Co-Founder Taliferro
Introduction
So, you have a great technology product, and you're looking for some ways to build your brand. How do we become a thought leaders? The key is aligning what you're making with what your customers need. If they need something you can solve better than anyone else in the market, this will be an easy step for you. But if it's not a good fit between what they want out of their technology solution and what makes sense for them to purchase from you, how do we get there?
What's the purpose of your thought leadership?
Before I get into everything you can do with your technology thought leader, let's talk about why.
The purpose of your thought leadership is to provide value for your customers by using their language and helping them understand what you're doing and why it matters. The more successful companies can do this well enough that they become known as experts in their space—and if you want people to trust your brand and buy from you more often than not, it makes sense to hire someone to help build that credibility for you.
Of course, there are other reasons why hiring an agency might be a good idea. Thought leadership is like PR. It's great if you're good at it but bad if you suck at it.
If you're anything like the CIO or CTO of a technology company, you probably think PR and thought leadership is the same.
They're not!
PR is about getting coverage for your company, product, or service. Thought leadership is about educating customers on best practices for the industry problem you are trying to solve.
Thought leadership is also outstanding because it creates a virtuous cycle. As people read your ideas in their industry publications (or blogs), they become familiar with your brand, which leads to more qualified traffic from those publications over time and improved conversion rates.
I'm often surprised at how many enterprise IT companies don't do it or don't do it well.
If you're an IT professional, you might think that tech thought leadership is a sign of social status or prestige. But in reality, it's more important than that—it's also an excellent way to ensure your company stays relevant as the industry changes.
You might be thinking, "but isn't technology always changing?" Yes, but some technologies change faster than others—and when they do so rapidly, those who don't keep up with the times can get left behind or even shut down entirely. In other words: if your business doesn't practice tech thought leadership (or practices it only poorly), your company could face some serious consequences down the road.
How does this serve the prospective customer? Does it help them in their job?
How does thought leadership align with what they need to accomplish with their business outcomes? If a product doesn't align or solve an existing pain point, don't bother because this doesn't work out for anyone involved (including yourself).
Don't think about yourself first. Think about the customer first. The aim should be to make the customer successful. Let the customer be successful, and they'll become an advocate for you through word of mouth.
So, what do you do when you want to make your customers successful? It's not about building a product or service they need—it's about helping them solve their problems. Your aim should be to make them successful so that they are then able to help spread the word about how great you are through their networks and social media channels. The more people know about your brand and its value proposition, the better your business will be.
The bottom line: it's not about YOU. It's about the customer. You want the customer to succeed because their success means, YOUR company grows too.
Security, Compliance, and Risk Management
You want a technology leader who understands security, compliance, and risk management.
These three things are essential for any organization to be successful. Security breaches can devastate your brand, customer loyalty, and bottom line. The need for secure and compliant IT infrastructure has never been more critical today, especially if you want to avoid costly fines from regulators like the SEC or FINRA. And risk management is a must-have in any industry because, as we all know: "it's not if something will happen but when something will happen."
I believe the best way to gain credibility as a thought leader is by educating customers on best practices for the industry problem you are trying to solve, not by pushing your own schedule and product features. No one wants to hear that unless they've asked for it specifically.
I'm always looking for ways to differentiate my company from competitors. Differentiation occurs in many ways, but one of the most effective ways is by creating content that educates customers on industry problems they face every day.
Conclusion
So if you are thinking about becoming a thought leader, think about how this can help your customer solve their business problems. Understand that if you're not willing to spend the time and money on it, don't bother. You will find yourself being irrelevant very quickly.
Tyrone Showers