Hamlet famously stated, “To be, or not to be, that is the question” (Hamlet, Act III, Scene I).
Of course, he was talking about the ultimate question: whether to choose to live (Be) and face unbearable circumstances or to take one’s life (Not Be) and escape those circumstances.
Fortunately, most of us will never face such a terrible decision. But, as business owners, we face many other less dire, yet still challenging, decisions every day. And how we handle ourselves as we make these decisions ultimately determines to what extent people in our niche view us as authorities (gurus).
Now, this list isn’t exhaustive, but I think it’s pretty solid. If you do well in all seven of the following areas, you’re bound to be rewarded with “authority” status in your niche.
So, without further ado, here are seven things to “Be” as you build your business and your authority:
1. Be Focused
Here’s the first part of a well-known saying: “Jack of all trades…”.
What’s the second half of that saying? Right: “Master of none.”
Being a jack of all trades might be great for a handyman, but it’s the kiss of death in business. Trying to be everything to all people basically guarantees that you won’t be focused enough to give good service to or produce quality products for anyone.
I’ve written about establishing your niche in previous posts, so I won’t get into it too deeply here. I’ll just say that, if you want to be seen as an authority, you have to specialize in something—preferably, something unique that sets you apart from others in your niche.
The other aspect of focus is that you need to focus on a very specific group of people—your ideal customers. Again, I’ve written extensively about this in a couple of recent posts (“Who Do You Serve? Creating Your Customer Avatar” and “Fleshing Out Your Customer Avatar: Bringing Your Ideal Clients to Life”), so I won’t belabor it here.
The point is, if you can focus on a specific group of people, you can identify their problems and develop solutions to those problems. Speak directly to these people and don’t waste your time on anyone else. Do this well, and you can dominate your niche, become known as the go-to authority in that niche, and have all the business you can handle.
2. Be in Multiple Places
I’ve heard marketing people say, “Be everywhere,” by which they mean be seen at as many venues offline as possible and on as many platforms online (web and social) as possible. I respectfully disagree with that approach, as it goes against item #1 in this list (Be Focused).
But they do have a point. Each offline venue and each online platform has a different set of regular visitors, and it’s a good bet that there are some people who would be a perfect fit for your tribe in each of these places.
But it doesn’t serve you well if you spread yourself so thin that you can only interact with people on a platform once every few weeks.
The key here is to balance item #1 (Be Focused) with item #2 (Be in Multiple Places). How do you do this? First, use your niche focus to reign in your impulse to be everywhere. Stay disciplined and don’t allow yourself to stray outside of your niche.
You’ve worked hard to carve out that niche. You know the people who inhabit that niche. And you know what their problems, needs, and desires are. So stay in that “sweet spot.”
But within that sweet spot, identify multiple places where you can be seen and heard, both offline and online.
For offline venues, where do your ideal customers gather? Are there annual conferences that serve your niche? Trade shows? Networking events? For the conferences, can you get on the agenda to be a speaker? Even if you aren’t a speaker, you want to connect with as many people as possible, both attendees and speakers.
For online platforms, where do most of your ideal customers congregate? Choose the top one or two (three is probably too many) and focus on interacting with your ideal customers as much as possible on those platforms.
This approach of staying tightly focused on your niche and your ideal customers but then also showing up consistently in multiple places where those customers gather is a powerful way to establish yourself as an authority in your space.
And don’t forget to provide social proof of your activities. If you’ve spoken at an event (or even just attended), if you’ve had a guest post published on a respected blog site, if you’ve launched a new e-book on Amazon, let your mailing list and your social media followers know. Each time they see you in an “authority” role, your standing with them rises.
3. Be Productive
Item #3 in our list is really an extension of #2. You want to be seen in multiple places in your niche, but you have to be seen doing something. And by “doing something,” I mean putting out content to share your expertise.
I touched on this topic in my previous blog post, “Achieving Guru Status: A 7-Step Process for Becoming a Recognized Leader in Your Field” (see step 5 in that post). There, I talked about choosing content platforms that match your skill set.
For example, if you’re a strong writer, you should definitely write a blog. If you’re comfortable on camera, then creating a YouTube channel or posting regularly on Facebook Live might be your best choice. If you don’t particularly like how you come across on video and you’re not a strong writer but you love to talk to people, creating an interview-style podcast where you interview other leading people in your field would make sense.
