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Thought Leadership Is a Company Attitude

by Ford Kanzler

Thought leadership is getting more attention lately. Interestingly though, the concept has been rooted in public relations practice for nearly a century. General Mills’ Betty Crocker pamphlets of the 1930’s and later complete cookbooks continuing into the late ‘90s, are ways of demonstrating baking expertise (read, thought leadership). But you don’t necessarily have to write a book to become a thought leader. That’s just one of the proven ways of helping you and your organization become recognized as exceptionally knowledgeable.

Going Beyond Product

What’s essential for applying a thought leadership strategy is an agreement that there’s lot’s more to talk about than just product or service.

Often thought leadership is mistakenly only attributed to market share leaders. Its a powerful public relations strategy available to potentially any business where there is a thought leadership vacuum or where there’s an opportunity to break out with fresh thinking. This strategy requires competent PR support, knowledgeable people and often significant research to help support this distinct alternative to standard product promotion.

Thinking About TL

If all Marketing management thinks about is product demand generation and product sales leads, then thought leadership (TL) will not likely be viewed as an investment in strategic reputation building. The strategic concept that “share-of-voice precedes share-of-mind, which precedes share-of-market” needs to be present for a TL campaign to survive. TL is highly effective in building both share-of-voice and mindshare.

Techniques for applying a TL strategy are about advocating new, inspiring ideas, or at the very least, thought-provoking ones. Providing advice was successful in the Betty Crocker example above. Any category where expert advice on applying products, whether its Canon talking about photography or Intel advising on designing electronics with microprocessors, is ripe for TL efforts.

Content development is focused on change . . . what’s new, what’s next or what’s not working but essential to your customers’ success. Revealing new ways of doing something that traditional means have been unable to accomplish, is another way of discovering potential topics. Can you discuss how a new category of product helps make life easier for an industry segment? Note the focus on a category, not your particular product. Can you explain why people should do something a new way perhaps with products like yours?

Being persuasive in TL demands well-supported, clearly-stated ideas, not fuzzy logic. What’s vital for the speaker or writer is having a basis for their perspective, some level of credibility as a voice on the topic.

Attributes of Thought Leaders

“Youthfully rebellious” might be a good attitude for people initiating TL efforts. They’re generally dissatisfied with the status quo. Certainly a willingness to risk group rejection and a belief in a better way of doing things are essential. Does the company have a willingness to initiate new direction? That’s at the core of a campaign. Other valuable attributes are embracing openness, fairness, balance and generosity. Generosity is important because in public speaking, authorship or blogging, someone is giving up their time and intelligence to help and engage with others, as well as expand the enterprise’s reputation.

Applying TL to Branding Strategy

TL is available to companies of nearly any size or in any market. A small retail banker can become the local thought leader by providing personal finance classes, writing a pamphlet or creating a web site helping people imagine more effective ways of managing their money generating increased awareness and credibility…not a bad thing for any business. Health service providers can write informative columns in the local paper. A bike shop owner can provide clinics on basic bike maintenance or riding safety. Most significantly, by acting as a thought leader, you’re providing something competitors aren’t. The resulting differentiation separates your brand from others, which is the core of any successful marketing campaign.

Other key values of employing a TL campaign are that it:

• Exposes your company’s values to your prospects
• Demonstrates expertise where expertise is valued
• Attracts specific kinds of customers
• Changes how people think – usually for the better!
• Preempts competitive marketing efforts – If they copy you, do something else
• Attracts attention beyond simple product or company advertising claims

Executing a Program

Strategy first, then tactics. Be sure to create a strategic communications objective so there’s agreement about where you’re going and what you want to be known for. Hint: A company or brand can only be effectively known for one thing. Brand extensions are wasteful marketing but that’s a whole different article. For the great info on this read “Differentiate Or Die” by Jack Trout.

If you already have a clearly-defined market position, great! What topics will help further cement that authority you’ve earned? If your company really hasn’t established a position it’s high time to figure that out and support it with communications demonstrating your difference.

After a strategy is in place, further prepare by developing depth of understanding around key market problems or trends. You may have that information in the heads of people within your company. Knowing what’s going on in the market is directly applicable and can help jump-start the TL program. A company audit of this information can help flesh out the program with relevant ideas. What’s needed next is packaging that captures expertise and then distributes it where it will have them maximum business effects. Execution is key.

Remember the comments above about generosity? Give away knowledge freely. Not your trade secrets, but don’t be bashful about demonstrating your business expertise. Keep your communications focused on customer relevance.

Gain trust, stand by your principles and support your point-of-view. Also strategically important is keying on a single, high-level topic that leaves room to move. Engaging in and embracing open public discussion around your main topic is at the core of the campaign. Blogging demands this concept. You’re having a conversation with the market, not preaching. Taking your story online using social media may not be for all companies. Some organizations are not prepared for quite that level of engagement with customers and others. Consider this before opening the door to blogging by reading what’s going on in the blogosphere for a few months before deciding.

Tactics

Start small. Creating a publishing calendar on your internal web site or offline will help drive what-by-when plan. Research and develop a speaking opportunities calendar and book relevant engagements locally, nationally or internationally. Enlist those with combined domain expertise and public speaking abilities. For those with the knowledge but lacking delivery punch, develop the content with the expert then either delegate the speaking opportunities to another person or train the content expert in effective delivery, or do both. Developing a team of knowledgeable and interesting speakers in advance is highly effective preparation.

Tactical preparation includes:

• Sharing info about things other than just your company info
• Creating relationships by reaching out to co-marketers, allies, and perhaps even competitors

• Knowing your customer base or the attitudes around your category

Creating media relationships directly by execs is essential. Pubic relations is a management function, so coordinate closely with the PR function and get far more results by making yourself consistently part of the program.

Merchandise your best thought leadership publicity results by posting them on your web site and linking to where it is published. Keep this area fresh by adding the latest information.

Write or find a ghost writer with whom you can collaborate and develop ideas into articles and speeches. A speech is usually a potentially good article and visa versa. This article started life as a presentation.

Defend your reputation by staying on top of industry buzz. Check you search results by using Google Alerts or delegate it and regularly review what’s discovered. Listening to the market will provide ideas to feed your program.

Write a book! This still creates instant perceptions of domain expertise. Remember Betty Crocker, even though “Betty” was in reality a team of writers working for General Mills’ ad agency. Perhaps after a string of articles, blogs and speeches have been created, the material can become chapters of a book. Collaboration with an allied expert can be another way of creating critical mass for this longer form, high value tactic. Publishing has become far easier and faster. It is not the huge time sink you may believe. A ghost writer may also be the solution.

Generating TL must come from within. Management attitudes about engaging with their market sharing their vision, debating issues and discussing trends, all enables a company to project itself on the market without resorting to simply promoting products or services. TL can run parallel to product promotion but with the more strategic objectives of creating a new or differing company reputation while helping the organization stand out versus its competitors.

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Ford Kanzler is managing partner of Marketing/PR Savvy in El Granada, CA and helps companies of all sizes and in varying markets by projecting their thought leadership and market vision. He may be contacted at: ford@prsavvy.com