Show Notes:
How do you become an authority in your niche?
That’s a million-dollar question every entrepreneur wants answered.
But what does it even mean to be an authority in your niche? Does that mean you need to gain a gazillion followers? Does that mean you need to be super rich before you can become one?
The answer is no and no. All you need to follow are these six actionable steps to gain the trust of your audience and show how credible you are in your field.
Curious as to what these steps are? Tune in to learn more about how you can show your audience that you’re the expert in your game!
Key Takeaways:
✅The key to creating authority in your niche is to get your audience’s trust [1:10]
✅Show up consistently — the more people see you, the more they become curious about who you are and what you offer [2:41]
✅Create relevant content —don’t just put out random stuff [6:01]
✅Find other avenues to show your credibility — guest on different podcast shows or be featured in publications [9:56]
✅Get results — nothing best proves your credibility than showcasing your accomplishments [11:51]
✅Engage with your community — you have to be seen as an accessible, real person [13:40]
✅Show up as you — being authentic will draw in the right audience [15:35]
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Get the Transcript here:
Create Authority In Your Niche
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies.
Jessica Walman: Hey you guys. Thanks so much for coming back to the Marketing On Tap podcast. This is Jessica Wallman, your host, and I am so excited to be doing today’s episode. It is about how to create authority in your niche. Now, when I say how to create authority in your niche, does that mean you have to have a gazillion followers?
No. Does that mean you need to be making a gazillion dollars? No. Does that mean you need to be posting content daily and emailing your list daily? No. So we’re gonna go into how you can be an authority in your niche, and really guys, why do you wanna be an authority in your niche? What does that mean?
Well, it means that you are presenting yourself as the expert in your field, and you are attracting people who want what you have to offer. You are able to showcase your skillset, your expertise. Make people really understand and feel that yes, you can help them obtain the outcome and goal and result that they want.
And so how were you able to, and you have to do that in order to obtain a sale if you don’t. Gain their trust. If you don’t make them understand that you know what you are talking about by showcasing what you are talking about, why in the world would somebody buy from you, right? You aren’t gonna go out there and buy from someone if you don’t feel trust and confidence in what they’re saying and what they have to offer.
And if you really don’t feel that you’re going to get that end result, , why would somebody buy from me? Right? Why would you buy from them? why would you pull out your credit card if you just don’t really have that feeling? Right? Unless we are very certain, I know if I give my credit card, I have a really strong feeling, right?
And certainty, which as certain as we can be right before we actually try something, that we are going to get that result. If we don’t feel that, then we’re going to hold off. And that’s when people take maybe longer to buy, right? There are other reasons why, right? Just hesitancy buyer and where they’re at in their journey.
But that is a reason why someone might take longer to buy from you. They need to build that trust a little bit faster. And some people, it’s easier to build trust. Some people are logical, buyers. Some people are more emotional buyers. And so it all depends. You need to be able to build that and create that authority in their mind that you are the expert.
Jessica Walman: And so that’s why it’s super important and I’m going to give you some tips on how to do that. I think I’m gonna give you six different tips. Yes. Six different ways that you can do that. And honestly, , you should be implementing all of these. The first and second one are probably the most important, but number six that I’m gonna share is where you will shine the brightest and stand out the most.
Okay? let’s go ahead and dive in. So create an authority in your niche. You guys. Number one, most important is showing up consistently. Now, I have not done that sometimes myself. . I have clients who don’t do that Sometimes. showing up consistently is imperative to somebody. Trusting you and trusting your content and trusting that you will be there when they need you.
Jessica Walman: When I scroll my newsfeed and Instagram or Facebook, I am seeing specific people that I follow and the content that they are providing, and the more I see them in my newsfeed, the more I’m building that trust, right? I’m trusting what they’re having to say, especially. Which we’re gonna go into a second, what they’re saying in their content.
But when I consistently see them show up, even if I don’t really pay attention to the content that’s actually in the real or the post they’re showing up today. I just saw, for instance, Jasmine Star on my newsfeed. I’ve been seeing her in my newsfeed a ton lately. I’ve never really followed her, in meaning, like I’m not on her email list.
I’ve never purchased anything from her, and yet she is showing up in my newsfeed and I’m seeing her all the time. . I went and checked out her podcast and I just started looking into her more because I really do like her content. And again, she’s shown up in my newsfeed all the time, it’s always with new content.
and it all seems relative to each other relative to maybe something I’m interested in. So therefore, I want to know more about her. I want to see her. And apparently the algorithm knows that because the algorithm is showing me her stuff. And I’ve known of Jasmine Star for a while, but I’ve just now recently seems like.
Couple of months. Been seeing her constantly in my newsfeed, and maybe she’s upped her game, but I feel like she’s always been very, visible online. If you are showing up consistently, even if you put out a reel and you’re like, man, only three people liked it.
