Who made you the bloomin’ expert?

My name’s Pete, and I’m an expert.

I’m hired to write positive news stories about businesses like yours, and when those articles appear in the press my clients look at me with a combination of admiration and stunned disbelief.

To me, of course, it’s easy: ask questions, write answers in notebook, craft answers into sparkling editorial copy, send to newspapers, bask in glory on my blog, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Ask me to put up a shelf, though… actually, don’t. I didn’t say I was an expert in everything.

Now I’d like to share my expertise with you:

You can promote your own expertise to raise your profile, build your credibility and, ultimately, win you new business.

Marketing commentators – usually Americans – talk enthusiastically (and loudly) about being part of the Expert Economy.

Demonstrate your expertise, they say, and customers will come knocking at your door, hoping to benefit from your skills and knowledge.

If you’re reading this blog, it’s more than likely that you run your own business or hold a senior position within a company or organisation.

That means you’re an expert too. Now stop being so modest and capitalise on it!

As well as using traditional methods like PR, you could start a blog like this one* or make a video and post it on YouTube.

Pick a topic within your field of expertise and start writing or talking about it. Chances are, when someone Googles “How to…” they’ll come across your blog or video.

Better still, take the ‘Google Gamble’ out of the equation. Promote your blog or your video by “harnessing the power of social media,” as those loud American marketing commentators love to say.

Use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, as well as direct communication like newsletters or emails, to tell people about the blog you’ve just written or the video you’ve just made.

If you’re a better chatter than writer, face-to-face networking is another way of demonstrating your expertise, and once you’ve mastered the art of the elevator pitch you can move on to guest speaking, if you have the nerve to stand up in front of a room full of people (there are experts who can help you with that, too).

Keep demonstrating your expertise, in all the ways available to you, and I guarantee that next time someone needs the kind of service you offer, they’ll come to you. And next time a friend or colleague of theirs needs expertise of the kind you offer, you’ll get a referral.

In future communications, I’ll be looking in more depth at individual ways in which you can demonstrate your expertise.

In the meantime, if you’d like me to work with you to develop your marketing skills, or you just need someone to crack on with your PR or marketing for you, call me on 01672 811515 or email me at agentpete@secretagentmarketing.com

And if you want to read some of the stories I’ve written about other professionals, head over to http://secretagentmarketing.wordpress.com

 

* I use WordPress, an open-source blogging platform that has grown into a fully fledged content management system and has spawned a cottage industry of themes and third party apps that perform a multitude of tasks.

Alternatives include Blogger, which is owned by Google and has been integrated with Google Accounts, or Tumblr, one of the fastest-growing blogging platforms in 2011.

Good news: they’re all free!

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