Thought Leader: The Ultimate Guide To Crushing It In Your Industry

In this guide, we’re going to show you exactly what you need to become a thought leader in your industry so you’ll gain a bigger audience and be able to charge more money.

What do people like Bill Gates, Simon Sinek, Ryan Holiday, and Arianna Huffington have in common?

Sure, they’re all very successful business people, but beyond that, they’re all thought leaders in their respective fields.

Wait, but isn’t thought leadership the latest buzzword?

The answer is complicated.

It can be just a catchphrase but when what we really mean when we say thought leader is someone who has positioned themselves as an authority in their industry.

It can be a very powerful and effective marketing tool and it may be worth your while considering to become one in your field.

But what exactly is thought leadership and why is it important?

More importantly, though, how do you become one? This guide will look at these questions in more detail and give you some tips to help you on your path to thought leadership.

What Is Thought Leadership?

The first step to becoming a thought leader is, like many other things, understanding what it is.

Thought leadership has been around for a while with the term coined in the late 1800’s, (yes you read the correctly) but it made huge inroads in the past couple of decades.

According to Wikipedia, a thought leader is a person or business that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought after and often rewarded.

As such, these thought leaders are often asked to speak at events, conferences, or webinars to share their insights with a relevant audience.

Van Halderen and Kettler-Paddock define thought leadership as the action of introducing and promoting convention-breaking ideas that cause people to change how they think about the marketplace or societal issues.

Another would be that thought leadership is ideas that educate clients and prospects about important business issues and help them solve those issues.

Now, there may be many more definitions for thought leadership, but at its core, thought leadership is about providing the best answers to people’s questions.

Thought leaders are thus the informed opinion leaders and go-to experts in their field.

They move and inspire people with their ideas, turn ideas into reality, and know and show people how to replicate their success.

When you dig deeper into this meaning and all the other definitions, six main dimensions of thought leadership emerge:

• Thought leaders tackle big and difficult questions or issues and they understand the problems and issues that are important to consumers.
• In answer to these big questions, thought leaders give and promote big ideas. The thing that distinguishes their ideas from the norm, is that these ideas are novel, original, and interesting.
• Thought leaders take a stand, so they take a subjective view on the issues that consumers have.
• Thought leaders want to change people’s minds or behaviour, influence, and transform society. Just discussing the idea or a mere sharing of knowledge is never enough.
• Thought leadership is based on expertise and trust and to be successful, consumers have to accept the thought leader’s ability to speak on the subject.
• Thought leadership is clearly an intentional activity.

Some Thought Leader Examples

It may be easier to, when looking at what thought leadership is, look at a few examples.

These are all well-known thought leaders, experts in their fields, and with their innovative and out-of-the-box thinking, have changed the lives of millions of people.

• Tony Robbins. Any list of thought leaders would be amiss if Tony Robbins wasn’t on it. Probably the man who really modernized the thought leader, his books, seminars, and programs have inspired and changed the lives of millions of people globally.
• Bill Gates. The previous CEO of Microsoft needs no introduction. His idea almost 40 years ago revolutionized computing as we know it today and the software that followed, are present on most of the consumer computers in the world today. In recent years, he’s been chairman of the largest charitable foundation in the world that focuses on improving global health.
• Elon Musk. He is a master at launching companies or products with a clear purpose, whether it’s taking humanity into space, developing the best electric car there is, or selling flame throwers to the public at large. Throughout his career, he has championed several innovative ideas and there are no limits to making his imagination a reality.
• Simon Sinek. Regarded as an innovative visionary with unconventional ideas and views on culture and human nature, anthropologist and ethnographer Simon Sinek devotes his life to sharing his ideas in order to help leaders and organizations inspire and take action that benefits them.
• Gary Vaynerchuk. Starting his career in the wine industry, Gary Vaynerchuk now focuses on empowering businesses with social media and digital marketing techniques and has been named one of Forbes’ Magazine’s top social media influencers.
• Arianna Huffington. Named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people, Arianna Huffington founded both HuffPost and Thrive Global, has published more than 15 books and maintains a social media presence that connects with her audience and touts her thought leadership. She’s very adept at crafting content that resonates and is specifically tailored for her target audience.

