Positioning your people as experts in their field

Building a brand is about more than just promoting your products or services. Equally important is showing your potential customers, stakeholders and the community within your sector that you’re a company to be trusted - an expert in your field.

Public relations is a key tool in achieving this, and one of the methods we use for a number of our clients is thought leadership.

What is thought leadership?

Thought leadership is a PR technique that places the views of the key people within your business in places that have maximum visibility and influence on your target audience.

This might be an opinion piece in a trade or national publication that you know your customers read and trust. It could be an appearance on a relevant podcast, webinar, or roundtable, or speaking at an event. You could supply a quick comment to a media organisation covering a big story in your sector.

You can support this content through your own channels, but thought leadership is most effective when it is shared by a third party, because it gives your views extra validation.

Whichever channel you choose, the aim is to gradually position your business, and the people within it, as an industry leader.

What can it do for your business?

First, it’s worth noting what thought leadership will not do for you. Thought leadership is not a marketing tactic - it’s unlikely to bring in hundreds of sales leads or drive a huge increase in referral traffic to your website.

However, working as part of a wider brand campaign, thought leadership builds trust. It gives you authority within your field. By giving your expert opinion on important topics relevant to your customers or clients, you’re encouraging them to pick you over your competitors in a crowded market.

It can also help you to appeal to potential employees, who may read or hear your views and see your company as a forward-thinking, caring place to work.

How do you become a thought leader?

Trust isn’t built overnight, so a PR agency would usually recommend an ongoing thought leadership campaign. We work with a number of clients over a period of months and years, gradually building a portfolio of expert comment and views.

The first step is to select your thought leaders. These are often the senior figures in your business, but they don't have to be. Anyone who can speak with passion and detail about their work is potentially a good choice.

Next, you need to decide what to talk about. What’s important in your industry, and what are the challenges? What topics are your customers interested in - or concerned about? We immerse ourselves in our clients’ worlds so are well placed to suggest topics, but we find that the most effective results come when clients also come to us with things that they are passionate about.

However, be sure to pick topics where your company already excels or is making positive changes - otherwise, you risk looking hypocritical.

Almost as important is identifying where you want to appear. A business-to-business (B2B) client might see trade press as a priority, as they know their buyers read and trust these publications. A consumer brand might instead decide to focus on the national newspapers and magazines where their customers find product inspiration.

Then it’s time to pitch to the media. PR professionals are experts at media engagement so will be able to find the right journalists and build the relationships that are essential to securing coverage.

But press coverage in isolation shouldn’t be the end of the process. To really make your content work you need to think about promoting it further. Amplification through your own channels, such as a LinkedIn newsletter or a blog on your website, can really help your comments reach a wider audience. You should also encourage people in your business to share on their own social accounts. Hopefully, their contacts will comment on and share these posts to provide further third party validation.

Newsjacking

A great way to get your views and your brand covered by a wider range of media is through what is commonly known as ‘newsjacking’. This is essentially providing a short comment about a topic that is currently in the news.

For example, if you work in the healthcare industry and the Government is about to launch a new policy affecting the NHS, you might give your opinion on how it could affect the sector. If you have people who are media trained, you can target broadcast as well as written press.

The key to success here is speed and reliability. If you and your PR agency can quickly write, approve and share an insightful comment with a journalist, you increase your chances of coverage. If you do this consistently, journalists will see you as a reliable contact and will come to you proactively for comment.

Speaking opportunities

Traditional and online media are just one way of reaching your audience, and it’s important to consider other channels. Speaking opportunities, such as guest slots on reputable podcasts or participation in roundtable discussions and webinars, can have the same effect whilst giving your people the chance to let their personalities shine. It’s also important to consider trade and consumer events, as these will be attended by potential customers as well as journalists who may want to cover your views.

Dos and don’ts

Do:

• Be confident in and passionate about your subject
• Give bold, forward-looking views that positively set you apart from your competitors
• Be quick to provide comment

Don’t:

• Be overly promotional - thought leadership needs to give a view on the sector as a whole rather than focus on what your company is doing
• Say the same thing as everyone else
• Talk about things that your company isn’t actually doing

Successful thought leadership is about delivering relevant, insightful information in a timely manner. Choose your moments, your mediums, and your messaging wisely and you’ll appear in front of the right people at the right time, positioning your brand as a voice of authority.