https://hockeystack.com/blog/thought-leadership-marketing-guide If you have been looking for ways to grow your business, then you might've heard the term "thought leadership marketing." I don't know what you have learned so far about it, but if you still have questions about what is and how you can become a thought leader, then this beginner guide to thought leadership marketing is just what you were looking for. Let's get started with the basics.

1. Thought Leadership Marketing [2021]
For full article, click here!

2. Content Table
1. Common sources of thought leadership content
1. Counter-Narrative Opinions
2. Personal Narrative
3. Network
4. Industry Analysis
5. Data Storytelling
2. Creating a thought leadership marketing plan
3. Tracking the success of thought leadership marketing
4. 20 marketing thought leaders to learn from

3. What is Thought Leadership Marketing?
Thought leadership marketing is a form of inbound
marketing where you serve as an industry expert,
generating and publishing content for your target
audience.
The point of this type of content is to establish you as an
industry thought leader. Thought leadership help answer
questions your prospective customers may have, which
can earn you more opportunities to make a sale.

4. Why is Thought Leadership Marketing Important?
● Thought leadership marketing creates visibility
and credibility for companies. Thought leaders
are the key to building industry recognition for
brands.
● With thought leadership marketing, companies
create a trustworthy outlook for potential
buyers and attract customers willing to pay
higher prices. They make more sales an have
higher billing rates.
● Young and talented people are also attracted to companies
with respected and recognized ideas. So, when they see an
opportunity to work with an organization that is a thought leader
in its industry they are more inclined to take that job.
● Having interesting and viable content creates the perception
that the content-maker is authorized. This draws more
attention to your website and company both from the press and
the public.

5. Common sources of thought leadership content
● It is extremely important for your content to
attract your audience. It should be authentic
and sincere. It shouldn't be too promotive,
but it should make people want to work with
you. You need to show your expertise and
authority in your industry.
● You can achieve this goal through many different
forms of media. You might consider writing a
book or conducting a research. Or if you don't
want to go that big, you can try writing a personal
blog. You can even focus on having active social
media platforms.

6. Counter-Narrative Opinions
● Holding a strong opinion that goes against the consensus in your field can put you and your ideas
forward. Many people who can't find a place to work within the norms of the industry might find
what they're looking for through your counter-narrative thought leadership content. However, you
shouldn't be contradictory just for the sake of it because what you are saying should sound true.
Your words should make people think, "That's what I was trying to say!"
● You want your potential customers to relate to your ideas and find just what they were looking for.
If you can create that feeling in people, than you have reached the goal of creating good counter-
narrative leadership content.

7. Personal Narrative
● Similarly, people will like to see your stories. They will want to know about your past and the decisions you
made. Incorporating your own narrative about your work into your thought leadership content will allure
people to the content you create.
● It will not only attract them, it will also create a bond between you and your customers. They will feel
connected to you with your stories. The narrative you share will continue to interest new potential buyers
while the bond they created will keep your customers loyal to you.
● However one point you should keep in mind with your personal narrative is that it will not work unless you
have an insight to your experiences. You shouldn't just tell your story, you should connect to your audience.
You need them to understand and relate to you.

8. Network
You work with many different people throughout your work experience and you can use them as a source to attract
more people. Show your successful customers as an example of the work you do. Use your network to gain more
network.
If a customer that has worked with you is accomplished, share them in your social media, write a blog post about
them, or feature them in your website. Show others that you have helped a customer come this far.
The best part about network thought leadership content? It's a cycle.
● You share about people you work with and how good they are.
● That makes other people want to work with you.
● New people start working with you
● You bring them to success as well.
● Then you repeat from the top.

9. Industry Analysis
● To do thought leadership based on analysis, you should be able to follow your industry or discipline closely and
be conscious to changes. Your work and content should be genuine and authentic, however not parted from the
rest of the field.
● Keeping a close eye on the newer trends and developments in the space around you will help you stay up to date.
You should be able to see what other brands are doing, and analyzing their success and failure.
● This is another way of proving your authority in your area. Putting up content that constructively critiques
different behavior in your field, shows that you have the ability to understand and comment on topics of your
expertise.

10. Data Storytelling
● Collecting and scanning data is one of the biggest sources of thought leadership content. And the
most important type of data is the data you collect on your own or with your own product:
proprietary data.
● Like the previous source, you need to look at your industry closely and collect and compare data.
You can look at the works of other brands, or how some different products function, or customers'
preferences. Basically, collect data about both your industry and your audience, and analyze those to
give insight that will show your expertise.
● One of the good sides of data-based thought leadership is that you can start small with superficial
data, but don't forget that analysis is everything. The insights you give should be too strong that
there isn't need for collecting data over decades.

