Marketing leaders, take note: While your company’s executives may not have the desire or energy to become the next Neil Patel, Gary V., or Ann Handley, they can still elevate their platforms by investing just a small amount of time in thought leadership each week—or even each month. By collaborating with a content team that handles pitching, outlining, and execution for you, your executives can simply green light ideas and drafts. The result? Top-notch thought leadership content without the effort.
Understanding the value of thought leadership
No matter how good your business’s online presence is, competing with content posted by real people is challenging. Audiences grow tired of corporate content. Even when your social or blog posts aren’t overtly salesy, readers can struggle to connect with branded messaging. By elevating a leader within your business with first-hand perspective, you can generate more engagement and overcome the disconnect between people and businesses online.
Lived insights and information resonate with audiences. This is why Google recently added “experience” to its search rater guidelines. In the age of AI, information isn’t valuable, but context and nuance are at a premium. Demonstrating your brand’s experience through the first-hand perspectives of your team is an excellent way to improve your search ranking and capture traffic in the AI era.
Beyond boosting engagement, thought leadership can introduce new audiences to your brand. Thought leaders are, in a way, influencers who connect with people through social media, email, and other forms of media. When new prospects come across your thought leader’s content, your brand name spreads.
Finally, thought leadership provides an avenue to educate wide audiences about your product or service, especially if your offering is new, innovative, or technical. One of our clients uses thought leadership to help educate the public about the benefits of new, memorable domain names. The thought leadership articles we produce help them sustain credibility, engage diverse audiences, and educate buyers on emerging trends. The same can apply to your brand.
How to select a thought leader
When thinking about a thought leader within your organization, look for someone who has ample experience to bring credibility and legitimacy to your brand. What areas of expertise and first-hand insights can they bring to the table? Ideally, their expertise will align with the topics your audience is interested in. The content they share doesn’t have to directly concern your brand, but it should be tangential to your mission.
For instance, Sarah Blakely, the founder and part-owner of Spanx, doesn’t use her social media platform to talk about shapewear. She posts about entrepreneurship, positivity, and women’s empowerment instead. By discussing topics that transcend her company, she makes herself more interesting to audiences—staying relevant without sacrificing the connection between her product and her platform.
Choosing thought leadership content
Now that you know what exactly thought leadership is and who should serve as a thought leader, it’s time to choose the kind of content you should request from your copywriting team. Here are a few popular varieties:
- Articles: Publications like Forbes Leadership Council and Inc. Masters offer thought leaders the opportunity to reach a larger audience than they could otherwise. Consider whether one of these pay-to-play outlets would be a good fit for your brand. You could also look into the possibility of writing op-eds for digital newspapers and magazines.
- Social media content: Social media is, of course, one of the best places to build a following online. When your audience interacts with your posts, people in their network will be able to see that engagement, creating a ripple effect. LinkedIn is well-suited for thought leadership posts, but don’t forget about Instagram Reels or YouTube if you have the resources to produce videos.
- Newsletters: Whether it’s a featured blurb in the company email or a separate Substack, newsletters can help you gain a loyal following online. Relying on your content team for ideas and drafts can help you maintain a regular cadence.
- Podcasts: There’s some truth in the cliche that there’s a podcast for everything these days. From startup investing to emerging healthcare technology, you’re bound to find a podcast that lines up with your thought leader’s interests and expertise. See if they can be a featured guest, and use the opportunity to connect with the podcast’s existing audience. Beforehand, meet with your content team to discuss potential talking points to work into the conversation.
- Events: Live speaking opportunities offer an excellent way to get your thought leaders in front of a new audience. Regardless of your industry or specialty, there’s bound to be an upcoming virtual or in-person conference where your thought leader can speak. Most events offer applications for speaking opportunities on their website. Work with your content team to decide on a suitable topic and, if your team is offered the speaking engagement, have them draft a script.
Turning opportunities into action
Thought leadership provides an excellent opportunity to provide more value to your customers and connect with them on a deeper level. Beyond that, thought leadership can help your brand educate your audience about the importance of your product, service, or mission.
At MarketSmiths, we’ve helped brands grow their executive team’s platforms through timely, engaging thought leadership content. If you need a hand generating ideas or creating content, give our expert writers and content strategists a call.
