Posts Tagged ‘hints and tips for thought leaders’

Water your thought leadership this way and watch it grow

The Adventure Project is a not for profit which had one chance to get a $25,000 matching grant to help bring clean water and jobs to India.  What I love about Becky Straw and Jody Landers’ story are the simple lessons they provide for anyone wanting to be a successful thought leader.

Did they achieve their objective – you’ll have to read on to see…

But what they did provide for me are four telling tips for people wanting to be thought leaders.

Provide your audience with a great solution

Apparently over 30% of the wells in India and Africa are broken. Most wells break within the first two years, and there are no mechanics or spare parts to fix them. It was this problem that drove The Adventure Project to come up with the following solution:

“We created a partnership with Water for People, with a goal of helping them to hire and train 186 well mechanics in rural India. Once those mechanics are trained and working, they can sustainably provide clean water for 930,000 people.”

Thought leadership thrives on simple messages

In order to address this solution, Becky and Jody came up with a simple, singular and powerful message for their fund raising efforts:

“It only takes $550 dollars for you to help one person to become a well mechanic in India. That person will receive the tools and training to maintain 50 wells, ensuring clean, sustainable water for 5,000 people.

“Obviously, there’s a lot more to this business model, but we didn’t want to bog down the reader with everything but the kitchen sink. We wanted individuals to feel empowered by a simple solution and understand the basic facts.”

Thought leaders know their audience

Did Becky and Jody know their audience?

Damn right they did:

With only 1,600 email subscribers and 2,000 donors they had to reach people personally.  They knew that their best responses come from emailing people directly and while this is time consuming, it was worth it. The night before World Water Day they enlisted 200 people who agreed to blog or share their message online.

These 200 people were the key drivers behind the campaign’s reach and were responsible for $14,000 in donations through their personal fundraising pages.

What I like about Jody and Becky’s approach with their audience is that they made it personal.  No spray and pray here.

Thought leaders provide the tools to share

Becky and Jody created an assets page that included banner ads, facts about the issue, sample tweets, and even a button to a Pinterest board full of water images.

The goal was to make it easy for their supporters to grab and share the message. On World Water Day they had three interns thank donors via email, while attaching a Facebook cover image. This was to make donors feel appreciated and part of our team.

The end result

So did Becky and Jody get there?

You bet – by 11 p.m. they crossed the $25,000 mark which triggered a matching grant from TPRF.  Over 500 individuals contributed.

The $50,000 they raised will create 100 jobs for future well mechanics, bringing sustainable water to nearly half a million people in rural India.

Great work and some wonderful lessons for aspiring thought leaders.

Hi, I’m a director at Sydney-based, Cannings Corporate Communications.  Please check out my book: Brand Stand: seven steps to thought leadership,  follow me on twitter @thoughtstrategy or join me on LinkedIn.

The sale has changed forever

I was recently invited by Dan Levy, the editor of Sparksheet (an ward-winning media and marketing magazine), to submit an article on thought leadership.  This article first appeared on Sparksheet this week.

For some years I have been banging on about how thought leadership is the new sales Trojan Horse i.e the way to equip sales teams with the game-changing insights they need to have the conversations with their clients that differentiate them from their
competition and set them up for the sale.  Then a few weeks ago I came across a wonderfully evocative phrase – “Content is digital bait”.

My first reaction was I wish I had come up with that. Of course I did, whenever something or someone validates our point of
view our natural reaction is to love it.

It appeared in WPPs Atticus volume 17 as a summary of The Future of Selling white paper produced by OgilvyOne Worldwide (NY) and Ogilvy & Mather (NY).  The paper delivers a telling insight into how the world of selling has changed – brands of choice are now those brands that show, through providing useful, insightful content, they understand their consumers’ issues.

From consumer to ‘contsumer’

The selling game has changed irreversibly.  The sheer weight of information available to buyers these days means the buyer is in
control.  They are less reliant on sales people and they build trust in the brand long before they come into physical contact with it.

I call them ‘contsumers’ and Sparksheet has called them ‘prosumers’.  ‘Contsumers’ are hungry for information, they seek out online as much information as possible to help inform their decision making process. And given the information available on the company website, competitors’s websites, consumer and consumer group reviews, media reviews and the like they have as much control over the flow of information as salespeople.  They have conversations with their brands via twitter, the web, FaceBook, LinkedIn and blogs let alone other consumers thus creating their own path to purchase.

Unfortunately this means salespeople are no longer in control.  Their role has changed. They need to identify where the customer is on this journey of discovery and help them.

It is the brands that best understand their customer, the issues and challenges they face and then provides them with useful, insightful content where they consume it, who are the ones rapidly becoming the brands of choice.

Content vs thought leading content

There is a distinction though between useful content and thought leading content.  Hints and tips for example about health and wellbeing, insurance, savings and retirement, the pitfalls of cross border mergers and acquisitions, etc falls into the useful content bucket.

Thought leading content is not peddling an opinion, putting out a list of hints and tips nor curating other people’s content. Instead it is a new, fresh perspective, preferably based on empirical evidence that delivers value beyond the product or service.

Thought leadership and sales

For brands to lift their content from useful to thought leading content, marketing and communications department needs to be working with their sales teams.

The better understanding the marketing team has of the day-to-day challenges the sales team faces and critically the questions their customers are asking them and their key issues and challenges, the better the thought leadership piece will be in the long run.

As the Ogilvy Paper says:  “Selling may have once been an individual event, but now it is a team sport.”

Successful selling has always been about the customer and that should never change but tomorrow’s successful salesperson is the one who anticipates their customers’ changing behavior, analyzes their needs and finds ways to solve their problems.

This goes to very crux of what thought leadership content should provide to a brand’s audiences – information that delivers insights to help them solve a problem or view their challenges in a different light all the while positioning you as the ‘go to’ expert.

Selling has changed irrevocably

“The future of selling” paper saw Ogilvy research over 1,000 selling professionals in the UK, US, Brazil and China.  One of the key findings was that 73% of those surveyed said that selling will be radically different in the next five years.  What the study found was that the key is information asymmetry – in other words the number of online and information channels a brand owns allowing it to gain a head start on another brand.

The paper says: “The new skillset required by salespeople involves creating content as digital bait, deploying social media and partnering with marketing.

“Your customers and prospects are throwing off billions of digital buying indications every day.  They signal their intentions through the search key words they use, the blogs they read, the white papers they download and the shopping baskets they fill.”

Brands not driving new content or exploring thought leadership as an option, will come second.

I am a director at Sydney-based, Cannings Corporate Communications.  You should check out my book: “Brand Stand: seven steps to thought leadership” Please follow me on twitter @thoughtstrategy or join me on LinkedIn.

Booz & Co share their thought leadership insights

Barry Jaruzelski from Booz & Co shares his insights on their thought leadership program

The Economist called the Global Innovation 1000 “the most comprehensive assessment of the relationship between R&D investment and corporate performance,” and
Tom Peters praised it as a “provocative, research-based article that is
sure to get you thinking.”

I have long been an admirer of Booz&Co’s thought leadership work around their Innovation 1000 project.  For two years they were voted as generating the best thought leadership across all professional services firms according to Source for Consulting.

So I took the liberty of approaching Barry Jaruzelski who heads up the program to ask him a few questions about it.  This is what he had to say:

1. First off could you give a brief overview of Booz & Company’s Innovation thought leadership campaign?

Every year since 2005, Booz & Company has conducted the Global Innovation 1000 study, which investigates the relationship between how much companies invest in R&D and their overall financial performance — and every year, we reinforce the core conclusion that there is no statistically significant correlation between the two.

The study examines the R&D spending of the 1,000 largest public companies and also explores a particular “deep dive” topic on innovation.  The Innovation 1000 study serves as an umbrella for a range of other viewpoints, articles, and conference and
university speaking engagements on innovation.

We release the results in October of each year to the public via a press release, targeted media outreach and distribution to our client community.   In addition, at launch we conduct a series of webinars for our firm’s alumni, study participants, and clients.

