What area or skill are you best in? What can you do better than any other competitor in the marketplace?
In which area of responsibility do you have valuable experience with which you could offer your customers and prospects great added value?
The answers to these questions is the first step towards creating an expert strategy (and thus your content strategy).
Positioning Yourself As An Expert – The Real Goal of Content Marketing
In my workshops and customer meetings, I always hear this question: “Why do you even need content marketing? Why bother to give away all this content for free?”
To many, it even seems counterproductive: Providing valuable content for free…”how is that ever going to help me in winning new customers?”
It’s typically two fears that are behind such statements:
- “If the prospect gets so much value for free…are they still going to pay for anything?” or…
- “That which does not cost anything isn’t worth anything.” as they say in Austria…
Nevertheless, I always advise my workshop participants: GIVE IT A TRY AND CREATE A FEW PIECES OF CONTENT.
Because the fact is that…
No matter what industry or market segment you are in …
- You are one of many.
- You are by no means the only supplier.
- And for a potential buyer who is looking for potential suppliers, and neither knows you or your company yet, you are just another grain of sand in a big blue sea of potential suppliers …
This is why it takes an effective and, above all, long-term strategy to win the trust of your prospect and reel them in as a customer…
The Expert Strategy = Content Strategy
Here’s a wild thought experiment…
Let’s say one of your best friends needs a heart surgery. Together, you consider who would be a suitable and qualified doctor.
So you look around and research. Eventually 2 doctors are shortlisted. Now it’s time to make a final decision and choose between these two…
The first doctor presents himself on his homepage as a heart surgeon, has 15 years of professional experience and has gone through the required training.
The second doctor, however, presents himself on his homepage as an expert in heart surgery, lists clinics all around the world where he is regularly flown in just to conduct heart surgery.
More importantly, he displays his bibliography with more than ten specialist papers published in relevant scientific journals. And he has a blog, where he provides simple and easy-to-apply tips for cardiovascular patients.
Which of the two doctors would you choose? Who should perform the complicated surgery on your friend?
In fact BOTH would have the necessary training for heart surgery … but only the second doctor shows AUTHORITY. He shows that he is an absolute EXPERT, a distinguished and well-respected professional, and you as a reader now see him as an authority in his field.
You Too Can (and Should!) Use The Exact Same Strategy
No matter what profession you have, no matter in which niche or industry you are: You too can use valuable content to position yourself as an expert in your field.
And to really drive this point home…once you have positioned yourself as an expert, you can…
- Charge fees and hourly rates that are well above the market average.
- Reduce additional marketing spend because as an expert you generate new clients easier and more effectively than ever before (= higher conversion rates, lower click-through costs, more repeat sales and regular customers …)
- Let your customers do your marketing work for you…
You have now transformed from a grain of sand into a shining beach star at the sea of providers.
How To Position Yourself As An Expert Through The Use of Content Marketing
After having convinced my workshop participants and customers through persuasive effort, the next question they usually ask is…
“Ok, that sounds reasonable. But how do I know what kind of content is really valuable to my readers? What kind of content should I create or share?”
There are 3 effective ways to answer this question. Let’s start with the simplest one…
1. What questions and / or challenges do your everyday customers have most frequently?
You are already experienced in handling our customers. What questions do they ask you again and again? What are their biggest challenges in your field?
The easiest way to create a blog post is to write down the kind of answers you regularly have to give to your customers on the phone or in person. Simply write it down and publish it.
You know these everyday calls and conversations … write down the questions and answers. Or dictate that – simply record frequent questions and respective answers using the memo app on your smartphone. Then find a freelancer on websites like Fiverr who will transcribe it for you.
2. Read about people’s biggest questions, fears and frustrations in relevant Facebook groups and other forums…
The Internet has revolutionized market research. Thanks to online forums and Facebook groups, for example, you can read discussions that your prospects (= potential customers) are having amongst each other, learn about the questions they are asking or problems they are facing… …
If it was your physical store, people would probably run away or quit the store in wonder if they saw you eavesdropping on them…but online it’s a completely different thing.
So go into 1-2 forums and write down 10-12 questions that are being asked.
Congratulations! You have just noted 10-12 content topics …
3. Search for and find the most searched keywords in your industry or your area of responsibility
Another fact- and data-based tip is to find the most frequently searched keyword queries.
To do this, I recommend using the tools Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner (Google Account required).
The Iron Test of Valuable Content
Does it offer your reader a solution to his or her problem? Or at least a reduction of his/her problem or help with this problem?
Yes? Then your content is really valuable! Otherwise … no.
People do not merely seek information …
- They are looking for answers to their questions
- They are looking for solutions to their problems, and most importantly…
- They are looking for effective and rapid solutions for their most urgent pain points or biggest, most painful problems
Therefore it is best to stick to the following advice …
Create Aha and WOW-experiences to Win the Trust of Your Customer
Perhaps this has happened to you before … You are working on a document in Word or Excel … and are annoyed by a complex input … You spend forever searching for a simple command, but simply cannot find the solution … finally, after resigning angrily, you contact your colleague, “Oh, yeah, that’s easy, you just have to click here…” he says while he’s running the mouse across the screen and with two simple mouse clicks executes the command you have desperately been looking for.
Maybe you say it out loud, but you will certainly be thinking to yourself…”WOW! That’s how it works!”
Or you struggle with an issue in your household, like a repair or maintenance issue, and look for a YouTube video. And in 2-3 minutes you get a simple step-by-step-guide and a valuable trick, which makes the whole thing much easier.
“AHAA!!!”
Your content should offer your customers exactly the same type of moments. Because it is these AHA and WOW moments that make a lasting impression. Readers remember them and will gain more trust.
TIPS and TRICKS create the best AHA moments …
Create real AHA-moments for your prospects!
And tips and tricks provide just that: immediate results. Perhaps they don’t bring the full solution yet, but they lead to significant improvements …
Just the terms “tips” and “tricks” alone already imply that this is a simple and fast and atypically effective solution. And if you put the word “secret” in front of it, you now promise something that hardly anyone else knows of …
Offer the readers, who are usually at the beginning of their Customer Journey exactly such attractive tips and tricks, that allow them to gain confidence in your competence and expertise. Step-by-step, you will be able to attract prospective customers and soon turn them into happy and loyal customers.
Effective Copy and Content for Expert Positioning
The best way to position yourself as an expert in the market is the publication of valuable and relevant content. Although this can also be done in audio or video form, it is usually too expensive, lengthy, complex and in many industries simply not the best strategy.
In most cases books, articles, whitepapers, guidebooks and informative blog articles are still the best way to build authority and achieve expert positioning.
You do not need to be a passionate writer or author to achieve this preeminence. As a long-time and experienced author and ghostwriter for guidebooks and training materials, let me help you with professional ghostwriting and copywriting services.
You have the knowledge and the expertise, I bring it into a didactically meaningful and educationally effective structure. In the shortest possible time, you will receive your ready-to-publish content and can start attracting more valuable prospects and customers for your company.
If you too would like to create more valuable content for your marketing measures, simply contact me right now directly at christian@brandstoetter.biz or +43 680 1330956