A great way to promote your business is to become an expert locally. Becoming a local expert in your field of expertise will boost your business in ways that you cannot imagine. It doesn’t matter whether you have an online business or a bricks and mortar business; being seen as a local go-to expert will increase your share of business.
Start a Locally-Inspired Blog
Create a blog that is focused on your local area within your niche. Use a lot of locally-focused keywords and talk directly to your local audience about your subject. You can use your blog as a repository for interviewing local people, writing information about your niche, educating the public about your niche and more.
Offer to Speak at Events
Contact local organizations that might like to hear about your niche. Local organizations often need speakers; offer your services for a couple of different topics relating to your niche. You can contact college organizations, local associations, and groups by sending them information that you can talk about as an expert.
Write for Your Local Paper
Many local newspapers have community columns where local experts write about their niche. Contact the newspaper and offer your services. Sometimes you can even get paid, but even if you don’t get paid, having your byline in the local paper can make others look to you as the local expert even more.
Publish a Book
Today, with the advent of Kindle Publishing you can quickly become a published author. You can do a completely electronic version, or you can even use print on demand services (POD) to have a print copy of your book available for sale at events that you speak at. Being a published author immediately implies “expert.”
Get Quoted
If you make it a practice to contact media to correct or add to stories that appear in your local paper or on local news related to your niche, eventually they’ll start calling you themselves for help with their stories. Don’t turn down an offer and soon you’ll be the only one they call for help with stories relating to your area of expertise.
Study Your Niche
To establish yourself as a local expert it’s important that you study your subject in depth so that you can become a real expert. It’s also important to believe in yourself so that the confidence shines through. You must also be able to explain your subject matter in general enough terms that non-experts can understand. After all, an expert’s job is to impart knowledge to others that they’ve worked hard to acquire.
Finally, call yourself an expert. Add your expertise to your name and signature line, to your website, to your blog, to your business cards and every bit of marketing collateral that you have. The more you demonstrate yourself as an expert, the more other people will perceive you as an expert.