How can you build a successful thought leadership program?

Thought leadership has always been a fundamental part of PR. It’s a great way to showcase the expertise and innovative thinking of your executives and subject matter experts. It also delivers results, with research suggesting that nearly half (48%) of thought leadership content generates leads and sales.

The rise of AI search has made thought leadership even more important. If you want your brand to show up in AI search summaries, then placing a thought leadership piece by-lined to one of your key spokespeople is a great way to do it. It is exactly the sort of authoritative and credible content that AI algorithms seek. 

How can you improve your thought leadership campaigns?

Effective thought leadership does not happen by accident. It requires careful planning to deliver the best results. If you’re thinking of embarking on a thought leadership program, or are in the process of rolling one out, here’s a checklist to ensure you get the most out of it.

1. Be consistent. Work with your PR team to identify a strong thought-leadership platform. This should be based on topics that your business can talk on authentically, and which your spokespeople feel passionately about. Consistency is crucial, and requires doing the necessary research, such as mapping against peers (or even competitors) you wish to emulate, benchmarking your current visibility, and understanding how the internet is offering you up to users. Your tone of voice should also be consistent. Create a document outlining your personal tone and brand that can be referenced when creating content. 
2. Assign topic “swim lanes.” If your program involves more than one spokesperson, audit their expertise and assign specific topic areas for them to “own.” These “swim lanes” will ensure message clarity over the long-term. For Sonatype’s executive brand marketing (EBM) campaign, for instance, each of the three executives we work with was given a designated lane, outlining core values, talking points and themes. The CTO for instance, focused on emerging tech trends, while the CEO discussed market shifts.
3. Say something meaningful. Thought leadership isn’t only about SEO or AEO. You should only launch a thought leadership campaign if you can truly add value to a conversation. The word “leadership” is important. Don’t just say what everybody else is saying. If this is done well, the results speak for themselves. Databank positioned its CEO (now former CEO) as an expert on AI innovation while adding real value to trending conversations around AI data centers. He became a highly sought-after industry commentator, generating reams of positive coverage in the process.

4. Align with your brand story. Thought leadership campaigns mustn’t exist in a vacuum. Rather, they should align with your broader brand story and corporate messages. 
5. Use EBM services where relevant. Executives are short on time. Using EBM services allows trusted partners to manage posting blogs and social content on the executive’s behalf. This helps ensure that good opportunities are not missed.  
6. Aim for a balanced media mix. Tier-one placements are always satisfying, but a solid piece of thought leadership in a trade or vertical is also important. That’s often where your audience will turn to for in-depth industry knowledge. What’s more, building relationships with trade journalists can pay dividends in the future when they go on to work for national and business media. As a rule of thumb, we’d suggest targeting 45% news, 25% thought leadership, 5% reviews, 25% bylines, and 25% customer stories for the perfect media mix. This should include targeting emerging media like podcasts and Substack channels, that are becoming an increasingly important part of the media landscape.
7. Focus on frequency. If you only post a corporate blog or land a byline once in a blue moon you will not build credibility as a thought leader. Look to have something published once or twice a month as a bare minimum. For socials, think two-to-three times a week. 
8. Take on any and all interviews. Once you’ve laid a solid thought leadership foundation, you can be pickier about which outlets you appear in. But at the start it’s important to keep your mind open and try to gain exposure across a wide variety of media. Over time you will build a strong content repository, and journalists will have no doubt that you’re a dependable, interesting source of insight to tap.

If you need help getting your thought leadership campaign off the ground, then get in touch. From creating a brand story, to crystallizing topic areas and “swim lanes,” to managing your executive brand marketing, there are plenty of ways we can help.