Your thought leadership program should deliver four benefits:
● Expand your audience of potential prospects.
● Nurture prospects and bring them closer to the buying decision.
● Help convert potential prospects in your funnel to clients.
● Justify premium billing by creating demand for your services.
Creating and distributing thought leadership that delivers the best results starts with using the content to connect with new audiences. Most companies post their thought leadership on firm-sponsored blogs, which are essentially read by people who already know the firm. They may also be included in internally produced newsletters, which is good for nurturing current prospects but doesn’t usually reach new potential audiences.
Understanding your audience’s habits and interests is crucial in choosing the right platforms for thought leadership distribution. If your prospects are avid readers of the Wall Street Journal or Fast Company, these platforms could be your gateway to expanding your audience.
Some ways to reach your desired audience:
● Contribute content to publications they read for news, industry updates, and industry trends. This may be an article you write as a contributing author;
● Your firm may be included in an article that quotes numerous professionals in your space.
● Consider contributing op-ed pieces
● Many who have substantial budgets may use paid advertorials or ads.
● Post content we create on our firm page on LinkedIn and other social media channels. This can be helpful but works best when your team and clients repost so it reaches a broad audience.
● SWAG for your clients and staff builds awareness in your target markets.
When it comes to attracting new audiences, there are numerous possibilities. However, it's important to strike a balance between budget-friendliness and effectiveness. While experimentation is encouraged, it's crucial to have good independent benchmarks that serve as indicators of success, ensuring optimal use of resources. For instance, if impressions are your measure, how do you know people actually say the advertisement? If you are using pay-per-click, you have a quantifiable measure (it may not tell you that you hit the right audience), but it will confirm it was seen. Lastly, as you get content in front of new audiences, reuse as many times and ways as possible. Your goal might be to reuse as many of the options listed above as possible.
This article was contributed by Jeff Antaya author of Don’t Ride A Dinosaur Into Your Battle For New Clients. jtantaya@gmail.com
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