Your mates at the water cooler mentioned the term. It was bandied about at the recent conference too. It is not only popping up in your blog feed with increasing frequency, but heck, is even in the news. Here are five good reasons why you should stop ignoring and start capitalizing on Thought Leadership.
One: Because you target audience is becoming more and more discerning.
Put yourself in your client’s shoes. With a finite number of hours and an uncomfortably large pile of messages, emails and blogs to sift through, how would you select what to read? Reputation wins hands down. You would choose to read a message from a CRM expert rather than focus on a non-descript CRM pitch, wouldn’t you? Do not shy away from exhibiting your expertise. Your target audience would love to know that you are dependable.
Two: Because content alone cannot hook your audience.
Compelling content will definitely get eyeballs. But content authored by a Thought Leader will garner even more views. To become a Thought Leader you need to look beyond content to creating platforms and programs that will help showcase your leadership in your industry. A third-person perspective can be very helpful in shaping your thought leadership strategy. The right partner can help sculpt your value proposition, define your strengths and collaborate with you to put together a plan to establish you as an industry expert.
Three: Because pushing through the last mile is critical to lead conversion.
While lead generation is tricky, converting those leads into actual business deals is challenging. The prospective client needs that extra bit of convincing, that extra dollop of confidence to transition from, “This is interesting” to, “This is vital for my business”. And there is no better way to generate that confidence than by sharing your expertise via dialogues through meaningful content, not only in words but also programs and initiatives that showcase your expertise.
Four: Because you cannot let your reputation be shaped by foreign elements.
You know who you are. Do your clients too? Is your public identity fair to you? Is your reputation in sync with your current reality? Can you afford to let your image be hijacked by a stray comment, an unhappy customer or an unfortunate mishap? In this age of Tweets and Updates and Hashtags where trends are shaped in minutes, you need to be in the driver’s seat as far as your reputation is concerned. Catch hold of the bull by its horns by being proactive and reaching out to your audience through forums and initiatives that build your reputation.
Five: Because we all crave for the human element.
Yes, it is a cut-throat business landscape defined by margins, profits, deductibles and so on so forth. But behind this web of statistics are human beings. People who want to know who you are, what you do and what makes you unique. And most importantly, can you be trusted? As Martha E. Mangelsdorf explains in The Human Side of Business, when it comes to the big picture all business boils down to the people involved. Trust becomes even more important in a cross cultural context, where partners hailing from different geographies may not share their assumptions about how business is conducted. Bridging this cultural gap is only possible by fostering trust through continuous dialogue. A successful dialogue, then, would be that which successfully conveys your leadership in your industry through Thought Leadership.
In today’s highly competitive landscape Thought Leadership is a powerful differentiator when harnessed correctly. What is your opinion on the importance of Thought Leadership in your industry? Do share!
Written by Karthik Nagendra, Founder & Director of ThoughtLeaders. With more than a decade of core marketing experience with prime focus on brand positioning, communication strategy, executive communication & thought leadership marketing, Karthik & his team help businesses transform from sellers to influencers by helping them unearth their 'big idea' and thus brand them as experts in their field. He has authored papers & articles on thought leadership marketing in international journals & has been a guest speaker at the Wharton Business School, UCLA, Duke University among other Ivy league Universities globally.