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March 22, 2021 Content Chat Recap: How To Build An Executive Thought Leadership Platform

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Thought leadership has been proven to be valuable for companies. Half of business decision-makers say that thought leadership content influences their purchasing decisions, and 42% are even willing to pay more to work with an organization that produces thought leadership. However, many teams are misaligned with their thought leadership approach, or they simply don’t know where to begin.

In this #ContentChat, we discuss how to build an executive thought leadership platform. Read the full recap below, where we explain what is thought leadership, the qualities that make for a great brand thought leader, the key elements of an executive thought leadership platform, and more.

For further tips and resources, check out this piece that explains how to identify your thought leadership topics and what to include in your thought leadership profiles.

Q1: What is thought leadership? Can a brand be a thought leader?

Erika defines thought leadership as the process of taking a subject matter expert, creating content from their unique perspective, and turning them into a recognized and valued industry resource.

Through that lens, brands technically cannot be thought leaders. However, brands can build a reputation of cultivating thought leaders.

What is the difference between an influencer and a thought leader? Influencers simply have an audience they can activate, but influencers do not always have a unique point of view.

“Thought leadership” is thrown around loosely in the industry, which has caused confusion as to what is and is not thought leadership.

Thought leadership requires meaningful relationships with the people that thought leaders are trying to reach.

Q2: When is a brand ready for an executive thought leadership program?

Before a brand can support through leadership activities, the company must have a clear sense of its brand identity, have identified subject matter experts that are willing to commit to thought leadership, and resources to support these activities.

Q3: What qualities make for a great brand thought leader?

Thought leaders need to be experienced in and passionate about your company’s industry and willing to share a unique perspective on hot topics.

Thought leaders should be able to make bold claims without being too constrained by the brand and its legal team.

Thought leaders should be eager to teach others and share their expertise.

Per Tod, thought leadership is an “always be helping” philosophy, not “always be selling.”

If a subject matter expert doesn’t have time to invest in thought leadership, they likely won’t be an effective thought leader.

Q4: What are the key elements of an executive thought leadership platform?

First, identify your goals for thought leadership. Next, define your priority topics and associated thought leaders. Integrate these goals and activities into your overall content marketing strategy.

Erika has a template thought leadership plan that can serve as a starting point.

Melanie and Carmen share a few other considerations:

And check out this post for more details.

Q5: How can a brand coordinate thought leadership activities across multiple executives?

Erika recommends managing a group of brand thought leaders in a similar way to a speaker’s bureau. Use a spreadsheet to track the various thought leadership activities in play. Create speaker overview documents to assist in content creation and pitching your thought leader for media or events opportunities. Hold recurring meetings with your thought leaders to assess the opportunities available.

Use this template to create your thought leadership profiles.

To build on an earlier point, your company executives may not always be the best thought leaders. Follow Erika’s process for any of your identified thought leaders.

Q6: What are the common thought leadership activities that brands should consider?

Common thought leadership activities include blog posts, speaking engagements, awards opportunities, social media content, and more!

Be strategic with your thought leadership activities. It is better to drive meaningful results in a few places than try to be everywhere with little results.

About Alek Irvin

Alek Irvin is a content marketing professional with a rich history in social media management, executive thought leadership development, and media relations. As a consultant at Erika Heald Marketing Consulting, he creates human-focused content and thought leadership platforms that help brand leaders connect and engage with their communities. Alek has worked with a range of startups and Fortune 500 companies across the B2B technology and consumer spaces, including IBM, Dell Technologies, Hitch Works, Emtrain, Integrate, and Frameable. Connect with him on Twitter @AlekIrvin.

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