When people say brand authority, it often sounds like the ultimate solution to all your marketing worries.
In a way, that is true. But it also sounds very intimidating. Is this even possible as a smaller business or solo identity? To be honest, it doesn’t really matter if it’s hard to achieve or not, what really matters is that it’s a must for you to build your brand authority.
When you have established brand authority for your company, it’s much easier to market your offer – whether it’s a service or product or person. People will immediately know what you represent and that you are the go-to brand for your chosen niche.
The most compelling reason to build brand authority is TRUST.
You want your clients or customers to see you as a brand, business, or company that they can trust. If you can establish that then they will be more likely to believe what you say. Your audience and others will know that anything that you offer is something that will benefit them and they will know that your brand is worth paying for or utilising.
Why so? Because you’ve built a reputation for it.
That brings us to another thing that you should know about building brand authority. This is not something that you can claim for yourself without proof. You don’t assign it to yourself. Brand authority is earned. It comes from all the hard work that you do. It comes from all the wins and mistakes you have made – all these are part of your brand leadership and authority.
If you can build a strong brand authority, that will precede anything else that comes from your brand. It’s your reputation and that of your brand, which means hopefully, that before you even speak, people will then be more likely to know that they should paying attention.
Brand authority is a very useful way to drown out all the noise online. No matter how many brands create the same offer as you, no matter how many may try and copy – the trust and reputation that you’ve built will make them all irrelevant.
Your target market will know that your brand is the one to be trusted. This makes it easier for you to get new clients and retain loyal ones as they will be telling others and giving you trusted testimonials to support what you do.
Now that you know why building a brand authority is important, the next question is, how can you do it efficiently?
There are three ways for you to do this.
Through your journey
There are brands that are built around the life or expertise of a person. Think of Coco Chanel or Steve Jobs. These people are considered icons. Chanel and Apple, respectively, are intricately tied to who they are as a person. Even after they’re long gone, they are legends that still influence the companies or brands they left behind.
How did this happen?
It’s through their journey. Apple has grown to be one of the biggest companies in the world. Their product line is salable even if it costs a lot of money.
Why do you think people line up to buy their latest products? It’s partly because of the journey of Steve Jobs. People loved how his journey started in a garage and ended up being one of the more powerful tech giants in the world. Customers of the brand have grown to trust the passion that drove Jobs to create every single app or iOS feature.
You can take the same approach. Establish your authority by telling people how you got to where you are right now. The power of strategic storytelling can help people understand and believe in you. Position yourself to be the expert at what you do because of all the learnings and experiences that you’ve gone through in the past.
It’s not just about listing your credentials like your education and how many talks you’ve done in the past.
Humanise your story. Focus on how you’ve changed and how you have made a difference in the lives of other people.
Through valuable content
Not everyone has a heart-wrenching journey to tell. Or maybe you don’t feel like telling the world your personal story.
That’s okay. You can still build brand authority through the content you provide.
You’ve probably heard it before – content is king. It doesn’t matter how things have changed or how marketing evolved over the years. Your content will still matter to your target audience.
So make sure you use your content to establish your authority. Create valuable reports that people can learn from. Post regular blog articles that provide people with valuable insight that they can really use.
If people see the value in your content, they’ll know that the person or business behind it knows what they’re talking about. This is especially true if you create studies and you can have them cited by news websites. By using the study you created as a reference, they’re positioning you as the authority in that niche.
Another way to do this is by using case studies. There’s nothing like positive feedback to establish your authority in the business. Highlight client success stories. Ask people to provide testimonials to further strengthen your credibility. People love to read reviews to get to know how you can help them. The more case studies you have, the more convincing you can be when you position your brand as an authority.
Through consistent presence
Finally, you build brand authority by maintaining a consistent presence.
This is not just about posting regular content. It’s also about engaging the people who view your content.
For instance, you posted a Facebook Live where you talked about a client’s success or a new program or product that is in the works. Make sure you caption that in such a way that will encourage your audience to comment. Something like “Do you agree with this? Comment below.”
Consider other ways you can continually ensure authority of your brand such as awards, conferences, speaking opportunities, strategic partnerships and collaborations, etc. When you maintain a consistent presence that always provides something valuable or memorable, people will keep you on top of mind. They’ll always see you so they will easily remember you. Even if they don’t have a need for you when they first see you, they’ll remember you. They know you are an authority at what you do. If they need your services, they’ll know to come to you.
Do you have any questions?
We here at Blueberry Communication & PR are happy to answer your questions. We deliver online training around this and thought leadership as well as in PR and publicity.