Looking for a simple, effective and modern approach to market your yourself? Everyone is overloaded with content and social media is overpopulated.
The fact is, in today’s world we are in the age when there will be more performers than viewers. So what can you do to stand out from the crowd?
You’d have to agree creating Authority is one of the fastest ways to break through the noise. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the owner of a toy shop, writer or a marketer with skills – people/businesses seen as the Authorities in any industry, get the larger piece of sales and profits.
So how can you get started building up your authority?
There’s no one ‘perfect’ answer here so I approached Millennials ‘authorities’ we know in their respective industries and asked what they’d recommend.
Here’s what I asked…
1) Marc Guberti is a teenager entrepreneur, digital marketing expert, public speaker, and author.
A. If I had 90 days to build authority in my industry, I would start a podcast where I interviewed other experts. Many of these people will end up sharing their respective episodes to their audiences. If I was starting from scratch, I would publish one new podcast episode per day. I would entice listeners at the end of every podcast episode to join my email list by signing up for my free offer. After interviewing 30 people in one month, I would write a book about lessons I learned and self-publish it within 30 days.
B. I would focus on building relationships with experts so they agree to appear on your podcast and are more likely to share the episode afterwards. As you get more experts on your podcast, getting even more experts on your podcast will be easier. For the book, averaging 1,000 words per day for 30 days will ensure that you get it done within those first 90 days (and with plenty of time to spare). The recognition from other experts combined with the author status will make you an expert within your niche. Asking the right questions and taking notes during each of these interviews will give you the knowledge to stand behind the claim of being an expert.
C. I would avoid writing show notes, editing podcast episodes, and spending too much time on social media. To spend more of your time on your priorities (i.e. interviewing the experts and writing the book), you need to outsource other tasks like the show notes, editing episodes, and some of your social media activity (i.e. posts and growth). If most of your business revolves around a series of small tasks, you won’t have time to pursue what matters more such as creating episodes and writing the book. Social media is an important part of your business, but spending too much time on your social networks creates neglect in the more important areas of your business. I spend no more than 15 minutes on my social networks each day so I have more time to dedicate towards the other areas of my business.
2. Leonard Kim is managing partner of InfluenceTree. At InfluenceTree, Leonard and his team teach you how to build your brand, get featured in publications and grow your social media following.
A. Create a website under your name : When you create a website under your name, this allows you to own your own property. When people go searching for you, they will land on a property that you own. You can share any message you want with your visitors and establish either trust or authority.
B. Study publications : Studying publications is key because when you look over a website like Inc. Magazine, you will be able to see how they structure their current articles. How long are they? How are they structured? What kind of messages do they communicate? When you learn what the publication creates, you are able to identify how to structure your content.
C. Syndicate your content onto networks like Quora and Medium : The reason you want to syndicate your content onto sites like Quora and Medium is because your website doesn't have a pre-existing audience. Both Quora and Medium do. That means when your content is shared on their sites, more people will see it. Then on top of that, both these sites have content syndication teams that can pick up what you write and place them into media outlets like Inc. Magazine. If you studied your publications properly, then you will have no problem getting your content featured and shared to an even bigger audience, while giving yourself a huge boost in credibility.
3. Julia Wojnar is the Founder of Unleash Your Presence where she helps six and seven-figure entrepreneurs to become known as an authority in their industry by identifying and rocking their speaking engagements.
A. What I Would Focus On : For anyone looking to build expert authority status in their industry quickly, my recommendation is to start speaking. Becoming a speaker can earn you immediate expert authority status because on stage, there is nowhere to hide. Unlike a book (which can be written by someone else) or even a webinar (which allows you to hide behind a screen), when you present live, you immediately demonstrate to your audience that you know your content. So you can build trust and credibility much more quickly than many other online marketing tactics and forge a much deeper connection with your audience in less time as face-to-face communication remains the richest and most powerful medium of communication there is.
B. What I Would Avoid & Why : I would avoid investing into paid advertising before you've done thorough market research. Without a deep understanding of your market and their deepest hopes, fears, and dreams; any efforts at targeting the right leads for your business through paid advertising will be based purely on guesses, which means lost money and time.
