What Is Effective Thought Leadership?
Thought leadership is one of the most popular styles of content from companies worldwide. But what is this and how do you do it?
Read on to find out!
What is thought leadership?
Thought leadership can mean different things to different people, but it generally refers to the style of content that utilises the expertise of a business. It is often long-form, with the aim to really explain in detail a concept that’s important within the industry of your business.
You can create thought leadership by creating and promoting educational, helpful content and being active in the industry community. It’s supposed to be about clear insights that cut through to leave real lasting impacts on your audience! It’s all about connecting with people and providing real value.
Why create thought leadership content?
A lot of businesses create thought leadership to build their credibility, for themselves or their leaders in the business. The goal is for everyone to recognise your expertise and consider you a go-to source within your field.
It’s a great way to show that you care about your industry and want to make a meaningful contribution to the chiropractic community at large. It can also help show potential patients that you have attained a level of excellence and understanding of your field, though it often primarily serves your fellow professionals ahead of patients.
In particular, surveys have shown that businesses that provide great thought leadership can help customers to choose your brand over competitors and be more willing to keep in touch with you. For other professionals who read your content, this can help attract great talent to your brand and consider you for any partnerships.
Do you want your name to be associated with innovation and creative thinking? Do you care about issues in the chiropractic industry and making a contribution? If you can deliver this knowledge, it’s a great way to reinforce your personal or practice brand as an important part of the health community.
What does great thought leadership look like?
Some of the key qualities of great thought leadership include using quality over quantity when it comes to explaining your idea, having a clear rationale at the heart of the piece, solid evidence underpinning your ideas, and creating something that genuinely adds to the conversation and makes an audience think.
How can you start creating thought leadership pieces?
Understand what key issues are coming up in the chiropractic industry
It’s important to be aware of the conversation in the community before you get stuck in. Being professionals, we know you’re likely to be keeping up to date with the happenings in your field. But in case you’ve fallen behind, spend a little time catching up before you start brainstorming.
Define a unique perspective
Your contribution has to have a clear and unique angle. Spend some time thinking through how you can position your ideas, and how you are adding to the larger conversation in your industry.
Set your objectives
What are you hoping to achieve through your thought leadership piece? Who are you aiming to reach? Think about and define these before you start to get drafting. It’s the classic answer to the W’s: Who, What, When, Where, Why?
Broadly speaking, you should aim to create impact, and you should be ready to measure this. It might be about gathering comments, likes, or shares. It might be page views, or scroll depth through your piece, or many other metrics. Be prepared to measure this.
Other important aims for thought leadership are about providing actionable advice that other chiropractors can really take away and use today and delivering this in a focused but engaging format. Don’t try to include too many ideas in the one-piece – keep on track, and really deliver value in what you say.
Find evidence and data to back you up
Insights should ideally be backed by research. While this can vary according to where you intend to publish your thoughts, and there is room for some leniency, it is still important to ensure the ideas you are presenting offer up credible data. Make sure each of your points has something to back it up.
Tell the story
Storytelling is important, especially when it comes to long-form. You need to find the answer to the “so what?” inherent in your thought leadership piece. Make sure you have a structure that really pulls the reader through and builds logically into a story that resonates with readers.
Making a complex topic sound accessible is really key to great thought leadership, it is all about spreading your ideas. Those ideas have to be coherent and logical, and you have to explain any data or evidence you have in a way that will make sense to the audience.
Get and ask for feedback
It could help to review your piece with a fellow chiropractor, to get their feedback on it before you hit publish. Ensure that you have the highest standard of grammar and punctuation, as the thought leadership format is a more professional one – it’s not a casual blog. So, keep the tone professional and business-minded.
And once you do publish, the conversation should not end there – in fact, your piece should be just the start of a discussion. Be ready to discuss your work and engage with others as you demonstrate how your ideas fit into the industry conversation at large.
Finally, it can help to have in-depth copy support when you are creating thought leadership pieces designed to really boost your brand awareness and credibility. Get in touch if you are looking for the kind of help that will bring even your most complex ideas to life online.