Insights:Marketing Insights: Be (or hire) the expert.

Most of us have heard the claim, made popular by Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, that 10,000 hours of practice can turn anyone into an expert. Naturally, just as many experts have said this was true as have said it is false.

Personally, I don’t know whether this theory is true or not, but what I do know (maybe because I have spent way more than 10,000 hours practicing marketing) is that people like to buy, work with and listen to experts.

The aura of expertise gives people confidence and creates trust.

Which is why positioning your company as the expert in your category can be a major business advantage.

Being perceived as an expert requires promoting that fact by becoming a go-to source for information and staying on the forefront of “what’s next.” A few simple ways to accomplish this goal is through public relations, making yourself available to the media as a source for information, blogging and utilizing social media to share and promote your knowledge.

It’s important to remember that you or even someone at your company doesn’t need to be the expert. If you align your marketing with a spokes-expert, the halo effect of that association can make your company appear to be an expert.

Remember being an expert is good, but if nobody knows, it could hurt your bottom line.