Did you know becoming a thought leader or an influencer in your industry is both rewarding personally and can also offer a lot of benefits to your business? However, declaring yourself as a thought leader or industry influencer in your industry today requires work. Consistent effort and work, nonetheless! Otherwise, it’s like saying, “Hello world, I’m a thought leader but I have little to show for.” Needless to say, no one will take such a person seriously.

So how does one become a thought leader, like Tim Ferris, Seth Godin, Tony Robbins, Karen Gately, Rachel Botsman, Stephen M.R. Covey or Indra Nooyi, you ask? Establish yourself as the go-to person in the industry – that expert, specialist or the authority in your niche. As a thought leader, providing value on areas that you’re known for and coming up with new ideas, and insights into various aspects of your expertise can certainly achieve such status of being a thought leader. To be a legit and respected thought leader, you need incredible commitment and focus. It also requires smart strategizing and unwavering effort. Of course, it won’t be easy; however, the reward that comes with being a leader in your industry is far more satisfying than short-term achievement.

Consider these Steps in Becoming a Thought Leader in Your Industry:  

Become that Expert in Your Niche   

Let’s think about this for a minute, it’s not always necessary that you need to know everything to become a leader in your industry. It’s a misconception by many people thinking that to be a leader in their industry, they need to know everything and everything well. The good news is that no one truly does, and you also don’t need to either. What matters is that you know the subject well enough, in particular, in your industry to position yourself well at the leader in the marketplace.

You need to understand your niche and position in your market. The area of what you’re an expert on should be helpful and be valued by your audience such that when they need a solution to a problem related to your niche, you are the person they think of who could provide them the answers they seek. Become that “best thought-leader in the world!” 

So, ask yourself, “What am I truly great at? What is it I do that comes easily to me and can provide a lot of value to others?” Know what you have built your career around and what fulfills you. Also, it’s important to know what you are passionate about more than your peers.

Establish Your Personal Brand

Whether you’re a freelancer, consultant, or business owner, your personal brand speaks before you do. In other words, your personal brand is about who you are, what you can do to help the people that you intend to serve as well as what you and the company stand for. Building your personal brand takes time and it doesn’t happen overnight.

While personal brand is the heart and the foundation of your business or company, the other component to this is marketing. Marketing is the extension of personal brands and thought leadership,  is an extension of the ability to build a reputation. One way to establish a personal brand is by building, restructuring or improving your social media profiles including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. By updating your social media profiles with detailed descriptions of your credentials, reviews and career accomplishments, you are showing your credibility, and authority as the thought leader in your industry.

Create Your Own Blog

Aside from creating strong social media profiles, it’s also recommended to have a website or blog site and start writing on a regular basis. Nowadays, you can create a simple blog in no time and there are many options to choose from out there. Others have used Wix, or Squarespace but my all-time favorite is WordPress. WordPress offers not just a blog option, but you can also create beautiful websites. Not to mention, it’s also user-friendly.

Before you go any further, ensure you have an idea of what you want to write about. Establish themes or topics and tie them into your industry. Create a calendar of at least 20-30 topics to get you started. Once you have your topics in mind, write the content and publish them online. It also makes sense to update your blog once a week. Integrate your blogs with your social networks. You can even share them on groups and community forums, if welcomed.

With this, you are laying the foundation because your blogs show your expertise. Do more research, read other articles and books to continue writing thought-provoking and compelling content on your blog or website.

Work with Influencers and Mentors

Having an audience that believes in what you’re saying, sharing your passion and excitement on what you do, creating an impact in their lives, providing answers to their problems and appreciating the values of your work speak volume especially to those who follows you.

Once you’ve established a reputation, you need to start reaching out to potential mentors and influencers in your industry. Also, once you have your blog in place, start sharing your information to other social media platforms to build awareness. When your readers learn more about you and know that the information you’re sharing is accurate and dependable, you’ll start gaining their trust and loyalty.

To find influencers and mentors you want to work with, research them online and see if their message and what stand for, aligns with your belief. Once you find influencers and mentors that are willing to work with you, observe them and find out what value you can add for them and their business. Study the way they operate their businesses and read their blogs to learn more.

Network, Network, and Network

As many of you know, there is power in networking. You never know who would be the next connection that makes a significant change in your life! Therefore, it’s highly advisable to continue cultivating relationships with the people you connect with in networking groups, meetings, conference and alike. For thought leaders, networking is and can be that ‘secret sauce’ to getting that next job, to getting that next high-ticket sale or even to getting that next paid speaking gig.

So how does someone who is just starting out as a thought leader find places to network? Be active on social media and reach out to people who are your mentors and influencers. Again, do a bit of research to learn who they are, what current projects they are working on and start up a conversation by connecting with them online and if possible, in person. Go to events and spark a conversation with them. Attend meetings in your community and again, reach out to some local leaders in your area. When there are networking events, attend as much as possible and ask for a chance to speak at live events. The more people who know, like and trust you, the better it is for you in positioning yourself as the authority in your market.

Be Consistent

If there is one main fundamental lesson that I teach my students and clients about – it’s about being consistent in your business. It can be challenged to build a faithful audience if they don’t know who you are. In relationships, trust comes first, and it takes some work to do so. Real thought leaders don’t look for short-term success, they are passionate about the industry and always provide quality content. So, to communicate authenticity, you need to be consistent across all platforms, whether social media, visual platforms like videos, written publication like magazines or blogs.

Leverage How Videos Can Be Used

Nowadays, video content is more demanding. With the number of people that visit YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Periscope and Facebook every day, video content is even more popular these days. Thankfully, it’s easier than ever to create your own show as well as create your own video marketing. By utilizing apps like Animoto, Ripl, Inshot and many others, you can be up and running in no time. Don’t forget to also upload your videos on YouTube, Instagram TV (IGTV) or Vimeo to share with your audience.

So, if your ultimate desire is to become a real thought leader, it’s necessary to understand how to use and incorporate video content to your business to speak to your audience. The world has become a more video-friendly than ever before; therefore, leverage the power of video and video marketing to your advantage. When it comes to video content, make sure you provide value relevant to your niche or industry as well as short and compelling. 

Less Self-Promotion; More Value

You may have heard of the 80/20 rule or Pareto principle (Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto) before where the idea behind it, is to understand the relationship between the effect (80%) and its cause (20%) to any given situation. In other words, and if applied to marketing, 80/20 rule is a concept to come up with for solutions for your business. It helps provide a guide where one should focus their attention and resources on the top 20% of their customers while the 80% should focus on providing value, content and customer service. Now, the 80/20 rule can be applied to almost any situations both in personal and in the business world – from goal setting, project management, to even personal development! Anyway, let’s move forward.

Over-promoting yourself can annoy your audience. It can harm your brand or business and impact your bottom line. Therefore, you shouldn’t talk about your company all the time. It makes sense to focus on providing values to your readers by sharing new ideas, educating them and adding helpful tips and strategies when they need your help.

Conclusion

With the above strategies, you can become a thought leader in your industry by starting today. Just remember, it’s a gradual process. Like with many things in life, success takes time. Just like building your brand takes time, becoming a thought leader also doesn’t happen overnight. Unless you have a fair number of followers, are already well known in the industry or have partnered with an influencer, then it’s a different story. Thought-leaders are well-informed and they’re the trusted source for many. I hope this is helpful to you. If you like what I wrote, follow and spark a conversation on any of my social media profiles and podcast. Thanks, and best wishes to become the BEST and the authority in your field!