How can companies leverage new trends in the business world?

In a lot of ways thought leadership is about uncovering and understanding new trends in the market place. Thought leaders are those people who are on the leading edge of different ideas and who have done research and formed opinions on where things are going. They don’t come up with their ideas in a vacuum and the same goes for companies. But, it takes research and trend watching to really understand and help others understand the effect of those trends on themselves and the market.

That’s where the integration takes place between thought leadership and new trends. Wikipedia defines a thought leader as "a buzzword or article of jargon used to describe a futurist or person who is recognized among peers and mentors for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights".

One of the best ways to understand new trends is to do research through both user generated and third party surveys and interviews to understand and evaluate new trends as they’re happening.

Businesses can then leverage those new trends by becoming savvy thought leadership content marketers. However, just aggregating content and writing white papers isn’t enough. Both marketing and selling in the B2B/B2C world is changing dramatically and companies must learn new ways to connect with customers through social media channels and through thought leadership content and public forums. An important goal is to look at how you can provide insightful information on your industry and be of service to your customers.

There’s a Buyer Cycle Revolution happening and companies need to plan now for how they’re going to create relationships with their buyers going forward. As more and more buyers begin using social media and the Internet as part of their buying process, companies who use the same old selling techniques are going to fall behind in their sales efforts.

Businesses will need to make a shift as well and begin looking at how they can integrate their marketing strategies to include thought leadership content programs and market their content through Social Media Channels that will tie into their lead management systems. A company’s success and future brand leadership in the marketplace will be dependent on it.

New Trends
The Buyer Cycle Revolution
Gamification of Business

By Natalie L. Wood, The Thought Net, LLC

 

Natalie Wood is the President of The Thought Net, LLC (thethoughtnet.com), a consulting firm that helps organizations build their brands to become market leaders via thought leadership programs. You can reach Natalie at natalie@thethoughtnet.com

For more information on ways to increase your company's brand awareness and become a market leader through thought leadership marketing and events, please contact us at info@thethoughtnet.com or call our number below. Thank you.