Becoming a Thought Leader by Creating Controversy with Quality

Becoming a Thought Leader Means Sharing Controversial, Quality Insights.

Thought Leadership is a relatively new term in marketing speak, but deeply relates to established techniques of branding and viral media.

First, the definition:

A thought leader describes a futurist who is recognized for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote those ideas as actionable distilled insights (thinklets). [my own, refined from source]

So how do you stick out from the crowd? Being a thought leader requires having an impact on the thinking some set of the general population, after all, doesn’t it? How can you increase your impact and reach in the marketing of thought leadership?

Not so surprisingly, the same methods are used to increase the impact and reach of thought leaders as the methods used to increase the impact and reach of marketing professionals everywhere. Quality and Controversy.

Quality

By “quality”, I mean you have to state what you want to communicate so your reader understands the message. Substance over style. Just because you relay a message doesn’t mean your reader will understand what you’re trying to communicate. For instance, if you’re trying to encourage a group to plant trees on weekends, saying “plant trees on weekends” will probably be understood easier than “come out and join us every Saturday and Sunday for environmentalism at its best!” The latter loses the message of tree planting altogether, whereas the first directly and understandably communicates the message. Quality.

Controversy:

By “controversy” I mean that whatever it is you’re saying it has to be worth talking about. Or in the case of thought leadership, worth thinking about. What you say has to be a contribution to the field you’re discussing. Simply summarizing or rephrasing what your peers are discussing is not leadership at all. Further, controversy will get people talking about the topic you bring up. If the site where you’re publishing your thoughts is optimized, you’ll see an increase in traffic from the repurcussions of convtroversial topics. A percentage of your readers will discuss your controversial topic with others, and a percentage of those folks will Google the topic and a percentage of them will click through to your content. Controversy.

A few good examples of quality and controversy in thought leadership: Science Babble by Scott Adams and Hand Shaking is So Medieval. Let’s End It by Michael Arrington. My attempt at thought leadership with Quality and Controversy: Blog Your Company’s Strategies, Tactics, and Tasks. Remember, you don’t necessarily have to practice the controversial topics you’re encouraging as a thought leader, though I recommend practicing them. Get the wheels turning and eventually, maybe everyone will practice them. Be the catalyst.

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