Kara Stanford
Strategic Marketing Consultant with over 25 years of experience.
CEO & Founder of The Marketing Spaces.
Kara Stanford
Strategic Marketing Consultant with over 25 years of experience.
CEO & Founder of The Marketing Spaces.
Knowledge + skills + experience = expertise
If you have all of these three attributes in your field, then as the go-to expert you can grow your reputation to stand out from the competition and win new business.
For many medium to small businesses, adopting a Known Expert Strategy can be crucial to their marketing success which, as a result, leads to business growth.
However, many don’t claim it. So, if you know you should position yourself and / or your organisation as ‘Known Experts’ but are hesitating, this article is for you. I will remind you of the benefits you’ll reap and make the case for you to crack on and become the go-to expert in your field.
Five Key Benefits of adopting a Known Expert Strategy
1. You earn more money
People buy expertise. People pay more for expertise.
Whether it’s in marketing, accountancy, HR, carpentry, cooking, etc, it’s that collection of knowledge, skills and experience that creates a product or service that people perceive as valuable. Wrapped up, it’s expertise.
You want clients that value your expert approach and opinion – and for that they will pay more because they know what it brings.
If you think it’s expensive to hire an expert, wait until you see how much an amateur costs you!
2. You get the right clients
You probably want to work with clients that appreciate you. It’s too easy to think that people will want to work with you more if you are ‘cheap’ or ‘low cost’.
Some people will always buy on price – but do you want them? Are they worth it?
If you are known as the go-to expert, then you attract the people who want and value expertise.
They know that a cheap solution could cost them more in the long term. They want a sustainable, effective solution, and they’ll pay for it.
When you are the ‘Known Expert’ the people who don’t value expertise stay away.
3. You’re showing them what it’s like to work with you
If you sell something that isn’t tangible, i.e. it can’t be seen, heard or held, then your product or service relies on skill, knowledge and experience.
This means that your prospective customers need a way to know that you can do what you say you can.
Being a ‘Known Expert’ is your way of giving them this taster – showing them what it’s like to work with you, without you actually working for them.
Your Known Expert marketing should consist of speaking at events, (short) webinars, articles, and videos – all of those wonderful opportunities to show that you are the go-to expert. They are also your ‘tasters’ so people can get an understanding of how you work and the value you bring – without you working for them (yet).
4. You reassure them it’s good to choose you
Being known as an expert answers the question: ‘But can they do what I need?’
When you have a Known Expert strategy in place, you are continually providing evidence that you can do what you say you can.
As people are making their way through their Buyers Journey, trying to decide if they want to give you their money or not, they need reassurances along the way.
The questions your potential clients need answering might include:
- Can I trust them to do this right?
- How much experience have they got doing this for other people/companies like me/mine?
- How well do they do this?
- Do I like the way they do it?
It’s your responsibility to answer all these questions for them in your marketing. The Known Expert Strategy firmly does this, and you can showcase it as social proof through testimonials or case studies.
5. You stand out from your competitors
Of course, there will be other people and companies with similar knowledge, skills and experience to yours. But no-one else has that unique combination of it that you have.
To stand out from your competitors as a Known Expert, you have to figure out what it is about the combination that makes up your expertise that makes you different:
- Is it HOW you deliver your services?
- Is it the SERVICE itself that’s different?
- Is it that you have in-depth knowledge of one particular area / sector?
- Is it a combination of all of these?
When I work with companies and directors on creating a Known Expert Strategy, it is the combination of their knowledge, skills and experience that makes them unique.
Remember: the same basic ingredients of egg, flour, butter and sugar can deliver very different results depending on the chef working with them!
Ready to start claiming your ‘Known Expert’ status? To enjoy all of these benefits and get more money from the right clients? Then start our online course today.