2. Please explain the business rationale behind Booz & Company’s focus on a thought leadership platform
and why Innovation was chosen as a topic?

As a firm, we have had a 60 plus year commitment to consulting on innovation, starting with a seminal article in 1950 in the Harvard Business Review which defined the concept of the Product Life Cycle for the first time.  We conduct a wide variety of engagements and research on product development process improvement, R&D strategy, engineering effectiveness, and innovation organization for a broad range of clients.

Innovation is one of the eight core functional client service areas that we offer across our full range of industry groups.  The Innovation 1000 study is a conversation starter with senior executives and serves as an umbrella for a wide range of intellectual capital on various aspects of innovation.

This study is important because it both builds our profile and builds our knowledge bank.

3. What business objectives did you/do you put in place, how do you measure them and how is your thought leadership campaign delivering on these?

In broad terms, we expect this study to achieve the following objectives:

1)  Place Booz & Company in top tier business media worldwide  as a leader in innovation thinking and research.  In order to
evaluate our campaign we track media coverage , social media mentions, traffic to booz.com and strategy-business.com .
The study is cited each year in nearly 200 publications around the globe, spanning 27 countries.

2)  Provide an effective vehicle to interest and engage clients and prospective clients. This is more difficult to track and measure, but we try to track the interest, leads and sales we generate that are directly and/or indirectly related to Innovation 1000.

3)  Help secure  speaking engagements –  We track this in comparison to targets and the number of speaking engagements in prior years.

4. How do you ensure audience relevance in what you are publishing / researching?

Each year, we begin with a set of “candidate” subject focus areas which are discussed among a diverse set of partners and principals from various practice groups. The subject areas are debated for macro relevance, interest among clients and
overall feasibility.  Every year we also discuss potential topics with clients and invite them to participate in the research via interviews on the “deep dive” topic.

5. What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in your thought leadership over the past few years?

We now spend much more time translating each piece of thought leadership into multiple formats to reach a wider variety of audiences more effectively.  This includes translating our ideas into multi-media, social media and media-friendly formats.

There is such a barrage of information that our clients and audiences face that we have to work harder to stand out, attract attention and ensure our “big ideas” get heard. As well, while we still generate an incredibly extensive amount of IC, we are even more strategic about our focus areas and resource allocation. What hasn’t changed is our focus on thought leadership as a critical area of differentiation for our firm. The company White Space actually tracks the intellectual capital efforts of the consulting
industry and it has has rated Booz & Company #1 in Thought Leadership for the past two consecutive years. This is an honor we are extremely proud to achieve.

6. What have been some of the spinoffs of your focus on innovation?  These could be internal (within Booz & Company) or external.

We have received invitations to write bylined or guest articles in other publications and to join advisory boards of clients and innovation-related associations (e.g. PDMA)

7. Given your experience, what are some of the tips you can share in terms of arriving at and getting a thought
leadership program off the ground?

Build a smart and strong team that is consistently committed to “putting in the work” over a number of years to build name recognition and profile.

Ensure that certain elements of your program are repeatable so you can scale and build success that you can recreate annually.  And perhaps most importantly, do not over reach and create a program that collapses under its own weight after just one year
because it is too ambitious and demanding to sustain.

Take the long view and build something that is sustainable and focused on quality.

8. What have been the top three outcomes of Booz & Company’s thought leadership campaign?

1)  Top Tier media coverage globally, client interest and engagements

2)  Building a strong brand as a firm with proven expertise in innovation (from ideation to process to execution and everything in between)

3) Being ranked as one of the top firms in innovation consulting

‘The Bosses’ inspiring lessons for thought leaders

Springsteen has some valuable lessons for thought leaders

I remember first seeing Bruce Springsteen perform at the Amnesty International Human Rights Concert in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1988.  The concert co-starred Peter Gabriel, Sting, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N’Dour.  What a concert what a night.

Now 24 years later Springsteen is still relevant and has just released Wrecking Ball.  What relevance does this all have to thought leadership?

Well Andy Beaupre writes a refreshingly different blog http://www.brodeur.com/blog/.  His latest post entitled “8 Lessons from Bruce Springsteen on staying relevant’ has some gems for aspiring thought leaders.

I’ve summed them up in four points key points.  It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, all thought leaders could take a leaf out of ‘The Bosses’ book.

• He has a novel point of view that aligns closely with his values.
• He shares and engages with his community and gets under the skin of his audience regarding their issues and life’s challenges.
• It’s about us not him – this is all important for thought leaders. It’s not about your product or services rather it’s about your audience’s issues and delivering insights that address these.
• He’s innovative and he stays relevant to his market.

Keep on rocking Bruce and thanks Andre for a wonderfully revealing post.

The top thought leadership tips for communicators

If you are a communicator, work in public relations, marketing or communications you are bound to have heard of or are deeply involved in thought leadership marketing.

Some people groan at the mention of the word probably because every opinion is labelled thought leadership.  But if used strategically, it is one of the most powerful communication tools available to marketers.  Like any marketing discipline, however, there are some things that work and others that don’t.

Through years of exploring, writing, speaking and consulting about thought leadership, this is what I have gleaned from thought leaders themselves or individuals who are responsible for multi-faceted local and global thought leadership campaigns.

I have distilled these learnings into six points.

Client centric - Experienced thought leaders will tell you to make sure your content is first and foremost client centric and that it delivers new and relevant insights.  Product-speak and brand centricity is the death knell of thought leadership.

Short content is good - People no longer want long reports.  They want executive summaries highlighting the key points pertinent to them.  Infograms are a great way to present information – it’s easy to digest and delivers your point of view in a visual story board.

Re-use and re-purpose content - A lot of work, resource, time and effort go into producing your material.  Make sure you are leveraging it every way possible i.e. if it is research or a report, ask if it can it be segmented into mini-sector reports or key topic areas and release it over time.

Also think about if and how you can news-jack.  This involves looking for opportunities in the daily media into which you can inject your point of view.  Relevance is obviously key.

Start small, think big, think new, adapt quickly - Don’t start off with a massive production,  you are probably biting off more than you can chew.  Find something on which you can act nimbly, something relevant to the challenges facing your target audience and then deliver some new insights on these challenges.

Ideally it should be a long-term play.  The best thought leadership I have seen has run for five years or longer and has been adapted to change with the times.

Make it part of the business culture - If it is not owned from the CEO through to marketing and sales it is not going to gain the traction you want.  True thought leadership is about empowering the business and all of those in it.

It is the sharpest tool in building eminence - Those who are using it well all agree that is the best tool for building eminence for their brand and it is the best brand differentiator they have.  Critically it enables you to have conversations and to engage with your audience in a way your competitors cannot.

In the process you build that all important characteristic – trust.

Craig Badings is a director at Sydney-based, Cannings Corporate Communications.  He is the author of “Brand Stand:
seven steps to thought leadership” You can follow him on twitter @thoughtstrategy or join him on LinkedIn.

12 experts on the key thought leadership trends for 2012 – content curation

The overwhelming sense from these experts is that content curation alone does not lead to thought leadership

I asked 12 people who I consider to be leading global commentators on thought leadership as well as a couple who have produced some amazing thought leadership programs in-house over the years to comment on four critical thought leadership questions for 2012.

Inspired by their answers I couldn’t help chipping in with my own thoughts.

As a result of the overwhelmingly positive response, I have split the interviews into four different posts – one post per question.

In the New Year I will make available an e book containing all the answers.

Interviewees include: Bob Buday, Erica Klein, David Meerman Scott, Jeff Ernst, Rob Leavitt, Britton Manasco, Dana van den Heuvel, Matt Church, Fiona Czerniawska, Dale Bryce, Elizabeth Sosnow, Marte Semb Aaasmundsen and me.

This is the last post in the series and it covers their answers to question four:

Question four: Can content curation alone turn an individual or company
into a thought leader?

