As your business grows, you will want to ensure you establish yourself as a leader in your field. By positioning yourself as an industry expert, you communicate an important message about the strength of your business, and you carve out a niche as a thought leader.
But what exactly does thought leadership mean – and how can you use it to your advantage? Read on to find out about the measures you can take to make your organisation stand out from the crowd.
Research papers
Research papers serve a few important functions – and many organisations find they are well worth the time and effort they take to prepare.
Many organisations offer white papers, reports, infographics and other pieces of valuable information free of charge – but anyone who wishes to access them or download a PDF is usually first asked to provide contact details in the form of an email address or phone number.
This means that your prospective client or contact has a valuable piece of information – and a reminder that your organisation is a thought leader in your field – and it means you have their details to add to your database for future marketing campaigns.
Conferences
With so much business done online these days, conferences represent an increasingly rare chance for you to get out and expand your network face to face.
By preparing a thoughtful display with creative literature and having a well-presented team on hand with ready answers to common questions, you’ll be on the road to networking like a pro in no time!
Conferences are also a great opportunity to present unique insights and information to other industry leaders – enquire about speaking opportunities for maximum exposure. Don’t forget social media either – many conferences have their own Twitter hashtags, so you may wish to sharpen your online networking skills so you can share relevant information online with a targeted audience.
Teleconferencing
Teleconference meetings are another great way to make connections with other industry leaders, investors and your most important contacts – especially when time or distance makes it logistically impossible to connect in person.
You might be initially concerned that teleconferencing requires complicated technical expertise or is expensive to set up, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Many conferencing providers offer an easy way to set up teleconference meetings - and you could even record the session as an mp3 that can be downloaded by people who weren’t able to listen in the first time.
Webinars
If you aren’t able to present at a conference, or you want to share your ideas with a much larger audience, webinars are a great way to do exactly this.
You have a few choices when it comes to creating online seminars – you can pre-record an audio or video presentation in advance to communicate your ideas and thoughts, or you may wish to schedule an online interactive event in real-time.
If video isn’t your forte, you can instead host a social media webinar – fellow users can contact you on a certain date and at a certain time to have their questions answered and engage in thoughtful discussion.
With so many easy ways to get your ideas out there, you’ll be networking like a pro in no time, and as you spread the word about your organisation, your business will reap the rewards.
