Teach and Optimize
Episode #7 of the course How to quickly build your online authority by Vinay Koshy
According to HubSpot’s State of Inbound report, 38% of salespeople say getting a response from prospects is becoming harder.
Today, I am going to suggest that a great way to earn authority status is to teach people how to do something. Why? Because it is a powerful way to go beyond trust to close more sales. Now, I am not suggesting that you simply demonstrate your expertise, but rather go to the point to show anyone and everyone how you do what you do.
Is This a Quick Way to Put Yourself Out of Business?
Some might say that this is a quick way to ensure that you’re put out of business. Yes, there will be some who will take the “do it yourself” option and try to do everything themselves. However, they aren’t your ideal client, anyway. Others, however, will understand that you know what you are doing and will therefore use your services.
See, when you get pushy with your products, it turns most people off. Instead, you need to tell stories and share examples of other people’s success, and so start to paint a picture of how you can solve the customer’s problem. This is a great way to get people to relate to you as someone who delivers value without the exchange of money.
How to Ensure Your Audience Comes Back for More
When your audience finds that your advice works, they’ll be back for more. To make sure you can leverage the most out of your content, you need to ensure that it is optimized for search and social.
REI, for example, does a lot of teaching on their site. Their teaching supports the use and purchase of products on their site.
Their content engages outdoor enthusiasts who, upon engaging with their content, will be more inclined to become part of their community and engage at an even deeper level.
Another great example of this is HubSpot; they literally make a profit from teaching. They produce webinars, e-books, and a plethora of other resources for marketers and marketing agencies.
So, What Does It Take to Teach Your Audience?
A mistake that people often make is to write any kind of blog content. However, the purpose of your content should be to teach. It’s to guide people down a specific yet logical path. This means incorporating the following kinds of content:
• Content to create awareness.
• Content that builds trust. This could take the form of case studies, reviews, etc.
• Content that shows your audience how it will work for them. This could be done via webinars, seminars, etc. Content that engages your audience and allows them to participate works well.
In other words, your content must be designed to convert and generate referrals.
Mark Twain is quoted as saying,
“Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
That is a powerful way to build your online authority, and tomorrow, we will look at how we can employ it.
Till then,
Vinay
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