From Pain to Passion
Thought leadership lifts up the voices of people who are helping advance pieces of their industry area rather than focusing on customer pain points. It puts advocacy and passion out into the world by helping thought leaders disseminate ideas that bring improvement to the world, with tools, skills, and channels to magnify their thinking.
Do Ads Work? Yes, But Don’t Squander Attention
Advertising does still make sense, but marketers should think about it holistically. Assuming ads are high quality, well-designed, and include compelling, well-crafted Calls to Action, they can provide an excellent way to get people’s attention. What matters next is how you use that attention? Do you squander it or use it to cultivate trust?
Thought Leadership Challenges Your Whole Strategy
Thought leadership strategy forces you to ask what you can say about yourself that is true, and what you do in the world to make it true. These questions span an entire organization. Answering them and then doing something about them unmistakably requires the input of people empowered to make executive decisions and lead towards change. Including top company leaders in thought leadership strategy discussions takes the best advantage of this transformative opportunity.
The Three Most Powerful Questions
There are three questions that a thought leader must answer in order to create high-impact thought leadership. Answering these before you develop a piece of thought leadership helps you address your topic with power and precision.
Being Part of the Conversation
Some topics become so central to the conversation in a particular industry that it makes sense to have a point of view even if it does not track directly back to specific products or services. Within financial services, those topics include topics such as digital assets; AI and automation; diversity, equity, and inclusion; COVID-19; and ESG. Failing to have a point of view on these can make you seem out of touch.
Tying Thought Leadership to Financial Product Marketing
Although thought leadership is not an appropriate format for marketing product features and benefits directly, there is a way to link thought leadership pieces to a broader product marketing strategy. In other words, thought leadership can accomplish more than brand awareness and help build reputations. Connecting the two strategies can be very effective. You can even design them to reinforce each other.
Is Thought Leadership Just a Buzzword?
From time to time, people will poke a bit of fun at me for using the phrase “thought leadership.” They will point out that it sounds like yet another buzzword, that it is overused or too vague to mean anything. Most of these criticisms are entirely fair. Regardless, I find “thought leadership” to be the best term to use for various reasons.
Give Your Thought Leadership a Post-Launch Boost
Frequently enough, thought leadership campaigns run out of steam after their initial launch. After publishing a report, backing it up with a few social media posts, and a conference panel or two, companies allow thought leadership efforts to falter. Marketing teams go on to their next campaign, and subject matter experts go back to their day-to-day activities. Positioning as a thought leader requires a longer-term strategy, however. Use these tactics to sustain and refresh your efforts.
10 Questions to Transform Thought Leadership Campaigns
Do you want to create truly transformative thought leadership? Develop clear and compelling answers to these ten (deceptively) simple questions.
Avoiding Common Thought Leadership Mistakes
While most of my client conversations focus on positive steps to establish and maintain thought leadership positioning, I also occasionally hear questions or have discussions about what not to do.
Here are some of the most common mistakes and how to avoid them. Always remember, the goal of thought leadership is to stand out and shine rather than blending into mediocrity and chatter.