Bob Buday, president of Bloom Group LLC, a firm that helps professional services and other B2B companies gain market leadership through thought leadership (http://www.bloomgroup.com)

“No – especially if all you do is collect articles. There are tons of automated ways to do it without a human intermediary – Twitter feeds, Google alerts, etc.

“At the very least, content curators need to provide more value to readers than simply identifying and collecting content on a topic. They need to explain why some piece of content is worth someone’s time – what new light it sheds.

“Yet still, even if you add that kind of value – providing commentary on interesting content – playing the role of content curator doesn’t go far enough to demonstrate that you are a leading expert on a topic.

“All to say there are no short cuts in becoming a thought leader.”

Erica Klein, Thought Leadership Writer and Strategist Specializing in Financial and Technology Companies(http://www.ThoughtLeadershipWriter.com)

“This may be totally self-serving on my part, but I think aggregating content marks a company as a “me too” provider and not a distinctive brand able to offer prospects and customers real, quantifiable value.

“True thought leadership can do so much more for a company than round up content at the OK Corral!”

Matt Church, founder of the Global Thought Leaders Movement and creator of the Million Dollar Expert Program. He is the author of 5 books including Thought Leaders and his latest Sell Your Thoughts (http://www.mattchurch.com)

“In the next 36 months maybe.  But after that those who synthesise, aggregate and curate Thought Leadership will lose position. It’s about extending the conversations or contradicting them. This means you have to go beyond ‘here is a good idea’ and start to say ‘here is what I think about X idea’.

“It’s about contribution and contradiction as ways of extending an idea.  A reader reads a book and goes ‘cool’, a curator reads an idea and goes ‘how can I share that?’ a Thought Leader reads an idea and goes ‘What do I think about that?’

Elizabeth Sosnow, managing director of Bliss PR a business-to-business strategic public relations and marketing communications firm based in New York City (http://www.blisspr.com)

“I love this question – it’s one I’ve debated myself.  I think the short answer is “yes,” but the long answer is “no.”

“In the short term, curation is a way to signal to your audience that you understand industry trends and “what’s ahead.”  However, longer term, curation signals a “me, too” marketing posture.

“True thought leadership requires differentiation to succeed, so curation just isn’t enough.”

Jeff Ernst, is the Principal Analyst, serving CMO and Marketing Leadership Professionals at Forrester Research and is probably best described as a thought leader in B2B marketing and sales strategy(http://www.forrester.com/rb/analyst/jeff_ernst)

“No, content curation alone is not enough to be a true thought leader.

“For people to trust you to curate or filter content for them, they need to already view you as an authority and trust that you are able to filter through the noise to deliver the content that is most useful to them.

“At minimum, as you curate content, you need to be providing your perspectives on the content you are delivering. But ideally, you need a steady stream of your own fresh ideas and perspectives, while using content curation to supplement that.”

David Meerman Scott is one of the pre-eminent thought leaders on PR and marketing. He is a marketing strategist, keynote speaker, seminar leader, and author of the #1 bestseller The New Rules of Marketing & PR (which has been published in 26 languages) and the Wall Street Journal bestseller Real-Time Marketing & PR. He recently launched his new online book: “Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage”. (http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/)

“No.  While content that is interesting will be passed on, I am a perfect example as I tweet interesting content, however, some
component of original content is important.

“Content simply created by others is not nearly as valuable.”

Dale Bryce is the group manager marketing for Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM), a global strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery firm. He has been instrumental in their successful ‘client first’ thought leadership approach (http://www.skmconsulting.com/Home/)

“Content curation is an essential ingredient in the overall mix that is thought leadership.

“Great content needs to be relevant of course but it should act as a social lubricant for engagement with an audience. Ideally content is just the conversation starter; a catalyst to a real dialogue about how people might react and respond to the idea just placed on the metaphorical table. And from that first conversation, big things can come….!”

Marte Semb Aasmundsen, graduated this month with her MSc Strategic Public Relations and Communications
Management at The University of Stirling in the UK.  Her thesis was on thought leadership.

“No, I don’t think so.

“I think content curation may perhaps be a reason why critics are inveighing against thought leadership in the first place.

“Of course it is a useful way of identifying and re-branding an issue. But I think the trend will be to move towards more sophisticated thought leadership initiatives. For that to happen, a thought leader must be authentic.

“Authenticity, transparency and trust are values that will become even more important in the coming years.”

Britton Manasco is the founder of Manasco Marketing Partners which specializes in creating thought leadership marketing and sales enablement solutions. Britton produces a thought leadership strategy blog Illuminating the Future and the executive journal, Elevation Quarterly. (http://www.brittonmanasco.com/)

“Yes, but only if they are a skilled curator.

“Among other things, I have billed myself as a “connoisseur of contrarians.” I seek out unexpected perspectives and provocative points of view. By tapping into their contrarian insights of others, I’m able to generate content for my clients that truly resonates with their customers.

“I’m thrilled that I can get paid to do it.”

Rob Leavitt is a B2B marketing strategist, specializing in issues-based marketing. He is currently Director of Thought Leadership at PTC, a $1 billion enterprise software firm. (http://www.reputationtorevenue.com/)

“Definitely not.

“Curation is useful both internally (for education and customer/competitive/market perspective) and externally (to build interest, traffic, and credibility) but it is no substitute for your own content and conversation that provide strong and different points of view.

“I’m all for curation initiatives but strictly as a complement to your own more substantial research, publications, and presentations. Done well (which itself requires a great deal of work), curation can help you become a useful and valued resource for information and ideas, but if they are not your own ideas you are still not a thought leader.”

Dana VanDen Heuvel is a marketing consultant, author and speaker. He is a recognized expert on blogging, podcasting, RSS, Internet communities and interactive marketing trends and best practices as well as thought leadership (http://www.marketingsavant.com/)

“No, it can’t.

“I’ve seen a lot of back and forth on Twitter this year about this, but at the end of the day, curation is helpful and even essential.

“I often tell my clients that the best leaders don’t always have the answers, but they know where to get them, which is how the thought leader should approach curation.  Know where to get good content, know who to trust and know what your audience values but never think for a second that curation = thought leadership.

“The Bloom Group has articulated, what I believe, to be one of the staples in thought leadership discipline with their “seven fundamentals of a thought leadership point of view”, which every would-be thought leader should use to check their work. Moreover, “novelty”, that is, saying something new about an issue and “validity”, having proof, are two of the most critical points of a thought leadership position.

“Curation satisfies neither of those.”

Craig Badings – author of this blog and the book “Brand Stand: seven steps to thought leadership”, and a consultant at Sydney-based Cannings Corporate Communications.

“Find me one recognised thought leader who has attained their position as a result of curating content only.

“If you can I will be convinced that content curation can create thought leaders.

“The very nature of the term ’thought leadership’ implies original, creative or innovative thought.  In contrast, curating content implies that you are not the original generator of that content and therefore cannot claim to be a thought leader off the back of it.

“That said, I believe that curated content can play a very important role in supporting and informing a thought leadership content program. Furthermore, if the person curating the content arrives at new ideas or insights as a result of that content then it could be construed as thought leadership.”

Please download my free e book top right of this page. Follow me on twitter @thoughtstrategy and join me on LinkedIn.

12 experts on the key thought leadership trends for 2012 – outcomes

Thought leadership can deliver great outcomes

I asked 12 people who I consider to be leading global commentators on thought leadership as well as a couple who have produced some amazing thought leadership programs in-house over the years to comment on four critical thought leadership questions for 2012.

Inspired by their answers I couldn’t help chipping in with my own thoughts.

As a result of the overwhelmingly positive response, I have split the interviews into four different posts – one post per question.

In the New Year I will make available an e book containing all the answers.

Interviewees include: Bob Buday, Erica Klein, David Meerman Scott, Jeff Ernst, Rob Leavitt, Britton Manasco, Dana van den Heuvel, Matt Church, Fiona Czerniawska, Dale Bryce, Elizabeth Sosnow, Marte Semb Aaasmundsen and me.

