Tag: thought leadership

8 PR Tools for B2B Thought Leadership

Posted on by Richard Etchison

Thought leadership is part of public relations best practices, and it’s particularly powerful in B2B and technology categories. By shaping and serving up a unique perspective, expertise, or insight, a young company can gain a competitive advantage over larger and more established companies.

If you’re a company founder, you have expertise that others don’t. Chances are, you’ve come up with a solution to a problem that differentiates your company. Even more significant, you’re an innovator whose job it is to foster that same spirit of innovation at your business. You’re full of informed opinions, fresh ideas, and predictions about your industry. How do you leverage that thought capital?

The answer may be a strategic thought leadership plan. But remember that thought leadership is not directly about capturing new business. Before you begin, make sure you or your key executive has a novel point of view and is committed to joining — and staying — in the conversation.

Here are 8 tech PR tools for a B2B thought leadership plan

Stellar bylined content

Seeing your byline next to an article in VentureBeat or AdAge is a great feeling. It’s a sexy way to display a CEO’s unique insight and often a great way to tell a story. The PR team should be constantly generating ideas for articles to pitch to journalists. But be sure to adhere to best byline practices. Consider editorial policies and trending topics, and be strategic when targeting technology media outlets.

Seize the stage at conferences

A well-researched speakers’ bureau can vault a little-known company into the media (and influencer) spotlight and help turn an established company into a market leader. A CEO delivering a speech, sitting on a panel, or giving a “fireside chat” can elevate their stature as an industry player. Until the conferences start contacting you, your company will need a team member dedicated to submitting to strategically targeted annual conferences. For a PR guide to executive speaking gigs, go to our earlier post. Women entrepreneurs in particular are in demand.

Expert commentary

Tech and business media are uniquely receptive to interviews and commentary from executives who are subject-matter experts. An impressive resume, coupled with a track record of blogging or speaking on a given topic is often all it takes to launch a founder as an SME. At that point, he or she can be offered to key media for comment on relevant news of the day. Are there rumors of a merger in your category? Activate your CEO for a comment on what it might mean. A scandal like a privacy breach? Perhaps it’s a chance to confirm your own security protocol. Relevant legislation pending? Offer an analysis to the business broadcast press. Here’s more about how to build a resume as a subject-matter expert.

Reach out to analysts

Establishing relationships with influential industry analysts like Gartner and Aberdeen Group is a great way of establishing impressive expertise that can lead not only to inclusion in analyst reports, but in the top-tier media who read the reports. The reports can influence customers, investor interest, press coverage, and general reputation, and they typically have a long shelf-life. But an analyst program required meticulous thoroughness and preparation. See this earlier post on making the most of analyst relations.

Publish your manifesto

The founder should be contributing to the latest industry scholarship by penning insightful white papers, which offer the opportunity to take a well-differentiated point of view on a topic of interest. It’s okay, in fact, desirable, if the opinion is lightly controversial or even contrarian. Additionally, if the CEO has a truly unique insight and/or an inspiring origin story, then publishing a full-length business book can yield substantial B2B thought leadership content and visibility. Long-form written content can reinforce the executive’s expertise, thereby elevating the brand’s authority.

Blog early and often

We feel that in the ideal world, a business technology founder should be publishing a regular blog series on the company website and on LinkedIn, dedicated to offering a perspective in the form of entertaining, informative content. One or two weekly posts can demonstrate an executive’s broad insight and communicate a distinct brand voice. Additionally, the CEO could strive to guest post on trade industry blogs. See our earlier post for a deep dive into blogging best practices.

Be the host with the most

Your founders need not wait to be invited to participate in other people’s panels. Create and put on your business discussion panel about a hot-button topic on which your CEO has a specific insight. Invite other distinguished business leaders, experts, and tech journalists to either be on the panel, moderate, or attend as an audience member. Thought leader panels can yield a ton of useful content like white papers, videos, bylines, and blog posts. We do this routinely for our B2B clients, with great success, and we have lots of information about business panel best practices.

