You can’t turn on the television any time of day or night and not see one expert or another pontificating about their particular subject matter. Where do the news and talk shows find someone who knows everything about, say, Louisiana-area sharks or the impact of Japanese youths’ cellphone preferences on the world economy?
Not one to be left behind, I decided not only to answer this question for myself—but to become an expert in my own right. In fact, in keeping with this month’s blogging theme “What are you learning now?” I thought it both timely and informative to share my secrets regarding how one goes about developing and cultivating what I refer to as “extreme knowledge.”
In my case, I have become one of (being modest!) the top experts in the world on marketing to women 50+ online. My expertise regarding Boomer women traces back to the beginning of my career as an author and public relations professional, specializing in helping products and services market to the Boomer generation back when we were in our 20’s and 30’s and so on. You could say that I didn’t so much learn how to market to the Boomer generation. Rather, I pretty much grew into and up with this knowledge. Intuiting what makes my generation tick was literally built into my DNA.
But learning about how to market to women 50+ online? That is a subject matter as new to me as is the phenomenon of women 50+ being online, in the first place. Of course, I knew women were emailing, texting and even Skyping. But until I was tapped to provide senior-level strategy for the leading website for women 50+, VibrantNation.com a couple of years ago, I had no idea how web-savvy my peers had become.
I was already getting calls to provide expertise on the subject before I, myself, had become fully-versed on how to use Linked-In and join fan lists on Facebook. I know now—but found that I could speak intelligently—and accurately—about the phenomenon before I had mastered it myself.
So how does one become an instant expert?
1. Pick the smallest micro-niche you can find related to your general area of knowledge to master, and then learn everything you can about it as quickly as possible.
2. Once you’ve identified the boundaries of knowledge, build from there. In my case, it helps that I have access to a scientifically-valid sample of the population to be able to refer authoritatively to when asked. But anybody can retain a research firm or sponsor a study.
3. It helps if you have a Ph.D. in just about any subject. Trust me, people will listen. Exercise physiologists with doctorates get away with offering parenting advice and authors whose Ph.D.’s’ are in transcendental meditation write best-sellers on dating….so go figure.
4. Write a book on the subject.
5. Go for it. Best of luck. And see you on CNN!
