Insights on Authority Marketing by Tavis Bucklin

How did you get started? How did you establish yourself as a real authority in your field?

For a long time I knew on some level, I needed to do something to help build authority. I just didn’t know exactly how to go about it. Back then I was consulting businesses for SEO and other marketing services.

I guess that brings up a good point…the “other marketing services” portion seemed to widen because at the time I didn’t have a way to attract my ideal clients.

I was blogging and guest posting like everyone else but I didn’t seem to be getting any traction. Then one day I stumbled across a service that would post your quote on news sites. The idea was that once you were “seen” on these sites you could then use the logos on your website. I gave it a shot, put the logos on my LinkedIn profile photo and it seemed to get a lot more people to notice me… a lot more, but no one was writing checks.

It didn’t really help my business but it changed my frame of mind.

After that, I spent a lot of time researching ways I could get interviews or some real media coverage. I tried some of my marketing techniques to promote my social pages and articles I wrote along with an interview I had with a small online newspaper. This is where things started to work, when prospects would Google my name they found this kind of stuff.

I slowly started surrounding myself with people who could help me build my authority, and over the course of a year or so things snowballed.

I helped a few of my SEO clients’ build their authority and I realized how hard it would be for them to do on their own. (I had a background in marketing and it took me quite a while).

So, I decided to shift my consulting business from driving traffic to converting prospects to clients. I still use my knowledge in marketing and SEO, but in a different way.

As an authority marketing consultant, how do you help clients achieve Authority Positioning?

The first thing I do is evaluate the person and their business. This helps me design a strategy that will work best for the individual situation. The goal is always the same, and that is to create some online real estate for them. Things like interviews or articles on blogs and news sites become real digital assets and can lead to more media like podcasts, radio and TV.

How do digital assets online such as interviews or articles on blogs and news sites help to raise a professional’s authority?

I think the most important thing you can do is be an educator and an advocate to your prospects. Add value by showing people how you can help them and also by teaching them how they can solve a problem themselves. Professionals are starting to get this part down, they blog, they guest post, they make videos, and they’re writing books. This is a great way to display your knowledge… But that only takes care of the first part of the buying cycle, if your prospect knows you have the ability to help, but they don’t have a reason to trust you yet, you don’t have the sale.

Since the beginning of time the best way to gain a clients trust has been by a referral or a third party endorsement. I think most people feel more comfortable working with a business or a professional if someone they trust recommends them.

This is where having some digital assets for prospects to find comes into play.

Having other people talk about you works in the same way. When prospects see you are being interviewed, and you are quoted in articles and in the news, this stands out. Only expert opinions are used in articles and are quoted in the news right? This raises your authority and this raises the trust level in your prospect’s minds.

When prospects Google your name or your business name and they find interviews, and they find you featured in a magazine, or you are quoted in an article in major new sites like FOX, ABC, NBC, or CBS people take notice.

You are the educator…You are the authority… You are the advocate for your clients…You are the trusted expert in your line of work. You make your prospects choice of who to do business with an easy one.

What do business people tend to get wrong when it comes to using social media?

The biggest thing I see is that people are still taking the “look at me” approach. Remember the old days when people would put ads in the Yellow pages? A company would simply create an ad with a list of their services and then say things like “friendly customer service” or lowest prices in town”. And guess what? The add next to it would say the same thing; people are still using this same formula in online ads and unfortunately in social media as well. Simply telling people you are the best just doesn’t work.

We tune this stuff out… You need other people telling your prospects good things about you.

For me social media is a place to post things people can use or something that will make them laugh, it’s the perfect place to be the educator and the advocate.

Let your personality show through all the serious business stuff, and again you don’t want to be like those other guys who end up looking like Stuart from Mad T.V. with the “look what I can do!” approach.

If you could leave our readers with one last piece of business advice, what would it be?

Being the best at something, or being the best match for your prospect means nothing if your prospect doesn’t know it, or I guess I should say your prospect does not believe this to be true.

I think the best piece of advice I can give is to get over this hurdle quickly.

Authority builds trust. You have to make time for this. I understand everyone is busy…too busy. It’s hard to know where to spend your time. If you can’t block out the time, find someone who can take care of this for you. Raising your authority can help you get more clients, but more importantly, it will help you get more of your perfect clients. You know… the ones who need exactly what you offer, have a nice budget for it, and will benefit from your services most.

Making more money is wonderful; having more time for your family and friends is priceless.

The sooner you take control the better.

If you need more information on me you may visit my website.