You might have heard of something called thought leadership. But what is it?
You can think of it as being an authority or the expert about a certain subject or topic, but why is it important to have thought leadership in business?
Being a thought leader in your field will make your business more attractive to others. It can provide the edge you need to beat out your competitors.
Thought leadership help you be more attractive in three ways:
1. Accessibility
Thought Leadership increases your accessibility. If potential clients have a question about something that your business specializes in, they can come to you for the answer to their question. This has obvious benefits for your business. Normally when clients have questions, they’re looking to solve a problem, and chances are good that you can solve their problem. Accessibility will lead to business.
2. Builds Trust
Thought Leadership builds trust. If you’re able to answer questions about your business’s field of expertise, you become a reliable source of information in that field. Not only will people trust your opinions and knowledge, but they will trust your business as well. As a reliable source of information, more and more people will come to you with questions. The more people who come with their questions, the more likely those people will become potential clients. Trust brings business.
3. Builds a Good Reputation
Thought leadership builds a good reputation. A good reputation is your best marketing tool. If you are a good source of information and you are able to deliver results, you will build a good reputation, and the people you help will share what they know about you with their friends. A good reputation brings business.
Common Mistakes When Building Thought Leadership
Now that you know why thought leadership is good for your business, let’s discuss some of the common ways people fail to build or ruin their thought leadership.
1. Not Knowing Your Audience
Thought leaders, are aware of the “questions” that their customers/consumers are asking. In order to truly garish the desired outcome, a leader or business must identify those questions and prioritize them.
Thought Leaders/leadership is about becoming the authority on relevant topics by having the answers to those important questions, if you don’t know the questions how can you give answers?
2. Not having a voice
Thought leaders are a unique breed that possess a unique distinguishable voice that sets them apart from other leaders. That uniqueness is their brand, as a result the audience knows exactly what he thought leader or organization stands for. There is no ambiguity about their mission and goal.
Also thought leaders are not “wishy-washy” they declare their brand with pride and never stray from the course.
3. Not empowering others
Thought leaders inspire and empower those that they lead, that is to say through their leadership they serve as role models to others. They share their experience and knowledge, and shape the next generation of thought leaders.
As experts in their fields, they are aware of the importance of having a sphere of influence, and shaping and encouraging those around them. What they don’t do is lead for the sake of power and dictate and repress.
Who is an example of a thought leader that you admire? Share with us in the comments below.
Much success,
Looking for more great reads? Check out these related articles:
- How to Become a Thought Leader
- 3 Mistakes to Avoid to Maintain Your Thought Leadership
- 3 Styles of Thought Leadership: Quantity, Originality, and Trendsetting
- Developing Inner and Outer Qualities for Thought Leadership
- Make Your Thought Leadership Count by Integrating Internal Experts
- Native Publishing: The New Thought Leadership Frontier
- How Webinar Series Can Build Your Thought Leadership
- How Thought Leadership Can Change Your Marketing Strategy
- How to Build Your Thought Leadership
- What is the Best Way to Implement Thought Leadership in Content Marketing?
