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July 14, 2015

5 Steps to Establishing Yourself as an Expert

Online and Off
Jul 13, 2011

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by Lisa Barone

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Theres a lot of talk in the marketing blogosphere about the importance of setting
yourself apart from your competitionabout how to be taken seriously, you must
establish yourself as an expert in your eld. And while thats all well and good, no
one ever really tells you how youre supposed to establish yourself as an expert.
What goes into becoming an expert and how do you know if youre doing it right
or youre just spinning your wheels and getting no brand karma?
What should small business owners do to help brand themselves as authorities
that users will trust?

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Below are ve tips:

1. Start Small: Im sure there are a number of things you want to brand yourself
and your company as being an expert on. However, start by picking one and
building your empire from there. What is the one thing that your company does
better than anyone else? Or what would you like to be known for doing better than
anyone else even if you dont right now? Become the go-to person for that. Once
you get that under your belt, you can expand upon it and add a lot of related
services.
2. Learn Everything You Can: Once you know what your area of expertise is,
dedicate yourself to becoming the master of it. Read blogs and forums to stay up
to date on the latest news, read discussions to understand the different pain
points, read print magazines and oine materials to hear from even more sources.
In order to be an expert on something, you need to be able to speak intelligently
on it, and that means understanding it as thoroughly as you can.

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3. Create a Plan for Sharing Your Knowledge: Through blogs and social media,
small business owners are able to easily share their knowledge with others and
display their expertise for everyone to see. But have a plan for how youll do that
and use multiple formats. Maybe youll blog, offer webinars or speak at local
events. Or perhaps youll host a meet up in your area and write articles for popular
industry sites. Ideally, you should be doing a number of these things and sharing
information in all the satellite communities where your audience hangs out. Its not
enough to simply share the content; you have to share it where people are going to
notice and consume it.
4. Share Opinions, Even Dicult Ones: To really develop your standing as an
industry expert, you need to be comfortable sharing your opinion on whats going
on in your niche. Use your unique point of view and your way of seeing things to
share your passion with the people youre trying to reach. It can be hard to put
yourself out there and show your vulnerabilities, but you need to if you want
people to able to relate to what youre telling them. Share opinions on your blog,
through social media, at local networking events, and anywhere else you can!
5. Live What You Preach: People want to see that youre not only preaching best
practices, that youre also living them. Make sure youre implementing the same
things youre telling everyone else to implement and that youre not doing what
youve told them not to do. If youre trying to sell yourself as an authentic social
media marketer, people are going to get upset pretty quick if you start sending out
automated DMs or spamming them on Facebook.
Above are ve tips Id recommend to put yourself on the path to becoming an
expert in your eld. What did I miss? What traits or actions make someone stand
out as an expert in your eyes?

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LISA BARONE
Lisa Barone is Vice President of Strategy at Overit, an Albany Web design and
development rm where she serves on the senior staff overseeing the companys
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18 Reactions
Lily
July 13, 2011 at 11:13 am
#2 is important for people who consider themselves experts in a certain eld but arent
keeping up to date. These days, a college degree is not enough. It is mandatory to keep
updated with forums and blogs (google reader, anyone?) to make sure you know whats going
on NOW in your industry.
Nice article!
Reply

Tamara
July 13, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Excellent points made here. The recession, as well as the boom in certain areas such as social
media, has created an abundance of entrepreneurs/small businesses. It will be critical to be
able to set yourself apart from others, especially others in the same eld. We always talk about
niche markets, but if you are TOO niche, that cuts down on your potential customer base. Its a
ne line.
@msrasberryinc
Reply

Carrie Schmeck
July 13, 2011 at 12:21 pm
I especially like #1 and #3. Start small and have a plan.
Authenticity is the ultimate key. Finding what we do best and doing it.
Good thoughts. Thanks for the reminders.
Reply

Robert Brady
July 13, 2011 at 1:57 pm
You missed the easiest one.
#6 Tell people youre an expert.
People will believe anything right?
Reply

