The secret questions of successful thought leaders

Guest post by: Craig Badings
Become an Author

Free PDF Download
Your content will die if you don’t shift your paradigm - By Craig Badings

1. Where do we get most of our business and what are their key issues/challenges?

Without this knowledge your thought leadership position is much like shooting in the dark in terms of whether it will have the desired impact on your targets.

2. What knowledge/expertise do I/we have that we can research further to deliver something of real value to address these issues/challenges?

You want your thought leadership position to enable you to play to your expertise and showcase this and your thinking in your chosen space. Wherever that knowledge or intellectual property can inform your thought leadership point of view, use it wisely.

3. For what do I/we want to be known/famous?

When your ideal client base says that is the firm/person who has incredible insights into x. What is that x? What is it you want to be famous for?

4. How do I/we best leverage our thought leadership content to share it with our market?

Many thought leadership campaigns I have seen are not leveraged to their full extent. Once you have identified your point of view, make sure you apply a sound, strategic content management strategy to your thought leadership property. Are you squeezing every element of your content across every touch point your target audiences?

How you answer these four questions is critical to your thought leadership point of view and how you take it to market.

Thought leadership must have a business objective

However, there is one, űber thought leadership question that remains. It is the glue that should bind and guide your whole campaign:

"What are our business objectives for this thought leadership campaign?"

This should underpin everything you do. Without a business objective or objectives your campaign isn't measureable and you will probably have difficulty eliciting the commitment from senior executives.

I can't stress this enough - your thought leadership needs to be drive very clear business objectives in order to gain the credence and top-level commitment it requires to succeed.

It can be as simple and focused as: "We want to gain one-on-one access to the CFOs of the top 200 listed companies."

Alternatively, you can have two or three objectives. My view is that if you have more than three you are probably spreading your objectives to thin.

Your objectives should:

Be singular in focus
Be easy to measure
Rally everyone around them

Get these fundamentals right and you give yourself every chance of success for your thought leadership campaign.

The Secret

The Question about Marketing every Networkmarketer should be asking

Your Secret to Internet Marketing Success

Internet Based Home Business – You have to read this if you want success!

The Secrets of Starting Online Business Enterprises

Nobody Trains to be a Follower

The 9 Great Questions Real Leaders Often Ask

What is the Single Biggest Motivator for Top Salespeople?

The secret to success

Secrets To Success - What Every Successful Millionaires & Billionaires Won’t Tell You

Three key challenges facing thought leadership

The great questions real leaders often ask themselves

Secrets of Internet Marketing Millionaires! ~WHAT 97% OF MARKETERS DON'T DO

4 Top Secrets To Successfully Starting A Home Business

Only Let Yourself Make New Mistakes

Home Base Business - The Secret To Successfully Starting A Profitable Business

What Does The Secret Have To Do With Great Leadership?

Inspirational Leaders Are Great Listeners

Sales Secrets - The Best Advice

What Do All Thought Leaders Have in Common

Home > Leadership > Craig Badings > The secret questions of successful thought leaders > Google +

Free PDF Download
Your content will die if you don’t shift your paradigm - By Craig Badings

About the Author: Craig Badings

RSS for Craig's articles - Visit Craig's website
Craig Badings has spent the past 21 years consulting to small and large brands about their public relations challenges. He is a director of leading Sydney-based financial and corporate communications consultancy, Cannings. Cannings is a member of the ASX-listed, STW Group Ltd, Australias largest communications services group. In 2009 Craig published a book on thought leadership 'Brand Stand: seven steps to thought leadership'. He believes that thought leadership is an incredibly powerful yet underutilized communications tool which if correctly packaged can add tremendous value to your stakeholders and, in turn, your brand. He was a main board director South Africa's largest PR company, Simeka TWS Communications and a regional director of their Cape Town office. In 1999, he started Rainmaker Public Relations. After two years, Rainmaker was bought out by London-based PR multinational, Citigate and Craig headed up their PR division. One year before immigrating to Australia he was appointed managing director of Citigateï¿½s Cape Town PR, advertising and design agencies. In 2003, he moved to Australia and joined the Gavin Anderson Melbourne office. In 2004 he started his own business and in 2005 joined one of the Ogilvy Public Relations Australian sub-brands, Savage & Partners in Sydney. Savage & Partners merged with Cannings in February 2009.
Click here to visit Craig's website.

More from Craig Badings
Thought leadership benefits

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Share this post and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

The secret questions of successful thought leaders

Related Articles

Related Forum Posts

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.


Name:
Email: