BY BART KING
There’s one big no-no when it comes to thought leadership.
It can’t be self-promotional. That’s the first guideline you’ll receive if you reach out to an editor or event organizer about submitting an op-ed or proposing a talk. Self-promotion is for marketing assets and advertising, not thought leadership.
When a reader or listener shows up for ideas, but what they get is a rundown of someone’s products or services, they quickly turn away. At best, they forget about it. At worst, they hold a grudge. That’s the opposite of what thought-leadership marketing is meant to achieve: trust.
If you earn someone’s trust with thought leadership, you also earn the opportunity to tell them what you offer. But that has to come later.
Thought Leadership Separates Ideas from Applications
So let’s get clear on the difference between thought leadership and self-promotion.
In my experience, innovators often struggle when asked to stay on the thought-leadership side of the line. They’ve lived the creative process so deeply. It’s difficult for them to talk about the value of the ideas behind their products or services without talking about the products or services themselves.
That’s understandable. However, for thought-leadership content, it’s necessary—and worthwhile—to clearly separate ideas from their applications. Going through the process invariably provides new insights and improves other marketing communications as well.
Four Approaches to Avoid Self-Promotion in Thought Leadership
When it comes to a truly innovative category of product or service, avoiding self-promotion can be as simple as talking about the problem and solution without referencing branded names, pricing or other specific details. But in other situations, finding the right approach requires more thought. Here are four tips.
Build around the takeaways – This approach is particularly important for academics and other researchers writing about their work for non-academic readers. The focus of the writing should be to lay out useful conclusions. Only describe the research process (what you did) to the extent that’s needed to support the takeaways. (The Conversation is a terrific outlet for research-based articles, such as this one by a client at the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business.)
Share the credit – Another good way to avoid self-promotion is to give examples from the work of other colleagues and organizations—not just your own. This doesn’t mean you have to promote your competitors. If you need to, look to other industries or fields to find parallels. This will also widen the appeal of your thought leadership by demonstrating broader applicability and emergence of the ideas. (Here’s a good example by a New Growth Client who drew on a podcast he hosted with two other design leaders.)
Focus on the need – This approach is particularly good for consultants, who can shine the light on their clients. Essentially, you use one or more case studies from your work to support the central idea(s) of your content. But by focusing the narrative on the needs of a client, or even an entire industry, you avoid presenting yourself as the protagonist. This approach also has the added benefits of giving publicity to your clients (which they may appreciate) and proving your industry experience. (Here’s an example I helped sustainability consultant, Tim Greiner, publish on GreenBiz.)
Give your opinions – Thought leadership is NOT reporting the news. It requires opinions—often about things that are in the news, and about the way things should be done. This is what people look to thought leaders for. So don’t be shy about stating your opinions and recommendations. They aren’t self-promotion, but a bold, substantiated opinion will promote your expertise and cause people to remember who you are. (Here’s a strong opinion that we placed for an academic leader on Corporate Knights: “It’s Time We See Paying Taxes as a Sustainability Issue.”)
If you succeed in writing a useful piece of thought leadership, editors and readers will typically grant you a sentence or two of self-promotion at the end. Sometimes it can be a call to action that points to another article or a white paper. Other times you may be asked to restrict it to a link in your author bio. But ultimately, if you’re consistently publishing good thought leadership, people will remember you when a relevant need arises. Then they’ll come looking for your marketing assets to learn how you deliver. (But that’s a different article.)
If you’re considering stepping up your commitment to thought leadership publishing, I may be able to help. Please get in touch. (See what I did there? :)
