Interesting post in Tony Blake's forum about people wanting to go into the speaking circuit. I added a comment with something one of my speaking mentors once told me many years ago when I was trying to penetrate the speaking circuit:

"Dont be a speaker. Be an expert who speaks. Don't be an author. Be an expert who writes. Don't be a consultant. Be an expert who consults."

When I started earning my chops in my field, speaking opportunities opened up for me ... Almost as a natural byproduct. And the greater the expertise, the greater the ability to command higher fees, too.

So, my 2 cents: Don't focus on speaking or on how speakers are compensated ... Yet ... But focus on your field of expertise and becoming known as an expert. Once you do, you will magnetically attract speaking opportunities -- and more favorable compensation levels, too.

Now, how does this relate to copywriting?

In copywriting, I think it's the same. I try not to be a copywriter per se. I'd rather be a person who's an expert on copywriting. Above all, a person who knows how to sell. "An expert on selling who writes copy," to paraphrase my mentor.

What do you think?

Interestingly, a subsequent post talked about "experts" who speak, who turned out to be less than sterling -- where their expertise was outdated, or less than expected after touting themselves to be experts in order to attract an audience at the presentation.

To me, I think the same rules apply. One should focus on what they ARE before what they DO.

I've come across so many speakers who were touting themselves to be experts, which may or may not be the case. And that's different than being an expert who speaks. To me, being an expert is first. And that requires constant improvement (self-improvement, too), adaptation and innovation.

For example, being a expert once doesn't mean you are an expert now. But being an expert now may mean that you are a new expert, are constantly renewing yourself as an expert in your field (or improving upon your expertise), or are an expert in the minds of a new, untapped audience/market.

You must constantly improve upon your expertise in order to maintain that position... Or else you will saturate your market, lose credibility or be "leapfrogged" by others.

I know of some "experts" whose expertise may have been based on a one-time deal, a one-time success or a book published way back when. But once they saturated their market, they then started to seek other avenues to "milk" the clout they once had ... Such as the speaking circuit.

You don't necessarily need to embrace the new in order to maintain your position. But as you said, Tedaldi, you do need to adapt, update and renew, or at the very least relate how your expertise fits with the new.

Case in point.

Dan Kennedy spoke at the last System Seminar in Cleveland. Dan's a diehard technophobe (he tells the story of when he first wanted to throw this new thing called an 'electronic typewriter', and then 'fax machine', out the window when he first got them). So, how can Dan speak to an audience of Internet marketers on a subject for which he has a distaste?

Brilliantly, Dan expertly (!) related the power of direct, offline marketing with online marketing. He made the case that the Internet is not a process but a medium, and that traditonal, fundamental principles of direct marketing apply on the web as well... And how one needs to "marry" the two for maximum effectiveness.

Michel,

Wonderful post. And thank you for creating this forum, an incredible resource.

I guess the natural question that comes up...

What defines an expert?

It isn't necessarily experience, as you mentioned several reasons.

It can't necessarily be income - I have seen some real idiots make a bundle using highly unethical tactics, taking advantage of others (at least I wouldn't want to learn from such an "expert").

Is it then CR% results? Well, what if the copywriter has no control over the quality of targeted traffic? This could skew the results of even the best...

This is indeed a slippery subject. But I think you already partially answered it...

A great Indian Master by the name of Ramakrishna said something very similar regarding spiritual stature, "when the flower blossoms, the bees will come".

Another great Indian Master, Paramhansa Yogananda, referring to those that put themselves on spiritual pedestals claiming to be saints said, "those that say they are aren't, and those that say they aren't aren't".

These are spiritual references, but they apply to anything in life. I believe they apply to what you said as well. They apply to what it means to be an expert.

Apart from the results one claims to have achieved, I think something happens that intuitively lets others know that they are in the presence of an expert. At times, words aren't even necessary - sometimes they do more harm than good!

An expert does not have to prove him or herself, they live and breath the reality, and know that they can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

This can come about through hard work, but I think it is more of a gift, and the more we recognize that it is a gift, the more humble we become...

...and strangely enough, the more powerful our gift becomes as a result.

My own 2 cents.

Tim

An expert is someone doing well in a niche or industry. It's not based on education or experience. But on results.

If education and experience help generate those results, then great. But one way to achieve results is not necessarily in terms of numbers or facts but in terms of perception.

For example, one of the best ways to become known as an expert -- remember, I said to "become known" as one and not the "be" one -- is explained in my book, Power Positioning (see http://successdoctor.com/pp/ ).

Ideally, niche marketing is one ingredient, and to be the first in that niche. Even if it's narrow. Be the first and not the best, in other words. When you're: 1) a niche marketer, 2) the first to cater to that niche and 3) known as the first (being first in the mind, that is), you become an expert by default.

If you offer a customary service or if your competition offers the same thing you do, catering to a niche helps to project an aura of uniqueness and superiority instantaneously by virtue of the fact that it doesn't appear as customary. Rather than copying your competition, you isolate yourself from them. You differentiate instead of duplicate.

Or as Earl Nightingale said, "Don't copy, create!"

Here's a partial reprint from the book...

For instance, if you required brain surgery, would you choose a dentist? Would you choose a general, medical practitioner, even a general surgeon? Not really. You would probably choose a neurosurgeon.

It's the same thing for other products. If you owned an imported car that needed new brakes, would you choose any general mechanic? Or would you choose one that not only specializes in brakes but also specializes in imported cars?

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, as expertise is in the eyes of the niche. Specialization is in itself a marketing process that, as a byproduct, generates the perception of expertise. It's amazingly effective in creating "top-of-mind" awareness among a specific target market.

For instance, an accountant specializing in car dealerships will acquire more clients than a general accountant will. An advertising salesperson specializing in home furnishing stores will sell more advertisements than a typical advertising agent will. A photographer specializing in weddings will get more bookings than a regular photographer will. Ad infinitum.

As more businesses get started, and the more inundated with marketing messages our society becomes, the less time, energy and money people will have to spend in choosing the companies with which they will do business. Thus, specialization helps to solve that problem by projecting an aura of expertise.

Take the mechanic, mentioned earlier. Rarely would you call a general mechanic an "expert mechanic," unless she has invested a considerable amount of resources in branding herself that way, or in educating herself deeply in the world of mechanics, backed by many, many years of experience. On the other hand, it would be easy to dub a mechanic -- even a new one -- that specializes in imported car brakes as an "expert mechanic."

Similarly, by finding and dominating a niche, you can become an expert by default -- not by design. In other words, you became an expert by being unique, and not by being educated or experienced.