It may sound counter-intuitive but having a reliable system in place to power your thought leadership strategy and connect with your audience is fast becoming a necessary part of a modern marketing strategy.

If it’s not on your radar yet, I guarantee it will be in the next 6-12 as the game changes in a big way and businesses battle it out for attention and market leadership in the digital arena.

Forbes is citing thought leadership as an emerging sales and marketing discipline and as more "traditional" business follow in the footsteps of their digital counterparts and incorporate content arketing as their marketing cornerstone.

The result of this is that both quality (by that I mean truly helpful content, not just content that looks good) and consistency become the differentiating factors amongst the billions of pieces of content now circulating the inter webs.

Aside from increasing your reach and reputation, having a robust content creation engine frees you...

One of the best things you can do to grow your business or brand is to contribute meaningfully to topical conversations online, as well as providing free content that will help people solve their own problems.

While this may seem counter-intuitive if you're actually trying to sell a product or service, if you're actually generous with your knowledge and can help people "help themselves", it's the fastest way to gain the trust of your audience and as a result they will start see you as a "go-to expert" in the marketplace.

Publishing has historically been the domain of authors, journalists and writers of all walks, but the trend to consistent publishing by individuals and brands, particularly in social media, has quickly expanded to the point that most businesses have a content strategy of some description as part of their marketing strategy, (or at the very least the “intention” to publish regularly under their company or leader’s personal brand.)

While this method...

Reader fatigue is at an all time high, with over 6 million blog posts published online per day, and over 2 billion posts published per year. So how do you rise above the noise and get the attention of the people you really want to engage with?

The answer is quite simple (yet not so easy to achieve). Your content needs to offer genuine transformational value to the reader, while being packaged in a "snackable", easy to digest format.

As the world hurtles headfirst through the digital age, the volume of content being produced online has never been higher, and is set to continue growing for years to come as businesses start to recognise the power of thought leadership as way to build their audience and have customers build relationship with their brand.

Why usefulness is more important than ever

We know that volume does not necessarily equate to quality, and in fact current statistics show that consumers find as much as 60% of content is not useful at all. This number is even more...

Thought Leadership cannot merely stay as an abstract badge-of-honor for your brand. In order for it to be truly beneficial, it must eventually be converted into market leadership and the revenue that follows.

Providing your audience with high quality, thought-provoking, action-inspiring content is one of the best things you can do to build your company’s brand and reputation. Despite this, thought leadership is very undervalued by sellers compared to buyers according to an Edelman study which surveyed business decision makers in a B2B context. (2019 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study)

This study showed that up to 61% of respondents were willing to pay a premium to work with an organisation (or person) based on their thought leadership, but only 14% of sellers believed that thought leadership could help them charge higher rates than their competitors.

So why is there such a glaring disparity between the perceived value of thought leadership?

One possible reason is that not...

How often have you seen a celebrity (or influencer) endorsing something completely outside their field of expertise and have had a negative reaction along the lines of, “What does this person even know about premium hog feed?” Unless you live in the wild, your answer is likely to be at least everyday.

For as long as marketing has been around, so has the ubiquitous celebrity endorser. Of course, there is a time and place for celebrity endorsers, and if used strategically, they can be very effective. However, due to the sheer volume of celebrity-centric marketing campaigns linking these endorsers to unrelated products, the opposite of the desired effect has become prevalent in the market, with many people becoming numb or having a negative reaction to the material. 

 People Value Authenticity and Expertise

This negative reaction is rooted in people’s natural distrust for things that seem too salesy and inauthentic. Why should you trust an endorser...

You want to improve your marketing and business acumen. You read articles, blogs and books, listen to podcasts, trawl social media and watch clever videos - yet still feel exhausted, knowing you haven’t made a dent in your reading list.

So when everywhere you look is “must-have” content, how do you work out what’s most pivotal to consume?

Here are my top tips for how to work out what to focus on to get the most out of your content (and out of yourself).

Does it energise you?

There is content that drains and content that energises.

The influences you place yourself under (by consuming their content) have a tangible impact on your outlook and wellbeing.

Of course everyone performs better when they are energised, motivated and in the zone.

Conversely, information overload, or ‘infobesity’, can cause you to become dull, think less clearly and function less effectively.

The same content may mean one thing to person A and the opposite to person B - the...