How to become a Thought Leader: getting started
By Michael Feeley, Editorial Content Manager
If you are a senior business executive, there are a number of good reasons why you should be developing thought leadership or ‘opinion’ pieces of your own.
Thought leadership pieces consistently perform well when measured against other types of branded content. This type of ‘opinion’ content can continue to pick up clicks and gain attention long after its initial publication, whereas branded surveys or news releases will age almost instantly.
We all tend to go through our careers without ever stopping to think about the huge amount of knowledge and expertise we’ve accumulated along the way. As a subject matter expert in your field, you can leverage your specialist knowledge in the form of thought leadership. This is also a chance to discuss your work in detail with a genuinely engaged and interested audience - something that probably doesn’t happen very often!
However, in the age of AI-generated content, thought leadership pieces require authenticity to cut through the noise of the marketplace. That means specific industry knowledge and real-world, market-based expertise. That means you being directly involved in the content your PR team is creating.
What exactly is ‘thought leadership’ anyway?
Thought leadership essentially means that you’re offering to do the thinking around an issue on behalf of others, thereby creating value for the reader.
We’re all so busy day-to-day that we often spend our time reacting to the latest unfolding drama rather than contemplating the state of our industry. ‘Thinking time’ is absolutely invaluable but something we rarely give ourselves the space to do.
To organise your own thoughts into a rational and coherent argument can often be enough to put you ahead of the game on any given subject and give you a genuine competitive advantage. A basic walk-through of a topic is often enough to be a ‘leader’ in the eyes of your audience. You don’t need to be the first person on the scene to discuss the topic. Think ‘leader’ as in a ‘tour guide’ around a subject rather than being ‘first place in a race’.
Where do the content ideas come from?
Quite simply, good content ideas are drawn from the world around us. From the thoughts and reactions you naturally have every day. The key is training yourself to recognise and capture the valuable thoughts and ideas whenever they arise, e.g.
Conversations with colleagues – this will be your main spawning ground for content ideas – e.g. team meetings – have someone note the conversations and points of natural interest that come up between the actions that make it into the minutes. What issues are you and your colleagues discussing at the moment?
Customer interactions and feedback – are certain questions or requests coming up more than others? Could a certain piece of content help to answer or respond to these requests?
Industry press and online media – if you currently make no time to review your trade media online, even if it’s just a quick scan of the headlines, try to – even for 15 minutes a week. Many trade titles issue e-newsletters with their main stories directly to your inbox. Subscribe to those. It’s useful to be in touch with the conversations taking place across your industry and the trends that may be just around the corner.
Industry trends – Noting the direction of travel in your industry and speculating on the possible outcomes, based on your real-world experience, is always popular with editors.
World and market events – Consumer trends, industry regulation, technological disruption, etc.
Competitor activity – keep an eye on what your competitors are up to but don’t knee-jerk and rush out poor content or simply try to emulate what other people are doing to chase search traffic.
Online and social analytics… these provide up-to-date pointers to audience interests.
This is the key…
Capture the nugget of the idea – just one or two lines. That’s all we need to get started. This is honestly the hardest part. Don’t let the idea be lost and disappear into the ether. Write it down in a set place, a special notebook you keep specifically for your thought leadership ideas.
Next time, we’ll look at how to develop your ideas and get your thoughts down on paper…