by At the recent World Future Society Insider’s Guide to Foresight Consulting course, a question came up around how to market oneself. We discussed a thought leadership positioning (drawing upon some personal branding language earlier in the day). Since this wasn’t captured in the course slides, thought I share here — and see if I get any helpful comments (hint, hint)
Assuming you’ve already done the work to identify the topic(s) you’re interested in developing your thought leadership position, your task is then to build your credibility and let people know who you are.
- Blogging — funny how blogging is already feeling a bit old-fashioned in a world of twitter and instagram; nonetheless it gives you a way not only to appeal to an audience interested in the topics you’re writing on, but to test your own ideas and thinking;
- Social media — points people to your blog and other points of interest, e.g., when and where you’re speaking;
- Selective email or newsletter — pulling together the work you are already doing in a newsletter can be a nice way to communicate (e.g., draw on your blog posts); a personal email is almost like a handwritten letter in the “old days.” One issue that comes up here regarding use of your contact list: I tend towards not wanting to inundate people and be very respectful in terms of asking for their attention, and typically send out only one email a year; others may say “nonsense, that’s what the delete key is for” and send their contacts much more regular information. Your call on that.
- Articles – more attention than blog posts, but can start with “popular” blog posts; don’t be afraid to start small, with guest blogs, newsletters, wherever you can; each publication increases your credibility and the odds that a publication you really want to target will accept a piece from you
- Speeches — similar “don’t be afraid to start small” point — many of my colleagues, myself included, have their “I remember when I spoke in this basement to a couple of grandmothers and their cats story.” You have to start somewhere; not only does it build credibility, the practice is very useful.
- Books — takes a while, but this is a patient approach….building toward this.
- “Continuing education” — never miss an opportunity to pick up a certificate or some other useful nugget of training that you can add to your credibility bank account, even if you “know” the topic; nice to be able to point to tangible evidence of knowledge
- Networking — lots of advice on their on how to do this, but don’t forget it. The more you do the suggestions above, the more you have to talk about and promote when you’re networking, e.g., “interesting, I just blogged on that a couple of weeks ago, I’ll send you the link.”
Well, there’s my starter kit, nothing fancy, but has some basics…would love to have y’all add to the list. Andy Hines
This is helpful, especially as I try to “position” a new juxtaposition of family ministry and foresight. The only thing I would add to the list is that you could take the strategy of developing a “retreat” or seminar in several formats. This would provide the “wireframe” for a book or larger product and will give you some anecdotes you can use (with permission, of course) from your particpants.
Thanks for this Andy. Your list is good for an individual foresighter who wants to build a profile for themselves. I stopped doing my newsletter because the number of people reading it was falling steadily, to focus on social media and blogging.
I wonder if I can add to your list the concept of focus? Or perhaps thought leadership about what? I’m in the camp that prefers to know a lot about a few things rather than a little about many things – either approach is fine, but that’s a decision that needs to be made upfront to inform positioning too.