From Scale Digital, I work as a freelance marketer for not the largest companies in the Netherlands. Mostly startups and scale-ups, to use those terms. And during exploratory conversations, thought leadership is often discussed. I believe that this is the highest achievable, when we talk about strategy. In fact: I want every company I work for to adopt this strategy. But precisely because I have those conversations with companies that still have to fight their way to the top, it seems as if they must dread the market.
“It’s not that I don’t believe in it. But aren’t we much too small for that?”
– “Too small for what? To know best what the customer in your market wants?”
“But in our market there is no one who claims such a status, the market is far too big for that.”
– “Great. Then there is a great opportunity for the taking.”
Thought leadership (there is simply no nice Dutch translation for it, sorry) is not, in my opinion, exclusively reserved for the largest companies. That the term was invented and claimed by such companies is something else. But precisely these companies that have become so enormous no longer always think from the perspective of the customer. Or they can no longer do that. The departments are too large, the processes too long and the decisions to be made too many. And that automatically means that thought leadership is a possibility for everyone - also for the young company I am talking to above.
Personal branding vs. thought leadership
In this case I am talking about companies in relation to thought leadership. But what about personal branding? Aren't people often described as thought leaders ?
That's right. In this article I will leave that out of consideration because I find it so interesting how this can be presented from a company's perspective. Especially because people are 'just' people. If this person operates from your company and works on thought leadership on a personal level, this will have a positive influence on the company to a certain extent. But then it is also temporary, unless you believe that someone will remain connected to the same company forever. That does not mean that thought leadership is uninteresting on a personal level. In fact, it is very interesting. But not what I want to discuss today.
“If you say this is possible for my company, please explain to me how.”
Fair enough. And that's not as hard as you might think. Thought leadership is about having a vision. It's about having accurate and up-to-date information that the customer is asking for now and in the future.
So that has nothing to do with the size of your company. It has to do with knowledge and a deep understanding of the needs of customers. What do they want to know? Why do they want to know? And how are they going to find out?
If you can answer those three questions, that is already the basis for a strategy. And the answer is usually hidden in plain sight: quality content and its distribution.
Thought leadership is about having accurate and up-to-date information that the customer is asking for now and in the future.
Also read: Thought leadership: the path to your #killerbusiness
Content, SEO and the different channels
As mentioned, thought leadership is about having a clear vision and understanding the customer. When those two things come together, we have content. Content. And it is important not to think philippines mobile number list too small. Your company is not causing a change in the market for nothing. You are doing something good in the eyes of the public. You have a vision that was conceived from those customers and you fully support it. Use that to think a lot bigger and not to dread the market, but to continue completely on your own strength - exactly as you started.
Of course, it is necessary to shape this strategy in detail. Elements such as the content forms, the channels used for distribution, how PR can contribute to this, and so on, are included. In this way, thought leadership does not only become a marketing strategy, but also an essential strategy for SEO. This is because they are all directly related.
I have used thought leadership as the main SEO strategy in several projects, because it is actually the same as the authority that search engines are looking for: good, strong content that is written from accurate knowledge, current or even focused on the future, and with a clear interaction from the readers as a result.
“Well, from now on I'm going to claim thought leadership.”
Of course it is not that simple. Nor is it my intention to say that it is simple.
My point is to say that it is possible. For everyone.