That’s still three people you guys. Three people that got to get value from what you had to said that might DM you, that might take the next step with you. So you don’t need thousands of people like, ugh, you’re thinking all these gurus and experts are having, and I need to have thousands of likes and views on my content.
No. , you need to show up. You need to be consistent, and you need your audience to know that you’re going to show up. They need to trust that you’re going to be there and you want them to look forward to your content. If you’re just showing up here randomly, then it’s like, oh, hmm, maybe I think I recognize that person.
I saw them a while back, and you could have put out some really good, valuable content, but. They may not pay as much attention to it, or maybe you just barely show up sometimes, and you didn’t put out the best piece of content because, you not all content is created equal. This is why we’re always putting out content.
Some content hits better, with your audience than other content. And you don’t want that one piece of content that you put out, that you haven’t put anything out in the last two weeks, and you finally put something out and it wasn’t great. It just didn’t hit, it wasn’t a home. And that’s what somebody watched.
Like you need to be consistent cuz your content isn’t always going to hit home runs. But if you’re always consistent, then your audience knows, this is what they talk about, this is what I wanna know. I like their stuff. I’m seeing them in my newsfeed. I need to start clicking around more. So consistency guys Do not shy away from it because you aren’t getting, like I said, the show ups. Maybe, even if it’s doing a live webinar, whatever it might be, you gotta show up, you’ve gotta do it. You might have a live webinar coming up and it’s like, I only had like 20 people sign up. And so, people are gonna show up, do what you promised you’re gonna do.
Be consistent, actually do what you say you were going to do. That shows a lot more so show up consistently. That is the most I. The second one, the second most important is creating relevant content. Okay? Without these two, without number one and number two, the rest of these tips will not matter as much because you won’t be building an audience or clientele to even be seen as the authority.
Okay? So creating relevant content is important. . Now Jasmine is showing up in my newsfeed, and she’s pretty consistent in what she has to say. She kind of goes around some mindset and business and social media tips. That’s really her realm, and that’s what I’m seeing consistently. So when I see her content, I know what she’s all about.
Jessica Walman: I know what she teaches, and I know that it’s. Well, I’m going to choose, is this something I want to see or something I don’t want to see. Right? But if it was kind of like random content and I just wasn’t really getting the feel for what she does or what she teaches, it’s not relevant, right? If she’s teaching on topics I don’t really care about or she thinks I care about, or she’s not positioning them correctly, it doesn’t hit home with your audience.
So, relevant content, okay, content that people actually want to learn about and that might. You need to talk to some of your, ideal clients. You need to survey your list to see what they actually want to learn about. Okay. Now you don’t have to just do these silly reels, we have some students and clients who like to do a lot of really fun reels and dancing, and that’s totally fine if your audience, and we’re gonna go into this one later too, if your audience really resonates.
and that’s your personality. Fantastic. Do it. But you need to have actually juicy content intertwined with that, right? So, if you wanna have fun reels, that’s fantastic. You combine that with real content, and the reels a lot of times can be really good content. I just meant dancing reels, likebut again, some of our students have dancing reels that do have really good content.
the point I’m trying to make is don’t just put out random stuff. Don’t just do dancing. You wanna put out content. Blogs, podcasts, long form posts, et cetera, reels with really good content that have good content, right? Free content, as well as paid content. So at the JW Agency, at my agency, we help our clients figure out how much content they should create minimally each month to support this.
Jessica Walman: What kind of content? The format and style. And really, this is all based on what the market is. and also what really lights them up. That’s key, What lights up our client what are they excited to actually show up and perform and be consistent with? Because they gotta be consistent. And if you’re not excited about it, you won’t be consistent with it, So they just don’t wanna show up weekly on a YouTube channel. They’re like, look, I know you’re telling me YouTube, or I hear YouTube’s great, but I don’t know if I’m actually gonna do it weekly. I can try, but I don’t think. , then they just shouldn’t do it. Right? Maybe a podcast is up their alley.
Cuz here, I know as a woman, YouTube and showing up sometimes all the time live with video is just like, you gotta get all dolled up. And I love working in my pajamas with my sweatpants and my t-shirt and my fun fuzzy socks. If you’ve ever seen me in those, I have posted some photos of me like that.
That is my favorite. . If I was gonna do a YouTube channel, I would have to make sure every week, or I’d batch it up at least maybe once a month to do this YouTube channel. And if you aren’t going to do that, if you really don’t think you will, then guess what? You should just do a podcast or blogs, right? don’t just follow what people say.
So if you are, like I’ve heard, I should do two podcast episodes a week. But you’re like, I just don’t know if I’m gonna be able to do that. Then start with one a week or even two per month. The goal is to start, start with a content avenue that works for you and then grow it. Ideally, what we see work best here at the agency are YouTube channels and podcasts.