Neal O'Sullivan
July 13, 2011 at 2:10 pm
Youre all reading a blog created by a self-made expert. Mimic Anita and you will do just ne.
Reply

Briana Myricks
July 13, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Shameless promotion! People wont believe youre an expert unless youre everywhere with it.
Take any opportunity to plug your expertise, and people will remember you.
Reply

Lara Fabans
July 13, 2011 at 6:06 pm
I think we also need to realize that being an expert can also be a stair-step process. When you
know more about something than someone else, youre an expert to them. There will always
be someone who knows more than you, so dont be shy to say youre an expert since you are to
some. And always be learning and sharing.
Reply

John Trader
July 14, 2011 at 8:51 am
Lisa, as usual a very smart post with sound advice. The only tip I would add as to capitalize on
references to further prove your expertise in a certain eld. I realize that your post is building
up from the ground oor but once you have established a foundation, leverage the power of
references by asking others to spread the word about your knowledge through online and
oine resources. Realistically, as you start to establish that legitimate expertise people will
start sharing your blog posts, webinars, etc. and help to augment your knowledge and reach
but when you are rst starting off its always benecial to have a couple of your early fans,
followers, evangelists, etc. speak up for you on your behalf to get the ball rolling.
Reply

Aaron Eden
July 14, 2011 at 9:32 am
Lisa, your tips here made sense and a whole lot of it. I just started as a someone whos
passionate about social media ( and who wants to help people save time while engaging online
). Im not really that social until I have to face the fact that I have to connect. So, I just took my
passion and started building relationships online.. and oine. It amazes me how I just took the
stand and be my own expert. The pay off? I am bugged by companies who want me to help
them in their social media blue print just because I was enthusiastic about it.
Reply

Sam
July 14, 2011 at 10:05 am
Being a small business owner & being an expert in a eld is hard, but I agree it takes work to do
both. But it is worth it once folks accepts that you do know what you are talking about.
Sam
MyTeamConnects.com/blog
Reply

Rob Carpenter
July 14, 2011 at 3:57 pm
As you plan your strategy for branding yourself as an expert, Ive found that its helpful to tell
stories and anecdotes. Basically, the less abstract your points are, the better. It makes the
content and you as a speaker, more relatable and interesting.
Reply

Simon
July 14, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Good article.
I would add #6.5 Tell people you are an expert as you only need to know a little more and you
are.
Reply

Tiffany C. Wright
July 14, 2011 at 11:13 pm
I especially like point #4. When you share opinions that others disagree with, you open yourself
up to criticism. However no leader ever excelled without a healthy dose of criticism from
opposing viewpoints. Thank you for adding this pointand the detailed explanation.
Reply

Mike Templeton
July 16, 2011 at 11:01 pm
All great points. I think the most important thing is staying immersed in your subject area. Lilys
comment about a college degree not being enough was spot on, but it also means reading a
few books or blogs and then tossing it all aside wont work either. Youve got to constantly be
picking up on new things and staying ahead of the tide. If you dont, the water will come
crashing down around you and another expert will sail on by.
Reply

David Lawyer
July 17, 2011 at 12:46 am
Great list but the one thing above all, is to be patient. All of this can take some time. Be patient,
go thru the steps, go thru the process, stay the course and stay focused on the end game.
Reply

@RSDonna
July 27, 2011 at 11:01 pm
My #6 would be to never call yourself an expert. Along with the overuse of exclamation points,
expert is one of my top pet peeves (and dont get me started on guru, ninja). I think this
tweet from @CopyShark sums it up quite nicely: Expert is something others call you, and
something you demonstrate, not a title you claim yourself.
Reply

Jim
September 28, 2011 at 9:16 am
@RSDonna is right it is not right to claim the title of expert yourself.
5. Is very important. I have to ensure that not just myself but the people who work for my
business follow my ethos.
Great list thank you.
Reply

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