How does thought leadership drive profitable business relationships?

Find out how your business can benefit from adopting a thought leadership marketing strategy.

The term thought leadership has become increasingly common lately, especially in marketing circles so first we’re going to take a look at what the phrase “thought leadership marketing” means.

Thought leaders are people or companies that are recognized for their enhanced level of expertise in their industry and their influence on the development of their discipline.  In fact, they are experts on their subject and this expertise leads to them influencing others in their purchasing decisions.  Thought Leadership Marketing (TLM) is the process of increasing the reach of that expertise and accelerating market influence to attain marketing goals like building brand authority and generating new business.

We’re living in the age of the customer in which value is not just derived from your products or services, but from the experience you offer to your customers as they interact with your company.  This leads us to look at how we can integrate thought leadership into content marketing by bringing a new perspective to common problems and anticipating the emerging trends within our industry.  We need to find ways to share our insights and directly integrate thought leadership into content.

The first approach is to work directly with people, interacting with clients, colleagues, students and those attending industry events to demonstrate expertise in a specific field.  The interactions will need to be sufficiently substantial to allow people to experience the thought leader’s expertise.

Publishing a best-selling book on a subject is the epitome of thought-leadership, resulting in the author becoming a “go-to” expert on that subject.  However, articles in trade publications, white papers, executive guides and blog how-to’s are all valuable resources that you can share to reach a wider audience in your industry and enhance your reputation as a thought leader in your field.

Public speaking is another method of demonstrating thought leadership and creating new business leads.  Live speaking, especially at industry events is a great way of connecting with other movers and shakers in the industry, answering audience questions and forging new bonds.

Sharing your thought leadership needs to be done across a range of channels with both online and offline marketing techniques:

Thought leadership marketing can benefit your business and bring an enhanced level of brand authority which will drive growth and profitability. Moreover, if you make this a primary marketing strategy, you’ll attract the best talent along with increased market opportunities.

If you need help with developing your thought leadership marketing strategy, then why not get in touch and benefit from the thought leadership of one of our digital marketing industry experts?

Richard Coen

With over 21 years of experience in Digital Marketing, 31 years in sales and 25 years in business development, Richard assists companies to develop key growth strategies on a local or international basis. He can assist marketers to achieve balance in their approach to key areas affected by the growth in digital marketing.