Find your Thought Leaders

What is a thought leader? Wikipedia simply summaries them as “an individual or firm that is recognised as an authority in a specialised field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded. Thought leaders are commonly asked to speak at public events, conferences or webinars to share their insight with a relevant audience.”

Hidden inside most organisations is a diamond. Someone who has an incredible mind, who excels at what they do and who can use their intelligence, innovative thinking and personality to position their organisations among the best in their sector. These are your thought leaders, waiting to be discovered, and I can help you find and train them.

Thought leadership is not always included in a marketing strategy.  More often what it includes is divided up into ‘speaker opportunities’, ‘content marketing’ and ‘social media’.  A thought leader is all these things in one.  It’s not of in a strategy for the reason that it is time consuming. It requires training and development and the individual needs support that marketing and communications team often don’t have time to give them. 

Over many years I have hunted for these diamonds, I have mentored and taught them and created thought leaders for companies that have gone on to feature in national newspapers, deliver keynote speaker session and write insightful and valuable content. 

How do I do this?

Talking. I talk through all marketing objectives, strategies and more to find out what you need to achieve, what areas you want to be recognised in and who you wish to influence. 

Discovery. I spend time with teams; with the experts in your organisation getting a feel for individuals seeking out the ones I know can deliver against the ambitions of the company.  It is not always a CEO or a director, sometime the diamonds in your company are the ones on the shop floor. 

Mentoring. Time and dedication is all that is required to support and develop a person’s confidence, communication skills and enjoyment of being seen as a leader in their field. Mentoring includes presentation skills, media training, tone and phrasing, interviews and most importantly, generating confidence in themselves.   

Deliver. I take them out.  I find platforms on which they can share their knowledge and I give them the tools to do this. I also help by encouraging them to deliver internal marketing collateral, support them to create content for blogs, newsletters, social media and videos. 

Development. We all create a plan to grow from experiences and to further develop your companies thought leaders to become recognised on alternative or greater stages.  

If you wish to know more about through leadership then please get in touch.