How do you sell to someone who does not need your product?
Simple.
You adopt a personalized and relational approach.
Why?
Because people want to be relational.
You just need to give them a good reason to be relational with you.
This is the dilemma many B2B marketers are dealing with.
Hence, the market is tough and before you know it, your competitor has already swept away most of your clients …and prospects.
But what if I told you that there’s a secret in thriving in the hard world of B2B?
I’m referring to LinkedIn thought leadership.
Yes, thought leadership, which some people may see as just content giving advice, has more power to it than you would think.
What is LinkedIn Thought Leadership and Does It Really Work?
In case you’ve been living under a rock, thought leadership is a strategic stance on content marketing that focuses on increasing reach by showcasing a leader’s expertise and capabilities.
It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it?
That’s because it is.
However, anyone can offer expert advice with the right resources, but it takes a level of strategizing to utilize it.
You can’t just disregard thought leadership just because it hasn’t worked out for you before.
In fact, in a survey from Edelman and LinkedIn of 3,484 global business executives, 73 percent of the decision-makers see that an organization’s thought leadership speaks a lot more of its capabilities than its marketing materials.
Still not convinced?
In the same survey, 9 in 10 decision-makers and C-suite executives are more likely to be more open to marketing outreach from businesses that produce high-quality thought leadership.
So yes, thought leadership works, but only if it’s used appropriately.
So why LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the world. There’s not really a better social media platform out there for thought leadership.
Read more: How to Get LinkedIn Top Voice: The Science Behind the Community
Building Trust with Insights
The first step to thought leadership is building trust – and the best way to do this is with actionable insights.
By offering actionable insights, regardless of whether during or outside sales cycles, your existing customers and potential new ones get to see what opportunities are lying ahead and how they can be maximized.
This will also show them the challenges they may be facing but with the right content, you can also make them see how to overcome these challenges.
Through this, trust can be built because your clients will see that you can be a trusted expert who is more than just aware of the trends in the industry.
At the same time, you come across as someone willing to provide value for FREE, and that’s critical in thought leadership.
Real leaders are people who provide value without expecting anything in return.
How to Make Your Thought Leadership Content Effective
Pure thought leadership content won’t yield you the results you want though.
Instead, you have to make sure that it actually gives the effect that you need.
So how do you make it effective?
Focus on Practicality
No business wants to hear about things that would not benefit them in any way. You’d just be wasting their (and your) time.
So focus on topics that are practical and could be of use.
Immerse yourself in ongoing trends, opportunities, and challenges in your industry, and find something that would pique the interest of your clients.
Remember it has to be something intriguing, but also beneficial to them.
Data is Everything
In digital marketing, you can’t just fake it til you make it.
We are now in an era where data is everything. Have an insight you want to share? Better have data to back it up or it’s not worth anyone’s while.
Make sure that you are getting your data from reliable resources like research and studies.
But also, don’t forget that one of the most reliable resources with businesses are your clients.
Knowing their stories, what they’re going through, and what kind of insights they seek, allows you to better cater to them and become more relatable.
Keep It Relevant, Trendy, and Actionable
Nothing’s more embarrassing than discussing topics that are out-of-date. (And no one is exempt from this.)
This means that you always need to stay on your toes.
Study what’s in and out and utilize that for your strategy.
You need to know what are the most relevant things in your industry, what is trending, and what kind of stance you can take.
Techniques such as newsjacking, trendjacking and keeping up with holidays that your prospects share can do wonders for your strategy.
Apart from being relevant, it needs to be actionable.
Consider these two scenarios:
1. Client sees something that is impossible for them to do?
They immediately lose interest before you can even make your point.
2. Client sees something that is impossible but with an instructional?
They immediately turn to you for advice if they want to go to the next level.
Nobody wants to get stuck with Scenario 1.
How to Build Good Thought Leadership Content?
So here it is, the part you probably have been looking forward to the most: but how do you create brilliant thought leadership content that would be effective?
Find the Right Topic
There are many things you can speak up about, but which ones should you choose?
To begin, there are a few things to consider:
- Is this a relevant issue or topic?
- How much do you know about the topic?
