Rough Sketch Thought Leader Plan
To get you thinking and moving forward, here is a (very) rough sketch of what a Thought Leadership plan might look like…
Website/Blog
This is home base, so get this up and running first.
Make sure to choose a good domain name and host, and install WordPress.
If you don’t have money/time to customize a theme, just get a decent free theme.
The most important thing is start writing— get content up.
The more often you add good blog posts and articles, the sooner you’ll be able to move forward.
Also, you might want to start working on local search SEO at this point.
Depending on the niche you’re trying to rank for, this could be a matter of domain name selection and thoughtful keywording of posts, or it may mean behind the scenes content. This depends on how important local search is to your overall strategy.
Listening and Research
Some people say to do this first, but I’m afraid too many potential Thought Leaders will get stuck here. So I say, if you at least know the vague area of your field you’ll be working in, start blogging first.
About the same time that you start blogging, or within a few weeks if you’re also busy with serving existing clients, begin to listen in on your market.
Listening and research means finding the conversations, offline and online, that you will one day want to be a part of and help direct.
You do this by:
- Subscribing to worthwhile blogs
- Following people on Twitter
- Setting up Google alerts
- Going to networking events
- Going to conferences and seminars
As you hear more about what people are saying and doing, your content will start to take shape and be relevant.
Clean Up Your Site
Once you have enough content (that is, more than could be read by a potential client in one sitting), and you’re ready to start making an active attempt to draw people into your community, spend some time and money making sure your website is ready to do its job.
- Custom design that fits your business
- Clean copy that clearly tells people who you are, what you do, and how to contact you
- Lead generation mechanism
- An easy-to-use subscribe function
- A way for people to engage and give feedback
Social Media / Social Networking
If you aren’t doing social media, start. Social media should be thought of as ultimately about getting people back to your home base (your blog-centered, content-rich website), so once you’ve taken the time to clean the place up a bit, start building profiles and engaging with people.
Start with the essentials, the basics. Twitter is important these days, so is LinkedIn.
Depending on your market, Facebook might be a big deal too.
And then there’s all those other places to talk to people online…
Instead of getting crazy and doing everything, or getting frustrated and doing nothing, try asking a few savvy clients or prospects what they are using. Chances are, other people like them are using that as well.
Attract People to Your Site
Once your site is ready to receive them, start telling people about it. Get new business cards with the URL right on the front. Put the address in your email signature and on your letterhead. Make sure anyone who knows you knows you have a website and how to get to it. Make sure all your social networking profiles have a link to your site.
Start participating in those conversations you’ve been listening in on. Comment on blogs (this is huge). If someone writes a blog post on a theme similar to one of your posts, comment and include a link back to yours. Start answering questions on LinkedIn Answers, or start participating in message board discussions.
If you have any kind of clear, on-site monetization— like an informational product to sell— this might be a good time to start looking at PPC (pay per click) or SEM (search engine marketing). But paying for traffic only makes sense if you have a way to monetize it immediately.
Go Live
Start networking.
You have enough content behind you that someone visiting your site after meeting you will believe that you’re an expert, so go out into the world and start acting like one.
Keep an Ear Out for Speaking Opportunities
If you join a few networking groups, and start going to educational events, you’ll start to hear, “We’re looking for a speaker.” Or you’ll notice that some groups or venues have regular guest speakers and presentations.
You’re probably not at the point where you can organize and host your own thing and get anyone to show up (if you are, go ahead), but if you can just show up and talk someplace with a built-in audience, that’s fantastic.
Start Working on that Book
You’ve been writing blogs now for months. You haven’t stopped or slowed down. You’re posting at least once a week, maybe twice a week. You’ve started to realize you have a voice, a unique perspective, something valuable and original to say about foot health or organic vegetables. Start working on the book.
It will take you months to write, so now is the time to start working on it. You’re working on attracting people to you, you’ve got a decent site that doesn’t require too much attention (except continued blog posts), you’re out meeting new people. If you start writing now, you’ll have a pretty good audience by the time you’re ready to publish next year.
Keep On Keepin’ On… fix as you go
This is where the patience and discipline stuff kicks in. You can up the ante with new forms of content at this point— video and podcasting, for example. But you have got to continue on with blogging, engaging in online conversations, and networking.
Check your web site traffic stats from time to time and see what’s working and what isn’t.
Maybe you’re getting a lot of traffic from two minutes of blog commenting and not so much from hours spent on message boards. Adjust your time accordingly.
Maybe you’re getting traffic, but nobody subscribes.
Is your subscribe button easy to see and use? Is it broken?
At this point I can’t continue to give you generic strategy advice, because at this point you should be collecting enough input, both hard data and soft feedback, that you can move forward with a strategy that is specifically tailored to your business and the community you are building around it. Just make sure your decisions are based on input, not on vague ideas or theories you read on someone’s blog (even mine).
Note of Warning on Strategy
Strategy is important. Metrics are important. Measurable results and ROI are important.
But so are community and relationships.
There is no way to measure the ROI of “I’ve blogged and twittered for months and one day a huge case just showed up at my door,” just like there’s no good way for a Financial Planner to measure the ROI of, “I have several rich uncles who like me.”
Your strategy, and your analysis of it, needs to take into account the human dumb-luck factor.
One of the big advantages of Social Media and community building is that you open yourself up to more opportunities to be lucky.