Those have worked really well for our clients to create an audience, build and nurture that audience. But we do have one client that does a blog really, really successfully. And we have another client who does really short, real short sale videos multiple times per week with juicy short content. And we’ve had clients do weekly Facebook live streams, and those have worked well too.
So really about your niche, your. And then testing to see if it works. Again, find an avenue that works best for you so that you will actually commit to doing it. Be consistent and enjoy it, not become bitter about doing it, because then you’re eventually going to stop doing it and you will not accomplish point number one that I made, which is being consistent, So let’s go and dive into number three. is instead of creating content, if that’s like, Hey Jess, I just don’t think I can create content that often. Guess what? There are other avenues of becoming this expert that actually can showcase your expertise and build your credibility a lot faster. one of them is doing guest podcasting.
You can be a guest podcast on someone’s podcast and get in front of. Or thousands of your ideal clients. And that can create instant trust because the audience already trusts the podcast host that they then brought you on because they trust you, right? So if you’re on the podcast and immediately you have trust with the audience, now that’s honestly a really great way.
I have, multiple friends of mine that is one of their number one strategies is they are on four to six podcasts a month. A month, you guys, and they are just talking and providing value and that’s it. They didn’t have to create something from scratch. It’s just like having a conversation, which I love.
if I could just have conversations with people and someone could just record me all day and that’s my content, I feel like I need to do that because I’d, we’d be great at that. that’s kinda like what a podcast is right now. When you’re on these podcasts, if you’re allowed to provide a freebie at the.
Jessica Walman: This can then help build your list. If you are allowed to say where they can find you, it’s usually you can then provide them the best social media platform where they can access you. Now, another way besides podcasting. Similar is getting featured in publications. so something like getting featured an entrepreneur or Inc.
That will definitely create quick credibility. And there are ways to go about this, which we won’t get into in this episode. But if you’ve thought about doing this before, then I highly recommend You like, continue looking into it, get it done. There are ways to connect with, magazines and online publications to get featured news outlets, et cetera, that really aren’t as difficult as it may seem.
so if you’re interested in that, that is another way to build credibility that you can then put on your website, Hey, I was featured here, here, and here, and that creates this instant, credibility for your audience. Okay, so the fourth. , which you don’t have this yet, it might take time.
But super important to get here is get results. Get results. If you wanna become the authority in in your niche, you need to get results and then showcase those results. Right? Anybody say they can get you a result, And I mean, I see a multitude of ads saying, we can do this for you, we can do that for you.
I can, 10 x your this and I can cut your lead cost here and I can do this. And then when you go to their site, they’ve got zero. Credibility. there’s no, publications that they’ve been featured on. There are no client testimonials or they have two. And who knows Really? know, if there are only two, it’s like it was real.
Like you need to get results. And so, those who have gotten the results and can show the results that is pure gold and something that should be highlighted, and regularly showcased to your audience. and if you don’t have paying clients yet, are paying students or paying, course buyers, whatever it is that you’re doing, if you don’t have that yet, then you need to provide.
Free value and get those results right? You need to be able to prove you can get the results, and if that means you need to do it for free, provide it for free, whatever it is, to get those testimonials video written, whatever it might be, you need to do that. Get as many as results as possible. That goes a long, long way.
Jessica Walman: It is taking me years to get the results that I have. Absolutely so blessed and humbled to be working with such amazing clients to get insane results that they have. And I will showcase that all day long. Cause I’m proud, proud of me and my team, and I know that we can help people. I know for a fact that our agency can help people.
That what we do works. And that’s why I showcase those results to say, Hey, you can do it too. This is possible for you. It may be different, it might look different for you. It looks different for every client of ours. It’s all customized, but it can happen for you. And we only take on clients we know we can work with and we can help.
And so if we take you on, we know we can help you. So being able to showcase those results is important. Okay. Fifth, you guys becoming an authority. Your niche is engaging with your community. So why is this important? Because as you start, people replying to social media, like, they’re commenting on your social media posts or you’re getting emails, you get a direct message, whatever that might be.
Being able to connect with them. Will help increase that, trust it’s like not so far removed, right? And so being able to, engage with your community, even if you’re like, Jessica, I only have like a hundred followers. I have the same five people message me all the time.
Who Respond to them. If you’re applying to your social media comments in your emails and your dms, look, you wanna be seen as somewhat accessible and real, like a real live person. I R L, right? In real life, . And if you’re promoting your core, so program, but anytime a potential prospect messages you or.
again, in dms, whatever it is, either if they get no response or they get a generic response or your team is responding to them, it’s not you. They may feel that they are being ignored and not seen and they won’t buy from you. Right? It doesn’t mean you always have to be super available. I am not checking my social media nonstop.
