Positioning Yourself as an Expert to Get More Publicity
With
Joan Stewart: Well, as we said, media people do not care what’s in between the two covers of your book. But, here’s the good news folks. They do care about what’s between your two ears.
They want to be able to tap into your brain. They want to be able to tap into your expertise. They want an instant expert who they can ask questions of. They want an expert who can supply background information and somebody who can give them story ideas.
Experts are in the media all the time. Experts are on “Nightline.” They’re on “60 Minutes.” They’re on “Oprah.” Experts are on the cover of magazines. Sometimes they’re inside magazines. Experts are all over your local, weekly and daily newspapers. Experts are on the Internet.
I think it’s really important to establish yourself as an expert first, and then mention that you are an author. Because if the media comes to you, and is able to tap into your expertise and get what they want, guess what they’re probably going to mention in their stories?
Dan Janal: Your book.
Joan Stewart: Bingo.
Dan Janal: Exactly. So you can be an expert without having a book as well. Didn’t the National Speakers Association have a White Paper on what they constitute to be an expert or what constitutes expertise?
Joan Stewart: Yes, and this all resulted after September 11, when the travel industry was going through all these horrible problems and people were canceling conferences. When the conferences started to come back again, the meeting planners were not necessarily hiring speakers.
They were bringing in industry experts, many of whom would speak for free. So NSA took a look at this and said, “What constitutes expertise? What do we need to do as speakers to be invited to these conferences as experts?”
There were five or six people within our trade association who researched the topic of expertise and wrote an excellent White Paper that talks about the entire topic of expertise.
You can download it for free at the NSA website at http://nsaspeaker.org/pdfs/Expertise_Wht_paper.pdf
It’s called The Expertise Imperative. Our fellow members found that there’s not only one definition of expertise. There are six different levels of expertise, starting at the very bottom and working your way up to the top.
The White Paper identifies each of the six levels and gives several bullet points under each level that explain what you need to do to be considered an expert at that level.
The great thing about the White Paper is somebody on the line who happens to be an expert at the very bottom rung of the ladder can refer to the six levels and see where they stand. They can also see exactly what they need to do to be considered an expert at the higher levels.
And what the White Paper found was that expertise is not only about what you know. It isn’t only about what’s in your brain. Expertise is about what you do.
Do you speak at conferences? Do you write books? Do you have information products? Are you a mentor or a coach? Does the media seek you out for interviews? Do you read at least six books a year in your topic to stay abreast of what’s happening in your particular area?
The White Paper spells it out step by step. Even if you’re not a speaker, you can use the White Paper as a basis to start. Remember, speakers come from a wide variety of occupations.
