Thought leadership is a different beast from
the realm of product-pushing press releases, and company-sponsored magazine editorials. The aim of thought leadership is to enter your prospect’s buying journey right at the beginning, germany cell phone database when they haven’t clearly identified what they need yet. Your prospect comes to trust you, because what you say about the problems they face is straightforward, educational and it adds genuine value.
Here’s how you can become a thought leader in your industry:
Give Away Knowledge
You can only be a thought leader if you have something worthwhile to say. Share your knowledge and do so freely. Give it to your buyers in the format they want. Attempt to demonstrate your understanding of the problems your buyers have. Show them you understand the the broader industry trends and the direction it’s heading.
Reciprocity builds trust and authority.
Of course, you have to be mindful of exactly how much you share. Don’t go giving away your company’s intellectual property. Strike that balance. It’s like telling someone the ingredients of a meal, without giving them the detailed recipe.
Be Human
Remember that people want to hear from other people!
Be conversational.
Stuffy corporate speak = snore, so adopt a conversational tone. Your content might be written by a person, but if your tone is too stiff, reading it will be much like talking to one of those voice-automated customer support representatives – highly annoying. Instead, write to pique interest and entertain.
Say who you are and what you do.
If you have a corporate blog, assign an author to it. If you have a corporate Twitter account, say who’s posting the tweets. When you’re sending out emails, make sure it comes from a person instead of a noreply address. Be accessible online for those who want to find out more.
Don’t Be Pushy!
People are more aware of how they’re being marketed to now more than ever, and they can see right through your sales jargon, so don’t even try. Instead of trying to push yourself onto them, try to pull them towards you. Let them approach you when they’re ready to speak to you.
This is not only true at the top of the funnel, but so important to remember as they progress towards being ready to buy. As the B2B sales cycle is extremely long and complex, there’s a tendency for B2B marketers to become impatient with their leads. However, just because someone has downloaded an informational ebook does not mean they’re ready to speak to a salesperson. Your forward approach is likely scare them off!