Thought Leadership
Developing your reputation
It can be especially difficult for small-to-mid sized companies to raise their media profile when larger competitors are constantly bombarding journalists with huge numbers of emails, press releases and pitches! So how do you compete?
The answer is to become an industry ‘thought-leader’.
This is easier said than done of course. Everyone is competing to be the one whom journalists turn to for information. So how do you stand out from the crowd?
Thought leadership PR can boost both the quantity and quality of coverage for an organisation...
The key is developing credibility and respect with reporters. Reporters need experts who can provide interesting third party information and opinions that demonstrate deep understanding of the relevant markets and their challenges.
Unfortunately (or fortunately from our perspective) much of what the media receives is self-congratulatory company fluff – stuffed with industry jargon. This creates a fantastic opportunity IF you can differentiate yourself and have the commitment and dedication to see it through.
This is where Kestrel comes in. We are highly experienced at developing and positioning key client spokespeople as credible experts. There are a number of tools that can be used to develop trust with the media and we can help you with them all:
- One to one interviews – With your help we can develop credible and interesting talking points and use these to organise face-to-face interviews with your key media.
- By lined articles and features – We can identify feature opportunities and work with you to develop attractive synopses, which we can pitch to journalists on your behalf. When the journalists bite we can work with you to draft and submit the required articles.
- Speaking opportunities – We can identify key exhibitions and conferences in your sector, develop interesting talking points and pitch these to the editorial staff organising the speaker and seminar programmes at these shows.
- Case studies – We can help prepare case studies which demonstrate how your organisation is delivering cutting edge solutions.
While these tools can help in the process there are a number of other factors which impact how successful a 'Thought Leadership' campaign can be.
If you are serious about developing a reputation as a thought leader then you have to have opinions. The media don't want to talk to people who sit on the fence. You need to bring something fresh to the table and be insightful and compelling in your predictions.
You also need to be persistent. It takes time to get on the media radar screen and time for them to realise that you are actually sharing something different with them. There is no point trying it for three months. It requires a consistent investment of time and effort.
Preparation is also key. Journalists will expect you to have knowledge about your sector. They will expect you to be familiar with the subejct they are writing about and the issues they have covered in the past. They may also expect research and statistics that back up your opinions.
Of course our job is to take much of this load off your shoulders and this is something we have done successfully for other clients, utilising our sectoral expertise.
While this approach to PR may require more effort than traditional media relations the return in terms of the quantity and quality of exposure can be significant!
If you are interested in finding out more about our 'thought leadership' service, please contact Niall Dologhan or Barry Walton on 020 8789 2587 for a no obligation discussion.
