Ten (practical) steps towards becoming a thought leader

At ThoughtLDR, we’re lucky enough to work with some of the world’s most inspiring business leaders.

Before working with us, each one was great at instilling their vision within their team and inspiring action.

And yet, when it came to projecting their vision outside their organisation, they struggled.

Being relentlessly focused on their customers meant that they found it hard to find time for growth activities like executive thought leadership.

If their team managed to find some time to work on thought leadership content, they’d soon see-saw back to fighting everyday operational fires.

When we first started working with these leaders, we’d hear the same story.

“Other business leaders are all over LinkedIn and social.”

“Other executives in my industry get better speaking opportunities.”

“Our competitors are getting better press coverage.”

"How do they do it", they wanted to know. "How do business leaders become thought leaders? And how do they maintain that reputation?"

That’s why we decided to create a handy step-by-step guide to help business leaders like you (and your marketing team) get the maximum benefit from thought leadership.

Of course, you might want to skip the ten steps and take the fast track to becoming a thought leader within your business and your industry.

If that’s the case, then reach out to talk to us here.

So back to those ten steps...

The first step to effective thought leadership is to recognise that people buy from people, not press releases. Are you willing and able to step up? Some people can feel a little uncomfortable when they’re in the spotlight but to be a thought leader, you need get comfortable with seeing your name at the top of articles – not lost somewhere in the middle of a press release.

The next step is to develop your thought leadership profile. In a nutshell, your profile should be a company branded, one page PDF that looks as good as it reads. Think punchy personal statement, professional profile shot, a list of your key speaking topics together with links to recent event appearances and press coverage. A thought leadership profile should make you look like a rock star... well, a rock star in your industry at least!

A lot of people confuse thought leadership with straight-up sales. Instead of developing and sharing an industry view, they revert to their tried and tested company marketing messages. In fact, what differentiates thought leaders is that they don’t try and sell a product. Thought leaders sell a viewpoint. When that viewpoint resonates with prospective customers, they actively want to buy because you and your company “gets it”. That’s why thought leadership is one of the most powerful sales tools you have.

Developing an industry viewpoint is the hardest part of being a thought leader. You need a perspective that’s distinctive, even a little divisive, but ultimately one that leans into your company’s proposition. Needless to say, if everyone shares the same view, it’s probably not worth sharing. A good starting point is to name a big, tech-driven change in your industry that’s happening right now or you believe is about to happen. One where there will be winners and losers. One that will affect your customers. Take a view on that change. Challenge rather than cheerlead.

Too much corporate content is dry and inauthentic, written in business speak. Real thought leadership is the opposite. It’s colloquial. It’s individual. And because of that, it’s engaging. To avoid sounding like a press release, map your real tone of voice. For example, what synonyms do you use for “great”? What phrases do you tend to use and which do you avoid? If you find things “brilliant” instead of “awesome”, “bleeding-edge” but never “cutting”, then spell it out – either for your own benefit so you stay true to your real voice, or for the team who are writing for you so they stay consistent.

So now you have your profile, your industry ‘hot-take’ and your individual tone of voice. The next step is to pitch it to the press. Write a 100 – 150 word summary of your perspective and email it to an editor at one of your industry’s top titles, together with the thought leadership profile you’ve developed in step 2. Offer the editor a 600 – 700 word opinion piece. Many editors are hungry for an insider’s view of the industry, provided the writing is of editorial quality and crucially, sells a viewpoint not a product.

Successful thought leadership requires strong relationships with editors. Your team may need to pitch multiple editors multiple times before they get a yes so coach them not to give up after the first touch. Make sure they capture feedback from editors and share it with you. If multiple editors say it’s not punchy or distinctive enough for them to publish, go back and retrace steps 4 and 5. It may be your view on the industry is too conventional or your tone of voice too corporate. Iterate accordingly and pitch again.

Once you secure a bite from an editor, write the thing. Don’t send a headshot or company logo unless asked, and don’t ask the editor to include links to your website in the article. Remember, thought leadership is authentic, not salesy. If you are leveraging your PR and marketing team, be aware they’ve been trained to always push the product. Unless instructed otherwise, they’re likely to try and weave in sales messages. Make sure you keep them focused on the big picture, not the big sell.

When your opinion piece goes live – either in print or online - repost it on your personal Linkedin profile and get it up on your company page. LinkedIn is where the majority of your engagement will take place. It sounds obvious, but make sure you schedule time to personally check in and respond to some of the comments. The seeds of future opportunities are planted in these conversations. Twitter is good for driving traffic back to LinkedIn, so get your marketing team to make a summary card with a short quote from your article for posting on the company account.

Finally, as you start this journey, bear in mind that thought leaders aren’t built in a day. A thought leader’s reputation is built over time - post by post, comment by comment. Of course, there’s so much we haven’t captured in these ten steps. Thought leadership extends beyond written opinion pieces and into social, video, podcasts, events and more. But if you follow the basic steps we’ve outlined, you’ll be laying the foundations of becoming a successful thought leader - turning your ideas into industry influence and real business results.

We hope you’ve found our ten steps towards becoming a thought leader interesting - and practical.

Looking for more advice on how to implement? Let’s talk.

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