Becoming a Thought Leader
By Heather C. Conover
Conover + Company Communications
Small companies lacking the resources to spend on an integrated
marketing campaign often find it difficult to compete with their larger,
deep-pocketed competitors. How can leaders of companies with limited
resources to spend on marketing raise their visibility and reputation
among their target audiences of potential and current customers, current
and prospective employees, and influencers? One excellent way is by
carefully identifying those target audiences and becoming a recognized
authority, or thought leader.
According to Wikipedia, a thought leader describes a person who is
recognized among his or her peers for innovative ideas and demonstrates
the confidence to promote those ideas.
How does one accomplish this? Here are two things to do to start down
the path of becoming a thought leader:
- Write articles, white papers, and case studies that provide
information about a particular problem or need within your industry and
that provide solutions and useful information for current and potential
customers. These should not be sales pitches or self-promotional, but
rather informative, helpful, and illustrative of your knowledge of the
industry. Many industry publications or area business publications
accept authored articles. Check with the editor first and discuss (by
phone or email) your idea with him or her. The editor will typically
provide useful guidance for your article based on his or her knowledge
of the publication’s subscribers. Post articles, white papers, and case
studies on your website; hand them out at meetings and conferences; and
email or mail them to your customers, prospects, and others that would
be interested in the information.
- Speak at conferences, trade shows, and meetings that will put you
in front of your target audience. You probably already belong to a
couple or more of these groups and know about others that you’d like to
join if you had the time and/or money. Look at the groups’ past speakers
and topics and suggest a subject about which you’re confident the
groups’ members would be interested. Remember, this is not a forum for
shamelessly pitching your product or service, but rather an opportunity
to provide solutions to problems plaguing the industry, discuss trends
that will have an impact on the industry, and/or share insights and
knowledge that will be helpful to those in the audience.
Becoming a thought leader won’t take place overnight. The effort will
take time, commitment, and … thought.
Next issue: More on becoming (and
staying) a thought leader.
Winter 2006 -Volume 17, Number 1 |