4. Stefanie O'Connell is a millennial money expert and host of the series Money Minute.
A. Create QUALITY content : To become an expert, you must become a resource. Content - whether it's video, blogs, books or Instagram - is a primary vehicle for providing that kind of value while establishing yourself as a thought leader in your area of expertise. To break through the noise of today's digital era and gain traction your content must be excellent, targeted to a specific niche and written with a point of view.
B. Pursue Press Opportunities : Whether it's responding to inquiries on HARO or actively pitching TV segments, the best way to build credibility and visibility is through press. Press showcases your expertise while exposing you to a broader audience who may not yet be familiar with your work. Be sure to include a link or mention of your website (or book or whatever your content hub) when making press contributions so that interested readers and viewers know where to find you afterwards.
C. Connect with People IN PERSON : Relationships are at the heart of every business, and though they can now be initiated online, they should not exist exclusively online. Making a connection face to face is infinitely more effective than attempting to make a connection through a crowded inbox. Aspiring experts should actively seek out opportunities to connect with other experts and members of the press with the objective of forming lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.
5. Chino Lex : App Creator & App Growth (ASO & App Store Optimization) Consultant. Founder & CEO @tapTrax. 50+ Top-Charting Apps, 5M+ Users, with zero marketing spend or outside capital. More at chinolex.com. He can be reached at chino@chinolex.com
A. I would focus on building scalable and repeatable processes, and delegating these processes to trustable, execution-heavy people in your organization. If your company has different projects, most of the foundations of the project can be broken down into pieces you'll have to eventually repeat. Track your processes, and optimize for saving time and shipping. Delegating to the right person will be able to save you time and complications. To compliment the former, I would divide these processes into a balance of product and user acquisition. Why? Companies need both to be successful. A great product with 10 users is pretty much the same as a bad product with 10,000 users: both suck. If you're B2C, skip 'Beta' and focus shipping: growing your user base in parallel to improving the product gives you a critical feedback loop needed in order to ship better iterations.
B. For apps, shipping product has become easier, especially with tools like Fabric.io (by Twitter), and other useful toolkit to make great apps. And with apps, something that's overlooked is App Store Optimization (ASO), this is like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) but for the App Store. I was able to acquire millions of users with $0 ad or marketing spend. How? With the right ASO. 65% of apps get discovered on the App Store. (Kind of like how 99.9% of websites get discovered in search, not.. billboards.. or print ads). Optimize for those who've already looking for apps like yours. Don't skip that part.
C. I would avoid people who're really good at 'tomorrow' or 'later' I admit, I used to be one of these people, until I realized how detrimental procrastination was. The antidote to procrastination is fierce prioritization, do what needs to be done, relative to the importance of your other tasks.
6. Ulyses Osuna runs Influencer Press, a PR firm that gets Influencers with thousands and even millions of followers on major publications like Forbes, Inc, Entrepreneur etc.
A. Guest Post on Major Publications.
B. Be Featured on Major Publications.
C. Work with Influencers.
7. Sol Orwell talks about entrepreneurship over at SJO.com and busies himself convincing people to send him cookies from all over the world.
A. Identify some of the top people who are accessible via twitter and allow guest contributions. I'd then engage with them on it, so they would know who I am.
B. I would contact them. My initial contact would be solving something specific for them - be it suggestions on how to generate more revenue, something broken on their blog, etc
C. I would then suggest a few different contributions I could make to their site. As we'd have a relationship built up over time, and I'd suggest something they have not covered (and their audience would be interested in), it should be a successful move.
It's all about building a relationship to know you know your shit and you value what they know.
8. Scott Oldford helps Entrepreneurs grow their business using Online Lead Generation at INFINITUS using his SSF Methodology, now being used by tens of thousands of Entrepreneurs, across the world.
A. I would find who are the second-tier Influencers in that world, read their material and see what's missing in the industry. This would allow me to develop a specific methodology that I could name. I did this in 2015, with the SSF Method for Lead Generation.
B. I would develop 3 core pieces of content, for the 3 different types of people that I can attract in my audience... a guide, video series and webinar.
C. I would develop an online product that connected to the methodology and the core pieces of content.
I did the exact thing above and in less than 18 months, I've generated over $3 million in revenue in a brand new industry.
