Imagine that you've been elected mayor of your hometown.
The first day on the job, you walk around Town Hall, and everyone greets you by your new title. "Hello, Mayor." It feels weird and uncomfortable. You know you're the same person you were yesterday, but everyone else thinks you're the mayor.
Author Josh Shipp came up with a great phrase for this: he calls it "pulling a mayor." How do you grow into leadership roles? You act like a leader. Even if you are the mayor, you have to pretend you're the mayor until it feels natural.
Even if it's your very first blog post, your attitude with content marketing should be, "We own this space. We have the most interesting, informed, useful content on the planet. We are masters of our domain."
Many content marketers fall into the trap of looking at their well-funded competitors and saying, "Well obviously, they own our space, and there's no way we can compete. We'll never attain that level of excellence."
If you want to be the mayor, then be the mayor.
This is a mental attitude: "We are publishing the world's best content on this subject. Maybe not now, but eventually we will become the world's foremost authority on this subject. We will own this space."
Act as if you are the content authority, and you will become the content authority. Fake it 'til you make it. Literally ask yourself, "Is this the kind of content a leading company in our space would offer its customers?" Stick with this thought, repeating it day after day, and you will see results.
If you want to be the authority, then be the authority. It really works. Read on.
Next: Choosing great keywords!