Tips For Effectively Building Brand Authority In Your Industry

Establishing authoritative, reliable, and consistent brand messaging is essential to business success —  80% of consumers named “authenticity of content” as the most important factor influencing their decision to become a loyal follower of a brand, Inc reports. When customers  trust you as an authority, they’re more likely to spend their money on your products or services. Although it can seem a daunting task, working on demonstrating your industry expertise will pay off in terms of loyal customers and increased sales. 

Choose a narrow niche

Aligning your brand with an ultra-specific niche is essential for building industry authority. So, identify a smaller subset target audience within your overall product market. By honing in on a select target market that really connects with your product or service, your marketing efforts will reach the most worthwhile potential customers.

You should then work to provide real value for your target audience in order to strengthen relationships and build a loyal, long-lasting following. By branding yourself as a unique industry thought leader — and not a generalist who’s an authority on everything — your customers will trust your expertise and look to you for tailored information, tips, and advice not available elsewhere. It’s an effective way to stand out from the crowd, narrow your competition, and build customer loyalty.

Use reliable sources

While posting some general content is fine, regularly sharing official facts, statistics, and data is an  effective way of establishing brand authority. Nothing can ruin your credibility, however, like accidentally sharing false information, bad data, or misquoted statistics. It’s therefore important to do your due diligence and make sure to  fact check every claim made in your content before posting.

Academic databases, government or educational institution websites, and mainstream media news outlets are typically considered reliable and created and approved by industry experts. When drawing upon a source, always be careful to check you can actually verify the content yourself. You’ll find a number of reputable websites publish articles written by unknown or unqualified contributors as well as credible experts.

Showcase your awards 

Make a point of displaying any professional memberships, certifications, or awards your business has won (or been nominated for) on your website. There’s no need to make them the main focus of your site, but including the logos on the bottom of your homepage will immediately establish industry authority and earn customer trust. In fact, brands who’ve won awards were found to have a 37% increase in sales and a 44% higher stock price return compared to brands who haven’t won awards,  a study by Hendricks & Singhal at the University of Western Ontario and Georgia Institute of Technology found. Showcasing your awards on your website proves to customers you’re the industry expert you say you are.

Building industry authority is essential if you want to stand out in your niche, gain customer trust, and grow a loyal following. Following these smart tips will help you create an effective and memorable online presence.