thought leadership Archives | Digital Brand Expressions

100% Genuinely Organic, Naturally Grown, Preservative-Free Brand Authenticity

Natalie Lorenzo — Fri, 02 Sep 2022 07:00:09 +0000

Let’s take a second to imagine….

Imagine a person (let’s call them Avery) that is 100% themselves and nothing less.

Avery does a lot of *insert cool, sustainable, earth-loving hobby here* (without rubbing in other’s faces that they’re morally superior).

They’re always welcoming with a warm ear to listen.

They understand they are not perfect and are willing to make strides to improve themselves.

I like to think some of the most authentic brands have this vibe. Like our precariously unique friend, some brands have uncovered the secrets to authenticity and unlocked the doors of customer trust. This is done by adding humanity back into the picture.

Kindness is a Lifestyle. Not a Trend.

Our friend, Avery, volunteers regularly and lends a hand to their loved ones whenever they can. Not just on important events or major holidays. Recognizing the needs of others comes instinctually.

Honest brands do work with their impact in mind. When you walk down an aisle at a grocery store, there are certain labels that make you feel better about your choice like “B-corp” or “Fair Trade”. Brands have to undergo strict requirements to meet these standards. It’s not just a 1-cent donation on every purchase for a month.

Brands that pursue these certifications continuously pour heart, soul, and committed dedication into making their ethical dreams reality. On the other hand, not only is the company doing good, but the consumer can support a brand that aligns with their values.

Environmental, social, governance (ESG) is not a phase or a one-off event. It’s a humble and constant climb towards better. Like the section title says: kindness is a lifestyle.

Brands that do this well:

One Tribe Apparel – Their startup story is beautiful and heartfelt. For each purchase, One Tribe donates a dollar toward supporting The Elephant Nature Park. (Not just one pair of limited-edition elephant pants, but every purchase.)
REI – The fact you can join their co-op makes you a face for the company and intentionally connects you to the brand community. The outdoor community is known for members looking out for each other. This quality is especially prevalent through REI’s rental and used gear programs. Saving the planet and making adventures more affordable.

Being Heard

When you’re upset, Avery is tuned in. They know how much space to give and when to react. When they listen, they immerse themselves in the words and body language… reaching one step closer to understanding another’s perspective.

Listening is a hard-earned skill, and it has to be constantly adapted to each person. People and their emotions exist in 4-D. If everyone is a point in space, you never get the full perspective of what someone else sees. You can only view it from your standpoint… which can be a good thing. Different vantage points allow for insights others may miss. It’s important for people to share through the give and take of communication.

It’s the same for brands.

A brand’s individual customers have their own unique viewpoints. Brands that recognize that can grow beyond themselves. So, authentic brands must give people platforms to be heard. “In today’s wired world, the most authentic marketing tactic is to actually do something about customer feedback” (Weinberger, hbr.org). Whether that’s through an easy-to-use, highly responsive “Contact Us” page, very well-versed customer reps, or website chat boxes, providing a platform for customers to be heard is important. To sharpen the point, consider this: according to the American Marketing Association, 68% of consumers say they “feel more confident about brands that they can message” (Zeng, ama.org).

… But we don’t need statistics to know that people need to be heard. You already know deep down that being truly heard can be uplifting for everyone.

Brands that listen well:

Amazon – (Pushing the big business perspective off to the side for now) How many things have you returned to Amazon in the past year? Probably more than any other store. They’ve worked hard to hone their process to make sure returns are streamlined, so you get what you need done without a compilation of phone calls, email chains, and strongly worded letters that shout into the void.
Mentionlytics – Their chatbox function is very simple and connects you with product professionals quickly and easily. Then, they give you full email copies of your conversation for future reference. Unlike other businesses in their space, their free trial allows you hands-on experience, so you can judge the platform from your perspective, not a sales rep walking you through theirs.

Being… Human

Imperfection is ingrained into our nature. Avery knows this and will proudly preach this to anyone that asks. Humans learn from their quirks and differences. Although difficult, Avery works hard to gracefully hear out criticism. These practices can help them become more conscious of the world and the people in it.

As marketers, we can get the urge to appear immaculately branded. This perfectionism is what makes brands appear cold and robotic (in their negative connotations).

Now, what I am not saying is to run around making purposeful mistakes and heroically apologizing for them (although if they do happen, amends are required). I’m talking about making brands approachable. They speak your language, honestly and relatably.

