Question: what is a thought leader? Well, it’s a marketing buzzword for someone whose thoughts and opinions on a particular subject are highly respected.
That being so, how can a brand become a thought leader? Same way, really. This just means that your brand is seen as being an influential authority within your niche.
Next question: how does one become a thought leader, and more specifically, how can you impress upon the public that your brand is a thought leader?
You’re going to need a presence like never before, both offline and online (check out this site for help with social media publishing). This doesn’t just mean one or two yearly blogs about industry news. No one is going to pay a blind bit of attention to the odd rant or re-hashed news item. You need to love your topic. You need to BE your topic. I know, I know. That’s all sounding a bit wishy-washy. So, let’s get into it.
Love it – but only if you really mean it
As the old saying goes, if you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made. Authenticity is hard to prove because real authenticity doesn’t require proof. You believe a tree is a tree because it’s big and made of wood and has branches and leaves.
If you stand in front of your audience and attempt to pass poorly-rehearsed of out of date comments on your industry, the people who walk the walk and talk the talk every day will spot you for the horse painted like a zebra that you are. Love your industry and learn about it until your knowledge has no gaps. Only then will people begin to believe that you might just be the thought leader they’ve been waiting for.
Networking & output
Networking is done in person and across social media.
There’s no quick fix, but we can take the good advice of business coach and all-round thought leader Gary Vaynerchuk (usually known online as Gary V), who recommends responding to each and every comment your business receives.
Time consuming? Perhaps. But being on first names terms with literally hundreds and if not thousands of customers/clients is a sure-fire way to gain connections and build trust.
Next, once you have an audience – no matter how small – you have to give your fans something to be fanatical over. And that means output. A lot of output. Later in your career, you can switch gears to a singular yearly on-stage appearance a la Steve Jobs and still be considered number one, but for now, you need blogs, you needs videos, you need social media posts, you need to attend events, and you need print media just as much as you need digital PR.
Becoming a thought leader isn’t easy, but if you love your industry, you and your company can become the main source of opinion with the right plan.
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