7 Ways Small Businesses Can be Thought Leaders

 

Many businesses struggle with how to translate their expertise into valuable information that gives them more exposure and sets them apart from competitors. The best way to accomplish this is by honing your company’s inbound marketing and content marketing strategies.

 

Take a look at how the following marketing techniques can help your small business emerge as a thought leader:

 

 

These days it’s rare to encounter an industry leader that doesn’t have an engaging and authoritative blog. The reason is simple. Blogs help professionals and companies stay top of mind by putting out regular content on their chosen topics. Because blogs are often more informal, they give industry leaders the opportunity to develop and write in a unique voice that can make readers feel like they have a personal connection to the author(s) or to the company.

 

 

While penning your company’s blog is an essential step to becoming relevant and influential, it may also create guest posting opportunities with other industry blogs as your influence builds. Blogging on your own site can help you boost the loyalty of your current readers and followers, but guest blogging gives you the opportunity to reach new audiences and attract fresh readers for your own blog and potentially your products, or services.

 

Don’t be afraid to cast a wide net when you seek out guest blogging opportunities with other companies and thought-leaders. The more exposure you receive within your industry’s blogroll, the faster you’ll begin to develop a positive reputation as the go-to organization for advice and guidance. You may also enhance your SEO through guest blogging. 

 

 

Companies often miss out on the benefits of email marketing by failing to take the right approaches with their emails. There are several email marketing best practices your business can follow to make this approach valuable for your fellow industry professionals.

 

• Write succinct, intriguing subject lines
• Keep each email focused on a topics relevant to that send list (segmentation is key)
• Link to other relevant content
• Encourage further interaction

 

These email marketing best practices can go a long way toward turning occasional readers into loyal followers who look forward to seeing your company’s name in their in-boxes.

 

 

Professionals often seek out quick overviews or summaries of how to complete a process or understand a particular concept. And while those types of content are readily available, it’s much more difficult to access the in-depth, high-level information that professionals also need.

 

You can set yourself apart as an industry expert by sharing white papers, reports on your company’s independent research, and any other high-level content you may have. Although it might seem counter-intuitive to offer this information for free, if you give industry professionals access to select advanced content, you’ll may be in a better position to set premium prices for your other services.

 

 

If you’ve struggled to get people to attend your in-person seminars, you may be wary of offering webinars. However, thanks to their easy accessibility, webinars can often pull in more robust numbers of attendees because they are more likely to attract a busy or reluctant audience. And as a bonus to you, webinars aren’t as pricey to organize as in-person conferences or seminars, so you can offer them on a more regular basis while incurring fewer costs. If you continually provide value, your webinar audience will grow.

 

 

Professionals in your in your industry are already keeping up with industry news, so why shouldn’t they be reading about your company too? Issuing press releases about your latest business developments keeps other members of your industry abreast of your successes and developments. Not only that, but each press release gives you a chance to get picked up in the media, potentially exposing your company to even greater numbers of industry professionals and consumers.

 

 

Even professionals who use social media in their personal lives can have trouble using it to strengthen a business. The first step toward having a successful social media campaign is to define and hone your brand’s voice. Be sure to have an active and consistent presence on social media platforms that best targets your audience. Another essential step involves directly interacting with other thought leaders and influential figures in your industry. With increased interaction comes a higher degree recognition and clout for your brand.

 

Strong inbound marketing and content marketing techniques are the building blocks that help you create a robust reputation in your industry. And while these can be effective as individual measures, you’ll get the best results for your effort if you use them in concert with one another. Strengthening these marketing techniques will provide the boost your business needs to emerge as a clear and respected leader within your industry.