by Dr. Stefan Liekam
“When I talk about ‘thought leadership’, I don’t consider this to be a buzzword that needs to be rubbed into people’s faces. Instead, I regard thought leadership as a marketing concept, or rather, as a highly strategic approach to expertise-based positioning that almost any business of any size—be it a sole proprietorship, a large corporation, or anything in between—can tremendously benefit from, no matter the industry or field of work they’re in.”
Thought leadership is not about telling others what to think. Instead, it’s about enabling others to think further. And it should be about empowering people to make smarter decisions.
Chances are, we’ve never met in person and I therefore don’t have any clue what it is that you do professionally. For all I know, your company could be up and running for 30 years already, or you might be just starting out. Maybe you have a strong standing in the market and a sizable number of followers. Or perhaps your mom is the only one giving you the benefit of the doubt because nobody else even knows you exist—while you’re trying to run your business from your parent’s basement. In virtually any case, your success largely depends on your communication. What you say, do, and publish needs to convey, confirm, and consolidate your professional image as well as your values in a relevant, consistent, and relatable manner. The way you communicate must convince people that you know what you’re doing and what you’re talking about. For that to happen, you need to deliver influential content that presents the right pieces of information in the most effective order, offering maximum benefit in a manner that is thought-provoking, emotionally compelling without being intrusive, and distinct.
If you want people to listen to you, don’t tell them that you know better. Talk about something that is relevant to their life in a way that makes it easy for them to deem you relevant.
You might call yourself an expert, entrepreneur, CEO, advisor, specialist, pundit, consultant, counselor, coach, trainer, attorney, author, therapist, seminar facilitator, or a professional service provider of any kind. But you may also be an ambassador for a game-changing idea, a spokesperson for a movement, or a representative of a company that sells highly innovative products or services. You might even feel comfortable being seen as a maven, respected authority, master of your craft, changemaker, tycoon, or subject-matter influencer.
In my line of work, I call you a thought leader… in the making.
If you want to be seen as the go-to expert in your field, you need to make yourself the most credible and trusted authority you can be. In fact, if you want to stay in business, you cannot just do this once and then rest on your laurels. You need to keep making yourself relevant to your clients, customers, and future buyers. Ideally, you need to keep reinforcing the thought leader image you’ve positioned yourself to be.
Most people dislike feeling sold to. So, if you want more people to buy, figure out who you want to be known as and what you need to be known for in order to increase sales while doing less selling.
Obviously, “thought leader” is not a label that an individual would typically bestow upon themselves, simply because doing so can easily come across as pretentious. If you want to stand out in any market, turning yourself into a howler monkey and screaming your self-praising marketing slogans from the treetops likely won’t earn you the kind of reputation you’re looking for. If you fail to convey your unique expertise in a relevant and engaging way, you’re lucky to be remembered as a one-day wonder. In a manner of speaking, you need to actually take the walk to get the talk that positively sets you apart. Moreover, there’s no point in relinquishing the term “thought leader” to mainstream media as a piece of business jargon that any journalist can assign as a flattering title. Thought leader positioning is not something you get—it’s something you do. Besides, no company or individual should ever recklessly surrender control over how they’re publicly perceived, let alone rely on the whims of mainstream media outlets that are likely to lose interest in supporting you sooner rather than later.
If you want your clients, customers, future buyers, and even potential investors to perceive you—or the company you represent—as an established thought leader as quickly as possible, and to maintain that image over the long term, you need to understand thought leadership from a human-to-human perspective. Consequently, the definition of thought leadership that I present here is my answer to the following question:
What’s the difference between an expert, a trusted authority, and a thought leader?
As a thought leader, you don’t want people to take you up on an offer simply because they feel obliged. You want them to buy because they feel empowered by your perspective.
Truth be told, it’s simple. You can be a low-profile expert who nobody knows about. From a marketing perspective, that’s pretty much useless since professional qualifications alone do not guarantee business success. On the other hand, you can be a trusted authority known for expertise and reliability without actually setting yourself apart from other renowned experts. From a marketing perspective, this is still only half-effective since it suggests that there are alternatives out there for people to consider. Finally, a thought leader is perceived as unique and trailblazing—a source of practical knowledge and useful recommendations that many people strongly gravitate toward. From a positioning perspective, this is the one marketing goal every expert or expertise-based business should strive to achieve.
Psychologically speaking, an expert is someone believed to be capable of tackling problems and surmounting challenges beyond the reach of the average person. In comparison, a trusted authority is an expert whom people actually expect to have the necessary skills, knowledge, and willingness to create a desired outcome. Finally, a thought leader is a trusted authority in whom people have a vested interest—deeming them highly qualified, correct in what they say, and capable of creating significant and potentially game-changing value.
Avoid merely stating as a fact whatever it is that you want others to believe about you. Offer people ways to associate credibility and relevance with you, as well as ample reasons for doing so.
