Blogging For Thought Leadership

BLOGGING TO BECOME A THOUGHT LEADER TAKING THE HIGH ROAD TO MARKET LEADERSHIP Rockford Social Media Bootcamp – 7/25/09

Dana VanDen Heuvel Dana is the founder of The MarketingSavant Group and a widely recognized specialist in thought leadership and emerging marketing technologies such as blogging, social media, RSS, Internet communities and interactive marketing trends and best practices and speaks regularly on these topics at industry events. Dana is the creator of the American Marketing Association “TechnoMarketing” training series and the author of the AMA Marketech ’08 guide to marketing technology. Need help after the event? Email - dana@marketingsavant.com

After-Event Slides & Resources  The slides and resource links are available electronically after the event: clients.marketingsavant.com/socialmediabc

What is Thought Leadership? “Thought leadership centers on earning trust and credibility. Thought leaders get noticed by offering something different—information, insights, and ideas, for instance. Thought leadership positions you and your company as an industry authority and resource and trusted advisor by establishing your reputation as a generous contributor to your industry.” RainToday.com

Thought Leadership Marketing Thought Leadership Marketing provides a sustainable go-to-market strategy based on your competence and point of view by developing intellectual capital Thought Leadership Marketing employing elements of insurgent marketing principles and creating clarity in the marketplace through a balanced digital and traditional channel approach to achieve market share and demand generation.  Thought Leadership Marketing turns organizational activity into Insurgent/Under Social Media & intellectual capital that supports relevant advocacy positions, tacit domain dog Marketing Digital Marketing expertise and point-of-view platforms to shape and influence market perceptions and establish your organization a thought leader, knowledge resource, subject matter expert and ultimately, a trusted client advisor  Social media and digital marketing combine with trusted, classical marketing tools to form a foundation for sharing and relevant dialogue with clients and markets that builds market capital and provides the insights, access, and influence required to create demand generation  Effective Thought Leadership Marketing employs insurgent marketing principles that deliver immediate and measurable lead and prospect opportunity improvements and drives demand generation by focusing on delivering wins and competing on higher ideals, not lower prices, in the age of the empowered buyer.

Insurgent Marketing

The Thought Leadership Marketing Equation Competence, purpose and Strategic use of TLM Thought leaders and trusted core market understanding tools and channels with advisors occupy the inform the point of view & media collaboration greatest share of mind thought leadership garner your share voice in among business buyers. platform. Thought leaders the industry and spark the Share of mind predicts outshine their competitors industry dialogue around share of market. Thought who compete on price and your ideas. Leadership Marketing advertising. As buyers seek out more steadily increases your SOM real market dialogue, SOV with buyers, growing your is an increasingly important share of market. factor contributing to marketplace success.

Thought Leaders Have a Point of View Too often, firms capture their ‘thought leadership’ expertise - articles, speeches, newsletters, books, press pitches and so on—without a point of view. Source: The Bloom Group‟s 2006 survey “Attaining Thought Leadership”

Thought Leadership Delivers  Coherency out of marketplace chaos  Diminished price resistance  Valid and credible value proposition  Self-qualified leads & opportunities  Shortened sales cycles  Value-forward marketing & selling platform  Ongoing market dialogue  Prospects experience your value before buying  Buyers invested in your ideas before purchasing  Growth in media placements & requests  Search engine find-ability

Thought Leadership is Attained “Thought leadership is the recognition from the outside world that the company deeply understands its business, the needs of its customers and the broader marketplace in which it operates.” Elise Bauer  Your customers grant you TL status  You can influence using TLM tools & tactics  It’s not about budget – it’s about Intellectual Capital and Content  Set yourself apart through mandatory TLM attributes

Thought Leadership Marketing Mindset 1) They love what they do – energy & motivation 2) They have the drive to teach – no strings attached 3) They reach out and communicate – to everyone 4) They take risks with messaging – on the edge 5) They balance confidence with curiosity & learning – learn from everyone 6) They put in the time today (TLM activities) for tomorrow’s benefit 7) They never stop working, connecting and communicating – not drip marketing, but constant education

Mapping the Thought Leadership Marketing Toolkit

Blogging for Thought Leaders

Get Blogging (Transparency)  STILL a hot topic for marketers  16% of Fortune 500 on board  Metaphor for:  Transparent communication  Authenticity  Responsibility  Reputation  Blogosphere doubles: 5-7mos

Thought Leader Blogging Process

Tune In! (It‟s NOT ABOUT YOU!)  Subscribe to content  Share content right from reader  Consume feeds  Form a reader-based social network

Build Your “Blog Hub”  One place where your content is housed  Contains real substance, not just links  “Connectable platform” (Wordpress, Typepad)  You online home base