This post covers their answers to question three:

Question three: What are the top three outcomes of a thought leadership
campaign?

 Bob Buday, president of Bloom Group LLC, a firm that helps professional services and other B2B companies gain market leadership through thought leadership (http://www.bloomgroup.com)

“One, increased awareness by your target audience that your firm possesses some expertise and a higher number of inquiries about it .

“Two, higher and faster close rates because of the ability to far better demonstrate to a prospect that you indeed do have the expertise you claim to have.

“Three, higher fees because of the ability to differentiate your expertise, and thus higher and more profitable revenue from your work.”

Erica Klein, Thought Leadership Writer and Strategist Specializing in Financial and Technology Companies(http://www.ThoughtLeadershipWriter.com)

“For my financial and technology clients, the most sought-after outcomes are:

“One, generating revenue from both new prospects and existing customers.

“Two, building reputation and brand as insightful, innovative thinkers, and lest we forget, three, establishing
the boss as a thought leader!”

Matt Church, founder of the Global Thought Leaders Movement and creator of the Million Dollar Expert Program. He is the author of 5 books including Thought Leaders and his latest Sell Your Thoughts http://www.mattchurch.com)

“One, talent retention, attraction and development.

“Two, business growth through positioning activities in the marketplace.

“Three, innovation around process and professional subject matter expertise.”

Elizabeth Sosnow, managing director of Bliss PR a business-to-business strategic public relations and marketing communications firm based in New York City (http://www.blisspr.com)

“One, new or deepened relationships with prospects or customers.

“Two, better defined competitive positioning.

“Three, holistic “glue” that integrates previously siloed marketing programs.”

Jeff Ernst, is the Principal Analyst, serving CMO and Marketing Leadership Professionals at Forrester Research and is probably best described as a thought leader in B2B marketing and sales strategy (http://www.forrester.com/rb/analyst/jeff_ernst)

“When you go from thinking of thought leadership as a campaign to thinking of it as a cornerstone of your go-to-market strategy, you can expect to have these outcomes:

1. Customers, prospects, influencers, and competitors admire your company as having ground-breaking ideas and incredibly
   insightful POVs on the critical issues your buyers face.
2. People who engage with your thought leadership ideas are so inspired they immediately share them with colleagues within their company and within their professional and social networks.
3. Prospective customers knock on your door, already philosophically aligned with your company’s approach to solving their problems, ready to engage with your sales executives.”

David Meerman Scott is one of the pre-eminent thought leaders on PR and marketing. He is a marketing strategist, keynote speaker, seminar leader, and author of the #1 bestseller The New Rules of Marketing & PR (which has been published in 26 languages) and the Wall Street Journal bestseller Real-Time Marketing & PR. He recently launched his new online book: “Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage”. (http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/)

“First, content will be shared if it is valuable.  People will share it on twitter, Facebook, blogs and the like with the result your content will reach far more people.

“Second, people will subscribe to your content either whether that is via e mail, RSS feeds, etc.  They’ll want more if you do a good job.

“Finally, it will brand your organisation as one worthy with which to do business.  People will seek you out if you’re smart about providing content that educates and helps them solve their problems.”

Dale Bryce is the group manager marketing for Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM), a global strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery firm. He has been instrumental in their successful ‘client first’ thought leadership approach (http://www.skmconsulting.com/Home/)

“Client engagement, reputation building and winning the work you want to win.”

Marte Semb Aasmundsen, graduated this month with her MSc Strategic Public Relations and Communications
Management at The University of Stirling in the UK.  Her thesis was on thought leadership.

“Building expertise and reputation internally and externally.  Changing industry standards and perhaps even drive paradigm shifts, and gaining influence and becoming industry leaders.

“And I must add a fourth point; stakeholder engagement. Thought leadership encourages two-way communication and is therefore a great way to include stakeholders in the decision-making process.”

Britton Manasco is the founder of Manasco Marketing Partners which specializes in creating thought leadership marketing and sales enablement solutions. Britton produces a thought leadership strategy blog Illuminating the Future and the executive journal, Elevation Quarterly. (http://www.brittonmanasco.com/)

“That would be: customer awareness (as measured by marketing qualified leads); customer engagement (as measured by sales qualified leads); and customer commitment (as measured by closed deals).

“SiriusDecisions has done a good job of articulating the relevant metrics.”

Rob Leavitt is a B2B marketing strategist, specializing in issues-based marketing. He is currently Director of Thought Leadership at PTC, a $1 billion enterprise software firm. (http://www.reputationtorevenue.com/)

“Increased credibility with customers and market influencers (analysts, bloggers, media, etc.) that the company is an important voice on the issue; new relationships and opportunities with customers focused on forward thinking solutions; and increased internal support for a thought leadership-oriented approach to the market.”

Fiona Czerniawska is one of the foremost global authorities on thought leadership, particularly in the management consultancy space. She is the co-founder of Source, a company specialising in researching the consulting industry (http://www.sourceforconsulting.com)

“A client who, having read your article, acts on something in it.  This may be quite a small, apparently insignificant action (forwarding an email to a colleague) but all of our research indicates that any action increases the chance that the ideas in the article and the firm associated with them will be remembered.

“A partner/consultant making a trip to see a client.  We tend to think that the outcomes of TL should be external, but there are huge benefits to articles/reports etc, which galvanize account managers and partners to visit their clients, taking the material with them and explaining to their client in person why it’s relevant to them.

“The ability to own an issue.  Thought leadership should be good enough to ensure that, on a particular issue, your firm will always be on the shortlist because you’re seen as the pre-eminent experts in that field.”

Dana VanDen Heuvel is a marketing consultant, author and speaker. He is a recognized expert on blogging, podcasting, RSS, Internet communities and interactive marketing trends and best practices as well as thought leadership (http://www.marketingsavant.com/)

“I like to  refer back to my original “thought leadership marketing equation” and state that Share of Voice, Share of Mind and Share of Market are the key outcomes of any thought leadership campaign, but I have a few others that I believe are critical.

1. “Marketplace momentum.  Thought leadership is cumulative where an advertising or promotions-centered approach is diminishing.  Pursuing the road of the thought leader, over time, builds tremendous momentum that can continue to propel an organization’s message long after the original piece of content was published.
2. “Quicker cycle times. In our experience thought leadership actually helps the customer decide (as opposed to helps the organization sell) who is best for them based on the advance knowledge they can obtain about an organization and how they think, act and work via their content.
3. “Category of One companies.  I’m a fan of Joe Calloway’s book “Becoming a Category of One” and I believe that the thought
   leadership approach allows an organization to tell a customer-centric story in a way that positions that organization as the only one telling that story and give that organization an opportunity to be seen as truly unique.”

Craig Badings – author of this blog and the book “Brand Stand: seven steps to thought leadership”, and a consultant at Sydney-based Cannings Corporate Communications.

“For me the most powerful is the emotional connection you forge with your client.

“If, as a result of your thought leadership campaign, your clients or your target audience get a sense that you really get them and the issues they face and that you are helping them overcome these it leads to the second outcome – differentiation.

“Your thought leadership needs to differentiate your brand from the competition.

“Finally it should position you as the ‘go to’ expert in your field and with this comes that all important brand quality – trust.

“I have created a list of 70+ thought leadership benefits here if you want to take a look.”

Please download my free e book top right of this page. Follow me on twitter @thoughtstrategy and join me on LinkedIn.

12 experts on the key thought leadership trends for 2012 – challenges

Experts share the challenges faced by thought leadership

I asked 12 people who I consider to be leading global commentators on thought leadership as well as some who have produced some amazing thought leadership programs in-house over the years to comment on four critical thought leadership questions for 2012.

Inspired by their answers I couldn’t help chipping in with my own thoughts.

As a result of the overwhelmingly positive response, I have split the interviews into four different posts – one post per question.

In the New Year I will make available an e book containing all the answers.

