Blogging is about showcasing your thought leadership, how?
It’s a well-known fact that people always buy from people. That’s right. Customers usually purchase products and services from a familiar brand.Similarly, buyers are willing to interact with businesses run by a great leader – someone that speaks to them, talks to them about what they care about and shares the same values.
Blogging is all about showing the world who you are and what your company is. And this is the reason why blogging is such a great way to leverage the visionaries and thinkers in your team to create content that communicates the company’s thought leadership. Not only will this increase the quality and frequency of your content strategy but it may also help boost the sales.
You want all your potential customers to be able to find whatever answers that they are looking for within your company’s communication assets. Of course, you want to share content that is written by experts within your organization. When the experts talk directly to your customers, you fulfill the basic rule of loyalty “People buy from people” because people connect with people. This is the only way to make your content stand out from so many others in the market.
But how exactly does one showcase their thought leadership strategy through their blog?
What if your company never paid attention to content creation? What would happen if your marketing department doesn’t have engaging content to share?
What if you viewed your next content strategy planning session as its own little news center where each story is about identifying your customers biggest pain point and finding the best person in the organization to do full justice to that topic?
If you are wondering how to actually get going on with your content creation in alignment to these principles then here is what you have to do.
1. Plan it out:
You need to have a monthly roadmap or editorial calendar that will give you direction on what to write about for the months to come. This schedule needs to be aligned with your marketing plan, industry news, and current events and should be addressing the relevant ‘pain points’ and challenges that your target audience faces. This means you need to have your buyer personas established by now. Don’t write anything unless you are sure of who it’s created for and why. Now on to the next step.
2. Find an expert on the subject matter:
You may not be sure right now who to engage in your company’s blog, but the chances are that many of your stakeholders and key leaders will be interested in the project. Make sure that these leaders are engaged in a way that is authentic and accessible and that the work allows them to speak in their voice. They will like the idea of using this chance as an influential leader to connect with their unique readers.
3. Access the power of video:
Creating videos is a great way to showcase dynamic thought leaders which are almost always present in every company. The video you create will be an efficient way to deliver compelling content which will connect with your audience in a manner that no other form of content can.
Before choosing your video theme though it’s important to think carefully about the target audience that you are trying to reach. Remember, you need to deliver the content your audience wants to see. More importantly, you need to create an emotional connection on a deeper level.
4. Remember the purpose:
The purpose of your blog is not to sell your products or direct people subtly to buy them. The goal is to solve problems, create conversations, educate, inspire and answer questions your buyers might have.
To achieve excellence in business communication, you need to research what your prospects are searching for online. You need to conduct customer surveys and at the same time, exploreLinkedIn, and social discussion forums.
Your thought leadership will be visible in your writing when you provide direct value to your readers. Remember, helpful is the new viral.
5. Sharing is crucial:
Content is meant to be shared. Promoting and sharing your blog is an essential and expected way of getting it into the right hands. Everyone in your company from the sales team to the executives needs to be sharing it. There should be an option to subscribe to the blog on the website.
Other social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, need to be vivaciously engaged as well. Lastly also remember to share tidbits of thought leadership and your blog subscriptions CTA’s in your other content endeavors like eBooks, webinars, and other downloads.
Remember, that the blog your company has must be a reflection of your ideas. It will be best that every thought leader featured on your blog shares a point of view that stimulates and encourages discussion.
Well said. Yes, I totally agree with your thoughts.
Thanks Rahul.
Hi Nirmal,
Blogging is all about focus and passion. It is the best way to spread the word about your idea or knowledge with the world. Expert behavior always matter a lot in blogging.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Nirmal,
It’s great to read your post. I was busy with my projects, that’s the reason I was inactive a bit, specially reading & commenting was completely off.
But Anyways, Thanks for the interesting & informative read. Keep up the good work and enjoy the holidays.
A Very Happy New Year Nirmal! Cheers
~ Donna