One huge problem that keeps Thought Leaders unsuccessful is that there is a big difference between what they sell and what their audience buys.
Now I don’t mean that they’re “not selling the right thing,” like the common illustration of “we built a better mousetrap but nobody wanted a better mousetrap.”
Instead, I mean that they are selling information, but the customer is buying the hope of transformation.
Let me give you an example from my marketing agency days:
There was a time I sold a service that created and managed digital ads for small businesses. Sometimes, depending on the needs of the customer, they were Google Adwords ads, and sometimes they were Facebook ads.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure this out, but…
I never — not even once — met a business owner that wanted digital ads!
What they wanted was to buy as-cheap-as-possible customers.
As I grew better at talking to the business owners about what I did, my effectiveness at selling the ads increased.
And the way I “got better” was to not talk so much about digital ads, and to talk a whole lot more about getting customers and what they’d do with all that additional revenue they’d make.
Now, back to thought leadership…
Your customer wants to buy the opportunity to transform using the information you provide.
That means you need to talk about their transformation. Why they’re unhappy right now, and how they’ll be much happier after the transformation.
When you can get them to nearly literally physically feel the pain of their current situation, and visualize and anticipate the unbridled joy they’ll feel after they implement your prescriptions.
And is how you lead their thoughts…
Which makes you a…
(Wait for it…!)
Thought Leader!
Leading the thoughts of your audience takes careful strategy, planning, and execution.
That is what I will do for and with you.
In the meantime, get yourself over to You Can Be A Thought Leader right now and sign up to get my daily Thought Leadership tips and how-to’s. It’s where all the cool kids hang out and they’ve been asking where you are.