Thought leadership

Companies choose a specific strategy to draw attention to their brand and develop a distinctive competence. One of the strategies to achieve this is to pursue thought leadership, where an individual or company is seen as an authority in a particular field. This strategy allows a brand to prove its added value and provides interesting business benefits.

However, the pursuit of thought leadership also requires a major investment in terms of money, resources and time.

In this article we answer the questions what thought leadership exactly what goals you can achieve with this, what steps are required and what the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy are.

Thought leadership meaning

The meaning of thought leadership states that an individual or company is seen as an authority in a particular field, with expertise serving as a reference. This means that you use this strategy to create or increase demand for a specific service or product.

The phenomenon is very popular because of its great benefit to an individual or company in terms of recognition among a large audience.

If your customers have the idea that you are a leader in an area of expertise, you can also market your offer (service or product) more expensively. All in all, it goes with it thought leadership so that you express your experience and knowledge as a company or individual as best as possible.

Six dimensions of thought leadership

To be distinctive in competitive segments and sectors, the following six dimensions are important:

1. Thought leadership tackles major issues and requires a good understanding of these important issues for stakeholders.
2. Thought leaders formulate and promote new, unconventional, original ideas in response to these big issues.
3. Thought leaders take a subjective position.
4. Thought leaders want to change someone's behavior or opinion and are not satisfied with just a dialogue.
5. Thought leadership is based on expertise and trust.
6. A thought leadership strategy consists of deliberate actions.

What goals can you achieve with a thought leadership strategy?

Through thought leadership, you as a company or individual can attract customers and gain status through new, original ideas. The world has changed. Where in the past the brands with the most money were also the best and largest, nowadays companies without much marketing are at the top. It is no longer who can shout the loudest, but who can best prove the added value of a brand.

By being a thought leader, a brand becomes a catalyst and magnet of conversations around a specific theme. Knowledge is power, which makes this phenomenon related to the topic of content marketing. Through this knowledge, the brand actually helps customers and the market keeps coming back to you with new issues.

Example thought leadership

One of the best-known examples of a thought leader is that of Steve Jobs. This co-founder of the popular Apple brand is associated with innovative, original ideas. He took a risk by creating a closed system computer and it turned out well.

He opted for large presentations and an explanation of why a particular product was designed and developed. He then discussed the process behind it and only at the end did he explain what exactly was being introduced. In this way he included the customer in the process and created authority.

Steve Jobs had a humble, charismatic appearance that contributed to his success. His actions also ensured that he was always associated with innovation.

What steps does a thought leadership strategy consist of?

To successfully implement thought leadership, a number of steps must be completed.

1. Analysis of the potential

First of all, it is important to determine how much potential there is to become a thought leader. This depends on which type of thought leader your market needs and which social and stakeholder issues it addresses. You must excel in this area in terms of expertise and it must be worth the investment.

2. Positioning an innovative perspective

You then need to focus on creating new, original ideas that respond to the issues. It should not be about sharing knowledge, but about an innovative aspect for the recipients. So also do research into what might resonate with your audience.

3. Communication with open and free knowledge

Distributing your ideas is of great importance, and you are a magnet for the conversation surrounding the issues raised. This ensures brand growth. For example, share your content in articles, books, workshops or webinars. It is important to create a platform around the theme.

4. Reporting the result

Finally, learn from failures and successes to find the best way to build your thought leadership. This concept is often built up from integrated content marketing.

What are the benefits of thought leadership?

Pursuing thought leadership provides compelling benefits focused on brand growth. You can make your mark there consistently help you grow, because thought leadership makes a brand more interesting and ensures authenticity.

It increase reach on social media and makes it easier for customers to purchase a product or service by addressing important issues. This strategy is close to a brand's goal, allowing it to make a theme its own.

Another advantage of this phenomenon is that it is becoming increasingly common evokes a memory of a brandso that customers remember this better.

In addition, thought leadership creates positive surprises, which makes a brand distinctive remains and a buyer often encounters it.

What are the disadvantages of a thought leadership strategy?

However, there are also disadvantages to this strategy, including the high risk and investment it entails. To catch on, thought leadership must connect seamlessly with the mission or vision of a brand. It has to be contrary, but you have to be right. So you have to accept the risk of failure. Many companies with the right expertise find this difficult, as they do not want to take a position or formulate big, contradictory ideas. There is a good chance that people will not agree with it.

However, when it comes to thought leadership, you can take as much risk as you want. There are interesting ideas to come up with within every definition of your brand.

What is a thought leader?

Persons, companies or organizations whose stakeholders and/or peers believe that they have innovative ideas about specific issues within a specific profession and/or knowledge area, that they also promote and therefore occupy a leading and distinctive position.

How do you become a thought leader?

If you own an issue, you can often become a thought leader on it. This can be done through letters submitted in daily or weekly newspapers or during presentations at conferences and in corporate blogs. Then an organization must actually have something to say: by developing its own vision or activities in this area or by responding to social issues or the activities of others.

Glossary