With consumer trends constantly evolving and the competition high, establishing credibility can be quite the challenge for sales enablement leaders in B2B organizations. Amping up your content production might seem like an adequate response, but it could backfire and leave your audience feeling overwhelmed. Providing your team with the right resources is a fundamental key for sales. The solution can be found in understanding and mastering the power of thought leadership.
Thought leadership is a key component of content marketing that improves your company’s value. The tactic is used to build credibility and help you become recognized as an expert in your field. Thought leadership is a powerful tool when leveraged correctly and it will help build your audience’s trust. It does however require a couple of necessary steps that need to be carried out successfully. These five tips will help you get started and create some awesome thought leadership content for your company!
Find your motivation
Finding your motivation is an important starting point when leveraging thought leadership. Motivation can help you change old habits and help you cope with new challenges and opportunities too. Start with setting one specific goal and think about how to include that goal in your daily professional life. What do you need to make this happen? Put a timeframe on it! Regularly review your goals and process and continue to set new goals that are realistic and achievable.
Create your personal brand
Clarifying to your audience what your expertise is helping to establish credibility, which can be done so on platforms such as LinkedIn. Being too promotional does not connect with your audience. The purpose of your company should be concise and understandable. Producing content that is genuine, authentic, and based on market research should take you a long way.
Be consistent
Consistency is key for building trustworthy relationships with your audience. A solid social media strategy will help create more brand awareness, emphasizing the importance of scheduling time in your calendar dedicated to social media efforts. Set goals that are achievable – even committing 10-15 minutes a week to update yourself on new trends can help to accomplish better thought leadership content.
Share high-quality content
The aim of thought leadership is not to produce sales-focused content, but rather to provide a point of entry to your business by showing innovation and expertise. Staying on top of news and new trends in your industry is of great importance in finding the best possible high-quality content to share. Find relevant information through the use of hashtags, or join groups and research what other thought leaders are saying.
Listen to other’s opinions and engage with them
Knowing your audience is the key to succeeding with any marketing strategy, thought leadership being no different. Listening to your audience can give greater insights and understanding on their most urgent business needs. A great activity for tracking, analyzing, and starting conversations on social media, is social listening. With the help of social listening, you can retrieve beneficial insights that will optimize engagement with your audience.
With today’s highly competitive business environment, establishing yourself as a credible expert in your field can be a struggle. Thought leadership had already positively influenced many sales enablements leaders in B2B organizations.
It is important to find motivation and line up priorities. Clarifying your expertise and creating your own personal brand will help establish a trustworthy image. Being consistent and scheduling time for social media will keep you up to date with new trends and optimize your ability to filter and share high-quality content. Engaging with your audience and understanding their needs in this process will help you to create the best thought leadership content.
Would you like to learn more about Thought Leadership on LinkedIn? Sign up for our next Meet the Masters of Social Selling with Guido Kerkhof – Partner Marketing Advisor – Global Partners – Microsoft Western Europe HQ, and Eric Haar – Digital Business Coach at Tricycle Europe, on June 10 at 16:30 CET.
Book your free ticket here!
