6 ways to build your reputation as an expert

A dozen years ago, it took me about a month. It went much faster than I expected. All thanks to a few elements that played well together. I also had a well-thought-out strategy. Over time, I watched other people create themselves as experts. Some of them did it well. Check out how to build a reputation as an expert in 6 easy steps:

Choose your niche

Experts of all sorts can be found virtually everywhere. If you have a passion, you can quickly become an expert. It is enough to deepen your knowledge and skills in some fields constantly. People who value their time and money willingly use the knowledge of experts. Therefore, the demand for experts in various niches is continuously growing. I have always been creative. I enjoyed inventing new things. The natural area in which I started to build my position as an innovation expert. I also specialized in IT project management. As a result, I quickly established myself as an expert in IT-related innovation. To be an expert, all you need is a passion that makes you happy. It is worth building foundations for further actions. It is much easier than becoming an expert in a field you do not know anything about. 

Set goals that you want to achieve 

Why do you want to increase your reputation as an expert in the field? Is it just ambition or a mechanism to sell your products or services? Your goal will determine your strategy going forward. People who are not driven by purely financial motives have much better credibility. Making money as an expert, however, can be a nice side effect.  The order of goal setting should be as follows. Why do you want to do this? How well do you want to do it? What exactly do you want to do? Consider how much time per week you can give to it. 

Identify your target audience and their needs

Whom do you want to target? Will they be companies or individuals? What are their characteristics and needs? Answering these questions will help you a lot in planning the next steps. They will also allow you to achieve better results. Knowing what the market needs are enough to meet its expectations. In the beginning, it is better to target a specific group of recipients. Trying to meet too many groups’ needs at once will make it difficult to profile yourself as an expert in one area. It’s easier to enter other domains with a reputation. You also need to know where your audience will look for information.

Plan your knowledge-sharing strategy

Depending on your chosen target audience, plan your primary content publishing model. It could be a blog, podcast, newsletter, YouTube channel, Facebook group, articles on LinkedIn, etc. Other media should support your main channel in distribution. The variety of forms of communication makes it difficult to manage them all at once. So use automation tools. Also, plan a strategy for sharing knowledge and collecting feedback. Regularity is important. Even more important is the relevance of the materials you create. You can create content: universal and timeless (good for SEO), up-to-date relating to current cases (hot topics), extensive guidance on a selected subject (support for reputation), the result of research (proof of expertise), case studies (interesting for adopters and customers), industry reports (attracting many groups in the same time), trends related to the development of technology (attracting innovators), etc. It is worth planning a roadmap of actions and start implementing it.

 
Find allies to boost reputation

Nothing is more reputation-enhancing than a recommendation from another expert. Especially someone respected in the industry. If you can count on such help, that’s great. If not, think about how you can change that. You can become a member of some organization. It’s also a good idea to guest post on platforms where your target audience is. Another thing that will work is to offer your support pro bono. A few actions like this and other people will start to treat you as an expert. 

Remain credible and look for new directions

Building a reputation as an expert is a long-term endeavor. Of course, you may succeed very quickly. However, you will show your true class if you do not stop at just reaching your goal. Digging deeper into the subject matter will allow you to discover new directions to develop your knowledge. It may result in finding an even more exciting niche. Now all that remains is to get down to business.