Wie können Sie Geschwindigkeit und Qualität bei der Entwicklung von Thought-Leadership-Strategien in Einklang bringen?

Start by creating a portfolio of future facing ideas. Define clear short-term learning outcomes that link to the bigger impact, create scrum teams who work in in short cycles to land experiments and create the data to measure and have a top-leader led regular review process. Constantly ask for the learnings to be documented.

I've always believed in drawing inspiration from the challenges that surround us. By actively seeking solutions to these real-world issues and sharing my journey, I ensure that my content resonates with those facing similar hurdles. Engaging in conversations with peers about their challenges and projecting my problem-solving approach adds a layer of authenticity to my content. This organic blend of real-life experiences and proactive discussions is my formula for balancing speed with quality, ensuring that every piece I share is genuine and impactful.

Think of the key takeaway in a sentence or two. What do you want someone to repeat if they had to paraphrase what you said? Or, if the fire alarm went off in the room and everybody had to leave, what is it you would want to remember?

Balancing speed and quality in thought leadership strategy development is crucial for success. One way to achieve this balance is by having a clear understanding of your goals and audience. Define what you want to achieve through your thought leadership efforts and who your target audience is. This will help you tailor your approach and ensure that your content resonates with them. Additionally, constantly gathering feedback from your audience and analyzing data can help you make strategic decisions to improve the speed and quality of your thought leadership efforts.

Clarity is the mantra. If you are taking to everyone, you are talking to no one. Who are you addressing? What impact do you wish to make? For eg: If your goal is to guide startups on financial strategies, your primary audience could be startup founders and new entrepreneurs.

The approach I advise to clients is to develop their ideas and positioning first before they worry about distribution. A 'distribution-first' approach risks diluting the power of your core Thought Leadership content. That's why it's important to view your core Thought Leadership content as a hub (generally long-form content) and then distribute it via 'spokes', like LinkedIn posts, email newsletters, internal engagement platform etc.

Even within channels, the style of content will vary from person to person. What works for you may not work for someone else. So if you are just starting out on your thought leadership journey, be patient and experiment with different styles of writing.

Base the where of your thought leadership on knowing exactly where your target audience is active, of course, but also choose the form it takes based on an understanding of what is most likely to deliver the best return. Don't rush to produce expensive, slick 20 minute videos if you don't already have a strong idea they will deliver for you. It's a waste of money. And don't put all of your eggs in one basket either, by which I mean don't be lulled into thinking that any one campaign of piece of content is going to deliver against KPIs in and of itself. Thought leadership is a marathon, not a sprint, and consistency, patience, and focus are all key.

Not all formats suit every message. Not all formats suit every creator. Decide if a short post, article, podcast, or video suits your message and you the best. For instance, in-depth tutorials might work better as webinars, while quick tips can be bite-sized posts.

Let quality dictate velocity. Resist the prompts (or urges) to pump out content for its own sake. The first step is thinking, so that your content is original, and leadership implies moving the discussion to new places. Both require time and effort. I keep a file of half-baked ideas. That keeps me noodling. As I develop sufficient insight, I take them to a finished piece. Some ideas sit for days while others rest for months. Some never see the light of day--and that's OK. Say something because it matters, not because you feel a need to post.

It is standard practice with our clients to start with a well-designed Thought Leadership program. We start with company and product positioning and key messages – how can a Thought Leadership program expand upon that messaging? Who in the company can provide unique insights and experience that create industry conversations around those messages? The program itself leverages multiple channels – media pitching, bylines, blogs, lead generation content, such as white papers and eBooks, and more. Putting a defined program in place that taps a wide range of opportunities assures that Thought Leadership messages engage target audiences and deliver results for clients.

In many ways, Thought Leadership is closer to journalism than marketing. It's why I left my career as a BBC journalist to start a Thought Leadership agency. Research underpins both professions, and understanding how to use sources and data to tell a compelling story is vital. Validating a source is important, and where possible, getting a secondary source is also preferable. You won't have the budget to generate original research (like surveys, polls etc) for every piece of content, but it's equally as powerful to use a source as a starting point to give your own unique perspective to an industry challenge.

Quality content rests on accurate information. Always use trusted sources, tools like Google Scholar or industry reports, to validate your content swiftly.

