We recently wrote about what thought leadership is and how it relates to PR. “Thought leadership taps into the talent and expertise of the people within an organization.” Now we’re going to deep dive into how we work with our B2B technology clients in the short-term rental, hotel and ‘living’ property sectors in order to raise awareness of their brand, build their reputation in the industry and reach their business goals.
Why thought leadership is so important
Our founder and Managing Director of Abode Worldwide, Jessica Gillingham, states, “As competition increases and businesses find it more challenging to gain traction in a crowded marketplace, developing a ‘thought leadership’ strategy supports tech companies to both differentiate themselves from their competitors as well as provide valuable insight to their customers.”
She explains how “Thought Leadership can be at a brand level. Often demonstrated through brilliant content, expert-led white papers, research reports, putting on events etc but also at a leadership level. What opinions, insight, and direction can the founders or the C-suite bring to the table that can be translated into valuable collateral to leverage a business’s influence, trust, and authority?”
Let’s take a closer look at those strategies:
5 key elements for building a successful thought leader
1. Giving an expert opinion
Since Bill Gates pointed out in 1996 “content is king”, it continues to reign the internet. And digital channels are increasingly gaining more and more influence over our daily lives. This is why a consistent presence in the media, through quality and well-articulated informational thought leadership, helps clients position themselves as valuable resources.
Using Abode Worldwide’s in-depth expertise and connections with top news publications in the industry, we support our clients in becoming the go-to experts in their niche sector. Our skilled PR team secures opportunities for clients to show an understanding of industry trends and issues impacting their target audiences through a range of media outlets. These methods include pitching targeted opinion articles, announcements (of new products or partnerships), newsjacking and expert comments on wider industry trends. This provides a platform for our clients to stand out from competitors and gain credibility with up-to-date knowledge and data.
It’s vital all content is consistent to retain the trust built with a thought leader’s audience. Editorial planners are a great tool to help keep on top of this.
2. Speaking opportunities
A thought leader is someone who has earned consumer trust and authority in a sector with their experience, expertise, and vast accomplishments in their niche. Speaking opportunities provide a stepping stone to reaching this level of authority, as they demonstrate to their target audience that other industry leaders deem their opinion worthy of being shared on their platform. This may be through a podcast, panel discussion, or speech at a conference event or show.
A third-party validation confirms the speaker has a valuable and expert point of view to bring to an industry-wide discussion. This may be their innovative outlook on the future, including trend predictions, or their takeaways from recent lessons learned. Either way, the aim is to illustrate their knowledge of the current pulse of the industry and use this to educate their audience and provide useful insights.
3. Building a social media profile
7 in 10 American adults use social media to connect, engage with content, share information, and entertain themselves, showing the power of the social digital world and its ability to connect businesses with potential customers.
Since thought leadership is all about the presence and reputation of a client or client’s company, social media platforms should be utilized in B2B PR to build reputation, authority and to communicate core messages.
4. Facilitating connections
Our clients rely on our experience and connections in the hospitality tech industry to gain top-tier media and speaking opportunities, introduce them to other leading experts in the space and build beneficial relationships, and to instigate industry partnerships.
These connections are built on credibility. Instead of sending out mass pitches, we hand pick the right publications for your company and pitch intelligently. To maintain good connections with key media publications it’s essential to be in regular contact and always produce top notch content.
A great PR company will already have these relationships in place so that B2B technology companies can have access to the right media at the right time.
5. Growing reputation through specialist PR
Through all of the above methods, tools, and strategies, we build and maintain our clients’ public image by generating awareness of their brand and supporting them in communicating with their audiences. We use media relations with the support of data nuggets and analytics to achieve this goal.
These five key elements build the framework for a successful thought leader. If implemented alongside a strong B2B PR strategy that includes top quality content, up-to-date industry knowledge, and media connections, success will come.
About Abode Worldwide
Abode Worldwide, is an award-winning B2B public relations consultancy and agency focused on raising the profile of transformative technology solutions operating within the global short-term rental, hotel and real estate ecosystems. The agency sits at the heart of the developing intersection between work, life and play in the property and hospitality markets and partners with technology solutions playing a lead role in this transformation.
