Thought leadership Inspires Action
Thought leadership is the ability to provide fresh perspectives, innovating ideas that can inspire action.
There’s a lot of talk about how companies need to adapt their strategies to meet the demands of the ever-changing digital landscape. But there are other ways to stay competitive as well — one way is by developing a leadership image for your brand that inspires trust within your customers and employees.
Being seen as a trusted advisor makes it easier for people, both inside and outside your company, to follow your lead.
Although receiving a bad rap in the past, thought leadership is more critical today than ever before. Those organizations who know they should market their thought leaders but do not, run the risk of competitors stealing their thunder.
The rise of multinational companies, and the globalization of markets, have meant that the world is now a much smaller place. A company that wins in this competitive landscape will find new opportunities faster than competitors since they will have a better understanding of the global market.
To stay relevant in today’s globalized markets, thought leadership is a must and involves embracing the power of content to position their executive as an authority on a specific topic.
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Leveraging Intellectual Capital
Thought leadership is the act of leveraging intellectual capital to create value by promoting company thought leadership across multiple channels, including branded content, opinion articles, press releases, interviews, presentations, keynotes and more.
This is further achieved by implementing new ideas, strategies and innovations in to the market, purposely creating content that educates, informs and inspires, and by aligning with like-minded organisations to share ideas and insights.
A vital part of a company’s marketing strategy, thought leaders can be influential in an organization and have an enormous impact on its brand. Using thought leadership in marketing strategy has been around for decades, but over the past few years, it has been exponentially increasing because social media platforms make it easier for people to share their thoughts with other people around the world.
Covering All Bases
Channels include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and others, help generate brand awareness and act as lead generators by carrying thought leadership content. This all helps to build / increase credibility and reputation, creates useful engagement, and be seen as a voice of authority.
By implementing these channels, you can enhance your position as a thought leader and subject expert. More people will visit the company website, increase enquiries, generate opportunities for interaction, including seminars, conferences and be asked to comment on the subject.
This strategy provides your company with an online presence visible to individuals looking for what you provide and is vital for sectors where competition is intense. By becoming the trusted source providing content your audience wants to consume, is the true benchmark of a thought leader.
High Quality Focus Essential
One key factor in becoming a thought leader lies in generating high quality content that resonates with the target audience and can add value to them through education rather than promotion.
There are three principal ways to go about generating quality content:
- by offering your expertise/opinions on industry topics
- by creating educational content that helps customers do their jobs better or moreefficiently
- by providing guidance and other resources that help people solve specific problemsat the moment. EIGHT PR
This should give you a starting point when exploring how to start a thought leadership campaign and, by working with Eight Public Relations, developing the topics and distribution channels in an integrated campaign.
An integrated thought leadership campaign can look like this:
· Securing speaking engagements atconferences and corporate events
· Distributing information to clientsvia enewsletters, webinars, other
· Blog posts
· Tailored social media engagement
· Press releases
· Eight Public Relations believes there is a unique – and untried – knock out opportunity. Contact eight@eightpr.com for a discussion.
Spinning up a high velocity thought leadership campaign takes planning and requires strapping in for the long term. Content gleaned from market research, internal and external data, industry reports, sponsored reports, social listening and other activities all go into developing a comprehensive programme. EIGHT PR
Of course, thought leadership programmes do not need to be overly complicated nor cover multiple channels.
A great opportunity for thought leadership is China’s Greater Bay Area. With a population of 86 million and an area covering nine cities and two Special Administration Areas in the Pearl River Delta, the Greater Bay Area will become a mega economic powerhouse.
The infrastructure to support the Greater Bay Area has been planned, designed, built to ease the flow of goods, encourage investment, generate jobs, and catapult economic benefits to new heights.
Businesses leaders in every single sector can become Greater Bay Area thought leader.
Conclusion
Thought leaders are regarded as authorities by others because of their knowledge or expertise in a specific domain and sought for their opinions on important topics.
Organisations that don’t market their thought leaders are missing out on a vital part of their brand and making themselves vulnerable to competitors.
Do you want to be a thought leader? Thought leadership is about sharing your thoughts and ideas with an audience.
We can help you do that in a way that will get people talking and thinking about the issues you careabout most. You’ll have access to our team in Hong Kong and our network across the Asia Pacific for message amplification.
If you are interested or like a chat about public relations, please contact eight@eightpr.com