Be a pod(cast) person

Guesting on a technology or business podcast can be another interesting platform for your CEO to shine. For guests, podcasting typically requires less effort and preparation than television appearances, and the medium offers an intimacy that print media cannot match. Like other media, podcast shows exist in every conceivable niche. Whether your company specializes in API, blockchain, or AR, there’s a podcast that fits the bill. For some cool shows check out our PR guide to tech podcast gigs.

Tech PR Guide To Executive Podcast Gigs

Posted on by Richard Etchison

Placing your CEO/founder as a guest on a tech podcast is a great tool for PR pros to establish the boss as a thought leader and thereby increase a young B2B company’s profile. Every company has a story, and that story can be a valuable public relations tool — and the best kind of free exposure. There’s a podcast for everything: from Meowster for cat lovers to The Survivalist Prepper Podcast, a show for doomsayers awaiting the collapse of civilization.

The opportunities are exciting. You don’t even have to be in the same city where the shows are recorded, because most do remote interviews. Some shows have one or two tech junkies chatting on a topic of interest each week, while others may feature a panel discussion. Most have blogs for further exposure. The best PR opportunity might be an appearance on a show that regularly interviews eminent experts, tech journalists, or company founders. And you don’t have to be named Bezos or Musk to guest on an episode.

Let’s take a look at six of the best tech podcasts on which your PR pro should book the CEO.

The a16z Podcast

Currently ranked #10 by iTunes, a16z is the highest ranked show of this group. Twice weekly episodes usually feature a panel of four or five CEOs, professors, business leaders, and engineers. They sometimes interview big-time corporate chiefs like Ted Sarandos of Netflix, but most often they chat with early-stage company founders. The discussions range widely from in-depth tech topics covering the business of tech to its cultural repercussions. A guest appearance is a great opportunity to boost a CEO’s profile. Episodes include How Tech is Changing Investing, Creating a Category: from Pricing to Positioning; and How to Live Longer and Better.

This Week in Enterprise Tech/This Week in Tech

One of the best tech podcasts: This Week in Tech
As it affectionately calls itself, TWIT’s This Week in Enterprise Tech boasts the highest production value of the list. TWIT complements the audio podcast with a sponsored, highly watchable video production. Airing weekly, the show is usually hosted by Robert Ballecer, a Silicon Valley native and Jesuit priest. A pair of off-site co-hosts usually assist, with one special guest weekly. The specificity of the subject narrows one’s audience to the exact right niche. A recent episode is called What’s happening with the AWS Cloud?. Other episodes include Why Enterprises Still Tip-Toe Around The Cloud and Next-Generation Ssds With Kingston. Its cousin program under the TWIT’s empire of shows is This Week in Tech,  ranks even higher at #21.

How I Built It

The software how-to show How I Built It, currently at #42, should not to be confused with NPR’s How I Built This. With high production value and big-name corporate sponsors, the show chronicles the fascinating origin stories of tech companies. Host Joe Casabona interviews founders and developers from tech companies like Pantheon, Sitelock, and Mode Effect. It’s a perfect platform for a CEO to develop a reputation as an industry expert. Episodes include Neill Feather & SiteLock, Patrick Rauland and Building a WooCommerce Shop and Nicole Kohler and Content Strategy.

O’Reilly Data Show Podcast

O’Reilly Data Show Podcast, with host data scientist Ben Lorica, explores the opportunities and techniques driving big data, data science, and AI. He interviews one guest per episode, usually founders, scientists, or engineers. While not the most dynamic of productions, it would be a good place for a founder/CEO of an AI or data startup to get some experience in guesting. Airing weekly, it features a recent episode, How to train and deploy deep learning at scale. Other episodes include Using machine learning to monitor and optimize chatbots and Machine learning at Spotify: You are what you stream.