One tricky, yet rewarding form of brand communication is through comedy. Campaign UK has an insightful article on the trials and perks of this campaign style (noting randomness as their comedy of choice).

Drawing back, humanity is what makes the brands real and whole. It makes you feel more at ease when you know your money is going to people, instead of a faceless corporation.

Brands that do “human” well:

Apple Genius Bar – The Apple Genius Bar, particularly in the Apple Store, connects you with people just like you (but with more technical knowledge). The genius bar puts a face to Apple and makes the brand responsible for their products’ user friendliness, glitches, etc.
Rocketbook – Rocketbook has a product that could easily be bland as, well, blank paper. But they add their own nerdy personality to all business communication. The brand, also, seems fueled by customer comments and reviews. In fact, this blog post highlights the authentically humorous nature of the brand.

Outro

As people, we strive to achieve our goals individually.

But…

When we work together, we fill in the natural imperfections in each other. Making a more whole, better entity as a whole. An entity that strives for genuine authenticity, like our friend, Avery.

Brands can be an amalgamation of the brightest attributes of the people running them. If we do this, authenticity is uncovered and it can be fostered into a beautiful, collaborative business.

And who knows? With a bit of love, thoughtfulness, and dedication, we think you can build A–very authentic brand. 😊

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“I Give Advice on Social Media, Therefore, I Am a Thought Leader” But… Are You Really?

Natalie Lorenzo — Tue, 24 May 2022 08:00:49 +0000

(Begin cheesy movie trailer with intense, “Highlander-There-Can-Be-Only-One-esque” music)

In a world where everyone claims to be an expert…

(flies onto screen)

we find ourselves drowning in an endless sea of perspective

(music breaks down)

Constant polls with the same 3 questions

Unremitting carousels about the same 5 ways to get qualified leads

Perpetual posts on how to use social media “the right way”

(dramatic pause)

If you’re into broken records, this is a docuseries you can’t miss…

(music rewinds)

#OnRepeat: Thought Leadership Wasteland

Coming Next Fall

We’ve all scrolled through our feeds only to come across the same unoriginal content. “71% of Decision-Makers say less than half the thought leadership they consume gives them valuable insights” (Edelman and LinkedIn, edelman.com).

With more than half of thought leadership content being nugatory to decision-makers, we must take a look at how we define a thought leader. Let’s break down the value and true meaning of thought leadership on social media.

What’s Easy & What’s Worth It

It may be easy to repost someone else’s post on “3 Hot Tips to Build Instagram Followers,” but what are you gaining? More importantly, how is your audience benefitting? If you were in their shoes, would you follow your own account? [see below]

In William Arruda’s book Digital You: Real Personal Branding in the Virtual Age, he states:

“The most productive path to selective fame requires that you think of yourself as a thought leader and commit to sharing your knowledge, expertise, and opinions with your stakeholders. Content creation is often the biggest stressor for those who want to grow their brand through thought leadership. Even the most ambitious digital branders can feel inundated when it comes to increasing visibility with their target audience.”

You’re not the only person that feels the weight of content creation. It may feel like a burden to brainstorm original, thought-provoking content, but it’s worth the effort. No one wants to follow a parrot.

How do you go about creating original content? It’s all about perspective. Only you can articulate thoughts like… you. A group of people can be told to write about the same subject, but none of them will write like another. Your strength lies in your individual voice. Even if your thoughts are not ground-breaking, the way you articulate them may be.

Investing in the research and content creation your audience values will ultimately come back to you. Serve the right value to them, they’ll respect you and, hopefully, serve it right back to you. Content karma.

Finding the Right Minds

How do we start on this value-adding journey?

Just as this heading suggests… find the right minds (AKA your audience). Eric Bartow in his book, Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing, says that building brand authority “[b]egin[s by] finding and joining communities that you think will be mutually beneficial, and… participating in the conversations taking place. That way, when you’re ready to share something of your own, you’re not a complete stranger to the group.”

Groups let you get the tea straight from the horses’ mouths. By joining communities, you’ll know what’s hot for your audience. From there, you can build rapport and establish your expertise via comments, posts… basically, general conversation.

Note: While it is imperative to interact with a digital crowd, don’t underestimate the power of in-person networking for social media thought leadership. While digital media may be able to paste you on countless people’s screens, meaningful face-to-face interactions can bring bountiful word-of-mouth recommendations to others too.