Interviewees include: Bob Buday, Erica Klein, David Meerman Scott, Jeff Ernst, Rob Leavitt, Britton Manasco, Dana van den Heuvel, Matt Church, Fiona Czerniawska, Dale Bryce, Elizabeth Sosnow, Marte Semb Aaasmundsen and me.

This post covers their answers to question two:

Question two: From your experience, what are the biggest challenges in
getting a thought leadership program off the ground?

Bob Buday, president of Bloom Group LLC, a firm that helps professional services and other B2B companies gain market leadership through thought leadership (http://www.bloomgroup.com)

“It’s easy to get a thought leadership program off the ground. Many firms start by outsourcing a white paper to a third party like my firm and then do little else. In my experience, this rarely works because the expectations are so high (“We expect the white paper to generate hundreds of leads quickly”) and the understanding of what it takes to have an effective thought leadership program so low.

“These firms typically have little appetite for creating a thought leadership machine because that takes budget and time. Even more important, they don’t realize how much time that their internal experts will need to spend on the program – in writing, developing their ideas, presenting them publically, and in working with others to capture their ideas.

“So I’ll change the question slightly and then answer it: The biggest challenge to getting a highly effective thought leadership program off the ground (“effective” defined as generating leads and revenue) is a recognition by those who are funding the program that they will need to commit sufficient time (no quick miracle results) and resources (yes, budget, and as important people’s time to participate in it) to the endeavor.

“If they don’t, there will be initial excitement and eventual disinterest as they find “that thought leadership white paper didn’t do much.”

Erica Klein, Thought Leadership Writer and Strategist Specializing in Financial and Technology Companies(http://www.ThoughtLeadershipWriter.com)

“As a thought leadership writer and consultant, I develop a detailed Project Brief for my clients upfront, something they generally don’t have enough time to do themselves, but which can serve as a solid foundation for every step of the process.

“The single greatest obstacle in launching a thought leadership initiative is not having a detailed document that clearly articulates the desired results, expected budget range, the list of key approvers and important influencers, content and graphics development stages, and realistic timeframes.

“Many a terrific thought leadership program has foundered on the rocks of project management and time management.”

Matt Church, founder of the Global Thought Leaders Movement and creator of the Million Dollar Expert Program. He is the author of 5 books including Thought Leaders and his latest Sell Your Thoughts http://www.mattchurch.com)

“Mediocrity!

“A thought leadership program is not for the faint of heart, it’s not a short-term trend or cool idea. It’s about focussing on your best and brightest and communicating their uniqueness to the internal and external audiences. “

Elizabeth Sosnow, managing director of Bliss PR a business-to-business strategic public elations and marketing communications firm based in New York City (http://www.blisspr.com)

“Thought leadership projects almost always falter without a differentiated, actionable idea.  It’s pretty simple. If you spend the
time to get your ideas in order, the rest of program falls neatly into place.

“Another frequent challenge – finding the right thought leader.

“A good program requires an articulate thinker who understands how to inspire their audience segment.  Ideally, that thought
leader actually becomes the embodiment of the idea.”

Jeff Ernst, is the Principal Analyst, serving CMO and Marketing Leadership Professionals at Forrester Research and is probably best described as a thought leader in B2B marketing and sales strategy (http://www.forrester.com/rb/analyst/jeff_ernst)

“The biggest challenge my clients face is getting the commitment from senior management to make thought leadership a top priority and to allocate time from the subject matter experts in the company who are needed to define the thought leadership platform and develop the idea hierarchy.”

David Meerman Scott is one of the pre-eminent thought leaders on PR and marketing. He is a marketing strategist, keynote speaker, seminar leader, and author of the #1 bestseller The New Rules of Marketing & PR (which has been published in 26 languages) and the Wall Street Journal bestseller Real-Time Marketing & PR. He recently launched his new online book: “Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage”. (http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/)

“Typically marketing people spend their time talking about products and services.  The average marketing person is very good at
doing things like brochures and advertising but they have great difficulty in providing thought leadership-type content that has nothing to do with their products or services.

“In fact most of them are terrible at not talking about their products and services.  Even a lot of the thought leadership campaigns out there currently contain too many product and service mentions.”

Dale Bryce is the group manager marketing for Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM), a global strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery firm. He has been  instrumental in their successful ‘client first’ thought leadership approach (http://www.skmconsulting.com/Home/)

“The challenge in professional services is often to get the gurus to see the big picture. Ironic isn’t it?

“Why?” is always a great first question to ask, or to answer.

“It is a delight working with such brilliant people, in my case engineering and before that the law, but even brilliant people need context. And that context usually needs to come from a deeper understanding of clients and their business – their commercial and technical issues and personal needs too.

“We have been running a Client Insights program for a while now. Our clients are clearly telling us they want us to stay in touch, “not just take the order”.  They want someone to bring forward valuable ideas. And, they actually want unsolicited proposals that solve their problems.

“So, in terms of thought leadership, especially in professional services, time needs to be spent on the “Why?”, before we launch into the “What?”.  And that can be a challenge.

“Subject matter expertise is a given in thought leadership. The key is connecting the dots, for clients and our thought leaders too.”

Marte Semb Aasmundsen, graduated this month with her MSc Strategic Public Relations and Communications Management at The University of Stirling in the UK.  Her thesis was on thought leadership.

“It is absolutely necessary to get backing from the board. Also, companies must understand that true thought leadership takes time to build, and needs a great deal of work and resources.

“It must be well researched and align with the perceptions and values of a brand and their stakeholders.”

Britton Manasco is the founder of Manasco Marketing Partners which specializes in creating thought leadership marketing and sales enablement solutions. Britton produces a thought leadership strategy blog Illuminating the Future and the executive journal, Elevation Quarterly. (http://www.brittonmanasco.com/)

“If I switch to the marketing perspective (as opposed to sales), I’d say that the biggest challenge is the creation of relevant, compelling and insightful content.

“It’s best if you are strong at drawing on outside and independent perspectives – whether they come from market influencers or buyers/practitioners. It takes rigor, discipline and a defined program to generate content that works in an ongoing fashion.

“You’ll probably want to hire empathic and proven content creators – people who can produce interesting content in many formats and for many buyers.”

Rob Leavitt is a B2B marketing strategist, specializing in issues-based marketing. He is currently Director of Thought Leadership at PTC, a $1 billion enterprise software firm. (http://www.reputationtorevenue.com/)

“I’m actually doing this myself these days so the question is far from academic!

“Three of the biggest challenges I’m facing right now are turning general interest across the organization into a focused program with agreed priorities, processes, and production; balancing the desire for ramping up content production with the need to build serious, deep, and credible points of view on key customer issues; and building a strong enough network of relationships with
customers and sales people to make sure the program is truly focused on what is most useful with those two key groups.”

Fiona Czerniawska is one of the foremost global authorities on thought leadership, particularly in the management consultancy space. She is the co-founder of Source, a company specialising in researching the consulting industry (http://www.sourceforconsulting.com)

“Where to start?  The best thought leadership comes down to picking topical issues, researching them thoroughly to a point where you have something new to say, and then writing the results up in an appealing and engaging manner.

“The first of these (picking topical issues) depends on having a) a clear view of what your clients are interested in – ideally more than a vague sense, but something itself grounded in research – and b) a culture / decision-making process which makes it possible to make decisions.  Many firms end up producing thought leadership on too many areas because they’re afraid to choose.

“The second (thorough research and new insights) comes down to what I term the ‘second day in the room’ syndrome: lots of firms are prepared to get their experts together for a day, but the firms that stand out in thought leadership terms are those who make them go back in for a second day – and that’s symptomatic of a commitment to research and investment.

“The third and final point (appeal and engagement) depends on recognition that there’s a lot of (too much!) thought leadership out there and you have to be brave if you’re going to stand out.

“So taking risks is a necessary part of doing thought leadership well.”

