Establishing authority is a powerful marketing tool

Establishing authority for a company within their chosen market sector is not only a powerful marketing tool but is rewarded by Google thanks to relevant links into the company web site by others who acknowledge this authority. When we talk about a company establishing the 'moral high ground' it is about becoming recognised experts in their field and building trust in what they say. Rather than merely claim leadership and expertise such a business will earn this position through third party testimonials, referrals and citations by others. What other people say about your company helps build this authority. Research has shown that people have a deep seated sense of duty towards authority and people in authority such as those marked out by wearing uniform, or doctors in white coats. One company I worked for leveraged their whole research facilities as a front line marketing tool. Everyone working in the laboratories wore crisp white lab coats so they were perceived as scientists, Phd graduates were hired and their name and qualifications prominently displayed on the door to their offices, scientific displays were set up around the facility - a subtle mix of  the Science Museum and Disney. There was little doubt that a tour of the facility was impressive and established the expertise of the company. The company were also active in industry committees, presenting conference papers, publishing research, patents, standards, codes of practice and much more. People turned to that company for advice as a perceived authority. Buying products followed on, after all they were the result of all that research and standardisation work so could be trusted and if there was a problem, well there was a wealth of expertise that could be called on.  Today a web site gives less resourced company's an opportunity to similarly build authority, but through content rich web sites. This is a subject we will return to in a future blog that will discuss aspects of creating and maintaining compelling content. As the trend to rewarding updated content by search engines favours blogs and news an integrated PR campaign is just one of the important marketing tools to utilise.