, say, a gaming influencer.
Show the Receipts
You need skills and expertise to back up your claim to fame; otherwise, the leads you worked so hard to please will move on to real experts. Provide the best customer experience to generate positive reviews and testimonials from customers. If a customer is raving about your service, ask permission to feature the review on your website and social media. Earn accreditations and/or certifications to establish credibility or outline qualifications that are relevant to your business, including awards, certificates, etc.
It takes time to build credibility in your niche, but all your hard work will pay off once your business becomes associated with reliability and trustworthiness among your clients. Be consistent — do what you love doing and do it to the best of your abilities, and soon, you'll be known as an expert in your field.
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