How To Become A Go-To Expert In Your Niche

Ashley Deland, Business Advisor, Educator & Community Builder For Female Founders. CEO, Maison De Land & Top 40 40 Winner.

Many people think that they’ll never know enough to call themselves an expert in certain subject matters. However, you don’t need to know everything in order to be a valuable problem solver for your niche.

Having a PhD or being a world renowned specialist on that certain topic will help you gain that authority, but sometimes when you’re a few feet ahead of your audience and look back to guide them forward, that’s all it takes for them to see you as the expert.

In order to help you gain that confidence and authority, I’d like to share how you can position yourself as a person of influence or go-to expert in your niche.

Get Active On Social Media

In this day and age, the majority of businesses gain visibility, authority and sales from utilizing the power of social media marketing.

All of these powerful platforms provide the space to use your voice and connect to millions, if not billions, of people on a daily basis, while showcasing your knowledge and brand.

The key is to start small and create impact on one to two platforms that your target client uses most. Once you see success on those platforms, you can expand your marketing strategy to other channels.

Try to stay up to date with what’s trending, be strategic when building your following and stay consistent in showing up.

Publish A Blog & Build A Subscriber List

Blogging is just as popular as ever because it provides you the option to share without editorial guidelines or subject matter approval. This allows you the freedom to write and publish whatever you’d like.

This approach also rewards those who provide value to their audience—increasing followers organically based on advice and knowledge. At the end of the day, if you provide value, readers will come back for more.

Blogging also has another huge benefit: building email lists. Email addresses are gold and should be the focus of almost all your marketing efforts.

This means call-to-action phrases on every social media post. This way, you’re taking them off that borrowed platform and onto something you own such as your website, blog section or newsletter, in hopes of gaining their information so you can show up in their inbox.

Don’t Wait Until You “Feel” Like An Expert

Over the 20+ years of being a Strategic Advisor to hundreds of entrepreneurs and founders, I’ve learned that many people tend to downplay their expertise, which creates roadblocks to their success.

The reality is, you don’t need to have a degree or decades of experience to be branded as an expert.

To be an expert, you just have to really know what you’re talking about and know that topic, problem or solution inside and out.

Think of an “expert” in a different way—someone with in-depth knowledge on a topic that’s shared with an audience.

Most of us have some in-depth knowledge that took years to learn, whether we realize it or not, and there are people in the world who can deeply benefit from that knowledge.

Focus On The Target Audience’s Problems

Being an expert is about showing up for your audience and proving to them that you can solve their problems.

Maybe that’s with a product or service. Or perhaps it’s by taking a complex topic and making it easier to understand by turning it into fun, engaging videos.

Being an expert doesn’t mean you have to be celebrity-level with a wealth of education and patents to your name. You simply have to know your topic and, more importantly, understand how to share insights about it to the audience that needs it the most.

Host A Podcast

Anyone serious about building a personal or professional brand should consider launching a podcast.

You don’t have to be active daily, but a weekly or biweekly podcast is manageable for most.

Best of all, some platforms are free to produce a podcast.

You can also monetize your podcast for additional revenue streams, which is always a bonus.

Submit Guest Posts To Industry Publications

Guest posting is a tried-and-true personal strategy that’s just as effective now as it’s always been.

It’s best to start small at first. Use smaller blogs to build up your voice and gain the writing experience, then over time you’ll build a portfolio that you can use to secure guest blogging opportunities with bigger publications.

Pitch To Traditional Media

Traditional media isn’t dead—far from it.

Local television or newspaper publications can offer opportunities to share insights. Small outlets like a local television or radio station are often in need of new and interesting topics.

Email these publications and tell them a little about yourself and your business, share the types of topics you are an expert in, and let them know that you’re available.

Use Other People’s Audiences To Build Up Your Own

Guest blogging, podcasting and even jumping on IG live with someone allows you to “borrow” other people’s audiences, level up your authority and spread your name to new ears, which you might not have been able to reach otherwise.

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