From Benefits Selling, June 2006:
Suzanne Bates, president 
and CEO of Bates Communications, offers the following tips on how to set yourself apart from a plethora of others in your field.
Write a book. This is the quickest way to be considered an expert in your field: "You have instant credibility," she says. It’s third-party validation of your expertise. Place the book or article on chairs at a seminar and before you’ve even started, the audience has an idea of our background in the field.
Become a public speaker. Learning to become a phenomenal public speaker makes all the difference. Reading books on speaking, getting a coach or going to a public speaking class are all methods recommended by Bates.
Online newsletters. Bates has a monthly newsletter and she finds it’s a great way to stay in touch with clients. She suggests making the newsletters "information-rich and not salesy. People get a lot of e-mail, but they will read it if the information is valuable." She often uses information from presentations in her newsletters. This further cements you as "the voice of leadership."
