Ever wonder how people you never heard of suddenly become the “it” people in your industry? Or how that foolish fellow you went to high school with is suddenly cited as an authority on Internet transactions?
Sure, there’s hard work and labor behind achievements. But what can truly make the difference between a nonentity and a respected authority is thought leadership. People want to buy from companies they feel comfortable with, that they know and trust, especially when it comes to more pricey purchases. Are you going to spend a lot of money to buy a pricey electronics gizmo from a no-name company or one with an established name you’ve bought from before?
If you’re like most people, you’ll buy from the known entity. A key to getting people to become comfortable buying from you is to become a thought leader in your industry. Underscore the word industry. You don’t need to be an expert about everything. You do need to know something about your niche, and no doubt you already do.
Here are 12 ways to help you obtain thought leadership stature.
1. Address your customers’ concerns
What problems do your customers want you to solve? How can you best address those issues through content and demonstrate your expertise?
2. Go where your customer is
Don’t limit yourself to a blog post. Tweet about it. Create a video mentioning a few key points from the blog post. Post in social media channels.
3. Curate content
Provide a quick synopsis of articles in your industry — a paragraph is fine. People won’t remember that you didn’t author the articles, but they will appreciate that you shared the articles. And by extension, credit you with the actual author’s expertise.
4. Don’t forget email
Email can be nearly 40 times more effective than Twitter and Facebook combined. An easy way to write an email is to summarize one of your recent blog posts. Include a call to action with a link to it.
5. Write for trade publications in your industry
Trade media seek content written by industry experts, especially if the content is not self-promotional. If you’re not a writer, hire a student or freelancer to help.
6. Don’t forget to meet and greet
Speaking is a great way to get in front of a captive audience eager to learn. Seek out opportunities to speak at trade shows by suggesting great content you can present.
7. Get quoted by the media
Familiarize yourself with reporters covering your industry. Get to know their work and comment on it in social media. Provide helpful insights into your industry to journalists.
8. Get your happy clients to shine the spotlight on you
Nothing beats a satisfied customer telling your story, which is why smart companies include client testimonials on their sites, even if the customer wants to remain anonymous. If you can name your customer, even better.
9. Shine in the reflected light of a better-known partner
Do some joint PR with your partner where you can use your partner’s visibility and credibility to expand your own.
10. Create news
One effective way to generate news is to do a survey on a topic of interest to your audience. Issue a report with the key findings along with a press release summarizing the findings and linking to a landing page.
11. Get to know influencers
The adage, birds of a feather flock together, applies to thought leadership. Engage with other thought leaders online via social media and blogs. Comment on and share their posts. As you deepen the association, you will eventually be thought of as a thought leader yourself.
12. Create compelling content
Share your content on your website, SlideShare, social media and email. The site is gradually opening its platform for original content to all its members. Obviously, you will need to create super content if you want your content to stand out among the bounty of content.
No comments:
Post a Comment