Executive Prep: Establish industry authority and thought leadership

There is more than one way to get a story published in influential media outlets. As reporters and journalists get more inundated with hard stories and deadlines all the time, it is not always to get their ear on stories around trends. When we are having difficulty with “softer” storylines, we recommend that brands and executives position themselves as thought leaders and experts. This opens the door for many other things. There are five VERY good reasons to begin creating expert content as a brand or expert.

You are positioning yourself as a thought leader via blog + social
You are Weighing in on controversial industry thoughts and trends
You establish credibility among your peers
You become a resource for journalists
You are building your speaking profile for conferences, events, and tradeshows

What you say and how you say it is critical to this process. The idea here is a basic marketing one. You’re giving away expert advice and content for free. What’s the return on this investment? Well…it’s the five points that I mentioned above. Creating compelling content in a sea of information (the world wide web) is not easy. Here are FIVE critical things to consider when actually creating the content to ensure that you’re making the most out of the precious time that you are spending.

Choose a trending thought or hot industry topic – the timeliness and interest of what you are saying is just as important as the context and content.

Say something that has NOT been said or that’s controversial – No one wants to hear the same opinion over and over again (unless you have a spin on it). Say something jarring, confusing, controversial to hook the reader. Use your expertise to ignite emotion from reading this content.

Use colorful language, format, and imagery – No one wants to read a brick wall of works. Change up the way you are presenting your content to make sure it’s interesting. Use comedy as a way to make the conversation light and readable. Use images to emphasize your points.

Have an amazing headline – No matter what, the headline is always a key draw for your content. Make it a good one. I suggest coming up with about five headlines and going with the one that makes you the most uneasy. (Disclaimer: stay away from clickbait headlines, no one likes those and they won’t come back to read the next thing you post)

Pitch your content to journalists/publications BEFORE you post – If you’ve come up with some really quality content, you may be able to place it in a reputable publication. BEFORE you decide to post it on your blog, shop it around to media. They typically do not want to see the same content posted elsewhere before they decide to post it, so reaching out in advance keeps your options open. Most time Forbes will get way more readers to your content than a personal or company blog.

Remember that you will also need to help drive traffic to your content as well. (I know… It’s getting to be more work than you expected, that’s why PR people exist as a profession). It will never be worth it if no one is reading it. Here are some key ways to drive continue traction and traffic AFTER you have posted your content is to:

Share with your LinkedIn Network – This is where you can get positive buy-in from your peers and potentially catch the eyes of journalists and customers.
Share on ALL your social networks and get likes – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – and most people have multiple accounts. Share internally with your company and have them like and share your content to expand your network past just your network. You never know who others are connected to and it only takes one minute to share. If you want more reach, you may want to consider “boosted posts” on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Share your content with bloggers/press – This isn’t always applicable, but sometimes if the content is broad and interesting enough (especially if it includes data points) you can with press and they may use some of it as expert commentary in their next piece about a similar topic. If you did pitch it in advance as mentioned above, you may want to still share it after. Media may lift some of your comments as quotes.

Last but not least, consistency is key. Publishing one article is not going to make it happen. You want to start popping up everywhere. There are many opportunities for contributed content and thought leadership in the blogosphere, so make sure that before you dive in you have a plan on how regularly you want to post content. You don’t want to disappoint your fans do you? 🙂

A few links to get you started: Here are some places you may want to consider contributing: Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Business Insider.