Keep in mind, though, that you don’t have to be famous to be a thought leader and there are many that aren’t well known.

The vital thing is that the thought leader is considered an expert by his target audience.

Why Is Thought Leadership Important?

Now, you might think that these are all very successful and well-known business people, in charge of multibillion-dollar corporations, or speakers at huge events.

Because of this, it’s easy to see why thought leadership is important to them.

It often underpins their entire career. But why is thought leadership important to you?

Here’s the thing, people listen to what thought leaders have to say, whether they’re the CEO of a multinational corporation or a motivational speaker that speaks in front of thousands of people.

And people listen only because they’re regarded as experts in their field. Likewise, by becoming a thought leader, you can also be regarded as an expert in your field.

And when you’re a thought leader, you can reap several benefits.

For one, it strengthens your brand and creates awareness and visibility among your target audience and it ups your credibility.

This means that once you’re regarded and trusted as an expert, customers will turn to you to solve their problems and make more money doing it!

These answers and solutions you give to customers’ problems, ultimately, ends up being part of your sales process.

And ultimately, customers who turn to you for solutions will be more likely to buy from you or use your services when the time comes.

The Difference Between SEO Content and Thought Leadership Content

Have you ever Googled a blog to find an answer to a particular question?

If yes, then how many times have you searched the content beyond the answer or decided to subscribe to the blog’s newsletter?

We often find something on the internet that delivers a good piece of content.

However, it isn’t thought leadership, meaning that it doesn’t persuade us to like it as much as we want.

Instead, the content is more of an SEO-driven piece of writing that answers our basic queries.

SEO and thought leadership are two distinct fields.

Where one is designed to please the algorithm, the other aims to satisfy the reader.

This article differentiates between these two concepts and further discusses ways in which both can work together.

What Is Thought Leadership?

Many companies consider thought leadership as content marketing’s be-all, end-all.

However, it is way more than writing helpful articles that can meet the requirements and queries of people.

Thought leadership is defined by the authority, credibility and trust a person or company gains for a specific topic.

A thought leadership content is compelling and insightful and offers a new idea to the audience every time.

Such content gives your website a high standard and validates it as a reliable source.

Further, thought leadership also ensures that your company is highlighted as a true leader with experts creating solid content for the public.

Such writing is both authoritative and conversion-oriented.

To put it simply, the content inspires its readers to make a move and take actions where required.

Suppose you are going on a holiday and you look on the internet for the types of essentials that you should pack.

Finally, you find a piece with a complete checklist, print it, and close the website without carrying out any other action.

This means that other than the checklist (which you needed), nothing on the website or platform appealed to your eyes, so you chose not to look any further. And that’s not thought leadership content.

Alternatively, imagine you find a checklist created by a luggage manufacturer who not only makes it interesting but also links to an article on the best luggage bags available in the market.

Since the content is solid and well-written, you may click on the composition and might get your hands on a new carry-on.

The chances are high, especially when the article is thought leadership content.

Here are some prominent features of thought leadership content:

• Covers original ideas and insights
• Contains ideas that are informative and entertaining
• Focuses on audience
• Contains natural keywords that reflect the needs of the readers
• Persuades readers to trust every word
• Doesn’t reflect itself as selfish

Thought Leadership Content Examples

Thought leadership writing has five different types. Let’s explore each!

Personal Narrative

Readers often like a piece that covers personal stories and narratives.

Such content contains lessons that people have learnt throughout their lives and believe that they can be helpful for their readers as well.

Personal narratives are also a great way to highlight the philosophy and history of your brand and build a connection with your audience.

There are many writing pieces that change the way people usually think about life, and that’s what thought leadership content aims to achieve.

Counter-narrative Options

These are controversial narratives as they usually cover points with ideas opposite to what people believe in.

However, such narratives are often authentic and backed by observation, experience and knowledge.

Industry Analysis

Another example of thought leadership content is the one that covers industry analysis.

Such content helps people highlight their expert knowledge and analytical skills to their readers.

