About 60% of decision-makers award business to an organization based on their thought leadership. Demonstrating your knowledge within your industry can help you reach and appeal to consumers. You can also show potential customers that you’re able to address their pain points and offer informed solutions.
Learning how to become a leader can set your business up for long-term growth and success. You can build brand trust to generate a loyal following. Your return on investment (ROI) could improve as a result.
What is thought leadership?
First, let’s answer the question that’s likely on your mind: What exactly is thought leadership?
A thought leader is someone who uses their expertise and experience in an industry to offer guidance to others. Thought leaders are able to influence others and inspire innovation. Their experience gives them a unique perspective into an industry. Many business executives are now striving to become leaders within their industries.
Becoming a thought leader can benefit your professional reputation, too. People will start to associate you with the unique knowledge and insight you can offer. They’ll learn to trust you above other executives within your niche.
Thought leaders lend their thoughts and voices to important conversations regarding their industries. You don’t need to chime in on every topic, though. Instead, you can offer intelligent insights based on your specific experiences.
You’ll provide a unique point of view that consumers and other leaders in your industry can’t find elsewhere. Your insights could help you recognize trends before they develop. And, you could have a major impact on innovations within your industry as a result.
In order to become an expert, you’ll need to learn how to lead (Read “Leadership: Overcome FOMO and ‘Shiny Object Syndrome’” here: https://bit.ly/3inRAlk). True thought leaders understand how to inspire others to turn their ideas into realities.
The benefits of becoming a thought leader
Learning how to become a leader can have a long-lasting impact on your business. How does thought leadership benefit your business? Here are a few potential benefits you could experience by becoming an expert in your niche.
Demonstrate your experience and expertise
Becoming a leader in your industry gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your experience and expertise. You’ll have a platform that can help people recognize the value you offer.
Demonstrating your experience and expertise can set you apart from other leaders in your industry. Otherwise, consumers might not recognize the value you bring to your brand. Absent standing out, your prospects could turn to someone who appears to have more experience solving their problems.
By demonstrating your expertise, you can draw in more customers and generate brand trust. In time, brand trust can become loyalty. You can retain customers for years, improving your ROI.
Boost brand awareness and recognition
It takes five to seven impressions with a single consumer before you start building awareness. Consistency and repetition over time are key to building brand recognition.
Nearly 60% of marketers believe personalized content is key to promoting higher brand engagement. Becoming a thought leader can help you promote your brand.
In time, brand awareness can build into recognition. People will immediately associate your brand with your product or service. The next time they need your product or service, they’ll remember you before anyone else.
Build brand trust and loyalty
Remember, demonstrating your experience and expertise can encourage consumers to trust your business. They’ll rely on you for the advice and help they need. Over time, trust can build into loyalty.
Retaining long-term, repeat customers can boost your ROI. You can set your business up for long-term growth and success as a result.
Generate website traffic
Google’s search engine algorithm looks for high-quality, informative content that exudes EAT. EAT stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Becoming a thought leader in your niche can help you create EAT.
That recognition will, over time, boost your search engine ranking. Your website might even rank at the top of search engine pages. Regardless, a higher ranking will help you generate website traffic and give you more prospects. As you start generating more traffic, you have the opportunity to add more customers.
Increase leads and sales
Brands that blog generate 67% more leads. Meanwhile, 82% of consumers feel more positive about a brand after reading customized content. In fact, 61% are more likely to buy from companies that deliver unique content.
One of the most important thought leadership strategies you can utilize is content creation. Creating informative content gives you a chance to demonstrate your expertise. People will see you’re capable of solving their problems.
By becoming a thought leader in your industry, you can set your business up for long-term growth and success.
Learn more about becoming a leader in your niche in the November issue of TileLetter.
Need help developing your thought-leadership strategy? Visit CoachLuca.com, or call or text Luca Setti at 859-667-4805.
Luca Setti
Luca Setti focuses his practice in helping business owners and executives effectively navigate the challenges of growing their business, properly managing resources - time and people being the most important - as well as properly embrace the changes.
After 30 years as a business executive, and as a Certified Business Coach and Trainer, Luca Setti developed a deep passion for working with leaders who want to improve their organizations and are actively looking for better ways to lead, grow and prosper.
Luca is an expert in sales, marketing, product development, as well as, operation and finance having worked his way up to cover multiple executive roles in his career from Chief Financial Officer, to Executive VP of Sales and Operation and lastly Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for large manufacturers and distributors of ceramic tiles.
Luca led companies to achieve unprecedented revenue, profit and market share growth in a highly competitive and dynamic market. He has been very successful in re-energizing underperforming organizations and has enjoyed consistent success in building distribution networks that support cost-effective go-to-market strategies.
