Being known in your niche or field is a challenge.
Especially in the online space.
The competition is saturated and it feels like everything has already been done, but in this podcast episode, some of the strategists on my team, Lennon and D’Laina, talk through how to become an authority in your space.
The main issue we see with people that are trying to become an authority in their space is that they don’t always know the problem they’re trying to solve.
Brands and businesses will work with us and talk a lot about their content or their product/service, but aren’t completely clear on exactly what their audience’s problem is and what they want.
Maybe you’re in that spot right now… that’s okay!
Here are some tangible steps you can start working through to figure out what problem you’re trying to solve for your audience (and yes, this applies to entertainment channels as well) and how to become an authority on that problem and in your niche.
The first step is to identify what your audience’s problem is.
To get your started, these 9 things are the most common problems we feel as individuals:
- Workplace issues. Do you not like your job? Are you not getting paid enough? Do you not enjoy the people you work with? What are these issues?
- Emptiness. Do you feel fulfilled by the things you do?
- Relationships. Are your relationships flourishing or are there issues there?
- Financial crisis. What is the state of your finances?
- Career pressure. Think “hustle mentality”. Do you feel like you have to be at a certain point in your career?
- Unfair treatment. What’s going on culturally? In your world? (Non-profits and social justice organizations are usually solving these problems)
- Inner peace. How do you feel about the things you’re doing? (similarly to problem #2)
- Mental health. How is your mental health doing?
- Physical health. How is your physical health doing?
Figure out which of these is the deeper problem that you’re trying to solve for your audience (i.e. If you’re a health channel, you may be solving physical or mental health or if you’re an entertainment/lifestyle channel, maybe you’re solving emptiness or relationships)
Then reflect on the next steps…
- How have you solved this problem for yourself? The blind can’t lead the blind. Your content likely won’t be valuable for people if you are going through the same problem right now or if you’re not at least a few steps ahead of the problem you’re trying to solve. How does YOUR story align with the story of your viewers? Can you relate to your viewer? Sharing your journey with your viewers makes your story (and credibility) incredibly power and certainly makes you an authority in your space.
- Talk about the problem A LOT. Once you’ve identified what your audience’s problem is, the more you can talk about it, the more your audience will identify with that problem (and the more they’ll feel like your content is making exactly for them). Talk about the problem in your hooks, in your videos, your blog posts, etc. The DEEPER problem. (i.e. If you teach people how to declutter, talk about the importance of having inner peace when you get home from a long day of work. Why does the decluttering matter?)
- Make content about how YOU solved this problem. Use your own story inside of your videos to teach your audience how you solved your (and your audience’s) problem. If you’ve ever read or heard of Patrick Hanlon’s Primal Branding elements… this would fall under your creation story. Your audience needs to know who you are and why you’re qualified to help them. The more you can share your journey with them, the more relatable you are as well as credible.
- Find what’s resonating with your audience. As you create content, you can use data to see what’s resonating the most with your audience. You can also send out surveys, use the voice feature on DMs, get on calls with people and just ask them about their story. Ask them what their biggest struggles are and how you can help. What are some common themes you notice? What language are they using? Use that to clarify your message and align your story with your viewer’s story.
Remember to keep asking “why?” until you can’t go any further. Let us know what you come up with!
And to get deeper on this, I’d recommend listening to the full podcast episode above.
Thanks for reading.
Keep changing lives,
Tim