I am busy. I’ve got two kids with multiple sport activities. But check your dms, your emails, your social media comments, at least once a day. Block off, 30 minutes to reply. It might take less than that. It might take more. It will mean the world to your audience. when you start connecting, because I already did in a separate episode, the top strategies for 2023.
One of that is engagement and communicating with your audience. This is key, is being able to. being able to message back and that honestly does turn into what leads in sales. Yes, it turns into leads in sales because now they get to ask you the questions. Now they get your actual, eyes on their stuff, even if it’s for a brief second.
And then you can, move them in the direction of where they need to go for more support if possible. But at least I’m connecting with you means the world to them. All right, so the last one, which honestly. This last one is besides 0.1 and two, which is, showing up consistently and creating relevant content.
Jessica Walman: This will make you shine the brightest and stand out the most, and that is showing up as you, so if you look just like every other marketer out there, you won’t stand out if your reels look the same, if the content you’re putting out is the same, you’re not going to stand. . want to be different.
People want to see that you’re different. When people are looking through social media, they’re looking for, Hey, look at that personality. Look at that personality. Look how they do this. And they’re making like judgements, right? In two seconds, three seconds. If they like that person. You wanna showcase your personality.
You wanna stand out, you don’t want them just scrolling past you. And it’s fine to be a little polarizing, cuz if they don’t like you, that’s fine. Make ’em leave, go. They’re not your ideal person, okay? If you aren’t showcasing your personality, then They are really going to get the sense of who you are.
They’re, if you’re not showcasing it, they’re not gonna get the sense of who you are. Right. And that creates a disconnect. Okay. I have some students and clients that love to be funny, and so they have no problem doing fun reels that showcase their humor side. And then I have other clients and students who are more direct and firm, kind of like me.
Sometimes Yets can still be very sincere in the way that they want to support their audience. Their videos and content are very different, but they have to be. They have to be truly and authentically them, and then their audience will decide, this is who I want to trust. This is who I want to follow for, advice and expert guidance.
Me, for example, I tend to be direct in life, and so therefore I do that with my content. So more direct, less fluff. no 45 minute podcast episodes. This might be one of my longest ones. I don’t normally go, 20 minutes long. I love coffee, so I like to have coffee in hand in a lot of videos or talk about how tired I am if I didn’t have my coffee yet, or something with coffee.
I love my cap. my kids are a huge part of my life, so I tend to mention them, showcase them, be humorous about parenting life because yes, the struggle is real. the other day I just spent two hours in urgent care, an hour driving an hour at a dental appointment, getting teeth remote pulled from one of my kids, and I just felt like five hours later.
Jessica Walman: What just happened with my day, man? Parenting life is real, y’all. and in general, I just love being silly. I’m directing to the point with what I want to say and getting points across, but I love to be silly, so I try to incorporate that throughout my content with dorky sayings or dorky facial expressions or just dorky videos here and there.
So this is who I am, and the more I express that, the more I will attract my ideal client and repel those. Think I’m annoying, which is the goal, So guys showing up as you figuring out what that looks like and that might be pointing it out for a minute. Really kind of showcasing what makes me, if I was gonna list out what is it that makes me me, that I would love to just make sure I showcase in my content to attract the right person.
What does that look like? Write it down, bullet. and then determine how you can incorporate that in your videos, in your blog, whatever way you are showing up in content, I would figure out how to incorporate that. Now, you guys already know I’m a big fan of a video, so I would be doing video and incorporating it in your video somehow, but however you create your content, that’s where you need to incorporate it.
Okay? So just to recap, to create authority in your niche, first you need to show up. Consist. Consistently every day or a week or month, every day or week, whatever that looks like for you, showing up consistently. Now, the next one is creating relevant content. And the reason why these two go together is because that doesn’t mean that you are just posting something every single day just to show up consistently.
Show up consistently with relevant content. So if that means you’re showing up every other day, but it’s really good content, then show up every other day if you’re showing up three times a week, but it’s very good content. Show up three times a week, right? It’s about showing up with the relevant content.
So first is showing up consistently. Second is creating relevant content. Third is you don’t wanna create your own content. Then do guest podcasting or, get featured in publications. Fourth is getting results and showcasing those results. Fifth is engaging with your community, and six is showing up as you guys.
I hope you found this helpful. Implements all six of these. Definitely one, two, and six. But definitely all of them are super, super important. If you want support in creating content for your business or support in strategically showing up for your audience and you wanna amplify all of that with paid ads, then book a call with us.
Let us audit what you are currently going on and then determine how we can. Two x, three x or four x your business this year. You can book your call at marketing on tap now.com. Again, that is marketing on tap now.com and I will see you guys in the next episode. Chow.