9) Raphael Paulin-Daigle is the founder of SplitBase, a conversion optimization agency that helps SaaS & E-commerce companies increase revenues with their existing website traffic.
A. My first priority would be to make sure I've got a killer website and blog. Since I'd likely generate traffic to my site through guest posts and other initiatives, I'd want to make sure I have at least one authoritative, well researched post that features case studies of my work. This will validate my expertise, and provide a sneak peek of what I could offer to a potential client.
B. I'd find the top 3 to 5 most popular blogs in my industry (ideally a mix of blogs that my target customers already read along with a few popular ones among industry peers) and I'd write as many guest posts as possible for them within the 90 days. I'd make sure to not simply repeat previous topics already covered in the industry, but rather write posts that offer a new take, perspective or opinion. Be obsessed with writing quality content.
C. Similarly to what I'd do with guest posts, I'd find the top 3 to 5 events or podcasts in my industry and try to be featured as a speaker / guest on each one. I like channels where people hear me speak, as it shows my personality and character, while tone is often lost in writing. In addition, people have an easier time relating to you when they hear or see you speak rather than just reading your written words.
Finally, by focusing intensively on the above, people in your industry will start to feel as if you're "everywhere". Put emphasis on educating people and providing value, and your authority will go up in no time. I've followed these steps in 2 different industries and it significantly grew my website's traffic, lead to being invited to speak at international events, and landed many new clients as a result.
10. Mike Fishbein is an inbound marketer and Amazon bestselling author.
Here are my 3 points:
A. Talk to your target audience. Learn about their pain points, questions, and personalities.
B. Find a way to drive visitors to your content. SEO, social media, guest blogging, Medium.com, or otherwise depending on your industry.
C. Convert your readers into email subscribers so you can continuously re-engage.
11. Andrew Rosenstein 17-year-old Entrepreneur and Author of A Millennial World.
A. Content, content, content. I believe that with 90 days to build a brand to be expert status, I would create a website that would not only describe/sell my service or product, but also is a good resource to educate my target audience. First, I would create a blog that has to do with every single part of my brand (big and small). For example, a hot hobby/business that a lot of Millennials/Gen-Z have is reselling shoes. If I were to start a sneaker reselling business and become an expert in 90 days, I would have my website that sells all of my sneakers but also has a blog that talks about shoes, everything from the way it was designed, what inspired the design of the shoes, how many units they are releasing, etc. This would be valuable for my consumers to truly understand their products before buying it and it validates me by providing useful information on all of the products. Additionally, on top of the website, I would see what social media platforms my target audience is on, and hyper focus on 1 or 2 of those platforms and invest as much money as possible to ads and campaigns.
B. Things that I would avoid are, only pumping out content on 1 platform (i.e. not having a website and only selling shoes by posting them on an Instagram page and doing sales through direct message, which happens a lot now a days). The consumer will devalue you as a brand when only selling, selling, selling, but when providing value to the consumer, you will be able to keep them engaged and keep wanting to learn from what you have to say but will also buy the product if they like it.
C. One last thing that I would do going off of this shoe selling example is try and do as many interviews as I can with people that are looked up to in the industry (i.e Phil Knight - founder of Nike or Michael Jordan - best NBA player of all time, etc….. or even any shoe designers). By doing interviews with celebrities that are looked up to in a given industry, it validates me as a brand to be able to provide content from people that my consumers would love listening.
In 90 days, its tough to create a brand that is considered “expert status” but if someone were to find the best platform that has the most amount of people for their target market is the best way to do it. I think that there is so many different ways to approach it, and again with this shoe example, I would try and find ways to be able to sell as many shoes as possible without making any profit, the customers would be getting a great deal and would continue to stay engaged.
In my book, A Millennial World, I give a lot of examples of ways that companies can better connect with our generation. I speak about the ways brands can pump out content that attracts our generation, IT ISN’T EASY!
12. Jared Kleinert is a TED speaker and award-winning author of 2 Billion Under 20, voted the #1 Entrepreneurship Book of 2015. His next book, 3 Billion Under 30, comes out January 2017 and you can learn more about him at jaredkleinert.com or say hi at jaredkleinert@gmail.com.
