4 Ways to Position Your Personal Brand as a Subject Matter Expert

Join the changing trends in careers and professional personal branding, and start sharing your unique expertise in the marketplace.

As the biggest professional networking platform, influencer marketing on LinkedIn is gaining momentum in the B2B and B2C sectors. You can complain about the olden days of LinkedIn, free from the proliferation of ‘cringe’ expert influencers, much like generations past may have complained about emails, Google or mobiles. Or, you can keep up with the changing world.

Despite over a decade of experience in marketing, I never wanted to share anything on my personal social media accounts. Yet, I now find myself with a blog, YouTube channel, podcast and regularly publishing on LinkedIn. I realised I could keep up with changing global and generational trends, or risk my career and personal brand value being left behind in the marketplace.

I predict that the future of careers will start to become more closely correlated with your professional personal brand’s online presence.

More and more opportunities are going to people with influence online. An employer could hire any employee that ticks the usual 9-5 boxes, or they are can hire an employee that does all that and also boosts their employer brand in the wider marketplace.

So, how do you position your personal brand as an expert influencer? Here are my top tips:

1. Grow your ‘Specific Knowledge’

The unique combination of your skills, experiences and background means that there is no person or personal brand just like you in the marketplace.

Your ‘specific knowledge’ as highlighted in The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, is valuable specialised knowledge unique to you and your circumstances. It comes from your innate talents and interests and, if cultivated well and uniquely, is irreplaceable by anyone else in the marketplace.

2. Express your subject matter expertise

It’s the cultivation and expression of your ‘specific knowledge’ that more clearly puts your personal brand in a ‘category of one’ for your career.

In the book 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Al Ries and Jack Trout share ‘The Law of Category’ saying:

“If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.”

Build a blue ocean strategy for your personal brand, articulate and emphasise the untapped space only you can occupy. Still wading in the water references, this as Warren Buffet famously emphasises, is much like ‘building a moat’ to protect your competitive advantage.

If you’re just getting started building your personal brand’s ‘category of one’ and finding it challenging to find your untapped market gap, consider the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing’s ‘Law of the Mind’ which states:

“It’s better to be first in the mind than it is to be first in the marketplace.”

Think of this as owning a piece of real estate in the mind of your audience. What word or few words do you want the public to associate with your professional personal brand?

This leads to my next tip for positioning your personal brand as an expert influencer.

3. Share your expertise

There is no use having exceptional and irreplaceable expertise if you’re your industry’s best-kept secret. Use your public professional personal brand to communicate your knowledge. If you don’t feel like an expert in your field yet, that’s okay too, simply learn out aloud. Invite others to learn along with you. Overtime, the marketplace will start to associate you with the piece of real estate you wanted to own in their perceptions. And as the authors also state, marketing is a battle of perception.

To communicate your personal brand expertise and show the depth of your subject matter knowledge in a meaningful way, consider communicating consistently via one or more of these methods:

• LinkedIn articles

• Blog

• Podcast

• YouTube channel

• Short-form alternatives that can also still showcase your personal brand expertise in an impactful way include:

• LinkedIn videos

• LinkedIn carousels

• YouTube shorts

• Instagram reels

• TikTok videos

The content you create also creates a portfolio for your personal brand online. Watch your LinkedIn profile transform when it becomes a collection of your work.

4. Create a portfolio of proof for your personal brand

While the knowledge you share online will help you demonstrate your expertise, it helps to anchor this expert positioning further.

• Build your personal brand portfolio of proof. Show social proof that other people trust your expertise e.g:

• Speaking engagement photos (panel or keynote speaking)

• Testimonials

Join the changing trends in careers and start sharing your unique expertise to elevate your personal brand’s value in the marketplace.