Personal Branding: What is Authority? and how to use it to sell
There are 3 topics that lately I am passionate about, blogging, personal branding and authority ... both complement each other more than well and can make us achieve our goals much faster or find new goals and opportunities that we had not even thought about.
What is the Authority?
Authority has always existed, it is what makes leaders and experts see as such in front of their public or audience.
Previously, to transmit your knowledge in a massive way and show that you were an expert in a subject, you had to have a good budget dedicated to that or be a well-recognized figure in your environment, be it being a professor at a prestigious university or writing a column in a newspaper. popular.
The difference between ancient times and the current world is that the small entrepreneur or professional has the possibility of being able to communicate massively at low cost with his audience to demonstrate his experience and knowledge of his market.
Authority does not mean saying “I know”, it means that people say “he knows”.
How do I get authority?
This is not something that can be faked, in the same way that it is easy to communicate en masse it is also easy to receive criticism en masse… so for our own good it is best to stick to honesty.
The tools are served on a silver platter, social networks, free blogging platforms, hosting prices and accessible domains for the simple mortal ... it only remains to transmit our message and find the people interested in it.
People who visit a blog are generally looking for useful information, something that they can apply to their life, profession, etc. They do not seek half-truths or simple advertising of a product or service.
The public looks for something that adds value and it is part of our job to give it to them, maybe if a reader is somewhat old, this model of giving something useful for free without receiving anything in return may seem very strange, however you can get a lot out of it. advantage.
The golden rule is "Give to receive", it sounds very cheesy but this phrase survives the tests of time to be true.
Giving good information that would even be worth paying for free, we receive the approval of our audience as experts on our subject… and that is one of the best investments we can make.
How do we monetize this approval?
To monetize our authority we only need some creativity, by an incredible coincidence today Darren Rowse published in ProBlogger a list of how your readers monetize their blogs with their own products:
- Design work
- Web development
- Membership sites
- Coaching and mentoring
- E-Books
- Reports
- Legal services
- Books (physical)
- software
- Public speaking and training services
- Music lessons
- Writing services
- Search Engine Optimization Services
- Tutorials
- Video content development
- Sewing patterns
- Photographic prints
- Templates for Excel
- Sale of music CDs
- Crafts
- Flower shop
- Marketing Services
- skin care products
- Handmade soaps
- Artistic makeup services
- Calendars
- Vintage clothing
- Gourmet kitchen elements
- Toys
- Website templates
- Art and painting
- Dietary product
- Real Estate Services
- Fitness Programs
- Diving education
- T-shirts
- Jewels
As we see the applications that we can give to our authority depend more on our imagination than on rules or limits, we can offer physical, digital products or services, orient ourselves to a foreign public or to our local public.
