I am not an expert.
Yup, I said it. I am not a media and PR expert. Well, I should clarify. I don’t consider myself a media and PR expert but what I do have is nearly 20 years of experience and expertise in the media and PR field. I have expertise that I share with others to help them get visible, amplify their brands, reach more customers and clients and have more successful businesses.
You know what?
I don’t think you are an expert either.
That isn’t to be rude. It isn’t that I don’t think you know what you are talking about when you talk about what you do or how you help people in your business. What I mean by that is you don’t need to be THE EXPERT (yes, I used capital letters on purpose).
Let me explain a little bit here.
The thing is the idea of having to be THE EXPERT (yup, again, these capital letters are on purpose) keeps people from stepping into the spotlight of media and PR. Frankly, I think it keeps many people from getting in front of their businesses because when you are the expert you have to have all the answers, or at least feel like you do. You feel like you have to know everything there is about business, your industry and niche. That can be an intimidating thing and it is where fear, doubt, and the imposter syndrome often come from in my opinion. Just the thought of being considered the definitive expert in a particular industry or niche can make people anxiously sweat. So many people fear if they don’t know everything about their business or niche, or are not the expert, people will think they are a fake or a fraud and then people will not want to buy from them. This is a big issue for some entrepreneurs who have a service based business and sell their knowledge. And I totally get that since I too have a service/knowledge-based business.
What if you don’t have all the answers?
What if someone challenges your thoughts or comments on a particular “expert” thing you said?
Are you getting a little stressed?
I am.
So here is the thing, when I am helping entrepreneurs get visible by earning media one of the first things we do is talk about mindset and shifting away from being THE EXPERT to embracing their EXPERTISE.
We all have expertise we can share and it is all based on our unique experiences in life and in business. It might be a bit cliche to say but we are unique with a unique set of life and business experiences. Expertise allows us to share our experience and knowledge but we don’t have to have all the answers we just have the answers based on our own life experience.
You might have expertise…
- Starting businesses
- Running businesses
- Being a woman in business
- Being a parent and being a solo-entrepreneur
- Using yoga to make you a better business person
- Being a man in business
- Being a single parent in business
- Being a volunteer
- Being an online entrepreneur
- Owning a brick and mortar business
See, so much expertise. There are so many areas of business and life you can draw from. The great thing is you can pull from all areas of your life and for me, as a Media and PR coach and strategist, this is exciting because it allows you to share from so many different areas of your life to help people.
When you share your expertise it allows you to build the all-important know, like, and trust factor, you let potential customers see you as a real person, you get so much more authentic engagement with people and it helps you build your business credibility.
Expertise is always growing and evolving as you grow in your life and business. So stop thinking you have to be THE EXPERT of your business, industry or niche and instead EMBRACE YOUR EXPERTISE and step into the spotlight. Making this mindset shift can allow you to step out, get more visible, amplify your brand and even earn media mentions, press, and publicity.