December 9, 2024
December 10, 2024
If you ask a random group of business leaders what “executive thought leadership” is, you’re likely to get wildly different answers. Even within the communications industry, there’s disagreement on what it looks like and its value. We see examples of it daily among our clients in the form of op-eds, corporate blogs, LinkedIn posts, prime conference slots, and broadcast and podcast interviews. Done well, thought leadership can position executives as industry leaders, shape perceptions around issues, and build trust in a brand.
A strong thought leadership program is a core pillar to all of our client engagements. We work with communications teams and spokespeople to reach their customers, partners, employees and investors by embracing the spokesperson’s individuality in service of the business. The result is a more powerful and lasting message that engages audiences. While each program is bespoke, there are some best practices we follow based on our decades of building and executing platforms on behalf of our clients.
Executive Thought Leadership Drives Ideas, Not Products
Successful thought leadership is insightful and authoritative, and engages decision makers in discussions around timely issues. It’s about sharing ideas, spotting trends, and recommending actions that advance progress. It’s a pointed critique on LinkedIn of a major tech player’s vulnerability disclosure practices from the CEO of Tenable; or a practical guide for developers building GenAI apps published in The New Stack from a senior director at Snowflake; and an opinion piece in The Economist by the CEO of Lanzatech on the circular carbon economy. It’s not product marketing or boilerplate corporate speak.
When done well, thought leadership is unique, thought-provoking and influential. It calls attention to important industry trends and topics and is grounded in opinion and a strong point of view. It can serve as the basis for brand marketing, but the goal of executive thought leadership isn’t to sell a product or generate leads.
One of the biggest mistakes marketers make when developing executive thought leadership is focusing too much on their brand or product. Brands lose credibility if the content looks like marketing, and third-party outlets, like business and trade publications, will not want it. There is a place for marketing materials in sponsored channels, and we encourage clients to pursue these opportunities as well for direct lead generation.
<split-lines>"One of the biggest mistakes marketers make when developing executive thought leadership is focusing too much on their brand or product."<split-lines>
How We Do It
Our process starts with market research and analysis to inform a story development workshop facilitated by our team of media relations experts, digital campaign creators and content writers. Our workshops yield concepts that serve as the foundation for a variety of op-eds, blog posts, social media series, and proactive media pitches. The thought leadership platforms we develop include ideas for integrating individual story concepts into other formats as well, such as speaking sessions, webinars, and LinkedIn Live events.
The importance of research at this stage can’t be overstated. You need to understand who your audience is and where they get their information online to be able to tailor your content for that channel. For example, a CTO writing a technical how-to on cloud infrastructure would target a tech trade publication like InformationWeek. An article by a C-level executive that focuses on tips for managing teams would appeal to readers of a business publication like Forbes, while a CEO column on tips for fundraising would be a good fit for VentureBeat.
<split-lines>"You need to understand who your audience is and where they get their information online to be able to tailor your content for that channel."<split-lines>
Content Strategy for All Channels
The shifting media landscape and noisy vendor market make it challenging for companies to reach their audiences today. There are fewer reporters and news outlets to cover product and company news, and intense competition means reporters are chasing scoops. Meanwhile, social platforms continue to be where most people get their information and we work with clients on strategy for those channels, where content marketing can lead to increased visibility, customer engagement and lead generation.
In developing the social campaigns, we start by defining our client’s goals: Are they creating a new category or expanding into a new segment? Preparing for an IPO or acquisition? Looking to attract talent? De-positioning the competition? From there, we organize their platforms around themes that map back to their goals, develop a content strategy for each channel, and optimize against algorithms to keep clients at the top of feeds. For example, clients can reach B2B audiences on LinkedIn by putting paid promotion behind their content and taking advantage of LinkedIn’s new “Top Voices” program, which highlights top-ranked writers in specific verticals. LinkedIn also allows for targeting different demographics based on geography, job title, company name, industry, seniority, and interests. We test different audience targeting, and optimize the content by modifying headlines, visuals and copy to increase reach and performance.
<split-lines>"Social platforms continue to be where most people get their information...and content marketing [here] can lead to increased visibility, customer engagement and lead generation."<split-lines>
Measuring the Impact of Executive Thought Leadership
While social campaigns offer more concrete measurement of audience reach and engagement, the impact of long-form thought leadership like op-eds can be difficult to quantify, especially given the lack of access to viewer numbers from media outlets that publish the content. However, they often have an outsized impact, and can lead to media inbounds and speaking invites, for example.
A few examples:
- For about six months, Mission North worked with Mozilla Foundation President Mark Surman and other executives on the Mozilla Trustworthy AI report. After its release, Mark was asked to discuss the issue in a fireside chat at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything conference and it was the subject of a Bloomberg TV segment.
- This op-ed in The Hill by the CEO of OT cybersecurity company Shift5 – arguing for better security of satellites – was cited by Forbes and led to interview requests and quotes in The Economist, CNN Business, Vox, The Record, and SpaceNews, helping to establish him as an expert in the emerging field of space cybersecurity.
Thought leadership should be a critical piece of any PR or integrated marketing program. That’s especially true during seminal moments in a company’s life cycle — from launching from stealth and fundraising, to leaning into a new technology like AI, and gearing up for an IPO. It takes time to develop the stories that can launch or boost an executive’s visibility. The key is to say something unique and insightful that informs readers, provokes discussion, and lets the world know that your execs are true experts in their respective fields.
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Remember, true thought leadership...
- Frames the issue differently than everyone else
- Forces people to think more deeply about it
- Orients around problems, not solutions
- Sparks healthy discourse and debate
- Balances sizzle with substance
- Requires lots of reps
