If you want your company to survive in an increasingly competitive landscape, you need to be investing time and energy into earning brand authority in your field. This will help you to reach more people, earn your audience’s trust, and ensure your business is top of mind the next time someone requires your products or services.
Building brand authority in your field is certainly easier said than done, though — you’ll need to use a variety of effective strategies that will get the word out about what you do and prove you’re an expert at it.
Here, we’re going to provide you with our top tips for building brand authority in your industry, so you can set your business up to thrive.
Enter Industry Awards And Display Your Wins On Your Website
Winning industry awards will help you to become a well-known name in your industry, and even being nominated can raise awareness of your brand. So, if you haven’t yet been invited to any awards ceremonies that are relevant to your industry, it’s worth researching how you can change that.
Most industries have annual events, governing bodies, or high-profile organizations that you’ll want to learn more about. You can then start to apply for awards, or ask your customers to nominate you. This will get your brand in front of a lot more people and, if you win, you’ll have concrete proof that shows you’re great at what you do.
To make the most of any awards you win, you’ll also want to ensure that you display these on your website for all to see. You also shout about your achievements through social media and your email newsletters, too. The more people hear about your latest accolades, the better.
Not only can being nominated for or winning awards help you to build brand authority and attract more clients, but it can also be great for your customer retention rate. When your existing customer base hears about your wins, they’ll be reminded of just how great your business is and will be more likely to make repeat purchases.
Invest Time And Energy Into Building A Social Media Presence
Social media is now one of the most powerful tools you can use to market your business and earn brand authority. So, to get the word out about your work, show you know your stuff, and earn your sector’s trust, it’s a good idea to work on building a strong and authoritative social media presence.
There are a number of ways you can use social media to develop your brand authority. For instance, you could start hosting expert Q&A sessions where prospective clients or other leaders in your field can write in to get your take on something relevant to your field of expertise. You could also focus on sharing expert content from your website, create standalone social media posts with tips and tricks, or showcase what you get up to each day, highlighting what makes you great at your job as you go.
Engaging with others in your field is also a great idea. Take part in social media events, respond to people’s posts, and jump into conversations that are related to your work. This can all help you to build a strong social media presence that earns your business brand authority.
It is worth mentioning that maintaining a consistent social media output can be difficult, especially if your time is very limited. So, it’s a good idea to use a bulk scheduling tool that will allow you to plan all of your content for the next week or even a month in advance. If you’re not sure where to start with choosing a suitable scheduling tool to help with this, check out SocialPilot’s round-up of the best Facebook publishing tools — this will give you all of the information you need to pick the right platform.
Demonstrate Your Expertise With On-site Content
Content is such a fantastic marketing tool that, if you aren’t already publishing resources on your website, you’ll be missing out on a huge variety of benefits. Content marketing allows you to reach more of your ideal customers, promote your products or services with a soft sell, and earn the trust of your audience. Plus, it’s great for earning brand authority in your field because it will provide you with the opportunity to explore and show off your expert knowledge.
There are lots of different types of content you could publish on your blog or in your knowledge base, but some are better at earning brand authority than others. Ultimate guides, for instance, are ideal for this, because they should be very comprehensive and provide people with all of the information they might need about a particular topic. This means you can choose a subject that’s very relevant to what you do and then show just how much you know about it. When people read your ultimate guides, they won’t be able to deny that you’re an expert in your field.
Tutorials are also great, as they will help to solve a pain point for your target customers while allowing you to showcase just how much you know about a process relevant to your area of work. Depending on the type of industry you work in, there are a lot of different tutorials you could publish. For example, a hairstylist could create a tutorial that explains how to cut your own bangs, a car mechanic could demonstrate how to carry out important maintenance checks, and an accounting company could provide a helpful tutorial for creating invoices. Publishing this kind of content will help you to reach more of your ideal audience, who might come across your tutorials when looking for instructions on how to do something you understand inside and out.
Finally, if you conduct any original research that’s relevant to your sector, publishing your findings will help to position you as an industry leader and boost your brand authority. For instance, you could carry out a survey or experiment to answer a question or solve a problem that’s prevalent in your field. When people see what a great job you’ve done and look at your findings, they’ll realize that you’re an authoritative source of quality information.
To give you some inspiration for when it comes to creating your own expert content, let’s take a look at an example from a business that already uses this tactic well.
The Law Offices of George Salinas, an auto accident attorney firm in San Antonio, does a fantastic job of publishing expert content that shows they know everything about this area of the law. Not only will this help to earn the trust of their target clients, winning them more business, but it’s also a great tactic for establishing more brand authority.