What’s more, if you successfully curate a thoughtful piece of information, you can add an element of a new perspective to your writing and can also be considered an expert in that particular industry.

Network

Content such as podcasts, expert roundups, and guest posts is part of the network thought leadership content.

This content relies on the experience and knowledge of people within your social network.

Data Storytelling

The final branch of thought leadership content is data storytelling.

It is pretty similar to industry analysis; however, the data it covers is your findings.

Data storytelling contains facts and numbers that the writer has generated themselves through various reliable methods.

What Is SEO Content?

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a process in which various strategies are implemented to rank a website on top of all the searches.

This approach helps a certain content get priority over other similar pieces through optimized content, backlinks, solid keywords and successful website optimization.

To put it simply, SEO is a great way to improve the quality of your website and enhance its visibility.

So, whenever a person searches for a particular product or services your business offers, the search engines show your website on top, highlighting it as more helpful and valuable than others.

There are some significant components of an SEO strategy that you should get right to attain valuable content.

• The industry and the audience-people you are writing for
• Keyword research
• The intent of the user
• Reporting and analytics
• All Google’s updates
• Crawling
• Indexing
• Value of content
• Links

Below we have curated a list of the top features of an SEO content

• Offers an insight into a relevant content
• Doesn’t offer a unique perspective; it only includes basic and reliable information
• Entirely company-focused and aims to persuade the audience to buy a particular service or product
• SEO uses keywords or buzzwords that often misguide and, at times, don’t make sense
• Such content easily gives away any free information

Example of a Strong SEO Content

Here are some types of SEO content you might have come across on the internet.

Buying Guides

Such content is informative and helpful, but it also helps marketers generate revenue from increased sales.

Buying guides usually cover reviews and information on various services and products and allow you to proceed with your purchase.

In addition, they often contain lists of items with multiple ranks, so you know which product is better than the other.

Listicles

Another common example of SEO-based content, Listicles, are articles that cover a short intro followed by a list of activities, products or tips designed to make your life easy.

Such articles usually cover content in bullet points and offer a quick answer to a specific query.

Comparison Posts

Such posts compare two or more products or services side-by-side.

For example, you might have come across articles with comparison tables highlighting differences between two things or concepts.

Such posts help you understand how one thing is better than the other so that you can make a quick decision.

Thought Leadership and SEO-Differences

People often use thought leadership and SEO marketing interchangeably.

However, they are two different concepts with unique approaches to creating content.

When discussing thought leadership, we focus on content that generates brand awareness and enhances its credibility.

A thought leadership-focused content doesn’t increase the conversion rate immediately.

Instead, it warms people up so they can buy a service or product shortly.

On the other hand, SEO is an excellent approach for ranking content.

Moreover, it encourages people to click on a link and buy a product or service. It allows people to reach the call-to-action point on a specific blog where they can click to purchase service.

The sole purpose of thought leadership content is to deliver a piece of detailed information to the people in the best way possible.

However, an SEO-based article focuses on more than just the content.

It makes sure that a writing piece has backlinks, primary and secondary keywords, internal links, images and graphics and various trustworthy external links.

Experts believe that thought leadership content has more power to influence the readers than SEO content.

Why is that so?

The answer lies in the word “leadership.”

Writing that follows the thought leadership approach is easy to rely on.

For instance, it persuades you that all the facts used are trustworthy and that every experience shared may influence your life.

Other than that, such content encourages you to come back to it for more answers.

It then persuades you to share the data with your family and friends, increasing the overall trust in the words written by an expert.

One of the best qualities of thought leadership is that it helps create content that users want.

And simultaneously offer quality through it so that the reader can demand more help from the content.

While SEO-based content is doing somewhat similar now, pleasing people by making Google happy, there are still many writings in which keyword stuffing in content marketing is a popular exercise.

This is why SEO content sometimes works, and at times it doesn’t.

Combining Thought Leadership and SEO Together

While these approaches are like two different ends of a spectrum, they can coexist. Combining them can generate better results for both the people and companies globally.

