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How to Differentiate Using Thought Leadership
One of the first things we look for when analyzing companies for our partnership service is thought leadership.
In today’s cluttered information environment, it’s not enough to just produce content and provide average products and services.
To stand out and differentiate yourself requires that you be a thought leader in your field.
This means vision, innovation, credibility, a depth of knowledge, at times going against popular opinion, being a person and company that people — particularly those within your industry — look to for answers and direction.
It means understanding and predicting trends, and knowing how to capitalize on them. It means recognizing patterns and connecting dots that others don’t see.
Differentiation is usually viewed horizontally, as simply doing things differently than your competitors, such that you are compared side to side.
But thought leadership is vertical, meaning you rise above peers and competitors.
Standard differentiation keeps you trapped in the commodity world, meaning you’ll constantly compete on price.
Thought leadership helps you transcend the commodity trap; people want more than your product or services — they want your depth of knowledge and unique insights. And because they trust your recommendations, you’ll sell more of your commodity.
How to Become & Be Viewed as a Thought Leader
Learn
Coasting or resting on your laurels doesn’t cut it. You’ve got to constantly be reading, studying, researching, attending seminars — in short, learning (affiliate link).
And this doesn’t just mean in your narrow field; true thought leaders are well-versed in a broad range of fields in order to see patterns and connect dots.
Align With Passion
Passion drives learning. If you’re not profoundly passionate about your business, you’ll never make it as a thought leader.
Through passion, wine aficionado Gary Vaynerchuck became a thought leader not just for his industry, but for the world at large with his book Crush It: Why NOW is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion (affiliate link).
Kris Krohn is passionate about financial freedom, and that passion drives his real estate business.
Content, Content, Content
Thought leaders are content-producing machines. They use books, e-books, blogs, podcasts, videos, public speaking — anything and everything to promote their passion and spread their message.
Seth Godin’s blog helps him sell books and secure speaking gigs. Roy H. William’s Monday Morning Memo establishes him as an expert and drives his advertising business. Orrin Woodward’s book was largely responsible for his being named a top leadership guru.
James Chartrand produces world-class websites and copywriting, but she has achieved notoriety through her blog, books, and guest articles.
Speaking, Training, Coaching, Consulting
Garrett Gunderson teaches clients innovative whole life insurance strategies, but his Freedom Fasttrack program is really what sets him apart.
As an established thought leader, you can command speaking and consulting fees. More than selling your commodity, you can sell your knowledge.
HOWEVER: DO NOT MOVE AWAY FROM YOUR COMMODITY.
We encounter this problem constantly — people want to escape the commodity trap, so they their business model shifts to information.
This is a mistake; your commodity is your primary economic engine. Go after the speaking and consulting gigs, but use them to drive business to your commodity. Take your fees as icing on the cake, but never confuse them with your primary economic engine.
For example, mortgage broker Kenton Brown offers training every Saturday at his office, but he understands that mortgages are his economic engine.
Very few people can have thought leadership as their primary economic engine. It’s a gamble and it takes massive amounts of time and effort. It’s largely dependent on personality and charisma. It’s particularly risky in tough economic environments.
But as a recognized thought leader you can charge more and you’re all but guaranteed to have a steady stream of clients.
“Escaping the commodity trap” doesn’t mean to stop selling commodities; it means building an effective platform to sell your commodity.
Ready to make your mark on the world and differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace? Become a thought leader and we’ll help you build your platform.
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Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.
He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.
Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.
Connect With Stephen:
Email: spalmer [at] kgaps [dot] com
A Great Example of Persuasive Creativity from Western & Southern Financial Group
Continuing on the topic of creativity in advertising, here’s a perfect example of persuasive creativity from Western & Southern Financial Group:
*If you’re reading this in an email or RSS reader, you may need to click the title of the post to view the video on our blog.
Like my last example, the creativity here is matched with relevance in customers’ minds regarding their product (life insurance).
In this case, the relevance is strength through difficult economic times, which translates into peace of mind with financial decisions.
But unlike the last example, this ad provides an element of credibility:
“After all the financial world has faced, we still earned a double A+ rating from Standard and Poor’s, making us one of the 9 strongest life insurance groups in the world.”
Whether or not such a rating actually translates into legitimate financial strength doesn’t matter in terms of the ad’s effectiveness — the left brain loves such factual, concrete details.
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Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.
He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.
Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.
Connect With Stephen:
Email: spalmer [at] kgaps [dot] com
Advertising Creativity Done Right
So now that we’ve showed you creativity done wrong in advertising, here’s a great example of effective, relevant creativity from Allstate Insurance:
Again, relevance is the critical factor. Insurance protects you from unexpected, calamitous events, so the personification of “Mayhem” is both catchy and relevant.
The ad could be improved with an element of credibility.
For example, “Mayhem” makes the general claim that “you could save money and be better protected like me.” A more credible statement would be something like “85% of Allstate buyers save at least 13% on their car insurance.”
The current ad appeals to the right brain, but substantiating the claim with concrete details ensures that the left brain will also be persuaded.
But overall, a great example of the right way to use creativity in advertising.
*If you’re reading this in an RSS reader or email, you may need to click the title of the post to view the video on our blog.
*****************************
Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.
He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.
Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.
Connect With Stephen:
Email: spalmer [at] kgaps [dot] com
Creativity Without Relevance May Entertain, But it Doesn’t Persuade
As a follow-up to our last newsletter on creativity in advertising, here’s yet another example of creativity gone horribly wrong.
*If you’re reading this in an RSS reader or email, you may need to click the title of the post to view the video.
The missing element to all the examples we’ve shared is relevance.
What does a kung fu spider have to do with why people would choose Mentos? Absolutely nothing. It’s kind of funny, but it does nothing to persuade people to buy more Mentos.
The relevance of Mentos is fresh breath. There are infinite ways to be creative with Mentos ads, but the creativity must revolve around the relevance of the product as defined by users.
For example: A man greets a woman on a first date, opens his mouth to say “Hi,” and she melts into puddle.
In advertising, creativity must follow relevance. Otherwise, you’ll get laughs but not much else.
*****************************
Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.
He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.
Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.
Connect With Stephen:
Email: spalmer [at] kgaps [dot] com
What Personas Can Do For You
To know the right way to architect your website, you need to understand personas.
Anthony Garcia, chief persona architect for Promote-A-Book, recently created the following video that explains how understanding personas can help you sell faster, sell more, increase your website conversion rate, and increase customer retention.
He explains why demographic information alone isn’t enough to guide your marketing efforts and provides great examples of persona types in media to make the concept concrete and clear.
*If you’re reading this in an email or RSS reader, you may need to click the title of the post to view the video on our blog.
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