11. Creating a thought leadership marketing plan
1. Find your focus
2. Set your goals.
3. Decide on your content strategy.
4. Become more visible.
5. Make sure that your plan is open to changes.
6. Track your success

12. Find your focus
Try defining your focus. Find where you fit in your industry. Decide on what specific areas you want to become a thought
leader in. Ask yourself questions like these:
● Where do we stand as a brand in the broader context of society?
● Who are we trying to reach? Who is our target audience?
● What is changing in our industry, how do we adjust?
● What makes us different from our competitors? Why do people pick us?
After you find your answers on keypoints like these, focus deeply on them. Keep researching. Keep discussing them within your
organization. Define your standing on each topic and make them adjustable to future changes.

13. Common sources of thought leadership content
Now you know what your area of expertise is. You know where you stand and who your target audience is. It's time to
focus on what you want to reach with a thought leadership marketing plan.
This is again a step where you need to answers from yourself. You should ask yourself what you want to get out of
this new marketing plan. Do you want more people to visit your website? More people to buy your product? More
partnerships?
Whatever it is that you want, it is very personal to your own brand. Set your own SMART goals. Specific, measurable,
attainable, relevant, and timely. They should be reachable and personalized.

14. Decide on your content strategy.
➔ The thought leadership content you create is perhaps the most important step. This is how you
present yourself to your audience and competitors. It is your channel to broadcast your expertise.
And you need a strong strategy for that.
➔ Start by finding what your audience wants. What do they search for on Google? What do they want to
know? Find their questions and keywords, then respond to that.
➔ Your content should address your customers. It should be the things they want to see, read and
watch. You can go back to the common sources for thought leadership content section and see
which ones fit better to your audience and might attract more people.

15. Decide on your content strategy.
➔ The thought leadership content you create is perhaps the most important step. This is how you
present yourself to your audience and competitors. It is your channel to broadcast your expertise.
And you need a strong strategy for that.
➔ Start by finding what your audience wants. What do they search for on Google? What do they want to
know? Find their questions and keywords, then respond to that.
➔ Your content should address your customers. It should be the things they want to see, read and
watch. You can go back to the common sources for thought leadership content section and see
which ones fit better to your audience and might attract more people.

16. Decide on your content strategy.
➢ Then you need to find out what format of content would be in interest of more people. Is your audience more
inclined to watch videos or visit blogs? Are they active on social media? Remember, where the target
customers are is where your content needs to be.
➢ While finding your audience's wants, you should also consider you competitors. You need to know what
content your customers are consuming from other sources and analyze them. Find what they're lacking and
what they're good at. Incorporate those to your thought leadership content and make your work better than
theirs.
➢ Now since you know what your audience is looking for in which format and how the existing content can be
improved, it's time to create your own content. Make sure that they are easily accessible, consumable and
shareable.

17. Decide on your content strategy.
➔ Creating and publishing your content is not enough. You need to develop your visibility strategies. This
means that you need to be present at places where your customers are.
➔ You can use the data you collected from the previous step about what audience likes and which type of
content they're already consuming.
➔ You need to show yourself where they will see your ideas and find out that they like them. This could be
guest-writing at a blog they already visit, or joining popular conferences, or partnering with other experts.
➔ You can create amazing content that your customers will like, but this if you are not visible to them and if
they're not aware of you, you cannot benefit from the content you put out there.

18. Decide on your content strategy.
➔ Creating and publishing your content is not enough. You need to develop your visibility strategies. This
means that you need to be present at places where your customers are.
➔ You can use the data you collected from the previous step about what audience likes and which type of
content they're already consuming.
➔ You need to show yourself where they will see your ideas and find out that they like them. This could be
guest-writing at a blog they already visit, or joining popular conferences, or partnering with other
experts.
You can create amazing content that your customers will like, but this if you are not visible to them and
if they're not aware of you, you cannot benefit from the content you put out there.

19. Make sure that your plan is open to changes.
➔ We live in world that changes every second. Especially with
the internet, it is so easy to spread ideas, communicate, and
reach people.
➔ This means that your industry is probably subject to change.
Of course the core topics you focus on might stay the same,
but the trends will come and go and it is important that you
follow them.
➔ As what's popular in your field changes, you should be able to
shift your content and thought leadership marketing plan. You
should keep adjusting according to your audience and keep
your content relevant.

20. Tracking the success of thought leadership marketing
➔ Let's say that a company's goal was to get more people to buy their product. They started with
creating thought leadership content and made it visible to their audience. They need to track how
people act once they consume the content.
➔ Their primary goal is to lead people to their "products" page and sell the product. So, they want to
see where customers go after the content. They track the path people follow and see where they
go.
➔ With the path they have, they can entice people to buy their product at each point on the way and
gradually push them to their "products" page. This is marketing funnel.
➔ And it starts with your thought leadership content. Those are the initial attractions that allure
people to your website or page. And by tracking how they lead people, you can see if they are
actually successful, or if not, how you can adjust them to work the way you want them to.

21. To analyze your customers' journey at each
step you need an analytics tool.
So that you can filter your users by the
actions they took on your website and
analyze their sessions so that you can
understand where they came from, what they
did, and why they did it.
Tracking the success of thought leadership marketing

22. 4 Thought Leaders to Learn From
Seth Godin Debra Ruh
Whitney Johnson Sid Godbole

23. hello@hockeystack.com
hello@hockeystack.com