Thought leadership articles are the perfect opportunity for you to showcase your skills, knowledge and expertise.

But while you may be able to craft an award-winning piece of writing, if you don’t promote it properly there’s no point.

Thought leadership content typically takes the form of white papers, guides and reports.

Because of their longer form, they are usually harder for readers to readily access.

So what is the best strategy for attracting an audience for your work?

1) Tease it on social media

Your widest audience is social media.

So tap into it by posting a teaser sentence or two on channels such as LinkedIn and/or Twitter.

Include a link to the article that readers can click through to for the full version or a blog about it.

2) Blog about it

Blogs are another popular format.

Because they are more accessible, visitors are more likely to read them and, if they are still interested, click through to the main piece via a call to action button.

They are also extremely versatile, meaning you can put them on your website or a guest site, or promote them through an email campaign or on social media.

3) Extract a case study or two

Case studies are a great way to back up your article.

By taking an example from your piece, you can give a snapshot of what readers should expect from the complete version.

Again, they can be promoted via email, on your website or on social media.

4) Present your findings in a webinar or podcast

Make sure that you have all corners covered by also presenting your piece in an audio format.

The most popular and easily accessible forms are webinars and podcasts.

Webinars should typically be no longer than 45 minutes to one hour, while podcasts should be a maximum of 25 minutes, to hold the listener’s attention.

For webinars, if you can get participants to sign up and capture their contact details, with their consent you can keep in touch with them about other related and relevant items they may be interested in.

Promote through all the standard channels.

5) Re-spin and repurpose

There’s no limit to the number of different formats you can present your article in.

You can even publish it as a book or ebook that you can link to your blog, emails or website.

Or ask peers, affiliates or social media influencers to promote it on their feeds, blogs or websites.

Make sure that when you publish the different components online that everything links together seamlessly.

For example, social updates should drive traffic to your blogs, which feed through to your main piece.

Also, analyse what your peers and competitors are doing to see how they are marketing their thought leadership material in a way that you aren’t and what works well for them and use the best bits in your own.

Use relevant key words within your content to improve your search engine optimisation and thus your chances of being found.

Finally, regularly review your results to make sure you are reaching the right audience in the most effective way.

Get in touch

  • Need help writing your thought leadership article? Or want your piece to reach a wider audience? Give me a call on +44 (0)7949 590213 or email alex@alexwrightcopywriter.com