Take their piece of content on San Antonio car accidents and how to work out whether you need an attorney, for instance. This resource outlines the different types of motor vehicle accident cases they handle, why hiring an attorney in these situations can be essential, and what kinds of claims you can make if you suffer a road accident.
This piece of content strikes the perfect balance between explaining what the firm does and providing impartial advice that will earn its audience’s trust. When you’re looking to build brand authority in your field, this is something you’ll also want to achieve with your content. It will show you’re an expert in your industry while reminding prospective customers you can help them further.
Guest Post For Websites Your Audience Loves
Guest posting involves writing content that will then be published on other websites relevant to your business. So, for example, if you own an accounting firm you could write for a fintech magazine, or a jewelry maker could produce some content for a fashion website.
There are two things you need to consider when deciding which websites it’s worth guest posting for: first, every site should be very relevant to your area of work so you’ll reach the right people. And, secondly, you’ll only want to contribute to high-quality websites for the best results. A lot of businesses make the guest posting mistake of thinking any opportunity is beneficial, but it’s best to focus on quality over quantity.
Use search engines and social media to look for the websites of reputable publishers in your field, then look into whether they accept guest posts. You can check their blogs for signs of this, and look for a “write for us” page. You should also read any guest posting guidelines your target sites have before reaching out — these will help you to avoid mistakes when pitching and writing.
Once you’ve found a suitable site you know your target audience and other leaders in your industry will frequent, email the blog editor or website owner with a pitch. This should include an idea for an article on a topic they haven’t already covered. You should explain why you’re qualified to write the piece and how it will benefit the site.
This is a great tactic for spreading the word about your business and showing that you’re an expert in your field. It will then help you to earn more brand authority for your company.
Use Social Proof To Show You’re Great At What You Do
Above all else, to earn authority in your field, you’ll need concrete evidence that you’re great at what you do. And displaying social proof on your website will help with this. It could include customer reviews and testimonials, media mentions from reputable publishers, examples of your most high-profile clients, and awards or qualifications relevant to your industry.
Of course, you know you’re great at what you do, but customers and industry leaders aren’t just going to take your word for it. Luckily, you can use social proof to back you up. And, to give you some inspiration, let’s take a look at a couple of businesses that already use this tactic well to win people’s trust and build up their brand authority.
Bizango is a web development and digital marketing company that helps a wide range of clients to reach their ideal clients and make more sales. To prove they’re great at what they do, they use two types of social proof on their homepage: testimonials from happy customers, and examples of their most well-known clients.
This combination of social proof is very effective and it’s sure to help them earn more authority in their field. The testimonials give a clear insight into what customers can expect from working with Bizango, and the mentions of existing customers prove that the company is already trusted by reputable businesses. This will go a long way towards helping them to win more clients and show they’re an authority.
If you would like to replicate this for your own website, reach out to past and existing clients to see if they would be happy for you to make your working relationship public. You could also ask if they have any positive feedback about your services and display this, too.
You can also take inspiration from Doors Plus, a home improvement company. On their homepage, they display customer testimonials, which are also accompanied by star ratings out of five.
The star ratings show that customers consistently give the company full marks, which proves they’re great at what they do. Meanwhile, their written testimonials provide more context about what the customers paid for and what the service was like. Adding customers’ photos also lends more credibility to their reviews and could help prospective clients to feel more connected to them.
Again, this strategy is very helpful for showing that the brand deserves to be considered an authority in its field. The business is clearly well-versed in helping people to complete their home improvements to a very high standard, and they’ve earned a fantastic reputation as a result. You can replicate this on your website by asking existing customers to rate your services, share their experiences, and send in a headshot that can be attached to their reviews to show they’re authentic.
Summary
Most industries are becoming increasingly competitive all of the time. So, you’ll need to put some real effort into standing out, and establishing brand authority can help with this. Implementing these tips will make all the difference, so make sure you start publishing expert content, growing your social media presence, and displaying social proof of your skills and knowledge on your website. It won’t be long before you start to notice the results.
Would you like more help with growing your venture? Check out some more of Technoroll’s business articles, which will provide you with even more expert tips you can put into practice.
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Author bio:
Aaron Haynes is the CEO of Loganix, an SEO fulfillment partner that supports marketing agencies and professionals. The company specializes in helping businesses to improve their online visibility and ultimately make more sales. The Loganix blog has a lot more information and advice, so make sure you check it out if you found this article helpful.
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