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It is the openness of Thought Leadership Marketing that truly sets it apart from traditional marketing.

Great Thought Leaders do not play at business with their cards close to their chest. They are happy to share detailed insight across a wide expanse of knowledge, offering tips, tactics and strategies, which they will then back up with data from within their own organisations. They are also not afraid to express an educated opinion based on their previous experience.

It might seem a little reckless to be so open with your organisation’s insight and intellectual property, and it is true that while much of what you share will go on to help form wider opinion, some will occasionally come back to haunt the originator. Nobody said that Thought Leadership Marketing was risk free. This might raise some red flags with more cautious marketers. You might be afraid that by sharing detailed inside knowledge you will not only open your company up to increased competition, but also empower your clients to go ahead and do the job themselves. Don’t let this put you off. By and large, the rewards of Thought Leadership Marketing will nearly always outweigh the risks.

Let’s think about the following scenario:

Undoubtedly, your competitors will be able to glean professional knowledge from your insight. But by simply hanging on to your coattails they risk being perceived as second-rate imitators. Imitation is fine but it doesn’t earn the premium rewards enjoyed by the originator. Rather than fearing your imitators, you should be more wary of your competitors who are putting themselves forward and delivering their own Thought Leadership programmes. How are they positioning themselves? How good is their insight? What kind of personality do they portray? What is their timing like? Do they trump you? If so, there is a real risk that you could look like the imitator; it’s time to step up to the mark and strive to do a better job yourself.

As for customers taking your insight and doing the job themselves, picture this:

You’re a painter and decorator. You’ve written a blog post, which I’ve stumbled across, telling me how to hang wallpaper. You’ve told me what paper to buy, what paste to use, how to prepare my walls and all the professional tips I need to know to ensure the paper looks perfect when hung. You’ve even included videos demonstrating the more difficult aspects of the task and high resolution photographs of the finished job.

After reading this, do you think I’m going to hang my own wallpaper?

No way! I’m going to pick up the phone and ask you to do it for me. Why? Because you have shown me that you know what you are talking about and are not afraid to put your work under public scrutiny. In short, you are a Thought Leader and I trust you to get the job done right.

OK, this is perhaps a very simple example – but the complexity could be scaled to cover any industry. In the same way I might not be able to hang wallpaper, I might not have the time to file my own tax returns, have the resources to manage a portfolio of property investments, or the technical knowledge to install a new computer system.

It is the maverick nature of Thought Leadership Marketing that makes it so accessible to the target audience. By placing an individual at the forefront of an organisation, you can humanise even the most seemingly dreary industries and turn business leaders into household names.

While most of us will never see international fame, it is entirely possible to become a star in your own niche. Think about it, no matter what industry you are in, there will always be a familiar go-to person who the media (either bloggers, trade press, local or national media) always seem to turn to for a quote, piece of analysis or interview. These people are Thought Leaders and there is no reason why you cannot steal a bit of their thunder with some careful positioning.