Thought leadership is a content marketing technique that establishes a person or company as an authority figure in a specific profession or sector. It entails developing and promoting industry-related information and contributing to the ongoing discourse with your customers, prospects, and strategic partners.
By implementing a strong thought leadership strategy, a corporation can be acknowledged as an authority on a specific set of themes, conditions, and industry trends and events. By doing so, you deliver true value to your audience while avoiding the typical self-promotional overtones.
An article anticipating trends for the coming year providing insight and advice on a popular subject in your industry can make you an authority. If any of these are posted on popular question answering sites, it is a good example of thought leadership.
What can thought leadership marketing do for your company?
Results of effective thought leadership are numerous, top on the list are:
- Increase your popularity among your target audience.
- An increased quantity of leads results from prospective clients trusting you and contacting you for help.
- Social proof and engagement increase your relevance as an authority in your industry.
Factors that affect thought leadership’s longevity
Thought leadership encompasses posting solid materials on social media. This is as well as hosting or speaking at events, referrals to your published works, films, and podcasts.
There are, however, 6 pertinent factors to consider in your content creation that will increase your longevity of thought leadership. They are:
Define your objectives and goals.
This is the single most critical piece of content marketing advice you can get, defining your goals. Setting clear, defined goals will give you a solid approach structure and make better use of your time and resources. You may also tie those goals to metrics that will help you assess the success of your strategy.
Define your target audience.
Developing well-defined target audience personas is vital but frequently missed. This factor can provide you with insight into the content themes and topics that your audience most engages with. This will influence how you create new material and how you present it and the response you expect.
A dedication to creating content that identifies and serves the needs and interests of a target audience is at the heart of any successful content marketing plan.
Specify content-type.
You should think about what will have the greatest impact on your target audience because the type of material you develop is the most visible expression of your business online.
Thorough research will show you which types of material produce the most online engagement. You can brainstorm the various content parts you’ll need for your plan. This could be educational, awareness-focused, humorous, or opinion-based.
You can narrow down the number you want to focus on after having a list of topics to discuss. Your online brand will appeal to a bigger segment of your target audience if you provide a decent mix of content substance. Of course, this is dependent on the type of business, but these are decisions that will come naturally, based only on logic.
Make a content calendar out of your final topic list, deciding on the content, frequency, and platform you want to share the content on.
A content calendar.
You may either integrate reused material into your existing content calendar or establish a new tab or spreadsheet as part of your strategy. It doesn’t have to be complicated; a basic excel spreadsheet will suffice. Include your subjects, content types, and expected publication dates.
Though it isn’t required for your schedule, you can note the outlets through which you plan to promote your content.
You can verify there is no overlap in themes covered by tracking the release and promotion of both new and old material. You can map how long after original publication you should start thinking about republishing previous subjects.
Influence and engage your audience.
Conducting influencer outreach is an extremely efficient approach for refreshing your content. Identify industry experts or influencers and reach out to them (by email, if you have it, or a private message on social media). Request a quotation or significant insight you can credit to them in your article.
Make it easier for them by presenting a list of possible questions they can respond to! If successful, your influencer outreach efforts will expose your material to previously untapped audiences. It also helps cross-promotion since any influencers with your credit will most likely share it with their social media followers.
Promote your content.
- The next pertinent factor is to promote your content after it’s been improved and repackaged. Consider this the icing on your content marketing cake. When posting or sharing your content, an important thing to consider is whether you want to employ sponsored advertising, organic promotion, or both.
- Finally, you must decide where your repurposed material will be placed in the funnel. Will you use it to capture fresh leads at the top of the funnel? Will you utilize it as part of a trigger email campaign to warm up prospects?
- These are questions you will have to answer. Ensure you develop a thorough awareness of major social media specialties, such as content marketing and platforms for promoting your work.
Why Does Local SEO Matter?
Local SEO for thought leaders matters because it can truly be a make-or-break situation for companies and those looking to become thought leaders in their industry. However, it is impressive to know that you have such an effective marketing strategy and the best SEO possible to rank on search engines like Google on a national level. The real importance of this ranking must come with conversions and sales. SEO experts consulting with businesses know that companies looking to rank on the national or even international level have stiff competition and may not see the conversion rates increase as much as the traffic increases.
The reason traffic to your website may rise, but the conversion rate is not affected may relate to your location. Potential customers who have found your large or small business may be interested in working with you due to your useful content articles and well-developed online marketing strategy. However, it will be disappointing if they find out that you do not serve their area. Some of the best SEO techniques focus on the local level (not just user experience or link building) as effective business strategy and marketing. If you are that Colorado law firm and rank nationally for your content, that is great but will not help a client contacting you from Florida. If you cannot provide your service to a client, the greatest search marketing strategies will not help to convert that client.
As a part of your thought leadership goal, be sure to focus part of your efforts on the local search level. Digital marketing experts from experienced SEO agencies can help you plan a strategy that must include text pieces, blog posts, and social media marketing that narrows the window to your local business. Google and other search engine crawlers will recognize your local search efforts and increase your ranking so that potential clients in the regions you serve can reach out to you and convert you into actual customers.
We Partner with Content Marketing Thought Leaders
Content marketing can help you stay relevant. These six factors are hacks to increase your thought leadership authority. Use them! It takes a lot of work and consistency to stay as a thought leader in your authority.
If you are looking for assistance with content marketing in general, our team can certainly help. We understand the value of a holistic content marketing strategy and create leadership content that matters to your audience.
We realize that creating thought leadership content is not as easy as a walk in the park. Whether you want to become an international keynote speaker or position your company as a thought leader, remember that you do not have to do it alone. It is best to partner with an expert on digital marketing. Our team ensures to stay up to date on best practices to cater to venture capital firms, personal finance firms, and other decision-makers and entities.
If you need assistance with thought leadership and formulating your marketing strategy, reach out to our content marketing consultant today.