You may consider your ideas on thought leadership unique, but they can also be optimized for SEO if given a chance. The combination of personal anecdotes with expert opinion and SEO can help your content easily rise to the top and be visible to as many people as you want.

There are many ways in which SEO and thought leadership can gel together, and below; we have mentioned a few:

Content Featuring Expert Knowledge Builds Backlinks Conveniently

Suppose you have written original content based on your knowledge and experience. In that case, you can easily get a backlink and increase its visibility. Many websites link back to original research and sources, and if you are creating one, you can benefit too.

Thought Leadership Ensures that People Read a Content Ranked by SEO

SEO helps rank content on the first page of various search engines through keywords, backlinks, and other strategies. But what if the content ranked on top is useless and just contains stuffed words? The reader will probably open and close it with dissatisfaction and look for other articles ranked at the bottom.

However, if the top content is also the best and honest writing, it will be hard for anyone to leave it without going through every word. The combination of SEO and thought leadership ensures that people not only find rich content but also read it, only to come back for other blogs on the same website.

Keyword Research Is the Best Way to Know Your Audience

If you are an expert with knowledge on different topics, how would you know which one to pen down for your people? You can’t put out a thought and aim for its success if the people don’t resonate with it. So, what is the best way to go about it?

Keyword research can help you know the topics that interest people. For example, if the number of people searching for climate change is high, you can write your expert opinion on this topic and share it with your audience.

SEO Helps Build a User-friendly Website That Can Boost Your Content

Regardless of how valuable or informational data you share on your website, if the structure of your platform isn’t user-friendly, people would hesitate to read your content. Therefore, the system of your website should be traffic-friendly, so the visitors don’t leave it without clicking on the links.

SEO ensures that your platform is both fast and convenient to use. Besides, it also makes sure that the readers can easily access your top content without any hurdles.

Thought leadership content offers unique ideas and stories that SEO content fails to achieve. But that doesn’t mean that one is better than the other. While the former please people, the latter please Google and this combination is pretty fantastic. Moreover, when one aims to provide quality only, the other ensures that the content reaches as many people as possible so that both the brand and the writer can benefit from it.

It is safe to say that SEO and thought leadership are two different primary components of content marketing these days. So, whether you are an expert or a brand, it is wise to use both approaches simultaneously, regardless of their differences.

How To Become A Thought Leader

Let’s introduce you to the Thought Leader Triad, which consists of three principles:

1. Your brand journey
2. Demonstrate your expertise and knowledge
3. Curation of ideas

If you follow these three principles, in a relatively short time, you will be considered a thought leader.

It sounds simple doesn’t it? And it is, really.

You just need time and consistency to execute the Thought Leader Triad.

If you follow these three simple principles, the Thought Leader Triad will make you stand out in whatever industry a niche you decide to take on guaranteed.

It is important that you use all three elements and combine them in your marketing and in your sales strategy.

Your Thought Leader Brand Journey

So what is your brand journey?

Your brand journey is a unique path that has led you to where you are.

If you were a fictional character, this would be the hero’s journey, as defined by Joseph Campell, but since you are a business, we call it your brand journey.

This is telling the audience both the obstacles you faced and the victories you achieved.

As business owners – and human beings – we tend to want to leave out the failures, but I assure you, as a thought leader, they are just as important, if not more important than your victories.

For your brand journey to work, you need to be authentic and not leave anything

To craft your brand journey, you need to master the art of storytelling.

Like any good story, your brand journey has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

If you want an example of good storytelling all you have to do is put on almost any TED Talk.

Look at how the speaker structures his or her speeches and you would be well on your way to crafting your own brand story.

If you’re looking for another example, look at how Gary Vaynerchuk (Gary Vee) tells his brand story.

He wasn’t always Gary Vee.

At some point in his life, he was just another guy with a family business and with an unpronounceable last name.

Gary Vee is one of the most open, honest and authentic thought leaders out there.

And if you’ve followed him for a long time, you’ll notice as he’s aged he’s become even more authentic.

You might be asking yourself, why do you need to tell your brand journey?