- Would your audience care about it?
- Can I put a unique spin to this that will make me stand out?
- Does this provide value? …Is it enough value?
If you can find an area where the answers to the questions mentioned above come easy, then that is exactly what you should choose.
Remember, no matter how much of an expert you are in a specific topic, it won’t matter if it doesn’t matter to your audience or if you can’t make yourself stand out as a thought leader.
Do Your Research
Sure, you’re already knowledgeable about your chosen area, but is it enough?
Doing additional research is never a bad thing. Make sure to always catch up on the latest insights and trends in this area.
Build on your newfound knowledge and utilize it, while also offering your own insights on this.
Make sure that the insight you’re offering is factual, actionable, and relevant to your audience.
Align with Your Business Goals
Alignment is critical.
Unless you want to be a thought leader for the sake of being an influencer – which should never be the case.
Alignment allows you to check and see where your content strategy belongs in your business’s marketing funnel.
This allows you tobe more efficient maximize your marketing resources.
Keep It Flexible
Now this sounds like a contradiction with the last point, but hear me out.
Just because you need to align it with your business goals, that doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to topics that are immediately related to your industry.
Keep an open mind and consider other topics that you may be an expert, which may not necessarily be connected to what you do.
Once you have that down, try to map it out and see how it can be connected to your business goals and industry. You’d be surprised at how much you can come up with.
Just make sure that you’re not stretching it out too much.
Develop Your Communication Skills
It doesn’t matter how good of an insight you can give about a specific topic.
If it’s not communicated well, then it won’t work.
Before you go ahead and present or publish your latest thought leadership content, read and practice what you’ve written. If you can get feedback, then that would be better.
You must make sure that you not only have the right content and ideas to offer, but also that you can communicate it clearly, intellectually, and directly, making it straightforward, so you won’t waste anybody’s time and energy.
Utilize Various Communication Channels
Different people and entities use different communication channels and what works for one may not work for others.
This is why it’s important that when you’re ready to put out your message to the world, specifically your target audience, you need to make use of different channels.
By being present on different channels and platforms, you have a greater reach, giving you more opportunities.
Strategize
Map out what you want to do and be sure to see its feasibility.
Once that’s done, it’s time to plot it out.
Remember, strategizing means you have to have a specific course of action that you need to follow throughout.
And while you may hope that everything goes without a hitch, you will also need a contingency plan in case things don’t go your way.
So don’t just go head first and bare hands into this thing and be sure to strategize.
Optimize your profile
Before you go about preparing content, you have to start with the basics.
This means optimizing your profile.
Why?
People who land on your profile have already exhibited a form of intent.
On LinkedIn, your profile is your landing page.
If people are truly interested in the content that you’re producing, they have a higher propensity to visit your page.
Now the question becomes: is your profile able to convert your prospects to the next stage of the funnel?
You need to be able to do the following with your profile:
- Inform your visitor about the services you offer
- Provide them with proof of your work
- Provide them with proof of your work with other companies
And, the most critical part….
- Get prospects to act
This involves a combination of UI/UX friendly content, sections with social proof, properly formatted experience sections, and if you’ve been an avid reader of our content, we offer full guides on how to optimize your LinkedIn profile.
Read more: Copy that Converts: Creating Landing Pages with ChatGPT
Ask for help
Creating content for thought leadership can seem easy but it does come with its own set of difficulties.
Having a fresh perspective from a third party allows you to take a step back and be more objective with your goals.
One of these third parties is none other than your favorite LinkedIn Marketing folks over at BAMF.
We specialize in turning people into key opinion leaders and help create strategies for LinkedIn thought leadership.
Takeaways on LinkedIn Thought Leadership and Value Creation
In the current B2B climate, it’s easy to get swept up with all these little hacks, but do you know what our secret has always been?
Value.
Making sure each and every LinkedIn influencer we’ve worked with can provide their own audiences with value.
Why?
At the end of the day, the value that you bring to the table is all that matters.
By staying ahead of these challenges and opportunities and sharing them with your clients, you become reliable to them, and it will help them rethink their stand on the challenges they face.
Do you want to be a thought leader?
Get in touch today.
