Developing a recognizable, trusted brand takes hard work. In a loud world where every brand is vying for attention, what can you do to make your brand stand out above the rest? A good first step is a public relations strategy that includes a thought leadership strategy as a pillar. Thought leadership articles are a fairly low cost and highly effective way to establish authority and brand equity in a particular industry or subject matter.
With a thought leadership article, you can show your audience – customers, prospects, partners, potential acquirers – how your industry knowledge sets you and your brand apart. But it’s more than just telling everyone how much you know. Thought leadership establishes credibility and expertise. This ultimately builds trust. And might prompt the reader to research a brand, product, solution, or service they weren’t considering before they read your article.
Here are some tips on how to make thought leadership articles work for you:
- How can you help? Thought leadership articles should offer insight for your readers. Maybe it’s a list of best practices, a breakdown of a new model, or your two cents on industry changes and how to adapt. Create or join a conversation to offer your unique point of view and expertise to create a novel engagement with your audience.
- What do you know best? Keep topics of your thought leadership articles to content relevant to your business and expertise, and your readers will learn more and more about the work your organization does. With you behind the pen, you can fine-tune an article and highlight an industry niche that might be overlooked and in need of a spotlight.
- Target your efforts. Look for opportunities to place thought leadership articles in outlets that serve a particular industry or niche you serve. These outlets are looking for content relevant to their specific readers and might be open to hearing your opinion. They key is to pitch the editor your idea and then stick to the parameters, if they will accept an article. Pro tip – don’t get promotional! Remember this is an opportunity to demonstrate your authority and expertise, not a sales pitch. Get promotional and your article will be rejected.
- Make your voice unique. Pick a topic and provide your opinion. Keep the articles authentic to your voice and personal experience. By adding personal details, an author becomes more relatable to the reader and strengthens their credibility. And with each article, ensure it is specifically written for each outlet. Editors always want fresh content that is exclusive to their outlet – sometimes for a specified amount of time – so be sure to provide an article that is original.
- Consistency is key. One contributed article isn’t a thought leadership program. Many articles across outlets and time, is a program. Find the outlets your audience reads and submit thoughtful, interesting, and valuable content. Be patient. I will take time. But the outcome is well worth it.
How impactful are thought leadership articles?
In 2024, Edelman and LinkedIn partnered to release their sixth annual study exploring the impact of thought leadership on the purchasing decisions of B2B decision-makers and C-suite executives with powerful findings. They collected the responses to an online survey of about 3,500 global business executives. Prominent findings include –
- 54% of C-suite respondents said they spend an hour or more reading thought leadership content per week
- 73% expressing more trust in thought leadership content than marketing materials
- 75% said thought leadership led them to research a product/service they weren’t previously considering (Institute of PR, 2024).
A thought leadership strategy is powerful in developing a recognizable, trusted brand. Creating a public relations strategy that includes thought leadership articles is an effective way to establish authority. We invite you to give the strategy an try. If you need an assist, the Clearpoint team is happy to provide answers. Give us a shout at info@clearpointagency.com.