Don’t you just demonstrate your knowledge? Isn’t that enough? The reason is that people connect with other people and they like to do business with people they know and like.

Are people more likely to do business with an overseas SEO company that keeps sending them cold emails or Neil Patel? I rest my case.

Demonstrate your expertise and knowledge

A thought leader needs to demonstrate their expertise and knowledge in their field. That’s just a given.

If you’re not yet an expert in your field, you want to become one really quickly.

Read all the blog posts, all of the books and watch all the videos on YouTube over and over again until you are a master in your field.

In the modern age, there really is no excuse not to become know everything there is to know in your field.

There is so much free information out there, it just takes time and discipline for you to consume it.

Allow yourself time to continually learn and get better in your field. Nobody is perfect and there is always more to learn.

A huge mistake many business owners make is that there are constantly in reaction mode and never give themselves time to think creatively and therefore they are never able to rise above the competition.

When you’re in the rat race, you always be a rat.

Block of time for you to just go for a walk and think. You might be surprised at how quickly you elevate yourself just with simple ideas

Now, once you have become an expert, now you need to demonstrate it through your marketing channels.

These can be:

• emails
• social media
• blog posts
• all of the above

Many people are stopped from doing this by imposture’s syndrome.

It’s easy to be stopped by fear but don’t let that prevent you from making more money and living the life you want.

Curation of Ideas

This fits in nicely with the second point of the triad.

When you continually learn, finding new ideas is easy and you can incorporate them into your own expertise.

You will want to curate other thought leaders and add your spin to their ideas.

My favourite example of this is Ryan Holiday.

He is considered a thought leader in the area of stoicism, but if you deconstruct what he does, for the longest time, none of his ideas were actually his own and even today, he has very few original ideas.

Now that’s not to knock him at all because he’s an intelligent person and someone I admire a lot.

(It’s good to remember none of us, really, have any original ideas.)

And why try to come up with original ideas when the ancient philosophers had the best ideas that are probably even more applicable today as they were 2,000 years ago?

All Ryan is doing is introducing these ideas to a new audience.

As you notice more thought leaders, the more you’ll realize is that they are just reiterating other industry leaders.

Do not be afraid to curate ideas from other thought leaders in your industry, new and old, and as you do so you also become seen as an expert in your field.

The Thought Leader Infinite Triangle

Astute observers will notice that the triad is arranged in the infinite triangle.

Why?

Because you will continually hone your skills and you will become better at these three aspects.

As you move along, you will new skills, your industry and niche change and your brand journey will change and shift as well. Bill Gates’ brand journey used to be all about microprocessors and now it is about climate change and pandemics.

Remember you are never static and the way you present your expertise should not be either.

So, now you know what becoming a thought leader can help you achieve, you probably want to know how to become one.

There are several steps to follow, but remember that these are not hard and fast rules, and you can adapt them as your needs dictate.

Know What You’re An Expert In

Some call it a niche and others your field of expertise, but irrespective of what it’s called, you have to know what you specialize in.

And no, you don’t have to know everything there is to know about your area of expertise.

It is, however, important that you understand it and where it is most helpful.

You should also know what your audience values. The key to good thought leadership is to connect where your expertise is most helpful with what your audience values.

So, the first step to becoming a thought leader is to do a bit of introspection.

• What are you good at?
• What do you love doing?
• What am I passionate about?

These are all questions you should ask to figure what your niche will be.

Create Valuable Content As a Thought Leader

Once you know what you specialize in, it’s time to put some content out there.

The easiest way to do this is to start and manage a blog.

And it can actually serve a dual purpose in that, apart from showcasing your products or services, a blog also builds awareness of your expertise amongst your audience.

Think of it this way…

When customers have a problem that needs solving, where do they turn to?

Yes, they search for their problem on the internet.

If your blog ranks high in the search results, customers will soon find it. If it solves their problem, they’ll be back soon with another problem.

Over time, they get to know you as an expert who they can turn to when they need advice or other relevant information.

So, with this in mind, it’s important that you create content that’s valuable and can become a customer resource can turn to at any time.

But it’s important to remember that, for your content to become a resource, customers need to remember you.

