The advent of summer always brings to mind an old proverb:
“When things change inside you, things change around you.”
Thought leadership is built on big ideas. But when events make you change your perspective and look at the world differently, your ideas and insights change as well – sometimes, on very little notice.
In the last few years, many organizations have had to change how they launch ideas.
The old ways don’t work anymore. New methods are needed.
That’s why thought leadership practitioners need to be adaptable. Our ideas will help others, but only if we find ways to clearly and compellingly communicate our insights. The world gets very noisy, especially when things are difficult, and that presents a big challenge for thought leaders.
We need to know how to find our audience, get their attention, and convince them to listen.
But here are some truths:
1) Our audiences are still hungry for new ideas – they’re looking. We just need to know where.
2) We need to understand our audiences and learn how they consume information.
3) If we can get our ideas in front of the right people, we can change the world for the better.
It’s true that “omni-channel” outreach strategies are expensive and exhausting.
A thought leadership practitioner can’t be everywhere at once and can’t rely on just one modality (blogs, speaking, educational video series, major events) to broadcast ideas. To be successful, you need them all!
That’s why I talk about narrowcasting and pointcasting for thought leadership. These strategies make it easy for your target audience (and VIPs!) to find and discover your ideas.
Don’t ask your audience to do extra work to find you. They’re already busy, and probably fighting cognitive overload.
Instead, make it easy for the right people to encounter your ideas.
If you’d like to do a “get to know each other” or catch-up call with me, here’s a link to my calendar.
I’d love to talk shop about thought leadership with you.
Warmly,
Bill Sherman
Co-Founder |Org TL