As you build your audience, consistent engagement helps you become memorable. When Wendy’s Twitter started snapping back with sassy remarks on naysayers, people not only remembered the fast food chain, but started having fun engaging with it. (Check out their 2022 National Roast Day Highlights for a snicker.) While Wendy’s may not be a traditional thought leader, they do a bang-up job of keeping up with their audience.

Genuine engagement adds humanity to your brand. Between automated messaging, follow bots, and the digital takeover, directly and truly engaging with your audience is what divides an adequate social presence from a real person…a spellbinding thought leader.

Loyalty Royalty

Brand loyalty should = brand royalty. If you build your audience sincerely, they have the potential to stick with you. Please don’t do them dirty, especially the early followers. They are the ones that will feel pride in having discovered you.

As you may know, people love to be the “first” – the “pioneers”. I know a couple that attended a concert with U2 as an opener. To this day, they cannot remember the starring act. The vivacity of the U2 performance overshadowed the reason they originally bought the tickets. Now, when U2 comes on the radio, they can think of themselves as some of the original fans of the Irish rock band.

Your audience is the same. If you provide them the right value consistently, some will relish their fandom of you, and you’ll want to reward that. How you reward them is up to you. It could be advanced announcements about your latest e-book or access to a live webcast just for them. Think of it like a Patreon profile, but they reward you with a sale/lead/conversion when you exclusively extend them your thought-leadership knowledge.

According to social media expert Kim Walsh Phillips, “[t]he future of business lies in the [leads/marketing] list, in the relationship you build with your audience, and the value you give them. Not in the transaction of the sale” (Phillips). Sales are great, but the true goal of thought leadership content and engagement is to create loyal followers who not only buy from you but who influence others to do the same.

People Who Are Doing It Right

Looking for some inspiration? Here’s a list of established thought leaders that get our thumbs up ?. We don’t have all day, so let’s keep this to LinkedIn marketing experts:

Flavilla Fongang
- Not only does she promote herself, Fongang does a beautiful job of supporting others. She often comments and shares ideas and stories from various professionals.
Dana DiTomaso
- DiTomaso deeply commits to helping others understand digital marketing. After releasing a LinkedIn course, she took time to engage with the individuals who posted about taking the course… showing the value of the audience.
Jay Baer
- Baer has a bright, humorous personality. His articles and posts spread valuable marketing and customer experience insights seasoned with his blunt, yet entertaining voice.
Ross Simmonds
- Simmonds uses his brief, to-the-point voice to share his thoughts on digital advertising to marketing. He does this not only through written word, but through video content, as well!
Robert Rose
- Rose keeps followers up-to-date on the latest news in marketing. He uses his channel to emphasize the people’s side of marketing, rather than just the numbers.
Ann Handley

Ann Handley is a master of her personal brand. Her content is informational, yet it makes her feel extremely approachable as a person.

Build-A-Brand

As the old saying goes – quality before quantity. That can’t be truer in developing a thought leadership brand. We’d all rather see some honest, truly insightful pieces than a sloppy, repetitive blog post each week. Parrots are a dime a dozen.… Thought leadership is industry-influencing… even world-changing. ?

Ready for a cheeky chuckle?
Here’s some further reading from Inc…

Sources

Arruda, William. Digital You : Real Personal Branding in the Virtual Age.
Association for Talent Development, 2019. EBSCOhost,
discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=4aebf163-e3d9-32f7-ab31-5f5c6a653e79.

Eric Butow, et al. Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing. Entrepreneur Press,
2020. EBSCOhost, discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=a9a40b5c-23cc-3fc8-b002-1fd5c78ca73b.

Kingsbury, Joe, et al. “2021 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study – Edelman.com.”
Edelman, Edelman & LinkedIn, 2021,

https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2021-09/2021_EdelmanLinkedIn_B2B_ThoughtLeadershipImpact.pdf.

Dan S. Kennedy, and Kim Walsh Phillips. No B.S. Guide to Direct Response Social
Media Marketing : The Ultimate No Holds Barred Guide to Producing
Measurable, Monetizable Results with Social Media Marketing.
Entrepreneur Press, 2020. EBSCOhost,discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=a1bd565c-e65a-33dc-9726-9ae722232f00.

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