This means you’ll have to create and publish content on a regular basis if you’re serious about building your brand.

Also, remember that your content should be authentic and show your personality and voice.

In other words, constant sales and marketing talk won’t cut it. And besides, your personality is what sets you apart from your competitors.

Use The Right Platform

Now, apart from your blog, you should use the right platform to spread your content.

Luckily, there are so many platforms available to choose from, so you won’t be limited for choice. You should, however, consider which platform is best suited for you to reach your target audience.

Editors Note: check out our blog post How Content is All About Thought Leadership

For example, LinkedIn may be the perfect platform for you to use when your niche relates to business, marketing, project management, or the like.

Your niche could, for instance, be digital marketing for which LinkedIn would be perfect because there are so many business owners and professionals on there.

When it’s not business-related, LinkedIn may not be the best choice and you’d have to look at something like Facebook or Twitter.

No matter which you choose, social media offers one benefit that blogs can’t.

Apart from offering your audience targeted and relevant content, it also offers you an opportunity to engage with your audience.

This shows them more of your personality, and the fact that you’re willing to engage shows your dedication to your craft.

Video And Audio Are Almost A Must!

You know, of course, that video and audio are very powerful.

Just looking at the usage figures for platforms like YouTube and Spotify confirms this.

If you’re going to become a thought leader, it’s important that you understand how you can speak to your audience using video and audio content.

The big differentiator with these is that they’re easy to consume for customers, and it’s easy for you to reach them where they are.

Besides, by seeing and hearing you, you’re able to build a more personal connection with your customers.

These events give you a stage to demonstrate your knowledge, skills, and ideas to like-minded peers and customers on a more personal level.

They’ll be able to ask questions and your answer will make them get to know you better.

This can be a perfect catalyst for interesting and worthwhile business opportunities.

Your Audience Is the Hero

It doesn’t matter how much content you create or where you publish it, any type of content marketing – or any marketing for that matter – won’t work if it’s about you.

Remember, the ultimate goal is to offer content that gives customers information and solves their problems.

If you don’t and resort to constant self-promotion, customers won’t find any value in your content and simply won’t return.

Think about your audience as the hero and you’re the guide.

You are Gandolf, not Frodo.

You are Obi-Wan Kenobi, not Luke Skywalker.

You are Splinter, not any of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

You are… well, you get the picture.

We like to think of ourselves as the heroes, but in truth, you should think of yourself as more of a guide for others because that’s what a true thought leader does.

How to Spread Your Ideas as A Thought Leader

It comes naturally as a content creator for an idea to pop up on your head, but the power to attract a target audience isn’t always there.

Your mind is filled with thoughts that could easily inspire, motivate, and persuade other people.

The problem is you don’t feel confident in converting those ideas into words.

You’ve written countless blogs before, but there was never a serious thought of using content to attract a particular demographic.

Now is the time to level up.

Think of every word you write as a means to build a following.

If you’re using content for marketing, you must know how to spread your ideas successfully.

The idea is to grow a community of loyal followers gradually.

These people aren’t necessarily your customers.

Instead, they’re the ones who look forward to what you’re writing and publishing online.

Instead of trying to reach everyone (even those who aren’t interested in your niche), you focus on building a deeper relationship with a meaningful audience – those who are likely to become your customers.

Let’s say you managed to build a loyal following.

You call yourself an authority in your industry or niche.

But it isn’t the final stop.

Spreading your ideas means igniting the fire – doing everything you can to keep people interested in you or your brand.

The most effective way to do that is by helping your ideas spread faster.

Understanding What Your Audience Wants From A Thought Leader

Your content marketing strategy must be geared towards inviting people to your platforms.

You do this by creating content. Since your ideas matter to them, it’s your job to develop material that interests them. You must understand what they want.

The keyword is “want.” You know that your audience needs a home entertainment system.

But to arouse their interest, you have to let them want your product.

What makes it different from other home entertainment systems they’ve previously seen?

Why should they want it more than the others?

As a consumer, it’s a luxury to have many choices for a product we intend to buy.

