Infoguru and thought leader – one of the same?

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Robert Middleton is a marketing thought leader.  He gives away a lot of wonderful free information and ideas and he clearly solves lots of people’s marketing challenges.  It was one of Robert’s posts many years ago that kick-started me down the path to writing my book Brand Stand: seven steps to thought leadership.

In a recent newsletter, Robert talks about how he made a mistake when he stopped marketing his Infoguru marketing brand and goes on to define what he means by Infoguru.  The reason I include it here is because there are some very strong similarities between his Infoguru definition and my views of what constitutes a thought leader.  But I must admit that Infoguru sounds a lot sexier and more memorable than thought leader.

Robert had this to say:  “As an InfoGuru, you need to approach marketing differently. You can’t market yourself like a consumer product or a commodity service. You need to stand out as an InfoGuru who leverages your information, expertise and wisdom to attract clients looking for results, not hype, improvement in their condition, not empty promises.

“InfoGuru marketing uses writing, speaking and the Internet to leverage that information, expertise and wisdom to educate and to demonstrate immediate value to prospective clients.”

I love this part of Robert’s definition.  Why? First because it is client focused and second because it talks about educating and demonstrating value.  Tie that to what he says in the previous paragraph about improving the client’s condition and you have the genuine intent of a thought leader or thought leadership campaign.

Robert goes on to say that an InfoGuru is in fact many things:

·         They possess practical information which they should apply wisely

·         They are business professionals who help their clients get results and improve their condition in a way that makes a real difference

·         They educate, inform, explore, and collaborate to gain engagement from their prospective clients

·         They don’t use hype, pressure or manipulation; they don’t have to

·         They market their services though writing, speaking and the Internet - all mediums suited to convey information efficiently and with impact

·         The most successful InfoGurus gain attention and notoriety for their expertise, insights and results.

Robert’s list of famous InfoGurus include: Tom Peters, Marshall Goldsmith, Alan Weiss, Seth Godin, Jim Collins, Jay Abraham, Peter Drucker, and John Gray.  Some of whom are listed in my book as recognised thought leaders.

So what’s the verdict?  Is an Infoguru a close cousin to a thought leader or is it in fact something entirely different?