A. First, I'd ask "why" I want authority in my industry in the first place, and what that means to me. Does it mean press? Case studies of work with respected individuals or companies, or of stellar results I've helped a client or user accomplish? The ability to have a following to speak to regularly via an email list or social media following? Getting clear on why building authority is important to you will allow you to match your actions to what it is you really want, whether it is an ego-boost from feel-good press, credentials to replace traditional ones you may not have (or have yet) like a college degree or former Fortune 500 employment, or the ability to drive new sales or user acquisition.
B. One I knew why I was spending time on this and what my goals were, I'd focus on the necessary relationships I'd need to build in order to accomplish those goals. Do I need to meet podcast hosts, writers, bloggers with their own followings, social media Influencers…who are the people I need to meet to make this all happen? Once I identify those people, I'd determine what's valuable to them, and try to deliver that upfront in our new professional relationship.
C. Finally, I'd make an ask to collaborate on the guest blog post, speech opportunity, interview, or whatever else it is I was looking to accomplish, and gauge responses. While I wouldn't bet everything on one connection or relationship, if you've been thoughtful of how to use your time and considerate of other people's needs, typically you'll need less interactions to accomplish your same goal, meaning if you want to be featured on Huffington Post (let's say) then perhaps you only need to pitch three people in a deliberate manner than one hundred or more in a "spray-and-pray" manner.
13. Rob Fajardo is on the core team at Fownders, the social-impact start up accelerator founded by Gerard Adams. Fownders' mission is to develop inner cities nationwide through entrepreneurship, starting in Newark, NJ.
If I had 90 days to build an authority I would focus on 3 core components:
A. Brand Strategy and Developing a Strong WHY : Your brand is your most important asset. It is what people know you for. People do not buy what you do they buy WHY you do it. As a millennial it is most for people to realize this important shift in the mindset of the current digital audience. The social media ecosystem loves transparency and authenticity. If you get people to buy into YOU .. They will buy into EVERYTHING that you do moving forward. As a serial entrepreneur this social currency is PIVOTAL and the lifeblood of your business long term. This is how you get lifetime customers.
B. Creating compelling and attractive content : Create content that provides value and provokes engagement by requiring a interaction/collaboration. Ask your audience for feedback. Let them be involved and create comment threads underneath your content. This is important and is an easy way to hack your way to the top of the news-feed due to the Facebook algorithm.
C. Growth hacking your following through innovative means of publicity : Find new watering holes where your target audience is hiding out. For example groups, forums, in the comment section of similar Influencers, etc. If you post great content than your profile becomes a landing page that qualifies you to new leads. Leverage this to your benefit and follow or friend people that are likely to engage with your material.
14. Tayo Rockson - He is a media executive and activist who is committed to using media as an education tool to help the youth connect across cultures and become better global leaders.
If anyone had 90 days to build authority, I would focus on the following things:
A. Establishing your mission : It's important to have a solid foundation which defines you, defines the problem as you see it and let's the audience know how they can be part of the solution. A mission does just that. For example, my mission statement is simply "use your difference to make a difference".
The problem is that too many react negatively to people that are different from them out of fear or ignorance so my mission is to encourage people to get comfortable being uncomfortable and connecting across cultures.
B. Create the story, don't just be part of it : Once you have had your mission statement established, start covering the stories that aren't being discussed. You will not be seen as an authority if you follow the crowd. In order to be an authority you have to take an stand that not many people are willing to take and talk about the importance of that story. If you want to focus on marketing then consider finding a niche within the industry and build your authority there so something like "marketing to middle school students", "how to use digital media to reach genders" or "how to market to Hispanic Americans" would be better than just "how to be a better marketer".
C. Make a habit of doing these two things and you will become much more recognized for your work within your field because you're consistently on brand. People will then come to your ideas and thoughts on topics that you have raised awareness about.
Avoid this
It can be easy to become braggadocios but don't fall into that trap because it can take you away from the message and ultimately affect the amount of people who could listen to you. I would avoid boasting about your expertise. It rings truer when it comes from others. Focus on doing the work within your field of expertise so that others can't help but talk about you.
So here 14 millennials shared their authority building tips. What we can learn from it that nothing can be achieved if you don’t have a proper plan. Remember to share this post if you picked up any useful tips - part of becoming an authority is in sharing great content.
Did we miss anything or do you have any tips of your own? Join the conversation and add you comment below.