I recently gave someone some tips on how to get known for their expertise. This person is highly skilled and educated and has a boatload of experience. He needed some guidance on what to do to branch out on his own as an author and consultant and even get some media coverage. Here’s what I said. Maybe this will help you, too.

Phase 1 Goal:  Position yourself as an expert.

You already are an expert, but you need others to know that as well. Here are some ways to do that:

1. Create clear, pithy verbiage around the specific problem you solve and who has this problem.  Put this language on your web site and your social media platforms.
2. Get clear on where your audience is online. Are they on Facebook? LinkedIn? Other? Spend time on those platforms interacting with them.
3. Create a “branding anchor” of some sort—like a short white paper, video, or offer chapter 1 of your book—for people to download on your web site. This will give them some valuable information and give them a taste of what you do. You will also tell them what to do next, which may be to set up a free consultation with you. Link this “branding anchor” to an email marketing system like Ontraport or Constant Contact or Mail Chimp.  Only do this if you can commit to publishing a newsletter at least once a month.
4. Create a simple and powerful coaching/consulting package to put on your web site so people know what you offer. Do not make this complicated.
5. Update your web site with your credibility: clients you’ve worked with, case studies, testimonials, media coverage, examples.
6. Write 8-10 great articles and post them online where your audience shows up. That could be LinkedIn, Medium.com, Facebook, your blog, etc…
7. Create 10-12 short videos (under 3 minutes each) to post on your YouTube channel and your web site and relevant social media outlets. These can be FAQs, how-to tips, case studies, resources, tools, current events, inspirational pieces, or other.
8. Create a call to action for your articles and videos. For example, “I offer a free 1-hour consultation to discuss how this concept relates to your situation, organization, or industry.”
9. Possibly create your own podcast if you can commit to doing this regularly, like once a week. These don’t have to be epic. You can share one short story or tip or piece of motivation, for example.
10. Create an infographic(s) with useful information that people can download from your web site and you can post on social media so others can share.
11. Create a list of organizations who you’d like to work with. Connect with them on social media and interact with them.

This phase will likely take 3-6 months. In this positioning phase, you are developing your body of work, creating and expressing your point of view, and offering value, building your list of followers, and gaining clients along the way.

Phase 2 Goal:  Pursue media coverage to obtain third-party “endorsements.”

At this point, you will have a lot of credibility out there for people to see and interact with. This is important because it will support your work in Phase 2 where you start looking for “earned” media, where you pitch to the media to cover you and your work. This may include things such as:

1. Pitching to podcasts to be a guest
2. Pursuing live TV appearances as the in-studio guest. Although right now, these bookings are happening virtually using Zoom or other similar technology.
3. Getting booked as a speaker or panelist. Again, right now, these are virtual opportunities, mostly.
4. Offering to write articles for industry or local publications that reach your target market
5. Offering to share tips on a radio program that reaches your audience
6. Pitching yourself as an expert to a local paper or blog

Here’s what I would add to my advice:

Phase 3 Goal:  Keep sharing value and connecting

Marketing is never done. Once you’ve committed to gaining traction as an expert and really work at it for 6-12 months, you will figure out what you like to do the most and what brings you the best results.  Hate podcasting? Drop it. Not into writing contributed articles?  Stop pursuing those opportunities.  Find the ways to market yourself that you enjoy and bring in results and go deeper on those opportunities.

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© 2020 Meredith Liepelt, Rising Star Publicity

Meredith Liepelt specializes in helping experts to become more visible through messaging, communication and PR strategies. For insights and inspiration, visit www.RisingStarPublicity.com.

This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included.