Your job as a marketer becomes a tad more difficult because of all the competition.

With an abundance of options, you don’t have enough time to reach your audience.

To help convince a small group of potential customers, you must devise a different marketing strategy from what everyone else is doing.

Even though you’re selling practically the same product, create marketing material that stands out.

Convey Value

If you want your ideas to spread fast, you must say something of value.

(You’re probably rolling your eyes as you read this but it’s surprising that so many so-called thought leaders don’t actually say something that is of any interest.

If consumers search for information about a product, they’re bombarded with thousands of articles and blog posts.

How do you stand out?

How are you original?

The majority of the content is not very good and containing no value whatsoever.

Take advantage of this situation by creating something valuable.

Your content must solve a consumer’s problem or answer a question for it to be valuable.

Patronage is earned when people start realizing that you’re giving them valuable content.

Spreading your ideas through valuable content is achieved on different fronts, i.e., educating an audience, posting entertaining and hilarious content on social media, making the audience think by creating intrigue, etc.

High-value content comes in varying forms, including: downloadable material

• webinars
• blog posts
• audiobooks
• podcasts
• eBooks
• videos

Keep in mind that if your audience sees your content as valuable, it’ll be easier for them to share it across their respective platforms, including social media and personal websites.

It’s a free yet effective way to spread your ideas.

Promote…Promote… And then Promote Some More

Your valuable content is ready; so, what’s next? Well, you can’t spread your ideas without promoting it.

And no, we’re talking about paid advertising. Paying for ads helps lead people to your website, but it’s less genuine.

The web is riddled with ads and spam that most consumers don’t even bother paying attention to. You’ll improve the traffic to your website, but there’s less guarantee of conversions.

The challenge of promoting your brand to your audience is convincing people to respond.

In a way, advertising is nothing more than a robot designed to do your job but inefficiently and ineffectively.

So, how do you go about promoting your brand through your content?

There’s a handful of proven ways to do that:

• Redesign your landing page so that it’ll focus more on describing your brand. Don’t forget to add a call-to-action and a registration form, but don’t make them the focal point.
• Write as many blogs as you can that relates to your niche. Talk about solutions to your audience’s everyday problems, create excitement and intrigue, and answer questions.
• Create a micro-content. These are similar to blog posts but are shorter and intended to be shared across your social networking channels. Your audience will realize that you know what you’re talking about when you incorporate infographics, statistics, photos, and quotes. See to it that you put links, too.

Collaborate

You have the content, network, and an effective marketing strategy.

As much as you’d like to think that those are enough, you still can do more.

At this point, you managed to establish a viable online presence – people start looking at you as an authority.

More importantly, influencers within your industry will find a reason to work with you.

Take this opportunity to spread your ideas through their network. Sharing content across other influencers’ social channels provides you with another avenue to be known.

Collaboration with relevant authorities in your niche solidifies your brand’s popularity as well as your reputation as a content creator.

Write a Book

Let’s face it, when people hear that you’re an author, they’re immediately more willing to listen to what you have to say.

So, although a book might convey the same information as a blog or social media post, many people still believe that a book is the most trusted form of content.

This means that if you want to become a thought leader, writing a book may be a very good idea.

For one, it helps you build your reputation and credibility as an expert in your field.

A ghostwriter can help you with this.

They can help you capture and organize your ideas so you can focus on what you’re best at.

Also, it opens up opportunities for public speaking engagements that further cements your authority in your field.

Editor’s Note: Check out our blog post How A Ghostwriter Can Help You Land Speaking Engagements

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, this guide helped you to get the basics of being a thought leader under the belt.

It may sound like a lot to do, but by using these strategies you’ll be able to cement yourself as an expert in your field and, ultimately, as a thought leader.

So, take it one step at a time and slowly implement your thought leadership strategy.

In the end, it’s worth it for the benefits it can give you and your business.

If you’d like help in becoming a thought leader get in contact with us at info@ghostwritersandco.com. We can help!

Further reading

How do you become a thought leader?

What is the definition of thought leadership?

The content marketers guide to thought leadership

Why does thought leadership matter?