Thought Leadership & Insight … Are You Asleep at the Wheel?
Blogs and insight articles on your website were so important a few years ago, everyone had them, and you needed them to join the party.
But wind forward to current times and so much of the content is out of date - exposing a lack of attention to detail and focus. And that perception isn’t great if a company is trying to promote professionalism and excellence.
The causes of the neglect are obvious and most companies have probably forgotten why they started a blog in the first place.
The reasons or excuses include … the person who set it up is no longer with us … or ... we plan to re-design our website soon, and we'll sort it out then … or ... it’s just not a priority at the moment.
REALLY ... that's like admitting you can afford to look second rate in an increasingly competitive market!
It's clear many businesses have forgotten why thought leadership is important. Articles, blogs, case studies, and opinion pieces demonstrate levels of thought leadership. They subconsciously say to potential clients … come and talk to us, because we know what we’re doing … and you can trust us.
And the reason it's so important is because people buy from people they trust.
If everything’s out of date and looking tired, you’re effectively saying to the market … don’t bother with us, we’ve dropped the ball - you’d be better off going elsewhere.
Yet it’s so easy to keep the pot boiling by tapping into the wealth of information and opinion in your workforce. Your people are full of ideas about what needs to be done and why customers should wake up, smell the coffee, and do this, that, and the other.
The workforce just needs to be involved in the right way. Most won't have the time, creativity, or desire to write the article themselves. They’re chasing sales targets or have KPIs to hit that don’t include creating ‘Thought Leadership’ content – because after all, that’s Marketing’s job.
But when you do create new and compelling content … a piece of insight, a blog article, a case study - and you ask the salesforce to send it to their customers to drive new business, then they’re all over it, or at least they should be!
Furthermore, marketing teams can easily promote the content on the company website and throughout business social media sites like LinkedIn - to drive new pipeline opportunities that sales people need.
Such activity often get's put on the back burner as more pressing matters demand attention. But surely, nothing is more important to an organisation than a healthy sales pipeline and order book, because a company's very existence is at stake otherwise.
It's why working with a partner to help you create the content you need is essential. So hire a business writer and hand over the grunt work to them. By doing so, everything will be kept up to date, and you'll reap the rewards of being a thought leader.