How do you come up with original ideas of relevance and interest to your audience? Data and research are vital to substantiating perspectives once you have one, the challenge is often how to generate new ideas that move the conversation forward rather than adding to the noise. Drawing on your experience, listening to the experiences of your network and keeping your ear to the ground are crucial to uncovering those quiet signals of a trend (and really earning that Orwellian term “thought leader”) before everyone else piles in. Anecdotes are not sufficient, but they can be a useful starting point of where things are going before trends show up in the data.

A grammatically incorrect content is definitely a put off. But overthinking will stop you from taking the first step. So write your initial draft without overthinking, then meticulously edit.

You have to adapt your content's tone and style to meet your audience's expectations. That might mean you need to use some technical language or complex case studies to build credibility and trust. However, where possible, try to avoid language that puts a barrier between you and your audience's understanding. This is where external content support can help. An agency might not be Subject Matter Experts, but they are experts in communicating your story in a way that will engage and inform. This will often save you vital time when trying to meet a deadline.

What's the point of writing if no one reads it. Publishing is only half the battle. Share your content across relevant LinkedIn groups, tag influencers, or use LinkedIn ads for wider reach. Remember, quality content deserves quality promotion.

The publication of your content should begin long before you're actually ready to push the button. The process must begin with excellent stakeholder management so that all your internal stakeholders feel engaged and you have genuine buy-in. Nothing creates more delays in publishing Thought Leadership than multiple layers of sign-off from people who should have already been consulted. This may feel time-consuming, but it will save you considerable time when nearing your deadline. Thought Leadership, by its nature, should feel challenging and thought-provoking. So don't underestimate the time it'll take to get sign-off.

Speed without direction doesn’t yield the results one is looking for. The same applies with thought leadership. Feedback and more importantly automated feedback is key to know if a thought leadership is heading in the right direction. Running small projects, experimenting, and pivoting when necessary is essential. As much as we want to speed up, thought leadership is also somewhat similar to law of averages. At least initially its quantity over quality (not bad quality but prioritising more over perfect) and slowly it moves towards quality over quantity. Analytics and feedback are our ally and hopefully that viral content is the chasm to be crossed. This is also evident with these LinkedIn contributed articles.

In my experience thought leadership isn't static; it evolves. To maintain quality and relevance, ongoing evaluation and improvement are necessary. It's about refining your ideas and adapting to changing circumstances. Here are a few suggestions that have work for us : - Regularly assess your content's performance. Monitor engagement metrics, reader feedback, and industry trends. Take constructive criticism to heart and make adjustments accordingly. Additionally, revisit and update older content to keep it current. The process of continuous improvement ensures your thought leadership remains valuable and insightful. I hope it works for your you too, thank you for reading!

Follow the '1' rule - 1 platform, 1 topic, 1 content format, and 1 day. 🧠 Chose the topic you are most comfortable with and build your audience around it; steadily take the next steps and increase the counts. For example, before venturing into Thought Leadership full-time, I built my audience around content marketing, because I had a strong foundation in there.

I disagree that thought leadership content needs to take loads of time, cost a lot of money and be resource intensive. As a journalist, I would speak to people about a range of subjects every day. I almost never knew anything about the subject matter or industry before the interview. After a 5-10 minute chat I had to produce an article that was detailed, accurate and informative within 1 hour. It's not difficult if you speak to the right people, ask the right questions and are clear what you want to produce before you go into the interview.

Read widely, learn broadly. While a narrow focus may help you in certain cases, thought leadership at its best is about making connections between disciplines and domains. Fiction and art help broaden the imagination. History, biography, and philosophy help ideas weave together. Contemporary business books give context for today's challenges. Having a well-rounded sense of all of these areas allows ideas to flow and reach a greater audience. As Walter Isaacson writes in his introduction to "The Innovators," "the truest creativity of the digital age came from those who were able to connect the arts and sciences." He traces this lineage through Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Leonard da Vinci. True thought leaders for the ages.

We can also consider visiting or closely observing the environments where your target audience operates. This provides firsthand insights into their challenges, needs, and behaviors. Consider Applying Kaizen principles to every aspect of your Thought Leadership process. Encourage a culture of small, incremental improvements in content creation, distribution, and engagement strategies.

Just start. Don’t let perfect or great be the enemy of good. It’s easier to edit than create something totally new. There’s lots of ways to think about it, but a truly important element of thought leadership is to just start. Get going. Get involved. No one is a leader on day one. You have to learn, develop, iterate, adapt, and improve. But chances are that first thing you do or publish or say is not going to be the most earth shattering revelation in any given field. So just start.