Nobody can achieve and maintain thought leadership status by merely doing good work and hoping that people will notice. Obviously, a truly expertise-based business must deliver on its promises. But it also needs to build sustainable relationships with both current and future clients or customers. Being a thought leader requires an expedient and authentic brand image that conveys not only your expertise but also your values—allowing potential buyers to feel emotionally connected and acknowledged. Expertise and trust are constructs in your clients’ or customers’ minds. Therefore, for them to obligingly listen to you and follow your lead, you need to show them that you not only know and offer more than most. On top of that, you truly get them and understand their needs better than others do.
As I’ve indicated before, the ‘secret sauce’ of thought leadership is by no means about being the one voice that always cuts through the noise—whether it’s at a construction site next to a running jackhammer or in a secluded meditation center during a silent retreat. Instead, it’s about being a leader who exemplifies highly informed opinions, a visionary view, and meaningful examples—which boils down to offering valuable information that makes a positive difference for your audience that they keep associating with you. It’s about triggering those thoughts and emotions that your ideal buyers need to experience in order to take an interest, open up, trust, and act. Thus, as a thought leader, whatever you communicate must focus strongly on delivering unique value, demonstrating that you understand their situation, and making yourself both relatable and memorable.
If you want to be seen as a thought leader, provide cues that enable potential buyers—in their minds—to construct the kind of significance and trustworthiness with which you want to be associated.
When your professional expertise and the human side of your business are perceived together, it becomes much easier for you to win people over. Therefore, to some degree, you’re well advised to show your human side and reveal how you’re mentally and emotionally invested. You need to enable them to feel that they know you—even more than they actually do. You need to become the person they picture as being in charge and as someone who has solutions for their problems or challenges. But you also need to be genuine, honest, and authentic—because nobody likes to buy from a pretender.
I can help you generate more and better leads by applying thought leader positioning to your business. I can put together the most suitable strategies for you and show you how to adapt them to your specific situation. I can advise you on how to stand out in your market and make your brand excel by applying expertise-based positioning, relational response marketing, and influential writing as expediently as possible. In fact, the way I connect the dots on this website should demonstrate that I know a thing or two about how to do this.
Expert
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A Better Choice
Trusted Authority
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The Best Choice
Thought Leader
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The ONLY Choice
I’m a marketing consultant. Yet, most people wouldn’t be able to tell what I do professionally. You know what they say about ducks, don’t you? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it just might be a duck. The same is true for many people working in marketing. If someone looks, talks, and makes you feel sold to like a marketer… you get my point. In other words, I’m not that kind of marketing consultant.
Sentencing myself to serve years listening to marketing theory at a prestigious business school has never been a goal of mine. I also never worked for some glamorous agency specializing in mainstream advertising or visual branding. I didn’t get into public relations by writing press releases about the day-to-day business of large corporations. Frankly, I’m glad I didn’t do any of this. I know people who did—and I’m well aware that they cannot do what I do when it comes to thought leader positioning.
Don’t be afraid of showing your human side when you communicate with your future buyers. Rather, make use of it. Human-to-human connection can easily be your biggest asset as a thought leader.
What I know about marketing, I’ve learned not solely from books but also through seminars taught by some of the highest-paid marketers in the world—and by implementing what I’ve learned in various contexts. In numerous industries, I’ve positioned and marketed expertise, made relevant differences in people’s minds and lives, created relationships with future buyers, as well as maintained relationships with existing clients, customers, or stakeholders. Over more than three decades, I’ve immersed myself in highly effective marketing approaches and strategies—many of which have generated billions in revenue long before I encountered them. Then again, to create the desired outcome in each context, I usually had to model the underlying psychology of these approaches and thoroughly adjust the voice and style to match the potential buyers’ needs and mindscapes.
I’m in marketing and personal branding mostly for two reasons: First, due to my background, I understand human nature better than many. Second, I know how to create a message that people are willing to open up to and act on. I’ve studied psychology, educational sciences, philosophy, and medicine at university—earning both a master’s and a doctoral degree. Moreover, I’ve worked as a coach, seminar facilitator, business consultant specializing in high-stakes communication, corporate rhetoric advisor, leadership communication strategist, ghostwriter, and corporate copywriter. And I’ve taught influential writing for expertise-based positioning.
As a thought leader, you cannot please everyone. Be clear about who you need to address, engage with, and create value for. Be clear about what you want to say and how you need to say it. It will make all the difference.
Over the past decades, I’ve worked with people from six continents and more than thirty countries in various capacities. Most of my work has been based on psychology and communication and aimed at helping people expand their perspectives and change their minds in their own best interest. I consider persuasiveness and having an impact to be important. However, I distinguish between influence and manipulation. Making a difference, regardless of context, should be about educating and enabling people first and foremost. So, to me, marketing isn’t about pushing for the sale—it’s about building trust, creating value, and empowering people to make educated buying decisions.
If you need someone who looks, walks, and talks like a duck, I cannot help you. However, if you’re interested in being seen as a thought leader without making people feel sold to, I might be the marketing consultant you’re looking for.