Authority is a lot like a golden goose.
It takes awhile to grow, and you need to care for it as it gets stronger, builds, and develops over time.
But by looking after your golden goose, feeding it regularly, and respecting it, it has the potential to provide you with years and years of amazing “golden eggs”.
These “golden eggs” come in the form of trust, respect, credibility, perceived competence, money, and freedom. Pretty powerful eggs if you ask me.
The Power Of Authority
With authority, the world is yours, and you’re free to pick and choose what you want to do, where you want to work, who you want to work with, and how much you want to charge.
Your business becomes equivalent to a mini-celebrity, a sold out concert, or a restaurant with a 6 month waiting list. As copyblogger also points out, building your brands authority also leads to:
- Easier sales
- Better quality customers
- Repeat buyers
- A constant influx of new prospects
Authority increases demand, and it’s good to be wanted.
This all sounds great!
So how exactly can you build authority in your market and reap the accompanying rewards?
The Power Of Educating and Informing
The primary theme in building authority is educating and informing.
This is because educating potential clients, customers, or others in your industry is the most important step in building your brands (business or personal) authority.
The fastest and shortest road to authority is to become a teacher in your industry, market, or business.
Teachers not only have an implied sense of authority thanks to the conditioning associated with a couple decades of going to school, but their authority also shows up when they become a valuable source of information – information we need or want.
Essentially, building authority through educating and informing boils down to two things:
1) We respect people that teach us things.
2) We appreciate that they know something that could help us and are willing to share it.
So now that we’ve got that covered, what are some potential avenues to pursue in helping you “get the word out”
Authority Building Strategy #1: Blogging
There’s no easier way to start spreading the word than by simply hopping on a computer and starting your own blog.
If you’re not overly techno-savvy there are a number of free blogging software options out there but I’d highly (highly) suggest building your own blog, on your own domain that you control.
Use your blog as your primary hub for sharing your ideas and then leverage and spread the content around through social media.
If you already have a business, then adding a blog to the site comes with the added benefit of boosting your search engine rankings, answering potential customer questions, and establishing thought leadership.
All good things.
Authority Building Strategy #2: Help Others
Whether you use helping others to build your authority, to take advantage of the reciprocity effect, for good karma, or simply because you just can’t help being helpful (good job!), the results are the same.
Being helpful positions you as an authority.
Now I’m not suggesting going full time “pro bono” but if you’re committed to building your authority then a healthy daily, weekly, or monthly dose of good ol fashioned “helping out” could be just what the marketing doctor ordered.
(Legal disclaimer: I am not an actual doctor)
The takeaway point is this…
Selfishness sucks.
And it hurts your brand, so help where you can, in a way that works and feels natural.
Also, don’t be afraid to do it publicly.
Not only will this allow you to leverage your do-gooding, but by being out in the public eye others can benefit from your help and advice as well.
Authority Building Strategy #3: Newsjacking
Newsjacking is an idea I learned from David Meerman Scott and is “the art and science of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story so you and your ideas get noticed.”
Brilliant!
This strategy is most effective when the breaking news story is industry related, as it will really allow you to showcase your expertise and opinions, but don’t be afraid to weigh in on popular topics and share your view on how they relate to your market.
To find and leverage newsjacking opportunities all you need is a current news source (I primarily use social media, and a few online newspapers) and a platform to voice your views (I use either my blog, others blogs via blog comments, or social media)
Authority Building Strategy #4: Video
If you’ve got a smartphone, you can take advantage of the incredible power of video.
Sure, a high quality and professionally made video may provide better results, but there’s a time and a place for everything.
If you’re just getting started and have yet to take advantage of this powerful tool, then by far the best advice is to just dive in and get started.
The following are just a few of the many convincing statistics that YouTube marketing expert James Wedmore highlights on his website:
- 90 % of users say “SEEING A VIDEO” about a product is helpful in the decision process.
- Videos INCREASE OUR UNDERSTANDING of a Product or Services by 74%.
- Viewers Retain 95% of a message by WATCHING VIDEOS!
- After a Video is Viewed 64% of online viewers are more likely to go ahead and PURCHASE that product!
- If a viewer likes your video your Brand Preference will jump by 35% and your Brand Association will rise by 139%!
I’ve yet to have a single client not benefit (significantly) from incorporating videos into their businesses.
Authority Building Strategy #5: Connect and Network
Whether we’re talking online, or offline, connections matter.
This is because we don’t do business with companies, we do business with people.
Even in the most strict sense there is almost always a person (or combination of people) making the final buying decision.
People, not companies.
This applies to the online world as well. As Pat Flynn says, the name of the game is to be everywhere your target market is.
The key words here are target market.
You don’t just want to be everywhere in general, as that will get tiring quick and does little to promote your brand or business.
Rather, you want to be everywhere your target market is.
If they’re on Facebook, you should be on Facebook.
If they watch a lot of videos on YouTube, then you should be making a lot of videos on YouTube.
If they eat at a certain restaurant, you should eat at that restaurant too.
I think you get the picture.
You need to be visible and the easiest way to do that is to go where your target market is.
Authority Marketing
When you become an authority in your market, business (and life) get a whole lot easier.
Sure, becoming an authority takes time, effort, and a bit of patience, but the rewards are exponential and well worth it!
Putting in the work to become an authority in your market also has a nice little side benefit.
Along the way to authority status you’ll learn more than you ever knew before, and rather than simply trying to look the part, you’ll actually become a real, genuine, authority.
