People think thought leadership = revenue.
It technically doesn’t….
Yep, I said it… and that’s coming from a guy who ran ops for multiple groups who wrote and create for brands, creators, and senior executive leaders to develop thought leadership across LinkedIn and other mediums.
1. It actually is an awareness play.
2. It can also be a nurturing play.
It is the “press start” button to the “Microsoft 3D Pinball: Space Cadet” journey of going from awareness and attention to nurturing until interest is formed and acted on to drive conversation, sign off, and purchase/conversion.
Many are doing phenomenal at their version of thought leadership but are nowhere near closer to their financial goals.
🚫 A follower does not necessarily equate to being a buyer.
🚫 Likes do not directly covert to cash.
🚫 Shares do not directly mean referral.
And yet we give more weight to these things as if they are quantifiable revenue-opportunity metrics when we honestly should not.
They are indicators, milestones, and byproducts of something expressed that was of interest, caught attention, the content is being read, it’s being consumed, and they may want more of it.
Sales and conversions starts the minute — as we say in the culture — someone “keeps that same energy” off this medium and explore one you own.
They provide their email.
They book a time to chat.
They download a freebie on your site.
In short, thought leaders sow seeds and water to the point where interest grows from the ground to go to the next step of “off world” action.
If you’re only investing in the awareness and nurture phase (which is where many like to play and can get caught up in the dopamine rush of it all) and not in a viable offering people find valuable enough to take action, inquire, and buy in a ratio of time + cogs that aligns with sustainable outcomes, you’re missing the mark.
Sometimes building the rocket ship as you fly is okay in certain instances. But have you at least assess how far you’ll have to go for the customer? And the rocket ship still can’t go anywhere if there is not a destination to go to ( the moon, space station, Mars, etc).
Have the destination on lock first before you roll out the red carpet of thought leadership on here hoping to get Emmy/Grammy/Tony/Oscar paparazzi treatment for what you post.
Reverse engineer from the destination to the customer.
The other more obvious point…
Most decision makers are not thought leaders, but can be influenced by the right ones.
Follower count doesn’t correlate to decision maker in about 75% of instances across most industries.
So don’t get “got” chasing thought leaders as a thought leader.
Share thoughts. Let your community deem you as a thought leader of a specific niche, theme, industry, topic, or domain.
Attention, awareness, and nurturing are fun.
Just make sure you assess what you are doing against the whole journey vs just the starting loop.
