If there’s one thing all successful consultancy marketing strategies have in common, it’s thought leadership.

But why is it so important and how can you guarantee that it’s something your target client will want to engage with?

In this blog we answer these exact questions and give you a whole range of ideas to help you start creating powerful, lead generating thought leadership today.

Why thought leadership should be a core part of your marketing strategy

Before looking at what thought leadership you can create, it’s worth taking a step back and asking why. Why should you spend your precious time creating thought leadership in the first place?

Here’s just three reasons why it should be part of your consultancy’s marketing strategy.

1. Building trust

Trust has become increasingly important in today’s business world, even more so since the pandemic has stopped us meeting in person.

Your clients want to work with consultancies that they trust can deliver on their promises. This is where thought leadership comes in.

By hosting industry debates, creating value giving eBooks and showing previous successes through case studies, you’re demonstrating to your prospective clients that you know what you’re talking about and understand their challenges and pain points.

Most importantly, you’re showing them that you know how to solve these challenges and that you’ve done it before. A key ingredient for creating trust.

2. Demonstrating value

Why should a potential client choose your consultancy over one of your competitors?

A key factor in the decision will be the perceived value that your consultancy will bring to their organisation. And guess what, the best way to demonstrate that value is through thought leadership.

By giving away as much value as possible in your content you’re signalling your point of difference to your prospective clients. Leaving them thinking “if they give away this much IP for free, imagine what they could do for us if we pay them!”

3. Expressing your personality

10 years ago, your clients were focused on your consultancy’s brand. The people within it were just an afterthought.

Today, it’s a different story.

Your potential clients want to understand the personalities behind your consultancy and ultimately what makes your people different from your competitors.

Creating compelling thought leadership lets you bring your people to the fore, showcasing the personalities within your team. The experts who will actually be delivering the work for potential clients.

By doing this, you’re helping prospective clients build a connection with you and your team, before they even pick up the phone. Making those initial conversations much warmer and further increasing your chances of winning the project.

How to add thought leadership to your marketing strategy

There’s a whole host of ways to start creating your own thought leadership, and the good news is that it doesn’t require tons of time or money to get going.

Yes, you could commission a very expensive, academic research survey, like McKinsey or the Big 4 do. But for 99.99% of boutique consultancies, it’s actually taking the opposite approach that will lead to the best results for you.

Start small, but be consistent. Be that posting content on LinkedIn, engaging with your prospective clients posts or hosting monthly webinars. By doing these small pieces of thought leadership on a regular basis you’ll start to build trust, demonstrate value and connect with your target clients on a personal level.

Stuck on ideas on what thought leadership you can create? Here’s some options to get you started:

  • Engage with trending posts on LinkedIn
  • Get involved in industry conversations
  • Share news updates with your network
  • Run webinars to showcase your expertise and bring together other thought leaders – see our blog on how to run a great webinar.
  • Host a podcast to get in front (or in the ears) of your target clients for a significant period of time – see our blog on how podcasts deliver ROI.

These are just the tip of the iceberg but hopefully give you some ideas for how you can get going.

So, what next?

Creating and maintaining a thought leadership strategy is not a quick fix, it takes time to solidify your consultancy’s position. But as with anything in life, this work and consistency will pay off, and you’ll look back in 6 – 12 months and be amazed at the impact it’s had for your business.

If you’d like to find out how we’ve helped our clients create effective content-led thought leadership strategies that deliver ROI, and how we could help you too. Please do get in touch!