Owning your thought leadership: How to build trust and authority your way
What’s in your job title? If you own your own business, are you a “founder,” “owner,” “CEO,” “Chief Creator”?
Creating your own job title can bring up different things for different people. Some are completely comfortable owning their leadership, while others struggle in seeing themselves front and center, and the face of the company. If you fall into the latter category – trust me – you’re not alone. It’s common to be passionate about the work – that’s how you got here in the first place – but less so about driving people to the work.
I’ve always been really interested in the power of thought leadership communications: the type of content and communications that help build trust and demonstrate authority on a topic. Yet, when talking with women entrepreneurs or leaders, being a “thought leader” is generally not one of their top goals, but to effectively market or promote your services, you almost have no choice but to start owning your authentic voice and seeing yourself as a leader.
Again, if this feels challenging, you’re not alone. Here are a few suggestions on how to move into the space of thought leadership, in a way that’s authentic to you.
The value of thought leadership
Thought leadership is simply the practice of sharing your knowledge in a way that builds trust and authority, and as a small business owner, it’s an important process in developing a deeper relationship with your audience of prospects and clients.
If you picture a marketing funnel, thought leadership generally sits on top, alongside brand awareness. In the simplest form, it’s education by providing your unique thoughts on a topic, your insights from years of experiences, and best practices you’ve developed over time. What sets you apart from other services is generally at the heart of your unique voice and thought leadership.
Questions to start identifying your unique voice
To help put you in the mindset, start jotting down answers to a few of these questions:
What are the tools your audience needs to help them do their job better or live a better life?
What are the most common questions you get from your audience or current clients and how do you address them?
Where is there a gap in knowledge that you can fill because of your experience in the field?
Common tools for building authentic thought leadership
The channels and tools you use for thought leadership are generally for higher level engagement or having longer and ongoing conversations, which works to establish trust over time. It’s not intended to be a direct sales ask. Instead, you’re providing value by offering resources and content that establish more engaged conversions over time. Because your audience is already getting value, it’s less uncomfortable – for you and them – when you need to make a more focused or direct sales ask.
There are many different tools for building your unique voice – as well as ways to make it more authentic to you. As with anything, consistency is important so the more “you” you can make it, the more likely you’ll be able to stick with it.
Original research
Leading with original research feels heavy. It’s big. It can be time-consuming and expensive. But it’s one of the most valuable tools for establishing your brand and authority, and before you write it off, there are ways to make it not such a heavy lift.
If you have the opportunity to do it once a year, it could serve as the catalyst for generating media attention and breaking into a space. The data also has a long shelf-life, and the insights you get from research can be teased apart in many different ways, including white papers, social media posts, blogs, and infographics.
Audiences: Industry leaders, media, influencers
How to tackle original research your way
For small businesses, original research may feel out of reach, but there are simple and more entry-level forms of research to help you get started. Mantis Research offers suggestions for utilizing data you already have as well as qualitative research that may be more reasonable.
Social media
Of course, social is the most common form of thought leadership because it’s one of the easiest ways to build an audience and elevate your brand, as well as drive traffic to your website. If you’re consistently engaging audiences on social media – sharing your opinions, providing feedback on articles, linking to resources that you developed – you’re using it to build your brand and establish your voice.
Social channels also reward you for consistency, so it’s important to be intentional with your strategy and the channels you choose, always keeping your goals and your audience in mind. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s comfortable for everyone to start sharing what they do.
Audience: Varies by social media platform
How to tackle social media your way
For good reason, social is one of the first tools that businesses use. All of the platforms are meant to be easy to use and it allows for as much creativity as you can afford. First, try doing a self-assessment: what channels are you already comfortable with? And then answer the following questions:
Who is your audience, and what channels are they on?
Do certain types of content work better for you? For example, creating videos vs written posts
How does social fit into your goals, and what your goals for each separate channel?
It’s easy to go all-in, but especially if you’re just starting out, your time and resources are finite. Be intentional.
Blogs
A blog is a platform for an ongoing conversation with readers. It’s your unique and authentic voice. You have the opportunity to speak to topics specifically relevant to the work you do and provide your audience with valuable tips and tools. If the content is optimized to capture search traffic, it can also be a great way to drive traffic to your website from outside sources.
Audience: Current and prospective clients
How to tackle blogging your way
There are many different ways to approach a blog strategy, but a good way to start is to brainstorm topics based on:
Commonly asked questions by your clients
Basic or important topics that need more explanation
Gaps in knowledge where your audience would benefit if they knew more
Tips, best practices, how-to’s
Second, how are these topics interconnected? Are there ways to link between them so you’re reinforcing resources you’ve already created?
Again, it’s good to be intentional with all channels, and before writing your first piece, establish your goal for your blog, your tone and voice, and make a plan for building consistency. Consider putting time on your schedule to write each week or finding an accountability partner to help keep you on track.
Interested in more tips for blog writing or want help developing your strategy? We can help!
Downloadable resources
Another key thought leadership opportunity is having resources on your website available for download. In all likelihood, this is content you may have already developed to help your existing clients or customers. It’s your best practices, how-to guides, worksheets, or analyses.
Think about ways you could build them out as a resource that a prospective client may want to download. Put it behind a gated form, and you have a resource that could help you generate new prospective leads for your business.
Audience: Potential clients
How to tackle it your way
Think about the tools you may already have created that could also work as a promotional tool for prospective clients. You don’t want to give everything away, but if it’s a resource that, for example, speaks to a pain point for a client, it may be a valuable tool for a prospect.
You can also test them out or promote them through your other thought leadership channels, aka social media.
Whether or not this resonates yet with you, you’re a creator and thought leader. In many cases, your work is also bigger than you, especially if you’re providing a service that’s contributing to the greater good. This leadership is a way of creating more of that good in the world – and it’s helping you learn how to trust and share your voice in the meantime.
Looking for support developing a thought leadership strategy that aligns with your marketing goals? Let’s connect!
