Creating Your Difference and Being The Authority

To avoid your consultancy practice being regarded as a commodity, with no differentiation to your competitors, in my experience, the best strategy to adopt is that of authority positioning.? Your marketing strategy needs to position you and/or your firm as the market authority.

For most of us, the most effective way to be seen as the authority in our market is to be able to stand against the status quo. We stand against the limited opportunities that are being provided. We stand against the limitations in the way that our competitors are providing their services. We stand against the lack of results that our competitors are achieving. We stand against the self-serving ways that our competitors operate.

We stand for better results that our clients deserve. We stand for breaking out of the limited opportunities that have been provided before and seeing the endless opportunities that you can provide. We stand for ultimate success in the long term, rather than short term quick fixes.? We stand for only benefitting personally when our clients are winning. We stand for making them the champions that we can provide the solutions for and making it our number one priority to have an impact on our clients, not to make an income for ourselves. Yes, the income will come when our clients are winning. When we have a mass following of winning clients who are preaching about what we have done for them, then there's no doubt that we are seen as the authority and there's no doubt that the income will then exceed the normal sort of income that we might be used to.

So taking a stance, standing for something, standing against something, is the critical element I see as being the authority in your market.

Now, many of us suffer from what's called imposter syndrome.

We think, well, who am I to say these things? Why would anyone listen to me? What have I got to offer? What have I got to be considered an authority? And they're all legitimate questions. And I think they're healthy questions to have, because if you didn't have those questions, you'd probably be an egotistical maniac. You'd think you're God's gift to anyone, and that's not really a healthy position to operate from.

If you have those doubts, if you have limited thoughts about your own capabilities, that is a healthy position to come from because you can break through that. ?They’re really just surface level feelings that are self focused. It's an "about me" feeling. It's about you and not your clients. No , we've got to be better than that. And I believe you are better than that. You are not that weak and miserable self-focused person because you care about your clients.

The reason you can get beyond imposter syndrome is because you know how to get your clients better results than your competitors can get. You know, there's a better way. And when you have that take, when you see yourself as having an ability to provide amazing results for your clients, when you have the ability to have a massive impact on your clients in a way that benefits them, you get beyond that.

You make it about them. And I think, again, here's the second really important part of being the authority, is that it is not about you claiming to be the authority. It's not really about wanting to be the authority. It's about actually just taking that position of authority because you know a better way. You are the leader because you know how to get better results for your clients and have a greater impact.

So just taking that stance because you care about your clients, leads to becoming the authority. You don't have to set out to be an authority, but you have to set out to have the impact that you can have and not to limit any of that impact that you might be able to achieve with your clients.

It’s taking that stance, having that belief that your clients need something better that what's on offer at the moment, and that you have the answers for them. You have the solution that they need, therefore, you are going to let them know about that solution in as many ways as you can. Whether that's on social media, whether that's writing a book, whether that's making a speech, whether that's being on tv, it doesn't really matter. The media does not matter. You'll get more and more media attention as you increase in your authority.

The more you're accepted as the authority, those opportunities in different media options will come. But at the moment you need to set out and stake your claim in the media that you find most acceptable or most relevant to your clients, and start telling them how they can be better off and do that in a way that is not just about information, it's about transformation. We need to be able to talk transformation with our clients, not information.

I hope I've given you at least a couple of good focus points today to help you on your journey to becoming the accepted authority in your market. And now we're not talking about being the authority for everybody. You know, we need to start small and carve out our niche in our target market where we can have the greatest impact. And yes, that impact might flow and our niche might grow, and our authority might broaden from that narrow niche, but that will come in time when we achieve success with that starting point.

So start small, but be the accepted authority for that small niche to gather a following, to have a following of vocal supporters who want everyone else to know what you can do for them.