“Thought leadership” is a popular buzzword amongst B2B content creators tasked with giving business executives a leading voice in their industries. Like many buzzwords, “thought leader” has become so enmeshed in marketing vernacular that its definition is often reduced to its most elementary meaning — a sophisticated term for “industry expert.”
So, what is a thought leader? A thought leader is a company or person who is the foremost authority in their specialization and whose opinions can shape the future of the industry. Thought leaders garner recognition for their expertise and profit from it.
Business executives should, by the very nature of their corporate role, be experts in their chosen industry. Thought leaders are those executives whose ideas are changing or shaping the industry. Expertise should be a given; thought leadership is the game-changer.
Like all content development, thought leadership content should first start with a content strategy in which all content supports and connects back to specific thought leadership positions. A thought leadership position is a statement architected to include the thought leader’s own-able position as it relates to a specific market trend, topic or vision as well as the impact this position has on the target market. A thought leadership position may be specific to individual or multiple target personas. A thought leadership position can be actualized or aspirational, but it must be own-able.
Ultimately, thought leaders should lead experts by shaping the collective thinking of a target audience or effecting actual change within an industry.
