There is an ever increasing amount of competition in every business category. Can you believe that internet marketing is now being sold door-to-door and on the phone by Sensis media agents. More and more so-called experts are cropping up every day. Many are in it for a quick buck.
Nobody can really tell the good from the bad until the results are in. By then it is too late. You’ve paid your money and they could be long gone looking for the next sucker.
In the face of this glut of competition you can take some steps to begin to differentiate yourself from the competition. It starts with taking a unique position in the market place. This allows you to automatically slice through the competition simply by being different.
You need to take some steps to make yourself appear ‘long term’ and ‘here to stay’ to your prospective customers. It will differentiate you from the glut of other options. Ideally you need to demonstrate that you are the expert for what you do and nobody does what you do, as well as you do it, in the way that you do it.
Generally speaking, the surest 3 ways to build credibility are:
- To be able to speak on your topic from Stage. Respect is conferred on every professional speaker. After all, ‘nobodies’ aren’t let up on stage now are they? Being up there makes you seem like an expert in your industry, not just some clown who is out to make a few bucks before the market wises up.
- Wite and be published. There is a natural degree of respect conferred to authors the same as there is for speakers. Being published in trade magazines, blogs or even your own book will bring huge credibility. You’ll be recognised as the ‘go-to’ guy in your industry simply because you have a book.
- Publish your own newsletter. Newsletters are a fast track to expert status. You must have something important to say if you are publishing a newsletter on the subject. Simply putting out a newsletter every month means that you have a degree of permanence and respectability that other business owners in your market aren’t going to have. You automatically appear to be in the game for the long haul. You know what you are talking about simply because you are putting out a newsletter. Especially when nobody else in your industry is. In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
Credibility is the magic ingredient that lets you charge more for your services and makes customers believe what you say. In the face of commoditisation, being a credible expert in what you do will make you stand out from your competition.
When you look at the 3 options for becoming credible, a monthly customer newsletter is probably the easiest one to get started with. It only needs to be 4 pages and out 12 times a year. That is easier to write than a book - some 40,000 words are needed to fill a 200 page book. For most people a four page newsletter is less daunting than learning how to effectively speak from stage which can take years to master.
You need to differentiate yourself from the competition. The humble newsletter is probably the most direct and fastest route to being the obvious expert in your industry. You can have a free no obligation consultation on how to start publishing your own printed monthly customer newsletter: - call 1300 120 006.