Hack to Start

Hack to Start calls itself a “podcast focused on interesting people and the innovative ways they achieve success.” Each week or so, the two co-hosts interview a different founder/CEO on business-oriented topics. Though it’s a more entrepreneurship-focused program than some of the podcasts, most of the guests are from tech companies. A recent episode is an interview with Hannah Donovan, the founder/CEO of the startup Trash. Other episodes include former Kayak marketing manager Gessica Bicego and Jess Brown, director of UX at Vice Media.

This Week in Machine Learning & AI

This Week in Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence, or known by its pithy nickname TWIML & AI, was ranked #60 by Apple last week. Host Sam Charrington, founder of the industry research firm CloudPulse Strategies, talks AI news, and interviews expert CEOs, engineers, and researchers. For those founders of AI B2B companies, this is the perfect niche show to boost visibility. Airing three shows per week, a recent episode is Surveying the Connected Car Landscape with GK Senthil . Other episodes include Machine Learning Platforms at Uber with Mike Del Balso and Data Science for Poaching Prevention and Disease Treatment with Nyalleng Moorosi.

For B2B executives at all stages, guesting on the best tech podcasts can establish them as thought leaders, thereby increasing the company’s visibility, establishing credibility, and of course attracting new business.

{You may wonder how iTunes comes up with their rankings. It seems to be another of Apple’s well-kept mysteries. We do know that Apple updates the rankings continuously. They tend to fluctuate wildly. Daily rankings can be found at http://www.itunescharts.net/us/charts/podcasts/technology/ and at Podbay FM.}

A Journalist’s POV: Questions From A PR Team

Posted on by Marijane Funess

iraapfel pr

Helping craft an executive’s opinions into a compelling story for publication is a gratifying part of public relations work. The best outcomes come from good relationships with discerning editors, such as Ira Apfel of the highly respected AFP (Association for Financial Professionals) publications, with whom we have had the pleasure of working. Read on for Ira’s insightful answers to our “questions from a PR team.”

What should go into a subject line that will make you open a query? Do you have any good/bad examples to share?  Unless you have a really catchy phrase (fear usually works), a good subject line should simply state what’s in the message. Exclude as much technical jargon as possible and all clichés. Just tell me what I’m about to read. Maybe I’ll read it, maybe I won’t. But if I do read the email and the topic does not live up to the subject line’s promise, or if it makes no sense, or if it is simply boring, then I am less likely to open your next email to me.
Current subject-line trend that I HATE: “Does it make sense to discuss this, Ira?” No, it doesn’t. Go away.

What do you look for in a byline submission and what should interested writers avoid? Avoid talking about your turnkey product solution. I have a theory that every product is a perfect solution to some customer out there. What really makes a difference is customer service, and that includes the vendor’s knowledge about the customer’s business and industry. So when I read byline submissions – and I read every one that comes in assuming I get past the subject line – I want to see if you understand my readers and their challenges and have advice for them. My readers have said in survey after survey that they don’t want a product pitch; they want insights. Here’s the good news: It’s not uncommon for vendors or consultants to write articles for my publication and then be contacted by my readers looking for expert advice – not a perfect turnkey solution.

What are some dos and don’ts for “pitching” you a story for one of your pubs? Take five minutes to poke around my organization’s website to understand what we do and better hone your pitch. Every day I receive email pitches about personal financial planning articles. Problem is, my readers do business financial planning – budgeting and forecasting for companies. So a pitch like this will not only be deleted immediately, it will lower my perception of you and make me less likely to open your next email. If you do believe your pitch is a good one for my readers, tell me so. When I read submissions I always ask, “Why should my readers care? What’s new or different in this article that they’ll want to know?” If your pitch doesn’t answer those basic questions, you need to start over.

“Why should my readers care” – that should always be the first question asked and answered in any media relations outreach.

5 Ways PR Can Maximize Thought Leadership

Posted on by Michelle Han

 

In the public relations world, thought leadership is a big deal, but the term can start to feel old, fast. How do you infuse a thought leadership program with fresh ideas and get the most out of it for PR?