The key to making your content work to establish your authority (well, beyond making sure your content is high-quality, which goes without saying) is to be consistent. You can’t write a blog post each week for three weeks, then skip a couple of months. Whatever platform you decide on, establish a schedule and stick to it.
That said, you should also try to diversify your content within your chosen area of strength. If you’re a writer, in addition to your blog, periodically aggregate some of your best content into longer-form articles, special reports, e-books, or even a full-scale book. And one way to Be Multiple Places (#2) and to Be Productive (#3) at the same time is to guest blog on other people’s platforms and then drive that traffic to your website.
If video is your thing, don’t just have a YouTube channel. Have a vlog page on your website, as well. Do Facebook Live videos. And use both your YouTube channel and your Facebook Live videos to send traffic back to your site. Your goal should be to convert those who consume your content anywhere into opt-ins on your mailing list, where you can interact with them more frequently.
4. Be Bold
Take a stance on the issues in your niche. Have an opinion. No one gets to be viewed as an authority if they don’t stand for something.
Many consultants are afraid to take a stance on important issues in their fields. They fear that, if they do, they’ll alienate their audience.
The truth is, if some people believe you’re absolutely right and other people believe you’re absolutetly wrong, that means you’ve staked out a position. Don’t let those who disagree with you bring you down. Instead, focus on serving the needs of those who agree with you. There are more than enough of them to give you an audience to serve in your business.
That being said, don’t be a jerk. There are some topics that you just don’t need to get into. The same rules should apply to your communications that apply at the dinner table at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any other time a large group of people gather who may have widely varying views on certain hot button topics: avoid discussions of religion, politics, or divisive social issues.
And, by all means, don’t post “hot takes” on issues just to stir things up. Be bold, but be authentic. If you truly believe what you’re saying, great. But don’t fake it. You may be able to fool people for a while, but you’ll eventually be exposed.
5. Be Helpful
In item #3 above, I talked about being productive. You absolutely need to put out good content consistently to be seen as an authority. But just putting out good, high-quality content isn’t enough. You see, you may be putting out content that YOU think is fantastic. But if you’re only focused on your own ideas and products without thinking about the people you should be serving and their needs, there will be a disconnect.
If, on the other hand, you focus on serving, on being helpful, everything will work out. Here are three ways you can serve your tribe:
- Give value. Sure, you can focus on quality when you create content or a product, but the judgement of whether something is valuable or not is in the minds of the consumers of that content. This means that, if you truly want to serve your tribe, you will constantly ask them what they need and do your best to provide that for them.
- Give advice. Content producers and product creators sometimes get so focused on giving information that we forget that what people want isn’t just information. They also want to know that someone is listening to their needs and understands them. What they want is advice, not just information. Here’s a great definition of “advice” that I read once: “Advice is information plus a relationship.” Let people know you’re there to help. Build a relationship with them. And then your information will be viewed as advice and you will be seen as the authority providing that advice.
- Give a helping hand. Forget competition and focus on collaboration. If there are others serving the same audience that you’re serving, look for ways to work together to meet those needs. Look for ways to offer complimentary products and services to those being offered by others in your niche. If there are other up-and-coming providers in your niche, champion them. Introduce them to your audience. Recommend them for work that you can’t or don’t want to take on at the moment. Even in the tightest niche, there’s always room for a collaborative approach that will serve everyone’s needs better than cut-throat competition does. The side-benefit here is that, not only will your tribe see you as an authority, but other providers in your niche will view you as an authority, as well.
6. Be a Leader
Be an advocate in your niche. If you feel that there are injustices taking place, stand up against those injustices. Get out in front on the issue and use your platform for something beyond just providing services and selling products.
For example, if your niche is to provide authentic performance assessments for teachers and to train them how to use those assessments effectively, you may feel like standardized tests are inauthentic and an injustice to students for a number of reasons. If that’s the case, don’t just stop at providing your performance assessments and trainings. Get out there on social media and take on the testing industry. Write guest blog posts on high-volume blog platforms and share your concerns. Speak out about the issue in your conference presentations.
