Article Submission Detail:

Article Title: Small Business Owner? Put Your Knowledge To Work And Get
Known As An Expert
Author Name: Roberta Guise
Contact Email Address: bonnie@...
Word Count: 812
Suggested Category: Small Business
Keywords: small business consultant,marketing,public relations,small
businesses,small business marketing,expert,sales marketing,business
marketing,marketing advertising
Description: A small business marketing and public relations expert,
Roberta Guise, outlines the benefits of becoming an expert in your field.
Copyright Date: 2009

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Small Business Owner? Put Your Knowledge To Work And Get Known As An Expert

If you're a professional businessperson and you're serious about your chosen
field, you should strive to be known as an expert. Why? Because it will
force you to dig deeper into your field, you'll solidify your knowledge,
you'll provide significantly more value to your clients, you'll generate
more income, and you'll be publicly acknowledged for what you know.

I know some of you reading this will cringe, because you think it's arrogant
and too self-promoting or pompous to call yourself an expert. One colleague
told me, "We can't know everything." Another professional flat out refuses
to be called an expert, even though she's by far and away the acknowledged
leader in her consulting field.

Being an expert - acknowledged authority is another way to say it - doesn't
mean that you know everything. It doesn't mean that you're pompous either.
It does mean that you have a significant depth of knowledge in your field,
that you communicate what you know, and your ideas are accepted by the
media, and by publishers (should you decide to put them in book form), as
well as being broadly available. Why would clients hire you if you weren't
expert in what you do?

In her book, Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Women's Changing Lives, (Pantheon
Books, 1994), Anna Fels tells us that it's human nature to seek
acknowledgement or recognition for our efforts and accomplishments, and that
without that affirmation, long-term learning and performance goals
frequently are not reached. So, why argue with nature?

Let's face it: everyone loves a winner, and experts are high on the winning
scale. Being around winners makes us feel that we're in good company. And
that's what our clients want. Branding or marking yourself as an expert is
not only good for you, it's good for your clients and customers.

Wear The Hat

While there's no step-by-step process as in a cookbook recipe, you can
readily establish yourself as an authority if you follow these few
guidelines.

* Adopt the mindset that you are indeed an expert, and the rest will fall
into place if you stay with it.

* Know your field inside out. If you don't, you're not an expert. Be able to
let what you know roll right off your tongue, and put it into
straightforward, written and spoken presentations that showcase your
important ideas and opinions.

* Be the messenger of new information in your field. If you have your own
new ideas or concepts, you need to put them in writing, get them branded and
packaged, and distribute them all over. They are your contribution to the
existing body of knowledge.

* Apply your knowledge and expertise through your work with clients. Having
hands-on experience gives you your own stories and case studies that are
uniquely yours to draw from; use every opportunity to apply your knowledge
and see how it works in practice.

* Present information in a new way. Alan Weiss, author of Million Dollar
Consulting (and 23+ other books for consultants and speakers), turned the
concept of value on its head by showing consultants how to set fees based on
measured value that results from their work. What ideas do you have that are
contrarian or buck conventional wisdom, that you can prove are valid, and
that you can make accessible and get distributed to a broad audience?

* Write and speak knowledgeably about your field. This will build your
credibility beyond that of a professional running a successful business.

* Let people know that you're an expert. The hallmark of an expert is
visibility. People will start to say, "I've heard your name!" To get
visibility, send your writing to publications that accept article
submissions. Make your writing available on Web sites other than your own,
like this article is. Write a newsletter. Write a blog. Suggest a regular
column for a publication. Better yet, syndicate your own column. Suggest
story ideas to editors that feature you as their primary source. Stay in
touch with editors and journalists by letting them know how you can provide
valuable, expert content for their stories. Pitch your ideas to TV/cable and
radio. Get paid - and paid well - to speak.

* Show your passion for what you do. You'll come across as even more
credible, and your ideas will resonate better with your audiences.

* Not mandatory but advisable: get a Ph.D. in curiosity. Be inquisitive.
Know what's going on outside your usual interest zone. If you don't already
have it, develop a childlike amazement for everyday stuff.

Think about it: You've spent years developing your expertise, building a
strong foundation of experience and knowledge that enriches both your
clients and you. Why not purposefully present yourself as an expert or
authority, and share your wisdom for the benefit of many? Whether your ideas
offer new insights or help transform people's lives, your wisdom is a gift
you can share many times over.

(c) 2009, Guise Marketing & Public Relations. Reprints welcomed so long as
the article and by-line are not edited and all links are made live.

As a kick-butt marketing consultant, Roberta Guise advises small business
owners and "solopreneurs"on how to build a profitable stable of customers.
An award winning marketer, Roberta writes and speaks about small business
marketing, and on the best ways to be extraordinarily visible. Get her free
report, "The 9 Point Marketing Success Method For Small Business Owners" at
http://www.guisemarketing.com/marketingsuccess/