Our team of content marketing experts share the three-step approach that every thought leader should use for building respect, credibility and reach within their industry.
When done right, thought leadership can be one of the most powerful brand differentiators for a company to achieve. Not only does it distinguish you among a highly saturated market of competitors, but it allows space to build credibility and authority which are two critical elements for retaining audiences these days.
But what does thought leadership content marketing look like? Is it just taking information from subject matter experts and turning that into digestible bits? Well, partially.
True thought leadership should go beyond expertise because it’s not enough to rely on best practices when solving a problem. Today’s top thought leaders know to defy conventional wisdom and offer insights that are out of the box – maybe even controversial – and bring a new perspective to a long held challenge.
Becoming a pioneer of ideas is one step, but your brand also needs visibility. That’s where our three-step approach to thought leadership marketing comes in so let’s dive in!
- Be Succinct – Any good marketer knows that successful content gets to the point. The more snackable your information is, the more shareable it is. For this reason, social media is an ideal playground for thought leadership to be nurtured but don’t rely on one channel to do all the work for you. Consider your social content to be an introduction or opening statement that leaves the audience asking more questions and continuing the conversation.
- Show Smarts – A good rule of thumb, both in marketing and in life, is that if you don’t have something good to say then don’t say anything at all. It’s a common misbelief that thought leaders need to be a part of the conversation at all times, but when you spread your knowledge too thin, it begins to lose its strength. Instead, focus on the topics that serve your industry and meet the unique challenges of your audiences. Everything else is just noise.
- Then Depart – As stated above, the market is already full of noise so don’t plan on jumping in until you have an exit strategy. This can be a little tricky to determine based on how quickly your particular industry moves, but developing a regular cadence of social posts, speaking engagements, keynotes and guest posts will help keep you top of mind without crowding the conversation.
In short, this three-step approach requires you to put the audience first to build trust. Every good thought leader understands that attention is valuable and finite so every piece of content needs to be authentic, relevant and meet their needs. If you’re looking to build a thought leadership content strategy in 2022 and beyond, then consider working with COHN to see what our integrated team of content marketing experts can do for your brand.
