{"id":1789,"date":"2015-11-25T14:16:06","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T14:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/?p=1789"},"modified":"2015-11-25T14:16:06","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T14:16:06","slug":"4-questions-to-ask-when-thinking-of-thought-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/4-questions-to-ask-when-thinking-of-thought-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Questions to Ask When Thinking of Thought Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"4<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Michael<\/a><\/p>\n
MICHAEL BRENNER<\/div>\n
CONTRIBUTOR<\/div>\n
Head of Strategy for NewsCred<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Image credit: -DiMiTRi- | Flickr<\/a><\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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Far too many people dismiss thought leadership as a buzzword devoid of real substance, which is unfortunate — because it\u2019s not just a buzzword. But, what is it really? When should you consider using it, and how do you balance the talent and experience of your team with the humility and authenticity that today\u2019s audiences demand?<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0How Thought-Leadership Content Can Help Your Company Attract Funding<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start by getting on the same page with these four questions:<\/p>\n

1. What is thought leadership?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

At its core, thought leadership is a type of content marketing<\/a> where you tap into the talent, experience\u00a0and passion inside your business, or from your community, to answer the biggest questions on the minds of your target audience\u00a0on a particular topic.<\/p>\n

The source is not as important as the content. Thought leadership doesn\u2019t mean a big name from a big school, it means you provide the best and deepest answers to your customers\u2019 biggest questions\u00a0in the formats your audience likes to consume them.<\/p>\n

Thought leadership is a key component of content marketing, but it\u2019s important not to fall into the unique-point-of-view trap.\u00a0I have heard more than a few executives delay betting on content marketing by focusing on the unique point of view.\u00a0They say, “There is so much noise in the marketplace. We can only compete if our content is differentiated.”<\/p>\n

Your audience isn\u2019t looking for your content to be differentiated all of the time. They are just looking for the best answers to the questions. Or as Bryan Rhoads at Intel likes to say, \u201cYou have to win the internet every day.\u201d\u00a0Of course you want to differentiate your point of view when it\u2019s appropriate. Differentiate with your visual design. But mostly, differentiate by becoming an authority and by helping your customers with different types of content, every single day.<\/p>\n

We have to be careful with how we use the words thought leadership\u00a0though.Wikipedia<\/a> actually calls it business jargon and defines it as content that is recognized by others as innovative, covering trends and topics that influence an industry.<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a05 Steps to Becoming a Thought Leader in Your Industry<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

2. When should you consider a\u00a0thought leadership approach?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the best ways to establish authority on your topic is to produce deep research on the subject. You have to present a depth of knowledge that no one else has.<\/p>\n

You also have to define all of your customers challenges, and define the best ways to overcome them. Many brands think this is an opportunity to talk about their products and how they are better, but this isn\u2019t an effective approach. As soon as you start promoting yourself, your audience will start to tune out, and you will lose the trust you worked so hard to build.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0What are the benefits of thought leadership?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The benefits of thought leadership start with brand affinity. By communicating thought leadership, you become part of the conversation\u00a0early in the consumer journey. You allow your audience to get to know you.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, thought leadership is one of the outcomes of a solid content strategy. And content is bigger than marketing. Leaders are everywhere. Expose your thought leaders, and you begin the process of becoming a social business —\u00a0real people with real faces talking to real customers and buyers.<\/p>\n

4. How do you\u00a0create thought leadership that drives results?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Identify a topic that is closely associated with your brand. Are you an authority on that topic. A simple Google search can help you answer that question. Often we find that brands are not just competing with their direct competitors.\u00a0You are competing with everyone. Anyone who publishes content in your space is competing for mind\u00a0share and authority.<\/p>\n

You also need to identify the questions your customers are asking. Identify them all, make a list and prioritize them.\u00a0Answer those questions across multiple formats and multiple channels in a way that adds value to your audience. Start with the most important and work your way down the list. Seek to be the best answer to those questions.<\/p>\n

Finally, create your thought leadership content in an engaging way. Viral cat videos and listicles are great, but you shouldn\u2019t dismiss any content types that your audience might be interested in.\u00a0You need to educate them, but we are all human and none of us mind a little humor. Use lots of examples, facts\u00a0and quotes. I love the idea of interviewing customers<\/a> to create content or curating content from other sources while adding your own perspective.<\/p>\n

Your audience is looking for help. Are you willing to give it to them? And tell me, what do you think? What does thought leadership mean to you?<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a06 Reasons Why ‘My Way or the Highway’ Management Doesn’t Work Anymore<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MICHAEL BRENNER CONTRIBUTOR Head of Strategy for NewsCred Image credit: -DiMiTRi- | Flickr November 24, 2015 Far too many people dismiss thought leadership as a buzzword devoid of real substance, which is unfortunate — because it\u2019s not just a buzzword. But, what is it really? When should you consider using it, and how do you … Continue reading 4 Questions to Ask When Thinking of Thought Leadership<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","pmpro-has-access"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4MGMb-sR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1790,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789\/revisions\/1790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}