What is it?
Thought leadership is a method of marketing that does not focus on telling everyone you’re the best. Instead, thought leadership shows everyone you’re the best. This is done by regularly providing industry-related knowledge. The purpose is to educate your audience, allowing you to become a trusted source for information.
Benefits?
1) Expert Status: Empowering your audience with relevant information will position you as an expert in your field. This helps build trust and increase engagement.
2) SEO: Producing consistent and valuable content = a higher Google ranking. This kicks off an awesome cycle of SEO improvement:
3) Recruitment: Top industry talent will be looking for credible organizations to work for. Thought leadership is a great tool for standing out within your industry and increasing your creditability.
How to?
1) Identify Topics: First, identify what users want or need to know in relation to your industry. Their questions will serve as the foundation of your content. To help determine these topics, try asking yourself what:
• Keywords your audience may be using when searching for answers online
• Problems your products or services solve
2) Plan: Once you have identified your core topics, you can determine how they align with your current marketing strategy. Plan out how and when your core topics will be delivered. Some great channels to consider include:
• Blogging
• Social Media
• Enewsletters
• Videos
• Webinars
• Mailers
To help keep the delivery of your content on track, create a schedule for you and your team! Developing content standards is also a helpful way to provide guidelines and structure for everyone involved in the content creation process.
3) Write & Publish Content: Everything has been leading up to this moment! You are now ready to write your content and display it for the world to see! Some general rules to follow:
• Be authentic
• Deliver value
• Proofread (the more eyes the better)
• Have fun!
If you’re ready to start building a relationship with your target audience and become a go-to source for their information needs, then give thought leadership a try!
