4 Reasons Natural Authority Rocks and 4 Ways to Build It

Some people just have “it,” don’t they?

They exude a confident air. They seem especially wise. They have ready answers for any question.

They’re authorities — natural authorities.

And this mysterious quality makes you want to follow their lead. It compels you to sit up and listen closely when they speak.

It makes you want to do business with them.

Do you have this magical quality? Does your website?

What life is like for naturally authoritative businesses

Authoritative businesses enjoy advantages that others don’t.

They possess a presence that draws prospects and customers to them and their ideas — naturally. Organically. And in a way that tends to build strength over time.

Natural authority makes doing business easier. When your business reaches this stage, you benefit from:

1. Easier sales

Your natural authority establishes your expertise in your prospects’ minds. That means you never need to cold sell anyone — they’re warmed up to you and your business because you’ve built trust by sharing your knowledge.

Natural authority means no more cold sales.

Having the right answer at the right time will get prospects in the door. But your voice, your memorable point of view, and your consistent information will keep them there and make them more open to buying from you.

2. Better quality customers

When people recognize and respect your authority, they’re willing to pay for it, period.

This type of authority attracts high-caliber clients for your service-based business. And if you sell products, customers will be willing to pay more for them.

Better quality customers who are also happy to pay for access to your natural authority will boost your bottom line.

3. Repeat buyers

When your authority is backed up by a quality customer experience, customers will stick around and want to continue doing business with you.

It’s to their advantage, after all. Finding a new company to rely on means starting the research and purchase process all over again. Your natural authority helps keep existing customers happy and coming back for more.

4. A constant influx of new prospects

When you establish your authority through content marketing and the more subtle factors we’ll cover below, you build a permanent asset that works for you 24/7.

Even when you’re fast asleep, your helpful educational material draws new prospects to your business. It’s an asset that becomes more valuable over time — it’s your online sales force that’s out prospecting for you day and night.

How to become a natural authority

Are natural authorities born or made? Maybe a few lucky souls come out of the womb as fully formed natural authorities. The rest of us have to learn it the hard way.

But it’s worth the effort. Let’s look at the steps you can take to become a natural authority in your field.

How do you become that “tip of the tongue” answer to the question, “Where can I find information about [your topic]?”

You’re reading Copyblogger, so you may think the answer is content marketing.

And that’s correct, but it’s only part of the story. The road to natural authority is a bit more complicated than just “share consistently good content.”

Of course, you need to create helpful content marketing articles and podcasts and publish them over time. You need to optimize your work so it gets found. And you’ve got to stay on-topic, so your site becomes known as a resource in a particular field.

But for natural authority to develop, you’ve got to take it a few steps further:

1. Develop a recognizable voice

Content marketing is important, but to build authority, you need to create content that’s remarkable. Because — as we all know — there’s a lot of content out there. You can’t churn out average stuff and expect it to work for your business.

Content that’s remarkable speaks with a recognizable voice. It has character and personality.

Remarkable content doesn’t sound like any other content out there because the writer’s voice shines through.

Developing a recognizable writing voice is tricky, but doable. It’s a matter of pinpointing the sweet spot where your audience’s needs overlap with your areas of expertise and the topics you’re passionate about.

2. Don’t be an information factory

You can always tell when someone wrote content to meet a due date or hit a word count. Their writing is dull. It may feature good information, but it’s delivered with little enthusiasm and no passion at all.

Natural authority is born from carefully crafted content that positions your business as an enthusiastic mentor or coach.

Your readers feel a connection with the content. It doesn’t just shovel information toward them — it entices them with sparkling copy that answers their questions as a likable, knowledgeable guide would.

3. Make your content easy on the eyes

Maybe you write with persistence, passion, and purpose. But if people skip over your words because they look too daunting to read, why bother writing them?

Making your content easy on the eyes means starting with a beautiful website theme. And then it means spending some extra time formatting your content for readability. It means incorporating images into the mix.

Taking extra care with the visual presentation of your words will help your content rise to the top.

Your information won’t just sound helpful and friendly — it will look it, too.

4. Develop a recognizable brand

When your brand stands out, this helps build your authority, too. Brands consist of two primary elements:

• Your verbal brand: your business name, tagline, copywriting, content marketing, sales pages, and more
• Your visual brand: your colors, fonts, site design, button style, image style, and more

When these two elements complement one another, and you implement them diligently over time, your natural authority will begin to form.