In any business, no matter what field or industry, it is important for that business to portray a level of expertise to gain the trust of new potential customers. A company or person in business needs to develop specific materials to show they have a high level of knowledge in their particular field. After all, if you are in need of a service or a product, wouldn’t it make sense to you to turn to someone who has expert knowledge in that area?

But how does a business show their expertise without over doing it and seeming pushy? How do you make sure that your expertise is being displayed in a way your customers (more importantly potential customers) are likely to find useful?

In this blog post there are a couple of the steps that HB Consulting uses when working with a new company or individual to showcase their industry expertise, and in turn, convey their knowledge to potential customers.

Step 1. Identify areas of interest the common consumer has in your industry.

"Common consumer" is in bold for a reason here. Think outside the technical aspects that you, the expert, would be interested in and focus more on the usable knowledge that your potential customers need. Regular people are on the internet looking for information and products that make their lives easier, not technical jargon that will confuse and frustrate them.

For example, imagine an accountant that decides to keep a blog to stay engaged with his clients and show his expertise to attract new ones. A new law has been put in place to change tax codes that will affect small businesses in the state that accountant practices in. The accountant, the expert in this example, is personally interested in what prompted law makers to amend the current tax codes. They research the code change and then feel compelled to share some of their new found knowledge with followers of their blog. This might interest some of their readers, but for the majority of internet searchers trying to find information on how the code change will affect them and their businesses, the accountant’s new blog entry is of little significance.

In this example the common consumer’s area of interest is in the effects of the law and not the reasons for the changes in the law. The accountant missed the opportunity to showcase their expertise on their reader’s issues by focusing their blog entry on the law itself and not on practical information that will directly affect their readers. Understanding exactly what motivates someone to search for information in your field is critical to expressing your expertise in a way that is applicable to potential customers.

Step 2. Use frequently asked questions to showcase your expertise.

In every business day there are interactions with clients and customers that are great learning opportunities. When current customers or clients ask questions they are helping the expert to understand what knowledge the common consumer is interested in learning from them. The expert should record several of their most frequently asked questions. They should then use these reoccurring topics to help them develop materials that will give readers what they are looking for. Presenting the knowledge that the common consumer is looking for will ultimately develop the expertise in any field.

When developing expertise, be sure your focus is on developing materials that will engage potential clients and customers not other experts in your field. Often times business owners get caught up writing articles that would interest others in their field but don’t necessarily help the common consumer to make a decision on whose product or service to purchase. Engaging potential consumers with information they are looking for will no doubt contribute to developing your reputation as an expert, and in turn increase your business.