Do Experts Exist Anymore?
We rely pretty heavily on our years of experience. Not just in our client work, but for self-promotion. Why hire us over any other branding agency? They're a dime a dozen, especially with such a broad positioning as "branding." The answer almost every time is because of our expertise.Recently a Hader (inside joke) sent us an email tearing down the approach we took on the TIV website and billboard. He gave us advice on how to use a call to action, how our logo wasn't even really a logo (he said it was just a font), and he told us that we needed to stop claiming to be experts. He said if we were experts we wouldn't need to point it out.The thing that really struck me about this email was the comment about experts. By speaking to us as though he had enough expertise to tell a branding and marketing agency how to do what they specialize in, wasn't he contradicting himself? And it made me think, "Do experts exist anymore?"Obviously, experts exist. There are individuals who have spent their entire lives learning, studying, writing, developing theories and inventing solutions that prove there are experts at the highest level. The question is, are there too many self-proclaimed experts? And have they changed the meaning of the word?At TIV Branding we call ourselves experts because each of our partners has 15 or 20+ years of experience in our own specialized field. I've had a freelance company since 1998. And we use the word "expert" with the utmost respect as well as a disclaimer that explains how uncomfortable we feel saying we're experts. It feels both braggy and it makes it sound as though we have nothing left to learn. If you know us, you know neither are true.There used to be an "expert filter" in place. If you felt as though you had something valuable to say to the world, you used to have to convince a publishing company to put your work in print...or a magazine to publish your article. Now you can just blog. And if enough people read what you're saying they may listen to you as though you're an expert. Heck, maybe you are. I would argue that this is a good thing...that it gives people a voice that they otherwise wouldn't have.But it dilutes things as well. There's no such thing as fact-checking on most blogs, just opinions. People say it because they think it and people believe it because they read it. And as a result everything people read online, even if presented by an expert, should be considered with a certain level of disbelief.With that in mind, maybe our friend who wrote that email had a point. Maybe the word "expert" needs to be reserved for people with advanced degrees. Or maybe people need to realize that even in a Yelp world, their opinion isn't necessarily the truth. Maybe the voice we've all been given and the power that comes along with that voice needs to be considered before we yell our opinions out into the world as if they're facts.And our friend should also take a look at the FedEx or Sony logos. Or almost any fashion logo. Just a font. Ha!
Brandt Hoekenga is the Co-CEO and Creative Director for TIV Branding
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TIV Branding is a boutique branding firm in Sonoma County, California. We specialize in building brands by using traditional, social and digital channels in unison. If you would like to discuss a project or find out more about how we do what we do, please email us at info@TIVbranding.com.