Thought leaders are often defined as the leading authorities in their field of mastery and opinion. On top of strong expertise and visibility, it’s about being able to motivate, provide insight, and influence others. For many who work in specialized niches, like B2B technology or high-end interior design, thought leadership is highly desirable, helping to improve a brand’s reputation and even its bottom line.

Here are some essentials worth considering when looking to maximize a thought leadership program.

Be strategic with bylines. Byline articles or essays on an issue or topic, carrying an exec’s byline, that are pitched and placed for publication in media are often a core of a thought leadership program. But these pieces pack more punch when timed strategically within a company’s overall PR efforts. For example, if your B2B PR plan includes a new product launch in email marketing software, it pays to push that piece on new best practices for email marketing a week or so after the product launch, when the buzz is still fresh and interest and engagement is likely to be higher.

Collaborate on ideas for written pieces. Collaboration is key to crafting the most high-impact written pieces, whether bylines or speeches or messaging for a website. As the expert, you have the authority on what’s most current in the field, but working collaboratively with your PR partners will ensure the angle or narrative is most relevant and media-friendly. And needless to say, a byline in a relevant industry publication is a great complement, and in some ways works harder than, your own blog post.

Host an intimate, high-impact panel. This is the ultimate way to “own the conversation” and control the message, since you’re the host of the entire event. Focus a panel discussion on the topic closest to your heart, to showcase the depth of your expertise and invite coverage. Be sure to document everything. Your PR team can then turn the assets into byline articles and white papers after the fact, in addition to generating media coverage, as we did here for a client after a successful event.

Be selective about speaking engagements. Once a baseline level of expertise and visibility is achieved, you can expect inbound requests for speaking engagements to start coming your way. It can be tempting to say yes to everything, but we see “speaker fatigue” setting in quickly among thought leaders, leading to diminished value for the time invested. The key isn’t in numbers, it’s in speaking to the right audiences — a key question PR likes to keep top of mind.

Write the book. Not everyone has the material to write a book, but if you do, publishing a book has never been easier than it is now, especially if you’re open to self-publishing. Among other advantages, being the author of a new book is a calling card PR can use to create fresh media opportunities.
When executing a thought leadership plan, it’s important to keep expectations reasonable, so no one’s disappointed, but by all means, have a vision and focus, and challenge yourself to live up to it.

B2B PR: It Doesn’t Mean "Boring To Boring"

Posted on by Marijane Funess

For top PR agencies tackling B2B work, this quote from strategist Valeria Maltoni seems apt: “Your writing doesn’t have to be boring just because it’s for other businesses. Businesses have people who read stuff.”

And, it’s true, B2B doesn’t mean boring to boring! Here are some ways we enliven our B2B brand work.

Look for pop culture tie-ins. Business media often blur the lines between hard and soft business news and become interested in a story with sex appeal as well as stats. To that end, we have linked the data from a navigational app to the top spots to drink beer on St. Patrick’s Day for a tech feature and used a credit union’s expertise to warn businesses about “fiscal frightmares” near Halloween. This “added value” can sometimes be the difference between your business or trade pitch and 50 others.

Add speaker appeal.  You’ve secured a keynote for your CEO, and he’s just shown you 50 slides that will put anyone to sleep. There are so many ways to fix “death by Powerpoint” and still convey the necessary substance.Work with your speaker to  “downsize” copy. Get rid of half the text. Work to make the slides tell a story and stop any speaker from reading verbatim. Better still, add arresting images, music and video to keep the audience engaged. Here are some good tips.

Perk up your bylines. When appropriate, of course. Not every outlet is looking for you to turn trade trends into Shakespeare. However, there’s always room to make interesting analogies, add color to quotes and find fresh turns of phrase. Why call a new beer successful when you can call it “money in a mug?”

