What are you doing to establish your brand as a thought leader and influencer in your niche area? It’s important to not only get your brand out there but to become an influencer and thought leader in your niche area.
How do you become a thought leader?
In this post, we will talk about what you need to do to establish your brand and yourself as a thought leader. There is never just one answer to how to do something. But we’ve thought of some great ideas that you may want to employ to get your brand out there.
1.Create your personal brand.– Most people who read our blog already have their brand. But if you don’t already have a website and brand, make sure you get one. Having your brand that is not tied to other platforms only, will help you to be perceived as an expert.
Strong business owners do not depend on others to promote their brand and sometimes you even have to toot your own horn. Do this by creating your website and brand and getting a domain that is something people will easily remember.
2. Manage a blog that is topic-centered.– Your blog can be one of the most valuable assets you have online to project your ideas and brand concepts. You can choose to either have an on-site blog or an off-site blog. Either way, you can address important topics that are important to your customers and potential customers. One way to find out what people want to see is to put a topic up for discussion and see what kind of engagement you get.
If the topic is popular, you can create more content on this topic for those who are interested in it. Another way you can take your blog to another level is to get on Blogtalkradio.com. They are an online “radio” platform that lets you broadcast “live” programs to your target audience and then save them as podcasts later. Users can download your programs and listen to them on their portable devices as well as other formats and even share your program online via the Blogtalkradio.com platform.
If you own a blog and want to take it to a new level, you may want to look into this platform to promote your ideas for your brand. It is topic-based and features a way to use keywords to get people who are searching using the keywords that you select.
3. Connect with influencers and other thought leaders.– Connecting with the principal influencers and other thought leaders within your niche area can help you to get your brand out in front of others who are looking for your content. As you are working to get your brand out there on a higher level, you can get things going by having other influencers promote you. In return, you should offer to support their ideas, as well, especially if their brand or products complement yours.
Some people take this a step further and even offer to do affiliate marketing with similar brands to promote other brands. If you are product seller, for example, but people do not know your brand yet, you could consider featuring the products of other businesses by posting some of their best products on your website through affiliate marketing. You can make some extra money doing this as well as offering people more products than what you carry on your own by using the influence of others to get your brand noticed.
4. Share links.– Sharing links to other sites through affiliate marketing or just as a referral link, can help increase your search results in the search engines while also serving to promote similar companies that may get similar results in the searches. Keep in mind that, as you are choosing which companies you want to get to help promote you, you don’t want to choose companies that are too much in competition with you. Instead, choose businesses that are similar or in the same niche area, but who are not in direct competition with your brand.
This way, you should get some of the traffic of your competitors because of the association that such partnerships will cause in the searches, without inadvertently promoting your competitors!
5. Address important but controversial topics.– When you start a blog topic or when doing a podcast, make sure and take on a few topics that might be considered controversial. You don’t have to get into political discussions, but you should try to choose issues that people are interested in, and that might open up a friendly debate.
You can simply start by asking a question and asking for responses. Many times, that’s all it takes to get people talking about important issues. This can be done on your blog or YouTube, social media, or through a forum. Use the tools at your disposal to get your ideas out there that get people talking.
Become a Writer
One great way to establish yourself as a thought leader is to write a book. Traditional publishing is still one way to get published. But there is a big move toward self-publishing nowadays through platforms such as iTunes.com, Amazon.com, and even audiobooks through Audible.com.
The Power of Independent Thought
There’s something powerful about coming up with your ideas. Even if you think you are not a writer, if you own a business you have something important to say. Learn to shut out the voices of others that you have thought had all the answers and define your brand in your way. Remember that, no matter how good someone else’s idea is, you can define your brand and pave your way simply with your ideas and the way you present them.
Ebooks, webinars, YouTube videos, and creating online courses are all ways that you can make an impact with your brand and become a thought leader in your niche area.
Be a Guest Speaker
Appearing as a guest speaker or within the blogs or videos of others are good, too. Make a list of some of the things you can do to establish your brand within your niche and then just do it.
One thing is sure: you can’t get anywhere sitting still. As long as you are doing something to promote your brand, you are moving forward. Don’t just wait for the world to come to you. Be the leader with your brand and your ideas.
It’s fine to have heroes, gurus, and others that you look up to for inspiration and insight. You may get some great ideas and inspiration from these people. But remember that you have a lot of value, too, all on your own.
When you stick to what you know, and you’re honest with your target audience, you’ll see that you do have a lot to share with your target audience and you’ll soon look up to see that others are following you, too!