INC.COM One of the best ways to drive business is to become an expert or thought leader in your field online. Of course, you need some expertise first. (That part is up to you.) But once you have it, you need to let the world know about it.
...Keep in mind that even a whiff of self-promotion can backfire terribly, so you need to strike a delicate balance between being helpful and blatantly selling your own services/products.
The best approach is to treat the person asking the question as you would a friend or acquaintance. Here are a few things to keep in mind, using the example of contributing to online forums:
- Be a clearinghouse for information. Put links in your answers that take readers to a great article or blog post. Most times, these links shouldn’t go back to ones you’ve written yourself. You’ll build trust with your audience if you act in a way that isn’t self-serving. If you do link back to your own material, be doubly sure the information is relevant to solving the problem.
- Give away free and useful advice. Offer specific and detailed answers as to how to solve the problem presented by the questioner. Give away some trade secrets that demonstrate your industry knowledge.
- Never give a partial answer or a “teaser” that requires the reader to get directly in touch with you. Writing something like, “We deal with that all the time—give us a call” doesn’t offer readers a compelling reason to trust you. If your answers are truly helpful, you won’t need to ask for business; it will come to you.
