Establish Yourself as a Thought Leader

In an increasingly global market, the demand to be a leader is rising everyday. A thought leader, even more so.

61% of decision-makers who are willing to pay a premium say it’s because thought leadership demonstrates deep thinking and other virtues important to them. And, 49% of decision makers say that thought leadership can be effective in influencing their purchasing decisions.
*Source: 2020 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study

The three essentials to become a thought leader are – know-how, opinion, and passion. If you’ve got these you can become a thought leader and influence your audience in whatever you’re passionate about. Here are a few more points to help you truly establish yourself as a thought leader.

How to establish yourself as a thought leader?

1) Find your niche

Rule one is to first find what you are good at and what you can offer. This way you can become an expert in a certain space and have an audience that wants what you have to offer. It is important to define your target audience, as well as the message you want to send out to them. Making general statements and pushing your message to everyone will not work well. Identifying those who will follow your brand is imperative.

2) Put your message out there

Whatever the medium, getting your message across is paramount to becoming a thought leader. Pick a platform you’re comfortable with and one that you know your audience will consume, whether video, audio, public speaking, writing, or anything else. Don’t miss an opportunity to engage with your audience in whichever medium you have chosen.

3) Spread out

While posting on your platform of choice, in your medium of choice is important, making your content available to your audience on a platform they already frequent will guarantee some involvement. Considering it might be a secondary or even tertiary click-through to your particular platform or site, take the content to them. It also helps to make your content available in multiple mediums whether a video series, webinars, podcasts, blogs, and more.

4) Be consistent

This is more of a general rule since consistency applies to everything. People need to know and recognize you if they are to follow your brand and be influenced by your message. So make sure you are regular with your message to your audience.

5. Social media

While social media can be a boon, it’s easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole of posts. Make sure you’re optimizing the platforms to say what you want to say without diluting it with unrelated content. Maintain your focus and streamline your content. Make sure your editorial calendar is full of new and engaging content to make sure your audience takes notice and keeps coming back. Start slow with one platform and slowly work up to more.

6) Credibility

For your audience to truly follow your lead, you need to showcase the work you have done that makes you an expert at your particular subject of thought leadership. Showing your projects and success stories is great, but also showing the struggles, trials and errors makes you more approachable, humble, and also credible. Make sure to respond to people who write to you so that your audience knows you are engaged with them.

Being a thought leader is hard work but it is also very rewarding. Start small and grow your brand. Be patient and persevere and it will happen for you.

FAQs

Q. What’s the most important exercise before becoming a thought leader?

A. The most important thing to do first is to find your niche. Depending on your passion and expertise, pick a niche.

Q. What is the importance of spreading out onto different platforms?

A. Making your content available to your audience on a platform they already frequent will get more eyeballs.