Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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July 12, 2011

7 Key Steps to Being Seen as the Best in Your Field

ME Liz Strauss published this at 8:08 am

What Good Is an Expert No One Knows?

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Whether we’re part of a large organization or working at home, to be successful and recognized, people have to see the quality of our work, know its value, find it relevant and worth coming back to. Without that we won’t be working long. It’s not enough to have knowledge, know-how, and be able to deliver extraordinary value, if we’re the only ones who know that’s what we can do.

To succeed in business, we need to share our expertise in ways that are relevant, real, and understandable and the more quickly we do that the faster we’ll be able to get on with the real work. These are the 7 Steps to becoming visible as the best in your field, the expert worth knowing, the first trusted source.

  1. Debriefing your successes to find your unique expertise. Inside your successes you’ll find your natural strengths and how they are best used. Capitalize on your strengths and match them with your deep interests — those things that you talk about and do even when you don’t have to talk about or do them. Your unique talent and experience differentiates your expertise — makes it uniquely your own. Know your strengths and play to them.
  2. Chose ONE key area of expertise. Find ONE niche that fits your strengths. With the noise of a crowded market, one niche, one offer, one specific expertise is a clear, easy to share message. People like a “go to” person for a specific need. Having ONE key area of expertise makes it easy for people to share what you do. It makes it easy for the people who want that expertise to find you. Once you’re working together, they’ll discover the other wonderful things you know.
  3. Network online and off to find people who need your expertise. Get to know the groups offline that attract the people who want to know someone who does what you do. Use tools like Listorious.com and Twitter search to find people to follow on Twitter and talk with them. Make friends on LinkedIn one by one. Align all of your profiles to showcase that one area of expertise that is your strongest suit. Introduce yourself with your best true story and a build your powerful personal network systematically.
  4. Share Your expertise as content. New customers and clients want information about how to run their businesses and their lives better — top-notch, quality, relevant content. Find opportunities to write, speak, or teach for your business. Share wht you’ve learned in contexts that are appealing. When you speak, write, and casually answer questions give them information, answers, AND analysis that shows them how much you love what you do. People can get news anywhere, but they don’t want to do what you do. What they want is your experience and the expert opinion, analysis, evaluation, synthesis, and predictions.
  5. Use online tools to curate relevant content around your expertise. Make finding interesting content tidbits your expert quest. Get to be friends with Google Alerts and similar services. Follow terms around the Internet. Choose several publications, blogs, and writers who stay on top of the areas that your customers and clients care most about. Retweet their articles on Twitter. Share them on Facebook and LinkedIn. Add a comment to the article as you send it out. Use popurl.com or alltop.com to locate
  6. Learn as much as you can about those who do what you do. Get to know the other experts in your niche. Talk with them. Visit and comment on their blogs. Ask them for an interview. Share war stories. Discuss ways of working together. Discover the ways that your expertise is the same and different from theirs. Volunteer to guest post on their blogs and determine who you might want to invite to work with you on larger projects and referrals. That’s a great way to build the base of people who know what you do.
  7. Go deeply into your area of expertise. Saturate yourself in the trends and the traditional ways of doing things. Find out what researchers are thinking so that you can offer clients and customers the perspective they don’t have the time to gather on their own. Be the first trusted source of the highest quality and most relevant information so that people begin to look to you for an analysis of their situation.


    8. PLUS ONE: Love what you do. . Nothing is more appealing than an expert who is fully engaged in what he or she is doing. It’s easy to trust that someone who is so engaged will be upbeat and easy to work with when problems come. Share the joy of your niche with the folks who come to see you. They’ll want to know more about what it is that you do.

    Focusing in on your expertise gives customers and clients insight into who you are and why they should keep coming back to see you. It becomes a key centerpiece of your offer — quality, knowledge, and credibility as promotion. Now, you’re ready when that person comes to look with the reasons founded in the relevance and the results that you represent. Just keep counting to seven — seven key steps to being seen as the best in your field.

    What has been the single most useful strategy you’ve found in building your own business expertise?

    Be irresistible.
    –ME “Liz” Strauss
    Work with Liz on your business!!

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    21 Comments to “7 Key Steps to Being Seen as the Best in Your Field”

    1. July 12th, 2011 at 11:13 am
      Gina Rau said

      Here’s why this advice is so important: because there are incredibly talented people who don’t let their skills & expertise shine for the world to see. Whether they don’t know how, are too shy, or are stuck in a job that doesn’t give them the opportunity to do what they love…these hurdles can be overcome with these great tips and courage. Thanks Liz.

    2. July 12th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
      John McNally said

      A very useful list which exposes my own lack of blog focus. I comply with your last tip however, I love what I do, hopefully everything else will follow on from that.

