Thought leadership is more than a buzzword. It’s a way to raise awareness and gain share-of-voice in the marketplace.
What is thought leadership? Thought leadership is a strategy used to position an expert and company in the their field. A thought leader develops an authoritative voice by providing expertise and perspective within their industry or field.
In thought leadership campaigns, a leader or expert consistently shares their commentary, insights and forecasts on a certain set of topics. Thought leadership has to be earned – it's not something that can be bought. Thought leaders earn trust through their perspective and insights beyond selling a product.
What are the Benefits of Thought Leadership?
Effective thought leadership strategies can build credibility, increase trust and create awareness. When a company’s visibility and influence increase, its market share often follows.
For business-to-business (B2B) companies, thought leadership is an opportunity to enhance the credibility of the company and position its experts as trusted advisors. It's also an opportunity to build strong relationships with your customers and increase lead generation.
Companies want to work with the brands who are the best in their industry. Thought leadership is the missing key to showcasing your company’s expertise and reaching potential clients through new channels and touchpoints.
Who are Thought Leaders?
It's natural to think of a CEO as the thought leader. But the CEO isn't the only one with insights in the company. Look beyond the CEO to find the people who hold the insight, perspective or experience that your company's target audience wants. These experts can become your thought leaders.
Once you've identified your company's thought leaders, it's time to consider the most effective thought leadership strategy.
What Makes a Thought Leadership Strategy?
There are several components to thought leadership campaigns:
Expert(s)
Informed opinion leaders, also called subject matter experts, are the cornerstone of your thought leadership campaign. They have expertise in a particular niche that you'll share in the thought leadership campaign.
Insights
A thought leader consistently shares valuable content on a few topics. Over time, they become known as a reliable source for industry commentary and innovative ideas about the marketplace.
A plan
Thought leadership should be one component of your overall public relations strategy. Determine the role that thought leadership plays in your PR strategy. Consider how your target audiences will react to it.
Patience
Thought leadership is a long game. It often takes 3-6 months of consistent effort to see small victories, and a full 12 months to gain traction and see results.
What are Examples of Thought Leadership?
Successful thought leadership campaigns are focused on quality content versus quantity. Thought leaders have to be producing informative, valuable content to offer insights your target audience will actually use.
For example, Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council hosted a Resiliency Summit to bring together over hundreds of people to discuss resiliency strategies for the region. Conferences are a fantastic way to establish credibility and share insights, but they're often very costly to produce and time-consuming to plan. Additionally, the insights shared at the event are confined to the audience in attendance.
To broaden the audience for the Council's expert insights, B2 worked with the Council to identify thought leaders who could provide insights for op-eds in local newspapers to highlight the issues in advance of the Resiliency Summit. Op-eds can be used as a preview for an event, or a recap to the conversation that took place at the conference.
During the 2023 conference, the hottest topics in regional resilience were hurricane recovery and Florida's rising insurance rates. To preview the conference, we worked with two Council members to author and publish op-eds for local newspapers. This positioned the Council as a thought leader on post-hurricane recovery and economic resilience.
These thought leaders brought the conference insights from the meeting room into the public discussion. By extension, Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council was positioned as industry influencers and leading voices on these two topics.
How do I Position Thought Leaders?
As thought leaders become known, they'll be considered for awards and recognition in their field. Often, these thought leadership recognitions include "People to Know" or "Best of" lists.
For example, B2 planned and executed thought leadership campaigns for New Jersey-based Valley Bank. The thought leadership campaign was part of the PR strategy to expand awareness of the Valley Bank brand and its banking expertise across key markets.
As a result, two of Valley's bankers were positioned as thought leaders. Over time, these thought leaders included in lists of notable businesspeople.
Joe Chillura, Chief Banking Officer and Regional President at Valley Bank, was included on Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Power 100 list of most influential business leaders. Valley Bank and B2 have consistently positioned Chillura as a thought leader. He has regularly participated in roundtables discussions on industry trends, provided market insights, and maintained consistent communication through expert commentary. This consistent presence put Chillura top-of-mind for the Tampa Bay Business Journal's editorial team when choosing leaders for the prestigious list.
In Orlando, Lynetta Tipton Steed, Central Florida Market President at Valley Bank, was included on Orlando Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business list. Valley Bank and B2 have intentionally positioned Steed as a thought leader, given her expertise in the banking industry. She has been been a reliable source for commentary and shared her market insights through media interviews and guest columns. In addition, she regularly presents on a certain topics at community-based groups. With this track record, Steed was a perfect fit for the OBJ’s Women Who Mean Business list
How Do I Know My Thought Leadership Strategy is Working?
Thought leadership is not just positioning a company leader to speak on a particular topic. It is an ongoing effort to identify key opportunities where the company's thought leader can continually insert themself into relevant conversations, offering unique insights and original perspective.
In the short-term, you'll know your thought leadership strategies are working when your experts are called for quotes, asked to speak or recognized with awards and accolades. Their LinkedIn follower count may increase and your social media posts with their insights may see higher engagement.
In the long-term, you'll see that this awareness, credibility and trust converts into customers or increased revenue.
Free Training on Thought Leadership
B2 Communications CEO Missy Hurley and Account Director Shannon Burch recently taught a free PR training course on becoming a thought leader. In the replay, you'll learn to become a recognized thought leader and use thought leadership to build credibility, increase trust and raise awareness.
More on Thought Leadership Campaigns
Read additional blog posts on identifying your thought leaders and following B2's 4-step process to create a successful thought leadership campaign. Need customized advice? Reach out to our team of communications experts for tailored PR advice.