Here’s the situation:
- You’ve been producing content in your niche for… years. You come up with the ideas, you and your assistant write them, and you publish. And… you’ve run out of content ideas at this point.
- You have an exciting new venture cooking. It’s a culmination of everything you do, wrapped in new technology, that will serve and impact more people and larger teams than you can now!
- It’s time to start positioning yourself as an expert in your new venture. But your venture isn’t ready yet, so you can’t talk about it nor do you have any CTAs to give your audience.
What do you do?
You don’t need a product or a service or a CTA to position yourself as a thought leader and go-to expert. Here’s what you need:
- Experience
- Opinions
- Stories
If you want to position yourself as an expert to prepare to launch your new and exciting venture, there are SO many ways to start! You don’t even need to create a ton of original content to pivot or upgrade your positioning. Here’s what you can start doing, right now:
Research
- Comment on news, studies, trends, and technology in your industry. Comment by giving your opinion: do you agree or disagree? Do you love it or hate it? People will be drawn to your opinion.
- Share blog posts and podcasts and videos that discuss topics in your niche, and comment on them. This will bring you to the attention of colleagues and leaders in your industry, and show how immersed you are in your space.
Talk about the problems
- Even though your solution isn’t ready to reveal, you can set the stage by talking about the problems it will address. Share the problems you learned about in your discovery interviews and market research.
- Does it make you feel awkward to talk about problems without offering a solution? I hear you. Sometimes when I do it, I feel like I’m complaining. But think about articles you read – about paid parental leave, the problem with job descriptions, anything – they all cite experts who comment on the problem without offering a fix, right?
- Showing that you understand the problems. People who have these problems will resonate with you.
Tell stories
- I don’t need to go into why humans love stories – you know it’s true. Think about what drew you to your work waaaay back when you started. Consider your favorite clients, those moments when you felt like you were on top of the world, your most cherished memories from your work.
- Tell THOSE stories. Tell people what you stand for, through stories of your clients, your experiences, what and how you learned what you know.
I know you – you have piles of responsibility on your plate. You have clients, you’re working hard on your new venture, you have a partner and a house and admin and and and.
To get this kind of new positioning underway, we all need a Room of One’s Own. You can create space and time for yourself to… play. Let yourself sink into your fondest work-memories. Journal, if you want to. Let memories bubble to the surface. See what your imagination enjoys.
This new positioning is right next to you, like the ring you’ve worn for so many years that you barely feel it. In fact, it feels wrong when you take it off! Your expertise is like that – it’s attached to you, and it fits so well that you don’t notice it.
Now, it’s time to jiggle that ring loose and look at it again. Soak it in ammonia so it shines. Remind yourself what it means to you and why you love it. No one can resist a good love story.
This post is part of my 100 Blog Posts in 100 Days series. View the rest here.
