Growing Credibility in Your Niche

It is best to build your authority in a niche market or industry before expanding

When you are aiming to get more clients, reach more readers, or build a community of fans, it is easy to assume that a broader reach is best.

That’s simply not true.

If you want to build credibility and authority (and, in turn, better-qualified clients, more loyal readers, and a community of raving fans), start with a niche.

A niche should be just large enough to make your efforts worthwhile. I call this the minimum viable audience.

This audience size is slightly different for everyone, it may be a group of 10. It may be 100. It may even be 1000.

It is far easier to reach 10 people (or 100, or 1000) and deliver exactly what they are seeking than it is to dilute your message so that a million people like it.

Authority first comes from a small group - the minimum viable audience. Once you have an established platform of credibility, you can expand. But to be all things to all people will result in a lukewarm reputation that means very little to a lot of people.

How can we grow credibility in our niche? A few simple approaches:

• Publish original blogs specific to your niche

• Contribute to an existing community

• Make expert appearances or connect on HARO (Help A Reporter)

• Collect recommendations and referrals from respected industry professionals

Identify 10 or 100 people who are looking for solutions to specific problems. Start there.

I’d much rather have 10 raving fans than a million people who mindlessly scroll by.