These people, in addition to being successful businessmen or women, are also thought leaders – and experts – in their respective industries.
As a marketer it is important to be an expert. You need to build your brand, authority, and reputation by driving traffic to the site and nurturing and converting leads. This is where thought leadership can help.
Let’s take a look at what it is, and how you can use it to improve your marketing. You’ll learn about the types and best examples of content that you could create.
What is thought leadership?
Content marketers can use thought leadership to establish credibility in themselves and their companies. Thought leadership’s main objective is to be recognized as an authority in your industry and become the go-to resource for others. One way to become a leader in your field is by creating and promoting educational and helpful content, and becoming active within the community.
Thought leadership is a strategy that can be used by a person or company to market their content. This will demonstrate your helpfulness as an organization and brand. You’ll be the first person they turn to when looking for a similar product or service.
You’ll generate more leads and improve your social proof if you do it well.
Brian Dean, for example, is considered a leader in SEO. He has proven to be a valuable content marketer by regularly sharing content that relates to his area of expertise. Later, more on him.
How do you integrate thought leadership in your marketing strategy first? We’ll examine the best thought leadership marketing strategies.
Thought Leadership is Marketing
Before you begin, review the best practices for thought leadership.
1. Continue to learn about your target audience.
Thought leadership is no exception. Success in marketing is all about knowing your target audience. Start with the buyer. What inspires and motivates your target audience? What are the pain points of your audience? What are their questions?
You can find out by looking at social media, or conducting customer interviews. You can start answering questions by creating thought leadership content once you have these answers.
It’s also important to constantly check in and evaluate your buyer personas. Are your customer’s questions changing over time? Are their problems the same as when you started your company? Your audience will also evolve as people do.
2. Engage in social media.
The use of social media to promote your authority and brand is a powerful tool. Social media allows you to stay active in your community. You can also use social media to share industry information and make sure your brand is represented in discussions about relevant industry trends.
You can also use social media in a natural way to share thought-leadership content without appearing too promotional.
3. Publicize a wide range of content in different places.
It’s not just about posting to your blog. This includes being active in social media and guest-posting on other websites, as well as speaking at conferences or podcasts.
You should mix up your media, such as podcasts, with other types of media.
In the end, your thought leadership should be available wherever you audience may be.
4. What are your competitors doing?
Analyze what your competitors do to create thought-leadership content. What is their posting frequency? What are their posting locations? Do not be afraid to take inspiration from competitors.
You can look at what you competitors have missed. You might be able to fill in any gaps that they have in their content.
5. Make your content valuable.
You need valuable content to be able to achieve thought leadership. Speak intelligently about specific industry issues to show that you are an industry expert. You should show your knowledge and expertise on one topic at a given time.
It can be difficult to establish yourself as an SEO expert (especially at first), so you could have your director of SEO create content on your blog or LinkedIn that demonstrates your expertise.
6. Be genuine.
Too much promotion will not connect you with your target audience. It’ll likely irritate them. Produce content that’s authentic and true to your brand.
You should also make sure that your content is comprehensible to all, provides a perspective and has market research to support it. This will help your audience form opinions or take decisions. Use of examples, quotes, and facts will help you get your point across.
It’s now time to think about the content that you will want to produce.
Think Leadership:
Content for thought leadership could be in the form of public events, conferences, blogs, podcasts or guest posts. It can also include ebooks or videos. It takes time to create and publish thought leadership content. This is an investment in long-term marketing.
How do you find content to write or talk about?
You could start by doing some keyword research and seeing what questions people ask. Understanding your audience is key to creating content that addresses their concerns.
Keep up with industry news. Are there any urgent issues? Is there a pressing issue in your industry? Address any issues that are being discussed in your field and predict the future.
You can also use articles in formats such as tips, best practices, and how-tos. It’s important to produce long-form educational content your audience will want to read.
It’s now time to dig deep into your strategy.
Thought Leadership Strategy
You’ll need a plan and strategy before you can start thinking about thought leadership.
You can start with this simple, step-by-step guide:
Set SMART Goals. Smart goals are SMART, which stands for specific, measurable and attainable goals that can be achieved in a timely manner. You should have an idea of what you hope to achieve from thought leadership before you start. This could be increased traffic on your website or more leads.
Next, brainstorm content ideas. Consider your personas. Are you creating content that is relevant to your audience? What do they search for or ask on social media sites? Answer these questions in your brainstorming sessions.
Answer questions such as “Who do my customers go to when they need answers?” You’ll also want to talk about the things they don’t do.
Create content and share it. After you decide what type of content you want to produce, you need a personality and a viewpoint. It is important that your content be both easy to read and share.
Step 6: Measuring results Monitor your results to determine if you’ve been successful with your content. Use your SMART objectives to decide what metrics you are tracking.
Think Leadership: Examples
- Oprah Winfrey
- Dave Ramsey
- Seth Godin
- Marie Forleo
- Brian Dean
- Sallie Krawcheck
1. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah, the former media mogul and talk-show host, addressed graduates of USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 2018.
She spoke for a while about the current role of journalism. She told them, “You’ll become the editorial gatekeepers. An ambitious army of truth seekers who are equipped with intelligence, insight, and facts to fight deception. It’s up to you to hold those in charge who criticize real news in check.
Over the years Oprah earned her reputation as an expert in media. Oprah’s expertise and her opinions about the media industry have earned her a reputation as a thought leader.
2. Dave Ramsey
Dave Ramsey is an expert in personal finance. Dave Ramsey is a personal finance expert. He holds a degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Finance and Real Estate. He became a leader in his industry when he produced content, such as hosting a podcast, writing books and doing a radio program.
The Ramsey Show, his podcast is a great example of thought leadership. “He posts new episodes nearly every day, covering topics like personal finance, career development, and leadership.”
Follow him on Twitter for financial advice and tips.
3. Seth Godin
Seth Godin, a former entrepreneur and business mogul has become incredibly successful. Seth Godin has written several books on marketing, leadership, and advertising. The American Marketing Association of New York launched the Marketing Hall of Fame, which includes him. His successful speaking engagements and books as well as his blog made him a leader in the field.
Let’s do a deep-dive on his blog. He writes regularly about marketing and business, among other things. In this post, for example, he discusses the differences between encouragement and reassurance. He states, “Reassurance is always a short-term solution. It implies that you should only move forward if it is certain to succeed. Encouragement is when someone believes that we can succeed. “Even (especially) if things don’t go as planned.”
4. Marie Forleo
Marie Forleo, a life-coach, speaker, writer, and the host of her YouTube channel, is well known for selling and creating online courses, particularly in relation to entrepreneurship. Her expertise in business mentoring made her a leader.
This video, which she has posted on her YouTube Channel, is an example of the thought-leadership content that she produces.
She discusses how she finds new content every week. She shares three ways that her audience can generate ideas for content on their blogs, podcasts, and videos.
5. Brian Dean
Brian Dean, an SEO specialist, is a well-known name in the industry. He decided to start a blog, Backlinko, that would chronicle the lessons learned. He created an online thought-leadership site to increase his credibility.
His long-form material is valuable and educational to his audience. For example, “17 Untapped Ideas to Find New Content Ideas”.
He also makes use of social media for sharing articles and comments on SEO trends.
6. Sallie Krawcheck
Sallie Krawcheck is a finance expert. SheR