A passionate marketer, CEO at iResearch Services, TechInformed & GivingforGood.
Thought leadership isn’t just about leading the pack but crafting the trail they’re running on.
I’ve found that spending more time on your thought leadership strategy, especially during the ideation phase, can lead to more successful results and help you communicate credible and authoritative information. Discover how taking the time to cook up the right ideas is the secret sauce of any thought leadership strategy.
What Is Ideation In Thought Leadership?
Ideation is akin to the critical strategy meetings before a big product launch. It’s where you meticulously plan and cultivate fresh ideas tailored to resonate with specific audiences. For instance, when devising a strategy for a CMO, the ideation phase might revolve around trending topics like extensive data integrations or data-driven campaign optimization. It’s a foundational step that determines the direction and impact of your thought leadership initiatives. Here are some areas to focus on:
• Coming up with content ideas. What topics do your clients want to talk about? Which content channels and methods will you use to communicate these concepts?
• Creating a content calendar. When will you publish blog posts, podcast episodes, videos and other content? How frequently will you publish content? How long will your content campaign run?
• Giving your campaigns purpose. What issues do your clients care about? Do they care passionately about sustainability, diversity and inclusion or another cause? How will you incorporate these issues into content types?
• Deciding to measure thought leadership. How will you measure your thought leadership campaigns? Will you use analytical software? What about surveys? How frequently will you measure campaigns?
What Makes A Great Idea In Thought Leadership?
The best ideas for thought leadership address consumer wants and needs. You should analyze your market and determine what topics your target audience likes consuming through mediums like blog posts and podcasts. McKinsey & Company, for example, is one of the leading thought leadership publications in the consultancy space, and knows its audience wants to read about sustainability issues. So it regularly publishes content that explores this topic from a fresh perspective, such as an article about agriculture and food systems in Africa. Monitoring industry trends like McKinsey can help you find your own ideas.
Identifying gaps in your market can also lead to great ideas for thought leadership content. Discovering topics that other brands haven’t covered in their content can give you a competitive advantage. These niche topics should add something new to the collective conversation. Focus on meaningful content that resonates with audiences to add more credibility and authority to your client. For example, IBM identified a gap in its market and created “DevOps Insider,” one of the few podcasts out there exclusively devoted to DevOps topics.
The choice of topic determines the success of your thought leadership marketing strategies. However, it can also result in an unsuccessful campaign. Choosing controversial subjects might get everyone talking, but you don’t want to promote ideas that are offensive and jeopardize your reputation.
Techniques Enhance Ideation And Find Your Thought Leader’s Voice
Various methods can improve the ideation process. However, research is the most important one. Conducting market research, carrying out competitor analysis and visiting trade shows and industry events can help you discover fresh ideas for your campaign. You can also use analytical tools to learn which of your previous content ideas had the most impact on audiences. Track which content receives significant web traffic and social media likes and shares.
Another way to improve ideation is reverse brainstorming. Unlike regular brainstorming, in which you collect ideas to solve a problem, you identify what will make that problem worse. For example, your client reduces their thought leadership budget after blog posts you commission fail to resonate with audiences because of a bad idea.
SWOT analysis—identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats—for your thought leadership framework is also useful. It can help you view positive and negative factors that can influence your thought leadership campaigns. Lastly, role-playing can also help you view your content through the lens of your clients. When marketers imagine they are the leader you work for, they might generate new ideas that further your campaign.
All these techniques can help you forge better ideas for your thought leadership and build credibility and authority for your clients. You should consult with the individual or company you market for throughout the ideation process to ensure you communicate their voice correctly to a wider audience.
Successfully Using Ideation
Many companies use ideation to create better thought leadership content and drive business goals. These companies include PwC, which is known for its thought leadership through white papers, blog posts, videos and podcasts about various business-related topics. PwC’s content likely originates from an extensive ideation process, with team members developing fresh ideas based on extensive research. This process likely also involves analyzing data to see which subject areas interest audiences and researching the best channels for disseminating their content.
Another company that likely uses ideation is Bain & Company, which has a strong thought leader’s voice in the consultancy industry. Videos on the company’s YouTube channel require a team to come up with the most appropriate topics, video styles and on-screen graphics.
Key Takeaways
• Rushing ideation during thought leadership is a big no-no for your marketing-first agency.
• A good idea in thought leadership is one that satisfies consumer wants and desires and addresses a gap in your market.
• Research ideas with your team to ensure you communicate your leader’s voice correctly in your thought leadership plan.
• The world’s most successful thought leadership companies and publications likely use an extensive ideation process that identifies opportunities for better content marketing.
• Methods and techniques to enhance ideation include reverse brainstorming and SWOT analysis.
Final Word
Ideation is, hands down, the most critical part of thought leadership, and generating better ideas will strengthen your thought leader’s voice. It all starts with coming up with a good idea that offers a unique perspective audiences can’t find anywhere else.
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