      John
      Leamington Spa, England

    3. July 12th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
      ME Liz Strauss said

      Hi Gina!
      We’ve all seen it — folks who don’t do what they’re so good at doing. Yeah, I know.
      Maybe if we keep pointing out how much the world needs what they’re good at they’ll figure it out! :)

    4. July 12th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
      ME Liz Strauss said

      Hi John!
      The day that I took on the challenge of deciding on a blogging goal, my whole focus changed and so did I. A blog is like a business in tha it requires us to be “in it” with “both feet.” When we’re not, it shows. Good luck with that new focus! :)

    5. July 13th, 2011 at 6:45 am
      Jeremy Spiller said

      Quite simply one of the best blog posts I’ve ever read. In my opinion you have summed it up to perfection. I particularly like your last point which I think is the most important. I’m currently teaching an MBA course in Dubai and have posted it as an example of the very best in blog posts. Many thanks for a truly astounding article.

    6. July 13th, 2011 at 8:33 am
      John W Lewis said

      This is superb.

      Your theme reminds me of the Howard Thurman line:

      “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

      Thank you.

    7. July 13th, 2011 at 8:53 am
      RYCJ said

      Great advice, as usual. Guidance I must put into practice.

    8. July 13th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
      Judy Martin said

      Liz,
      I’m printing this out and sticking it to my wall. Period.

    9. July 13th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
      Chris Eh Young said

      Too many people under value the skills that come easily to them. This causes them to discount those abilities and do nothing with them.

      In my observation, there is nothing in this world so abundant as wasted potential and talent.

      Thanks for the tips Liz, maybe i’ll even take action and do something myself.

    10. July 14th, 2011 at 4:09 am
      ME Liz Strauss said

      Hi Judy!
      That’s quite the compliment! Thank you! :)

    11. July 14th, 2011 at 4:10 am
      ME Liz Strauss said

      Yeah, Chris,
      I’ve noticed the same thing. We seem to think what comes easily to us must come easily to everyone. That leads us to discount those talents that we’ve been genetically programmed with. I so agree. We have huge talent that we’re denying. :)

    12. July 14th, 2011 at 9:57 am
      Nazeeb Alam said

      Hi Liz,

      Absolutely brilliant post..!! And I completely agree with what Chris said above too..!!

      - Nazeeb Alam

      - Bangalore, India

    13. July 14th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
      Doug Rice said

      Liz, great advice. Isn’t that what blogging is really about: showcasing your expertise? All of your points are spot on, but your “Plus One” really drives it home. It doesn’t matter how much of an expert you are; if you don’t care about what you are doing, other people won’t care either. Expertise without passion is empty. Without the drive to make your broadcast your knowledge and insight, it will all go to waste. Thanks for the reminder.

    14. July 15th, 2011 at 11:22 am
      Tracy Panko said

      In addition to the great points in the article and comments, the added value in the message about loving what you do is the impact that has on our economy. With all the news today about the declining consumer confidence, US debt rating, falling home prices…….if more of us love what we do it will spread into positive returns.

    15. July 16th, 2011 at 11:41 am
      ME Liz Strauss said

      Hi Tracy!
      I love the freshness of your insight. I think you’re more than right. :)

    16. July 16th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
      Leah Steinbrink said

      Hi Liz,
      I will also be posting this on my wall…right after I tweet it, share it on Facebook and LinkedIn, and pull pieces out of it to blog about on MY site. What an eloquent post.

      I agree with Chris’s comment about discounting those talents that come naturally to us. But let’s be honest here – it’s something we all do to an extent.

      And no wonder. Society teaches us from an early age to check our egos at the door. Women, especially, are warned that being boastful makes you look “conceited,” and “full of yourself.”

      So yeah, there’s some seriously ingrained thinking to overcome…but we have to do it so, as you put it, the real work can begin.

      Thanks, Liz!
      Leah

    17. July 17th, 2011 at 9:49 am
      ME Liz Strauss said

      Hi Leah!
      I’m smiling that you found so much value in one blog post. I try to pack into every one of them all that I know to be useful. Some days my thinking is better than others. It looks that day was good one!!

      Keep your head and your heart wired to your goal and your ego won’t get in the way. :)

    18. July 17th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
      Sheila Scarborough said

      When I was increasing my expertise in tourism, I followed the conference Twitter hashtags for a wide variety of destination marketing conferences. I could see what topics resonated with my market by the commentary and retweets, and I could also learn who had “smartitude” as Mack Collier would say.

      When my business was ready to offer something to the market, they already knew me and I knew them.

      Great post, Liz!

    19. July 17th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
      ME Liz Strauss said

      That’s it, exactly, Sheila!
      We learned that together and from each other. Nothing beats becoming one of our customers before wanting to be something more.

    20. July 22nd, 2011 at 4:27 pm
      Why Blog? A Platform to Share What your’e Passionate about, with Passion « Ruth’s Blog/Antiques by Zaar said

      [...] week, on Twitter,  I came across a link to a blog by Liz Strauss, yes, which I re-tweeted as I felt it valuable to share, that so succinctly put [...]

    21. October 20th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
      7 Steps to becoming visible in your field said

      [...] out these 7 steps to becoming visible in your field posted by Liz Strauss on [...]

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