Dana VanDen Heuvel is a marketing consultant, author and speaker. He is a recognized expert on blogging, podcasting, RSS, Internet communities and interactive marketing trends and best practices as well as thought leadership (http://www.marketingsavant.com/)

“I have seen a few hurdles that typically keep an organization from thought leadership success:

“First, the confidence conundrum. In order to be a thought leader, an organization’s leadership must have the confidence that they can pull off the thought leader posture in the marketplace.  If anyone on the leadership team feels that the organization is under-qualified, then the idea of thought leadership will smolder, so to speak, but never really catch fire within the organization.  Moreover, if thought leadership can’t be sustained as an idea in the organization, it will never resonate with the
market.

“Second, I’m not a publisher” mentality. In order to be a successful thought leader, organizations need to both think and publish.  Yes, there’s more to it, but good strong content is as the core of a thought leadership program. I hear from countless organizations who would like to ascend to the “expert in their industry”, thought leader or “trusted advisor” status who just can’t get it together when it comes to creating content.

“Third, differentiation in the marketplace.  Taking a position as a thought leader requires that you have true differentiation not only of products but more importantly of ideas.  Organizations need to be “original thinkers” in order to manifest thought leadership. While I always believe that any business that’s been around for even a few years has found its differentiation, knowing that you’re different and being able to articulate that in a thought leadership position to the market remains a challenge.”

Craig Badings – author of this blog and the book “Brand Stand: seven steps to thought leadership”, and a consultant at Sydney-based Cannings Corporate Communications.

“Three things: if it’s not centred on your client issues and challenges it will fail or at best limp along; a lack of resources to properly plan, leverage and maintain your thought leadership point of view; and a lack of commitment from senior management.”

Please download my free e book top right of this page. Follow me on twitter @thoughtstrategy and join me on LinkedIn.

12 experts on the key thought leadership trends for 2012 – the biggest changes

Experts gives their views on the changes facing thought leadership

I asked 12  people who I consider to be leading global commentators on thought leadership  as well as those who have produced some amazing thought leadership programs in-house over the years to comment on four critical thought leadership questions for 2012.

Inspired by  their answers I couldn’t help chipping in with my own thoughts.

As a result of the overwhelmingly positive response, I have split the interviews into four different  posts – one post per question.  In the New  Year I will make available an e book containing all the answers.

Interviewees include: Bob Buday, Erica Klein, David Meerman Scott, Jeff Ernst, Rob Leavitt,  Britton Manasco, Dana van den Heuvel, Matt Church, Fiona Czerniawska, Dale Bryce, Elizabeth Sosnow, Marte Semb Aaasmundsen and me.

This post covers their answers to question one:

Question one: What will be the single biggest change we will see in thought leadership over the coming year/s?

Bob Buday, president of Bloom Group LLC, a firm that helps professional services and other B2B companies gain market leadership through thought leadership (http://www.bloomgroup.com)

“I’m not sure there will be any one major change in thought leadership in the coming year. I believe we’ll continue to see small changes in the ways that current and aspiring experts create and market their ideas.

“Social media will continue to give us ways to more easily conduct research (to find organizations to study), as well as more easily spread our ideas. However, I don’t ever expect social media to supplant the old ways of gaining expertise on an issue (talking by phone and in person to people who have dealt with the issue at hand) and sharing that expertise with audiences (seminars, books,
whether online or print, management journals, online or print).

“So while I’m dubious that we will see a major change in the next year in the way companies create and market content to educate their target audiences, I do expect to see a fundamental change in thought leadership over the course of this decade, and I hope sooner rather than later.

“The change I’m expecting is that organizations (especially firms that sell expertise) will see the emerging discipline of thought leadership not just as a marketing initiative but also as a service innovation initiative. By far, the largest return that companies can generate from thought leadership comes from not just displaying expertise on an issue but actually having superior services that
help clients solve the issue. I wrote about this in 2011 in a blog post ( http://bloomgroup.com/blogs/bob-buday/do-thought-leadership-marketing-and-knowledge-management-relate).

“This is not the way most firms look at and use thought leadership today. A handful of consultants may write an article or book based on some research and client work. But they then typically use the article and book to generate more such work – not more internal capability in their organizations to deliver more such work.

“Using thought leadership as R&D for service innovation is the Holy Grail of thought leaders. As more and more professional services work – architectural and engineering designs, consulting services, legal advice, accounting work, etc. – moves to locations that can provide that expertise at far lower cost, professional firms whose services aren’t fundamentally unique and superior at
delivering results won’t be able to maintain their fees. Thought leadership, then, becomes the mechanism for de-commoditizing a commodity service.”

Erica Klein, Thought Leadership Writer and Strategist Specializing in Financial and Technology Companies (http://www.ThoughtLeadershipWriter.com)

“I believe each company that recognizes the value of thought leadership will begin to develop a strategic blueprint that integrates these programs into the overall framework of their business development and marketing efforts.

“I also think you’ll see more of an attempt to integrate LinkedIn individual profile pages with company-wide thought leadership initiatives, significantly increasing the impact of these programs over the long term.”

Matt Church, founder of the Global Thought Leaders Movement and creator of the Million Dollar Expert Program. He is the author of 5 books including Thought Leaders and his latest Sell Your Thoughts (http://www.mattchurch.com)

“The need for those who are true thought leaders to be able to prove that depth of expertise in an efficient manner. Many will claim the title of thought leader but the challenge is for those who are to be as equally obsessed with the development of IP as they are in the promotion of same.”

Elizabeth Sosnow, managing director of Bliss PR a business-to-business strategic public  relations and marketing communications firm based in New York City (http://www.blisspr.com)

“We expect the biggest change to occur in the formatting of thought leadership.  Companies are slowly beginning to recognize that
traditional thought leadership packages such as “white papers” or “POV pieces” may not be nimble enough to survive in today’s highly cluttered marketplace.

“Winners will embrace an exciting array of design opportunities, from e-books to cartoons and even songs.”

Jeff Ernst, is the Principal Analyst, serving CMO and Marketing Leadership Professionals at Forrester Research and is probably best described as a thought leader in B2B marketing and sales strategy (http://www.forrester.com/rb/analyst/jeff_ernst)

“Companies will get frustrated that even their most compelling thought leadership ideas/Point of Views get lost in the noise in the
market and don’t stand out from what everyone else is saying, so they will shift from taking a “random acts of thought leadership” approach (a webinar here, a whitepaper there, a blog post) to a more methodical, orchestrated approach.

“This will require them to develop a thought leadership platform in a similar manner to how political candidates develop a campaign platform.”

David Meerman Scott is one of the pre-eminent thought leaders on PR and marketing.   He is a marketing strategist, keynote speaker, seminar leader, and author of the #1 bestseller The New Rules of Marketing & PR (which has been published in 26 languages) and the Wall Street Journal bestseller Real-Time Marketing & PR.  He recently launched his new online book: “Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage”. (http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/)

“I’m big on real-time thought leadership.  By this I mean people or companies that can respond to what’s going on now.  For example if there is a regulatory issue impacting their sector, can they comment on it right away?

“I’ve noticed that traditional thought leadership content on the web is very campaign-like in its approach – it’s planned well in advance.  There is nothing wrong with that, except that the web is a very now medium and too few companies are taking advantage of this.”

Dale Bryce is the group manager marketing for Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM), a global strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery firm.  He has been instrumental in their successful ‘client first’ thought leadership approach (http://www.skmconsulting.com/Home/)

“More will not be more!

“With the proliferation of digital and social media platforms, distribution of thought leadership will be easier. That’s good. But with this, impact could be less unless we keep an eye on quality and intent.

“I have always thought that building and engaging with a select and loyal audience is the main game. Just think of the power of presenting thought leadership as a genuine and tailored gift to a particular client: “We were thinking of you just the other day, and believe this piece here is really relevant to you and your business.”

“Cheesy? It depends on your intent…”

Marte Semb Aasmundsen, graduated this month with her MSc Strategic Public Relations and Communications
Management at The University of Stirling in the UK.  Her thesis was on thought leadership.

“I believe that thought leadership is the future of communication and reputation management.

