Perhaps the best way to increase your credibility is by becoming perceived as an expert. And, apart from mastering the skills of your trade, this is often best be accomplished by increasing your visibility among prospects and colleagues.

These days, everyone seems to claim to be an expert. If you search for a niche market online, you’ll find a thousand people or businesses that say they are the best. I remember laughing at a definition of an expert. It was a combination of two words: Ex, meaning a “has been” and Spert (spirt), meaning a drip under pressure.

Humor aside, if your really want to set yourself apart from the crowd, be recognized as an expert, and increase your credibility, try the following tips:

Become involved in a professional organization.   There are professional organizations for all industries.  Find one that fits you specifically, where your prospects tend to congregate, and volunteer to be on a committee.  Once you are on a committee, be active, and participate.  The thing about professional organizations is that they are run entirely by volunteers.  Those volunteers are looked at as leaders in the profession, since they are the ones setting up conferences, preparing newsletters and giving presentations.

Give presentations.  I’ve heard these called “Rainmaker Speeches,” and there’s a good reason. Some years back, I gave seminars on “How to design your own brochure.” The target audience was people who were fairly new to business, and even though it was quite difficult to fill up each seminar, often as not, people would come up to me afterwards and say, “I know who’s going to design my brochure…. You!”

But, you don’t have to launch your own seminar series. Professional organizations are always looking for people to give presentations at technical conferences.  It’s a good idea to make sure that you or one of your associates are doing presentations as often as possible.  But beware: Stay away from sales-pitch  talks. Stick instead to informative discussions and ideas that will help your audience succeed.

Write papers and get them published.  This has worked for my company quite well. In fact, after submitting an abstract of a proposed article, the editors of several publications came back to me and asked that I write a article about company, our clients and our work.

You can get started in this area by researching several technical publications for your industry.  Contact each one and find out the calendar for their publications.  They will give you a calendar showing the topics that they want to cover in each of the upcoming issues.   Look through that calendar and identify a few topics that you might be able to write something for.  Send the publication an abstract of your idea, and work with them on an article.

These tips will set you up to be seen as an expert in your industry and will increase your credibility.  For more tips on how to achieve higher credibility, contact The Sherwood Group, or visit our new responsive website.

If you enjoy this article, you may also want to check out these others:

Design Your Email Newsletters with Pizazz
Using Social Media to Position Yourself as The Go To Expert
How to Get More Business by Using a QR Code on Your Business Cards
How to Stay Out of Spam Filters AND Run a Successful Email Marketing Campaign
4 Time-Saving Ways to Generate More Online Sales via Email
The Secret Source of Never-Ending Customers and Clients
How to Successfully Localize Your Business
Use Google+ And Improve Your Search Engine Rankings

This article is published by Will Sherwood | The Sherwood Group |Website Design | Graphic Design | Marketing Communications: The Sherwood Group has over 30 years of experience working with all sorts of companies, small and large. Our clients range from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 firms, in nearly every business sector, from across the street to around the world (and yes, even Europe, China, and South America). Our goal is to create advertising,  graphic design, website design, and marketing communication that still looks fresh and relevant 10-15 years later. Our mission is to stir your imagination and leave your competition shaken and wondering,  Now what do we do?”  We are located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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