When people in your niche see that you not only run a business based on certain beliefs and values, but that you actually get out there and take a leadership position against opposing beliefs and practices, they will view you as an authority on the issue.
By the way, a quick caveat: while standing up against poor practice may be noble, be careful when it comes to people who believe differently than you. Do your homework before you write or speak out against the other side of the issue. Make sure you know all the facts before getting on your high horse. And even when you feel you’re justified in warning people against a product or practice in your niche, do everything you can not to personally attack the people on the opposing side. Though you can’t see it, they may well have good reasons to believe as they do.
And that leads us nicely into…
7. Be Human
We’ve all heard about the sleazy business owners who do whatever they can to make a buck. Don’t be one of those people. Those people suck. And if you follow the advice in the previous six items on this list, especially #5, that shouldn’t be a problem.
But I’ve found that real authorities take issues of personal conduct a step farther. In my experience, the people who are the true authorities and leaders in their fields tend to be some of the nicest, most genuine people I’ve ever met, and every time I meet one of these people, I always wonder, “Are they so nice and genuine because they’ve achieved authority status, or did they achieve authority status because they’re so nice and genuine?” Chicken or egg?
And yes, I know that there are other factors at play here, but I do think just being a good human tends to set you up for success. I know that “being human” is kind of vague and covers a lot of territory, so here are some specific being human “to-do’s” that I believe will help build your authority:
- Give credit to your sources. Never steal someone else’s work. If you use an idea from someone, cite the source. You wouldn’t want someone to pass your work off as theirs, would you? The Golden Rule applies here, as it does in so many situations.
- Correct your mistakes. If you write something or put something out there in a video and later find out that some part of what you wrote or said was incorrect or misleading, admit to the mistake. In a follow-up piece, apologize and explain why you got it wrong. Promise to do better next time. It’s just the right thing to do.
- Don’t apologize for changing your mind, but DO acknowledge it. We’re talking about being human here, and humans often change their minds on issues with the passage of time or when we get more information on the topic. So, it’s OK to change your mind; just don’t try to act like you never said what you said originally. Stand up and say, “I used to think this, but now I think differently. Here’s why.” People are generally very forgiving when you offer a good explanation about why you changed your mind.
- Give credit publicly to those who inspire you and serve as your mentors. We all stand on the shoulders of giants. We are all shaped and formed by our mentors, whether they be alive or long dead, whether they be authors of texts we found inspirational and formative or whether we learned from them in person as apprentices. We should publicly acknowledge the debt we owe to these mentors whenever appropriate. And, for those mentors who are still living, we should let them know that we’ve acknowledging the debt we owe them by sending them an e-mail, contacting them through their website, or tagging them on social media.
- Be selfless. You don’t have to be paid for everything you do. Be as generous with your time as you can, whether the person needing the help is a paying client or just someone reaching out to you anonymously through e-mail.
- Be authentic. I said this once above already, but it bears repeating. Be your true, authentic self. You’ve probably heard the saying, “Fake it till you make it.” I don’t believe in that. I believe in “If you don’t fake it, you’re more likely to make it.” You can sometimes fake some people out for a short time, but in the end, they’ll figure out what you’re up to.
- Be respectful and stay classy. In this age of social media where everyone has multiple platforms and seemingly millions of opinions, there will be people who disagree with you. And if you’re being bold in stating your beliefs (#4, above), it’s guaranteed that some people will come after you to argue against your positions. I make it a policy to politely argue my case up to a certain point, but if I feel that our positions are not likely to change, I tell the other person that we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I don’t take part in name calling or character assassination. I wish them the best, and I burn no bridges.
- Be kind. Your business is important, but when it comes right down to it, your business is not your life. Your life is the sum total of your experiences and business is just one part of it. If you aren’t kind to those you interact with in your business, it will bleed over into your personal life and negatively impact your relationships with others. Don’t let that happen.
Conclusion
There you have it—your seven-step checklist for establishing authority in your niche. Some of these items (#1 through #3) are all about how to structure and run your business to make an impact on your ideal customers. Other items (#4 through #7) are more about how you position yourself and how you interact with others. But all these factors are important for establishing yourself as an authority.
If you think I missed an important piece or if you have some other comment about this post, I’d love to hear it. Just post your comment below or reach out to me through the Contact page.