“More and more companies have begun, and will continue, to realize the potential of the strategy; the competition within the thought leadership realm will thus be intensified and as a result, the message will need to become more sophisticated.

“Thought leadership initiatives lacking substance will no longer be recognized as thought leadership.

“I also think that the strategy will be more recognized globally, which opens up the opportunities for cross-cultural thought leadership.”

Britton Manasco is the founder of Manasco Marketing Partners which specializes in creating thought leadership marketing and sales enablement solutions.  Britton produces a thought leadership strategy blog Illuminating the Future and the executive journal, Elevation Quarterly. (http://www.brittonmanasco.com/)

“I spend most of my time working in the B2B arena, particularly with companies engaged in a complex sale. With regard to that type of company, I am seeing a definite focus on how to empower sales (as opposed to simply marketing) with thought leadership.  So, I will venture that it’s a significant trend: positioning sales people as thought leaders and trusted authorities.

“To become thought leaders, they must also be challengers – individuals who have the confidence and perspective to challenge the buyer’s status quo thinking.

“They must offer a new point of view – a new angle on things. They must be, in essence, provocateurs. And they must be prepared to guide their prospective clients through a complex and demanding decision.”

Rob Leavitt is a B2B marketing strategist, specializing in issues-based marketing. He is currently Director of Thought Leadership at PTC, a $1 billion enterprise software firm. (http://www.reputationtorevenue.com/)

“I think we’ll see another whole wave of thought leadership development and marketing.

“Clearly thought leadership has gained tremendous interest, support, and investment in the last few years, but we’re still very early in a maturity cycle. Many companies are still getting a basic foundation in place in terms of defining issues to address, creating a publication engine, enlisting subject matter experts, and testing the social media waters.

“All this is critical, but much of it is not actual “thought leadership” if by this term we literally mean “leading thoughts.”

“Many of us producing useful, non-promotional, educational content, but examples of more innovative and ground-breaking thinking is more rare, and requires far more investment, discipline, and experience.

“As more of us get past the foundation stage, I expect a great deal more innovative work in next few years.”

Fiona Czerniawska is one of the foremost global authorities on thought leadership, particularly in the management consultancy space.  She is the co-founder of Source, a company specialising in researching the consulting industry (http://www.sourceforconsulting.com)

“There are lots of things I’d like to see change but am not sure will actually happen: seeing consulting firms produce less, but higher quality thought leadership and pulling more of their output around a small number of over-arching themes would both be high up my agenda, but that’s hard to achieve in an environment where volume still matters.

“I would also like to see firms being more thoughtful in their use of different digital formats and social media for thought leadership purposes, rather than the pretty random experimentation that’s the norm at the moment.  But I do think that 2012 will prove to be the year in which a minority of consulting firms will stand out in their ability to use these formats/media much more
effectively.”

Dana VanDen Heuvel is a marketing consultant, author and speaker. He is a recognized expert on blogging, podcasting, RSS, Internet communities and interactive marketing trends and best practices as well as thought leadership (http://www.marketingsavant.com/)

“I believe that marketers are realizing that thought leadership is really a ”supply side” construct, and in order to ensure that our thought leadership efforts are valid in the marketplace, we need to take a “demand  side” approach and focus not only on what makes for great thought leadership, but rather what makes for great “attention leadership” where we’re attracting and maintaining the attention of our audience over time.”

Craig Badings – author of this blog and the book “Brand Stand: seven steps to thought leadership”, and a consultant at Sydney-based Cannings Corporate Communications.

“We will see more sophistication in terms of focus, how thought leadership is researched, how it is targeted, packaged and presented and how it is integrated into the sales process.

“Cloud computing will also present a big opportunity in showcasing and ordering intellectual property but this will be a longer term play.

“Finally I think thought leadership will continue to gain traction as a strategic business tool as opposed to a pure communications/ marketing tool.”

Please download my free e book top right of this page.  Follow me on twitter @thoughtstrategy and join me on LinkedIn.

Advice from 7 global thought leaders on thought leadership

Insights from 7 thought leaders

Over the course of the last few years I have had the privilege of interviewing a number of thought leaders in different fields.  I’ve taken the best of what these seven thought leaders have shared on the topic and hopefully you’ll find them useful.

David Meerman Scott, author of “The new rules of PR and Marketing”, is well known to many marketing and public relations professionals.  When he was working for NewsEdge he famously ignored the advice of his PR and ad agency and ‘broke the old rules’ by publishing lots of free content online which resulted in hundreds of sales.

Sales and thought leadership

David explained the link between thought leadership and sales this way.

“The Web gives everyone—B2B companies, consumer brands, consultants, non-profits, and even rock bands, churches, and colleges—a tremendous opportunity to reach people and engage them in new and different ways.

“When you build content especially for your audience, you build a relationship with people before you’ve even met them. When it’s obvious that you understand your buyers and their problems, it jars your visitors into paying attention.

“You transform your marketing from mere product-specific, ego-centric gobbledygook that only you understand and care about into valuable information people are eager to consume and that they use to make the choice to do business with your organization. Instead of creating jargon-filled, hype-based advertising, you can create the kind of online content that your buyers naturally gravitate to—if you take the time to listen to them discuss the problems that you can help them solve.

“Then you’ll be able to use their words, not your own. You’ll speak in the language of your buyer, not the language of your founder, CEO, product manager, or PR agency staffer. You’ll help your marketing get real.”

Content and thought leadership

When I pressed David about his thoughts on producing content and whether content alone makes you a thought leader, his view was:

“The problem is that most organizations create content about their stupid products. What people need to realize is that nobody cares about your products (except you).  What people do care about are themselves and ways to solve their problems.”

Another thought leader who had some interesting views on content is well known marketer Dana VandenHeuvel (Marketing Savant), who had this to say about content:

“Content is the medium of exchange for thought leaders. Now, there are nuances to this that I won’t go into, but on the surface, the more content you have, the more currency you have in your marketplace.  If it’s you, with a content rich site sharing information that’s deemed useful by your audient (usefulness is key here), vs. a competitor with less content and fewer shared ideas and concepts, I’ve found the prospects like the person or organization that’s given them more currency and gives them a larger base perspective from which to make a decision.”

I love the way Dana equates content to currency and how it gives you the perspective to make decisions.  My view is that for your thought leadership to truly work it has to give your clients the information and insights necessary to make informed decisions.

Gary Bertwistle, multiple author of books such as “Who stole my Mojo”, “What made you think of that”, “My Dad’s got Mojo” and “The Vibe” had this to say about content and taking your content to market:

“My advice to aspiring thought leaders would be to develop your own content. Too many so-called thought leaders are just parroting what they’ve read or heard, whereas a true thought leader espouses. To be a true thought leader you have to have original thoughts and this only comes from taking the time to be silent and to look, see, listen and really hear what’s going on around you to be able to form an opinion that can truly help take people and organisations forward. Thought leaders aren’t those who just repackage what everyone else has said. They must have an angle and a new approach, idea, concept or innovation that can truly lead.

“In today’s world books are not the only tool that business or leaders can use. Many thought leaders are using social media particularly well through blogs, tweets, podcasts and vidcasts. The book is purely the tool to help you get the word out.

“Organisations and business leaders can do just as good a job by truly investing in original thinking and using all the tools outlined above as the methods to share your thoughts as a leader. Blogs, tweets, Facebook, LinkedIn, DIGG, podcasts, vidcasts are all fine but if you’re not sharing innovative thinking that helps me as the follower to think differently or be better at whatever it is that I do, then you fail to add value and all those things are a waste of space. Too many companies are loading up with podcasts and blogs, which have no value and are a waste of time.”

Fiona Czerniawska is a global authority on thought leadership, particularly in the management consultancy space.  There are few people who understand as much about thought leadership as Fiona.  A co-founder of Source, a company specialising in researching the consulting industry, she has authored numerous management reports, books and papers.

