The Art of Being the Expert – Part 2
You know you benefit from the trust you build with clients when you provide a deeper understanding of your product. This leads to stronger relationships and excellent customer experiences. It keeps clients and customers coming back for more, and referring their friends and colleagues. Good business owners relish in this face-to-face interaction. One customer at a time. It’s a great motto. But there’s a problem with it. It does not embrace the full potential of being the expert in your field. Word of mouth is powerful, but it can only take you so far.
It begins with the conversation.
You have carried those countless conversations with customers and clients, so you already know the answers. The question being: what are my customers (and potential customers) asking for? Put yourself in the shoes of your consumers. This is where your planning should begin. It’s great place to start with any marketing plan, but particularly when you seek to position yourself as the expert. Because what good is an expert if you can’t answer the right questions?
Keep it Simple
Remember, you’re the expert. Your level of understanding of your product or subject is far greater than that of the general public. For instance, if you’re a world-renowned astronomer you are likely stoked by the latest equation supporting the possibility of time travel through black holes. But you wouldn’t share that complex equation on the first day of Astronomy 101 with students who don’t know the definition of star.
Similarly, more often than not the customer is seeking out simplicity. Like the classic story of a sports car dealer making the mistake of highlighting all the under-the-hood details of the car – the horsepower, the engineering, and the rest – instead of focusing the driver experience. The salesman gets caught up in all his knowledge rather than reading his customer.
This understanding will serve as a building block for a strategy to use your expertise as a powerful marketing tool.
In part 3 of The Art of Being the Expert, I’ll talk more about how to begin developing a marketing plan based on being the expert.
OneEighty Media specializes in providing the tools you would need to effectively become the expert in your field to enhance your position in the market. We look forward to having a conversation with you about your business.
President of OneEighty Media, Inc., John Krol serves as Director of Accounts and lead communications consultant for this full-service marketing, communications and advertising firm. John’s extensive experience in journalism, broadcasting, public relations, government relations, SEM, community outreach and marketing provides a unique perspective for businesses looking to re-energize and diversify their marketing efforts.