Create Thought Leading Content  Instructional - Instructional posts tell  Lists - One of the easiest ways to write a post people how to do something. I find that Tips is to make a list. Posts with content like „The Top posts are generally the ones that are Ten ways to….‟, „7 Reasons why….‟ „ 5 Favorite among my most popular both in the short ….‟, are not only easy to write but are usually term very popular with readers and with getting  Informational - This is one of the more links from other bloggers. common blog post types where you simply  Interviews - Sometimes when you‟ve run out of give information on a topic. It could be a insightful things to say it might be a good idea definition post or a longer explanation of to let someone else do the talking in an some aspect of the niche that you‟re writing interview (or a guest post). This is a great way on. This is the crux of successful sites like to not only give your readers a relevant Wikipedia. expert‟s opinion but to perhaps even learn  Reviews - Another highly searched for something about the topic you‟re writing term on the web is „review‟ - I know every yourself. time I‟m considering buying a new product  Case Studies - Another popular type of post is that I head to Google and search for a the case study where you profile a client, a review on it first. Reviews come in all peer, an organization or person that you shapes and sizes and on virtually every admire either through direct contact or an product or service you can think of. interview with them or by doing some of your own benchmarking activity.

Create Thought Leading Content  Link Posts - The good old „link post‟ is a  Research – Due some serious due diligence on favorite of many bloggers and is simply a your industry, create a benchmarking report, or matter of finding a quality post on another compile data that your readers would find site or blog and linking up to it either with value in. Research posts can take a lot of time an explanation of why you‟re linking up, a but they can also be well worth it if you come comment on your take on the topic and/or up with interesting conclusions that inspire a quote from the post. You can also people to link up to you. automate this process.  Memes and Projects - write a post that  Contrasting two options - Write a post somehow involves your readers and gets them contrasting two products, services or to replicate it in someway. Start a poll, an approaches that outlines the positives and award, ask your readers to submit a post/link negatives of each choice. or run a survey or quiz.  Rant - get passionate, stir yourself up, say  Hypothetical Posts – Write a „what if‟ or what‟s on your mind and tell it like it is. hypothetical post by picking on something that Rants are great for starting discussion and „could‟ happen down the track in your industry causing a little controversy. and begin to unpack what the implications of it would be. „What if….Google and Yahoo merged?‟ „What if…

Hubspot says… “Each thoughtful post on your blog is a public demonstration of your thought leadership, personal integrity, humor, and professional insights. You don’t have to refute one of Einstein’s theories to get respect.”

Share, Link and Guide  What will your audience find useful?  Share competitors info – it drives them nuts, and gets them to link to you!  Easy, time-conscious way to stay relevant without creating original content

Make Your Content Work (Harder) For You

Syndicate & Synchronize

What is Thought Leadership Blogging? “Thought Leadership is exploiting your unique position in your markets to generate valuable insight and advice on issues your customers and prospects care most about.” Velocity (UK)

Thought Leadership Marketer Indium Corporation  25% reduction in marketing spend  Major account wins  Entire organization involved in the „community‟

Thought Leadership Marketer Indium Corporation “[Being a Thought Leader] is being considered the best, most authoritative, trusted source. It means being the “go to” people. It means being given the first look, being invited into a development project and asked for advice. It means being the organization that others MUST HAVE involved with a project. And it all leads to increased sales, profits, and image or it simply didn’t matter..” Rick Short, Indium

The 4 A‟s of Thought Leadership Marketing Assets – Attitude – Acceptance – Alignment Read the entire article: http://www.marketingsavant.com/articles/four-as-thought-leadership-marketing/

Are You Ready for Thought Leadership? 1) Do you love what you do? 1) Passionate enough to push TL 2) Sustain interest in years to come 2) Are you willing to teach? 1) “Educate the market” mentality 2) Do you “enjoy helping your customers & prospects”? 3) Are you comfortable with “reaching outside”? 1) Expand beyond your existing network 4) Are you will to take a stand with your message? 1) Do you have a unique position on industry issues? 2) Can you frame & express those views? 3) Can you get people to notice?

Are You Ready for Thought Leadership? 5) Are you a “confident learner”? 1) Balance your positions with listening 2) Ears to the ground for trend shifts & opportunities 6) Do you have a “long-term” perspective? 1) Spend time today for reward tomorrow 2) “Faith in the future” 7) Are you comfortable with “no end point” to TL? 1) Willing to work a long time toward this goal 2) Stay motivated!

Five Keys to Successful TLM  Be Generous With Your Knowledge  Share beyond the marketing speak  Be Consistent  Calendar your activities – daily, weekly, monthly routine  Always Deliver Value  Listen, think, revise, teach, repeat  Take A Stand  Take your strong positions to market  Focus On The Long-term Benefits  Track your results in months & years

Altruism Before Capitalism “In short, this is simply an organization putting the needs of its constituents ahead of its own needs. Or, aligning itself with advancing the welfare of its customers before (and while) advancing its own. “ Dana VanDen Heuvel

Success Metrics  Reach  How many hear your message?  Acquisition  Who’s attention did you get?  Conversion  What information did you gather?  Who can you contact as a “lead”?  Retention  Who follows you after the acquisition?

Blogging for Thought Leaders Thank You! Need help after the presentation? Email dana@marketingsavant.com

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Blogging For Thought Leadership

by Dana VanDen Heuvel

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