She makes the following point about good content:

“If you look back at the block-buster management ideas of the past, they were all based on serious research, not a sudden brainwave or luck.  I don’t believe in eureka moments except those that emerge from deeper-than-deep content.  That being said, I do think that innovation in thought leadership will come from the way this content is assembled and disseminated.”

Thought leadership is about sharing

Generosity played a big part in Gary Bertwistles’s advice about content sharing:

            “Today’s brands need to be generous.

“Generosity is a key driver for any thought leader or organisation wanting to lead.  You can’t just sell a service or a product. You have to go above and beyond that and provide the extras.

“Provide the overs. The overs come in the form of information, advanced notice, freebies, alliances, promotion or insights. If you aren’t sharing your knowledge or insights with your target audience then you run the risk of leaving yourself open to attack from a competitor who does. Today it’s an expectation from your target audience. The buyer of any product or service expects the extras.”

Gary had a simple three-step process around thought leadership which comprised:

1.      Clarifying who you are targeting

2.      Clarify the category you want to occupy – find a single concept which differentiates you and decide what perceptions you want to create around this

3.      Work out how you will infiltrate your target’s world in order to alert them about this information.

Bernard Salt is a global thought leader on consumer and demographic trends.  He represents KPMG at conferences around the world sharing his insights on these topics.

When it comes to sharing information, Bernard is emphatic:

“There are a lot of people who I am aware copy my material, style and approach without attribution – there is no protection against intellectual theft.  But the way I figure it is that it’s my job to remain intellectually creative to such a degree that pretenders are continually left with the option but to copy.

“The only people who are paranoid about giving away material are people who do not have faith that they are creatively superior to those who would copy them.  Copy away.  I’ll just think up other stuff.  It keeps me sharp.”

Thought leadership is not about controlling the message

One of the areas where companies really battle in the social world is about controlling information.  The idea of engaging in conversations online let alone having dialogues with people as a result of their thought leadership content is an anathema for most big corporations.  Most companies have always pushed a message, typically a highly sanitised one at that, and then controlled it to the nth degree across all channels.  As a result they really battle with the concept of no longer being in control of what is said about their brand and are hesitant about entering the social media world. 

David Meerman Scott has a strong view on this and access to information:

“And you must resist the urge to “control the message.” Create something interesting that will be talked about online.

“When you lose control of your marketing by opening up and not requiring a registration, as many as fifty times the number of people will download it compared to the form requirement.”

Thought leadership is Customer focused

David believes one has to be customer focused when it comes to creating thought leadership content:

“My most important aspect of creating information is to throw away your own ego and instead create content for what I call ‘buyer personas’.

“I think ‘buyer personas’ are the king of marketing and a focus on buyer personas allows you to create the content.”

I couldn’t agree more, too many companies focus on what they’re excited about rather than taking time to find out the pressing issues and challenges facing their clients or prospects.

As Fiona Czerniawska point out:

“Clients have mixed reactions, depending on the subject-matter and their position.  Overall, clients dismiss most thought leadership simply because it’s not relevant to them.  There’s a lesson in this about ensuring all material is focused on as tight a group of clients as possible, otherwise – a bit like infections treated with antibiotics – they become resistant! 

“Where it is relevant, views are much more positive: indeed, it’s quite clear that producing good thought leadership is, in many senior managers’ eye, a fundamental characteristic of a certain type of established, high-class consulting.”

Tips from a master thought leader

Most people will know Ken Blanchard from his book “The one minute manager” which has sold more than 13 million copies.  The fact is Ken has published and co-authored over 50 books and is one of the top 25 top selling authors of all time on Amazon.

When I asked him about what tips he could give to other aspiring thought leaders he said:

“The first thing you have to do is to determine your leadership point of view—your thoughts about leading and motivating people. Your leadership point of view relates to who you are as an individual. It grows out of who influenced you, what your purpose is, what your values are, and what people can expect from you. This is important because research has shown that the most effective leaders have a clear leadership point of view and they’re willing to share it with others.”

Ken also makes a hard hitting point about sharing information and getting your thought leadership to market:

“The bottom line, though, is that you have to get the word out somehow. You can have the greatest, most innovative thoughts in the world, but if nobody hears about them, they’re worth squat.”

Thought leadership takes time

Bernard Salt believes that thought leadership is a test of endurance, personal belief and courage because it takes years to be recognised and to cut through the clutter.  As he says:  “You have to be the last person standing when all other pretenders have melted away.”

He also says that corporations need to be patient with thought leaders but that they are notoriously impatient.

Thought leaders need to be skilled communicators

Bernard is a firm believer that thought leaders need to be able to pitch their ideas – in other words they need to be skilled presenters and outstanding communicators.  Bernard says:

“What business wants is a compelling case pitched verbally with passion and with direction.  Hone your speaking and presentation skills.  And then hone again.

“Watch good speakers and presenters.  Watch stand-up comedians, they are brilliant at controlling an audience.

“Get to the point, speak passionately, use words well (you must be articulate), and connect with your audience.  And when you think you are good enough in that skill area go out and learn some more because you are never good enough at speaking, pitching and presenting.”

Another global thought leader who believes in the power of presentation and effective communications is Howard Gardner, professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Howard has authored 25 books and is best known for his theory on multiple intelligences:  Howard had this to say about becoming a thought leader in your chosen field:

You need the “capacity to speak and write for a popular audience, and the willingness to go on television, travel, speak to general audiences…

“Every year I think that I improve both my understanding and my ability to communicate effectively – or at least I hope so.”

Key challenges for thought leaders

Fiona Czerniawska says that one of the trends she has identified is the way in which people are publishing their material with a plethora of new formats, including Twitter, videos, podcasts and design-your-own graphs. 

She flags that the key challenge for thought leaders these days is:

 “…you have less space to say things and I think consulting firms are struggling with the transition from back-breaking flagship reports to a pithier, more opinionated style.  A five-minute video shouldn’t be a balding man in a grey suit reading the executive summary, but someone saying something memorable and thought-provoking, as well as fast.  This type of thought leadership should be like the tip of an iceberg, with the underlying research below the waterline, but it often becomes an excuse for not doing the research in the first place – and that shows.”

How thought leaders attract attention

One of the areas that Fiona touched on was how thought leaders can attract a client’s attention.  She has identified four areas on which a thought leader should focus.  These are: appeal, differentiation, practical application and quality of thinking.  She explains: 

“These four factors relate to the quality of a firm’s output and that’s independent of quality (although, almost inevitably, a firm that decides to increase the quantity of its material takes a hit on quality).  It’s tempting to say that quantity should never matter but it does: if you produce one piece of thought leadership on, say, strategy in the banking sector, but your competitor produces 20, then there’s a fair chance that you’ll get shouted down, however great your piece is. 

“Quantity also sends a not-so-subliminal message to clients about how much a firm specialises in a particular area. 

“However, I think firms could indeed be more creative about the way they package their content.  In particular, I’d like to seem more “bundling” (putting related articles, in a mix of different formats, together in the same place); better recommendations (suggesting articles I might find of interest); and, please, please, please, better search engines.  It’s incredibly frustrating to put a keyword in but not be able to sort the results by date or filter them.”

The future of thought leadership

Fiona believes that thought leadership has a bright future:

“I like to think that it will become a serious battleground for really good ideas.  I may be laughed at for this on the quite reasonable grounds that (a) clients value small-scale insights more than grandiose conceptual models and (b) the extent to which thought leadership is – or can be – a crucible for innovation is questionable.  But I do get frustrated by the lack of ambition in much thought leadership.

“There are some big and interesting questions about business that never seem to get debated – and it would be good to think that some of these will start to be discussed.  The prerequisites to this, and I suspect to upping the overall quality of thought leadership, are investment and collaboration.

“I can’t believe we won’t see more money going into thought leadership in the future, as it’s clear that it is one of the few marketing activities which can differentiate a firm.  And I also think consulting firms will realise that they have to work with people (clients and other consultants) outside the boundaries of their firms for inspiration.”

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