Seek creative “out-of-the-lane” opportunities. Yes, we’re all being told to “stay in our lane” as a way to maintain focus on our own expertise. But sometimes, a CEO has an unusual hobby or an executive had a crazy job in the past (we’re currently working with an exec who’s a former Navy cryptographer.) Smart B2B PR people can transform those experiences into thought leadership opportunities, from speaking opps to bylines to blog posts and videos.

Incorporate outsiders. Add some sparkle to your next panel discussion, blog post or byline by inviting a compelling “special guest” to participate. If the topic of your panel discussion is art and e-commerce, invite an artist. When convening experts to discuss a medical device, don’t overload the discussion with doctors; invite real-life users with emotional human-interest stories. Make it your “business” to be creative with B2B PR.

PR Pros: Secure That CEO Byline

Posted on by Marijane Funess

How many PR firms have NOT promised a bylined article to the CEO of a client company in the name of “thought leadership”? We venture to say none. A CEO-penned article (with tremendous assist from a qualified PR team) in a top business pub or vertical is a powerful tool in the B2B PR arsenal. Often, agency staffers lament the difficulty involved in securing these impressive articles, but if you follow the steps below, you can streamline the process and have editors contacting you for more executive output.

Start with research. Make a short list of publications to recommend to your client based on audience, subject matter and opportunity. Research which editors approve bylines, and become familiar with their work. Based on a combination of the publications’ editorial bent and your client’s expertise and company strategy, craft 3-5 pithy topics with titles to present to the editor for consideration. Be prepared to actually write each of them since you don’t know what will tickle an editor’s fancy at a given time.

Bring a fresh perspective. The worst offense you can commit is to recommend a subject for a byline that has been covered ad infinitum by a publication. If the subject is a familiar one, bring a provocative or contrary twist to the topic. For example, if your CEO wants to write about the values of great leaders, find a topic that goes against the stereotype or shatters myths, like valuable lessons from introverts, or what we can learn from bad bosses.

Know the editorial guidelines. Beyond counting words and being utterly fastidious in your punctuation, get to know each publication’s set of writing rules. Read them on their website, or ask for them once a piece has been assigned. This will save the editor time and endear him to you for the future.

Write in your client’s voice. As tempting as it may be to write in your own style, do not. Read other writings by your client and have conversations about the topic. Meld the client’s voice to that of the publication, but with appropriate personal flourishes. I was once told that a client liked to recount a certain anecdote as often as possible and when it made sense, I included it in writing and it served to personalize the piece.

Merchandise. Then merchandise some more. Market the piece heavily to client customers, employees and industry influencers. Use it to secure more opportunities, be they speaking engagements, broadcast interviews or a regular gig penning a column. “Socialize” it via all channels and give it a place of prominence on the company website. Remember, bylines beget more bylines!

In Tech PR, The Medium Is (Part of) The Message

Posted on by Chris Harihar

I want to be seen as a thought leader,” said the tech company CEO to the PR professional.

We’ve all heard it. And it’s an encouraging sign for PR that CEOs at companies ranging from Fortune 500 businesses to startups are asking about it. They understand the value of building a personal brand and cultivating ownership of relevant issues.  And many technology businesses have a deep reservoir of talent and intellectual assets. They just need help to package and communicate those assets.

First, you need the thought capital. Innovative, differentiated points of view, coupled with insights that can move the conversation forward in your sector. That’s how you become a top voice—by having something interesting to say. Marc Benioff and Fred Wilson are great examples of thought leaders who got there not just by building successful businesses, but by having something to say.

But thoughts don’t translate into leadership unless they are shared and heard by the right people. There’s such a staggering amount of content available –  on the web, at conferences, and through direct sharing – that packaging and marketing those thoughts can feel like putting a message in a bottle.  You send it out and hope that it will find a receptive audience.

Great ideas need virality. They need legs. How to make sure they are shared?

Before you decide on tools to market your insight, consider this — in many technology sectors, the medium is also the message. Particularly in tech, the platform you use should have value beyond functionality. If it’s a cool, emerging medium, that in itself can help differentiate your brand.

