If you’re using digital marketing channels to attract new clients, you’ve probably heard the term “thought leader” and how becoming one can help you position yourself as an authority.

But how does one become a thought leader?

That’s the exact question I received during a recent interview: What’s a thought leader?  I was also asked how can you become one and a few other questions around the process.

Here’s my take.

What is a Thought Leader?

A thought leader is exactly what it sounds like – a person who generates leading thoughts. In theory, this sounds straightforward.

In practice, thought leadership is a bit more complex and involves:

Owning Your Narrative and Focusing on Expertise

To be a thought leader, you need to differentiate yourself from others. Where are your thoughts unique or different from others in your niche? Think beyond just sharing knowledge but leveraging:

• A stance and position that demonstrates your expertise
• A niche that aligns with your strengths and passions

Also, don’t overlook the importance of bringing your personality into this strategy. 

We work with clients who are known for their directness, humor or unique fashion style.

Not sure who to follow that’s doing this?

I could give you a lot of examples. A few good ones include looking at Kelly Rohrs, Roman Villard, and Chase Birky, CPA.

Take Roman for example when it comes to unique fashion style and “go full send” narrative. He is well-known in the accounting space and often recognized by his signature hats and sharing stories related to how he’s living a life that is a “full send.”

Owning your narrative and allowing your personality and expertise to shine will be key when becoming a thought leader.

Creating Valuable Content Consistently

Once you have your narrative, you can start creating valuable content consistently. Value is crucial. A recent study from LinkedIn and Edelman found that 9 in 10 of decision-makers and C-suite executives are more likely to be receptive to sales or marketing from a company that consistently produces high-quality thought leadership.

But how do you ensure your content is valuable?

There’s no question that a lot of the content online is just an echo chamber. The last thing you want to do is add to that. 

How can you achieve that goal?

• Create hyper-relevant content 
• Address under-discussed issues
• Tackle big issues that you have a unique perspective on

For example, everyone in the accounting space talks about the importance of cash flow, having accurate books and tax deadlines. 

Let’s say that you want to focus on cash flow. Instead of focusing on its importance, you could share your unique take on cash flow not being the main issue for businesses but rather, a symptom of a deeper issue surrounding pricing, receivables, client responsiveness or leadership not having standards. 

There are so many angles to tackle cash flow apart from the usual line of “you need to get your cash flow under control.”

Identifying your unique thoughts and perspectives in the previous step will help you during this stage and guide your content creation.

Balancing Data and Intuition

Data is important in thought leadership, but don’t overlook the importance of intuition. I was advised not to start my “Dear Katie” segment because people believed it couldn’t be monetized and would take up too much of my time.

Not only did I attract sponsors, but I also brought in new subscribers who went on to become clients.

I trusted my intuition, and it paid off.  When you use your intuition to put good into the world, success usually follows.

That’s what thought leaders do. They put their content and information out into the world to share their thoughts and hopefully, help others in the process.

Prioritizing Value Over Self-Promotion

Thought leadership is built on goodwill and trust, so it’s important to serve your audience first. If you can achieve that, then success will surely follow.

What Platforms Should You Use to Share Thought Leadership Content?

Finding the right platforms to share your content is key, but where do you start?

Consider platforms where your target audience is actively engaged with your type of content. For accountants, LinkedIn is king, and for a few reasons:

1. You’ll easily find most decision-makers here
2. The platform supports all types of content, including written content, videos and photos

Of course, if you don’t like LinkedIn, you shouldn’t use it. 

Personal preference should also be a consideration, so make sure you choose a platform that you genuinely enjoy using.

Measuring the Success of Your Thought Leader Content

Sharing your thought leadership content is just one aspect of this process. To see if you’re having an impact, you need a way to measure your success. 

Vanity metrics – likes, comments, followers, etc. – don’t reveal your true impact. Even platform metrics like Google Analytics don’t paint the full picture unless you’re asking people directly how they found you.

For example, let’s say that someone listens to your podcast and then searches for your site on Google. Google Analytics credits this lead as inbound on your website, but in reality, your podcast created the demand – your website merely captured it.

If you want to go all-in on your thought leadership strategy, then it’s important to ensure you’re collecting data in other ways (apart from Google Analytics) to get the full scope of your impact.

Can Anyone – Even Me – Become a Thought Leader?

Absolutely! Anyone can be a thought leader, BUT, going back to my first point, you need to have leading thoughts. 

Don’t let that intimidate you though. Just take some time to define your unique point of view (or points of view) and how you’d like to spread your message.

If you don’t have your point of view defined, then you’ll only be adding to the echo chamber.

And that’s a wrap on this Dear Katie question.

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Now I want to hear from you. Do you have a question? 

Submit it here

Until next time, cheers to your success!

Katie