There is some extra work to do if you want to be perceived and experienced as ‘thought leading’ in your field. Firstly – it goes without saying you do need to be a bit more special than the average subject matter expert (which I covered in my blog post ‘When are you a thought leader?“)

Secondly – when, and if, you are ‘thought leading’ – you are essentially the ‘gold standard’ in subject matter experts and, as such, there are few extra things you need to get in place to ensure that you are being perceived as such.

I’ve put together the below as guidance notes for you to use to start to tailor what you do, and how you market and express yourself.

8 Steps to being recognised as a ‘Thought Leader’

Work through these steps and evaluate where you need to spend your time and energy to get to where you want to be perceived and experienced as thought-leading in your field.

STEP 1: BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

Building a strong personal brand is essential for any proficient subject matter expert who is seeking to be chosen for a project, partnership, collaboration or even for that next client.

However, it is even more crucial if you want to be perceived and experienced as a thought leader.

Building your personal brand involves:

• developing your unique voice (how you sound, act and behave)
• consistently creating high-quality content (which aligns with your core messages, principles and values)
• interacting and engaging with your audience (on and offline)

A compelling personal brand helps thought leaders stand out in a crowded marketplace. It allows your personality and high value to shine clearly and be more noticeable.

STEP 2: NARROW DOWN WHAT YOUR FOCUS IS 

You cannot afford to be wishy washy, so it’s important for you to get really specific about what exactly you are an expert in and track back your thinking and approach.

It takes expertise and years of practicing something to become an expert and then to also develop why you think the way you do.

Your particular view of the world is what is going to help leverage the ‘thought leading’ element to your specialism. Zero in on what that view is. By looking back on your experience over the years – you’ll be able to see how you predicted certain things happening in your industry.

Has it always been a “thing” with you – where you could see what was coming before others did? Great – now articulate how exactly that has been happening and is there a specific focus in your subject area where this happens more regularly? Note it down.

STEP 3: CONSOLIDATE YOUR THOUGHT-LEADING IDEAS AND VIEW

Finding a way to extricate your thinking into a way that people can digest it easily and widely – is key.

If you haven’t created a body of work that others can experience read or see, then now’s the time. Think about creating a programme or a book for example.

Documenting your ideas and point of view is an incredibly useful way to pull out what is going on in your head into a format that can be shared. It also gives you the space and opportunity of working out what the best way is to communicate or teach others about what you know (in way that makes sense).

While you may think: “but everyone is writing a book or creating a programme” (and I get that) – there is value in the process of doing this.

It is a good way to share yourself, and your way, very quickly and in a way that will resonate with anyone wanting to know more about you.

It will help you to scale getting your ideas out there and it will help with your messaging and content (for steps 4 and 5 below).

STEP 4: CREATE YOUR CORE MESSAGING 

Once you’ve narrowed your focus, and pulled out all your knowledge – you will be able to draft the core things that you want everyone to get about you and your work in an instant.

Usually this is quite simply two or three core sentences that encapsulate your angle, view and area of focus.

STEP 5: BUILD A PLATFORM FOR YOUR VOICE 

Choose ONE format of “hero” content marketing for getting your ideas, principles and thoughts “out there” – i.e. podcast, video, blog, or email.

This is where you have full creative control over how this message is consumed and publicised. Seek professional advice in how to set this up in a professional manner to align with how you want to be seen, heard or perceived.

STEP 6: LEVERAGE AMPLIFICATION CHANNELS

Ensure you have a plan to create a megaphone that suits you, your message and your audience -> to amplify getting your message and voice out there.

Social media

Pick a channel where you can be seen to be clearly doing the work that you say you do and be seen to be saying the same things that you say offline. LinkedIn is a MUST, then if you want to add one more – then pick one that is most attractive to you.

For me, as an example: LinkedIn is my main platform, and I then have Instagram as my second priority (have more fun with that one and more day-to-day behind the scenes sharing).

“Visible” opportunities

It is important to be literally SEEN and HEARD. You need a strategy to do this consistently. So look at things like:

• Speaking on stages (for events, conferences, summits, etc)
• Being a guest on a podcast or YouTube show (which align with who you want to get in front of)
• Writing for high interest publications (print, online, or both)
• Attending the events and networking events which are aligned with where you want to make the most impact

Your main goal is to increase visibility and establish yourself as the obvious go-to resource in your field.

Collaboration partnerships

Take the time to identify where you can gain the most impact in terms of your professional relationships. Look at answering questions like:

• Which personal brands (personalities / people) do I resonate most with and would like to be associated with?
• Which industry publications are go-to reads / listens?
• Which businesses are making the most impact in my field? What can I offer them in a partnership?
• Which business events are closest to my audience? Can I partner with them?

Advocates (powerful friendlies)

You will have people who are already huge advocates for the work that you do, and think that you are brilliant. Who are they? Make a list.

Seek out professional allies, clients, colleagues, peers who know you really deeply.

STEP 7: EXTERNAL VALIDATION 

You cannot self profess that you are thought-leading – as you’d be speaking, in essence, from a vacuum. You need to look for who has pointed to you and said things about you like:

• You’ve shifted the way they think about something
• You’ve described a future that they couldn’t see, but can now completely understand is coming after you have explained it to them.
• They trust your view and opinion, and if you say that something is in flux or needs to change, they believe you.
• You are ahead of your time
• The way you think far surpasses anyone else they have ever worked with
• You are a thought leader

Screenshot or save where these things have been said about you – this will help you to validate that you are indeed thought-leading (because OTHERS think so).

STEP 8: INDUSTRY CREDIBILITY STAKES

While the word of peers, colleagues and/or clients is valuable, what would be even better for your thought leadership status – is getting recognised by trusted industry leaders, organisations or businesses. Be sure to look to the ones that do have the credibility and trust of the wider public.

Can you do a piece of work for them, advise them, or speak at one of their events? Or even – could you capture them saying some of the things I’ve listed above? All of this would be added, helpful kudos for you.

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Steadily working through these steps will help you to gain more and more clarity around who you are in the eyes of your peers and your ideal clients. It will also give you the much needed ingredients for others to start to sit up and take notice of how smart you and that your ideas have value.

Finding it hard because you’re too close to it? No problem, my magical team and I can help. Feel free to book a discovery call and find out more about our personal brand strategy work.