That’s why services like Medium, Quora, SlideShare, Svbtle and Tumblr have weight.  Sharing content on platforms like these can infer a knowledge of technology and familiarity with hot platforms. It speaks to your interest in the space itself.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at this Gawker article. If you emailed a reporter with an AOL email address, according to Gawker, you’re “an old person, stuck in the mid-90s.” It’s a “digital AARP card,” they say. So yes, the tools and platforms you use matters.

This is where PR always helps—in creating or advising on content, but also on packaging. It can sound shallow, and there are exceptions that prove the rule, but the bottle that contains the message can say a lot about the sender.

In my next post, I’ll explore some of the newest and most interesting tools for sharing content.

How To Be A Thought Leader (A PR Perspective)

Posted on by Dorothy Crenshaw

Becoming a thought leader—everyone’s always talking about it, but who’s really doing it?  It’s a cliché in PR and marketing circles.  We tend to promise clients we can help make them a thought leader, pepper our proposals with the term, and invoke “thought capital” to differentiate corporations and their most marketable attributes.

So, what is thought leadership, and how is it attained?

While it’s not as easy as it sounds, thought leadership status is more attainable in times of rapid technology and social change… in other words, like now.  In my book, it’s not just about visibility or strong expertise although both are highly desirable.  True thought leadership requires a blend of innovation, insight, and influence.

The easiest way to achieve that status, of course, is to be first.  A handful of early bloggers, like Chris Brogan or Mack Collier, were able to parlay their status and insight into enduring influence, helping marketers and communicators interpret and anticipate change.  As a company, Amazon.com is a good example of a thought leader, given its early bet on the impact of e-commerce, and, later, web services, at a time when many doubted the wisdom of the investment.

But most of us haven’t had the luck to have been in the right place at the right time and the prescience to have realized it.  So, in the spirit of thought leadership about, well, thought leadership, here’s my list of essential behaviors and qualities common to past and current people and brands that fit the bill.

Six Essential Thought Leadership Behaviors

They’re about ideas.  PR educator Bill Sledzik points out that John F. Kennedy was a thought leader when he rallied Americans to put a man on the moon before 1970.  It wasn’t a new concept, but it captured the public imagination like few others, and it served as a metaphor for American ingenuity, competitiveness, and idealism.

They have focus.  “Go vertical or go home,” is how author Daniel Ramus puts it.  It’s far easier to stand out and thwart imitators if the field of expertise is narrow or niche.  So while it’s a challenge to be recognized as a thought leader in marketing, it may be more feasible to earn the label based on expertise in new forms of marketing segmentation or online behavioral marketing.

They package the message.   Often an idea or trend is staring us in the face, but he who identifies and names it can take the credit.  Malcolm Gladwell had some excellent and insightful observations about the spread of ideas and memes, but it was only after he packaged his observations under a label borrowed from epidemiology that “the tipping point” was born.

They take risks.  Many true thought leaders are naturally contrarian.  If it’s legitimate, one of the quickest routes to recognition is to zig when others zag.  The quintessential example here, of course, is Steve Jobs.  He was never afraid to swim upstream, and he took risks in rejecting market research and other conventions of product development.

They offer hope.  Part of inspiration is to offer a path to progress, particularly in a dynamic, troubled, or rapidly changing industry.  Andrew Zolli elevated his own brand from “foresight expert” to true thought leader with his book, Resilience:  Why Things Bounce Back, in part due to its hopeful insights for a cynical audience saturated with dire prophesies about the fate of the natural environment.

They take the long view.  Laura Ramos of Forrester says it well when she writes about the “authentic generosity” necessary for B2B thought leadership.  It’s almost never about profiting from ideas in the short term; rather, it comes from a deep understanding of the problems of customers or colleagues, and it takes patience.  They literally give it away, but the fruits of true thought leadership include more and deeper relationships with customers, which is a key ingredient for business health and growth.

This post originally appeared on MENGOnline.