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Getting in the news is no easy task, especially when you have a shortage of company announcements to share. One tactic to supplement awareness during a not-so-newsworthy time for your business is to execute a thought leadership program on behalf of your company stakeholders. Outside of generating a cadence of awareness, thought leadership has additional benefits like establishing a consistent voice in the media and, perhaps more importantly, credibility in your industry. Win-Win.
So what is thought leadership exactly?
In the PR world, it’s best described as a type of media outreach that elevates experts by sharing their industry-specific knowledge and expertise with reporters who find interest in or write on those particular topics. Thought leadership should advance the industry or add a new perspective in some way, offering advice for efficiency or overall change, and take a forward-looking stance. Outside of the media, thought leadership can take many forms such as a speaking opportunity at an industry conference, a LinkedIn post on an expert’s profile or a post on a company’s blog.
There are four steps for generating effective thought leadership:
Once ideas have been generated, it’s time to engage the media. Here are two best practices when it comes to thought leadership outreach that can help companies avoid common pitfalls:
Not quite ready for media outreach? Owned marketing channels are a great place to start establishing key company execs as thought leaders. The same strategies used to generate ideas for contributed articles and story angles can be used to execute thought leadership on a company blog or social platform, like LinkedIn.
Thought leadership is essential to keeping a business in the press even without hard news. The key to thought leadership success is right in the name; position the company as a leader that’s pushing your industry forward.