By David Watkins, Publicist – Otter PR
Are you flustered by the lack of business growth you are experiencing? Do you feel like your promotional efforts are not getting noticed? Are you struggling to generate leads for your B2B business?
The key to gaining more success in these areas could be becoming a sought-after thought leader. Thought leaders stand out in the business world as experts who can offer valuable insights into the most pressing problems their industries are facing. By seeking out and sharing solutions, thought leaders increase the credibility and visibility of their companies.
The following are some steps business leaders can take to become sought-after thought leaders.
Develop an outstanding level of expertise
Thought leaders are much more than savvy business leaders. They have achieved success, but they aren’t satisfied with stopping there. They develop new best practices that push boundaries, developing an outstanding and unique level of expertise.
The best way to move into the thought leader space is to start with your core competencies. Where have you had standout success in the past? What expertise have you cultivated? Start there and build on it to become someone who can offer insightful explanations and solid solutions. Your goal is to become the go-to source of information on a topic, helping others in the industry to see not only what they need to succeed now but also what will be helpful to them in the future.
Thought leadership also involves testing as well as thinking. You’ll gain recognition when you offer ideas you’ve tried in real-world situations and found effective. And it is just as helpful to share the things you’ve tried that have failed, especially when you can offer explanations on what went wrong.
Contribute regularly to the conversation
As you launch your thought leader career, you’ll want to take advantage of every opportunity you’re given to join the conversation. Sometimes the opportunities will be in your sweet spot, and sometimes they won’t. Either way, dive in and find ways to show the value of your expertise.
For example, you may be working to position yourself as a thought leader in the field of fintech. Being asked to be part of a panel on digital payments at a cryptocurrency conference would be ideal. Being invited to be a guest on a podcast focused on human resources might not feel like a good fit. However, you can use the opportunity to talk about how fintech can be used to give employees more control over the compensation process and enhance the employee experience.
Cultivate a community of followers
Effective thought leaders use social media to build and engage with a community of followers. They regularly share the type of information that can help their colleagues, seek feedback, and make sure to respond to those who engage.
Cultivating a community of followers serves a number of purposes. First, it keeps thought leaders in the loop. They get to hear about what keeps their colleagues up at night, what efforts are making a difference, and what aren’t. It provides intel that allows them to channel their leadership in directions that can make a difference.
Secondly, engaging in community adds to a thought leader’s authenticity. It’s an opportunity to show they are a practitioner as well as a thinker. By sharing their story — the successes and failures their company is experiencing and what they are learning from them — they can show they are an expert who also has skin in the game.
Developing a unique and notable expertise, being ready to share it, and cultivating a community of followers are key steps to becoming a sought-after thought leader. Pursuing those steps will allow you to become more visible, influential, and ultimately more successful.
About the Author
David Watkins, Publicist with Otter PR, is an Award-winning Public Relations professional with extensive experience in media relations, account management, and journalism. He has a 100 percent success rate at placing diversified clientele into top-tier outlets and driving effective communications campaigns. David’s PR insights have been included in Forbes, Mirror Online, and PR Daily and featured on SiriusXM’s “Radio Andy” with Andy Cohen.
