Be the Talk of Your Industry – Tech Thought Leadership in Six Steps

In the fiercely competitive tech world, businesses must stay ahead of the curve to survive and succeed. With new technologies and competitors emerging every day, it's becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate oneself in this crowded market. However, strategic public relations (PR) tactics, specifically thought leadership efforts, can help your business stand out from the crowd.

To start, what is thought leadership? It refers to being recognized as an expert in your field by sharing your unique insights on industry-related news, trends and best practices. By doing so, you can establish trust with your audience, build brand awareness and, most importantly, generate leads and sales. Here are six key components to building out your thought-leadership efforts:

1. Get to the why of your story: People listen to stories that resonate with them emotionally, so it’s critical to understand the emotional motivation behind your message. Before developing your content, ask yourself why your target audience should care about your insights. What problem is your product or service solving, and why is that important to your customer? Is your service enabling broadband connectivity in an underserved area? How does that impact local businesses and consumers? Engage PR strives to tell a story in our press releases with relevant statistics. For example, we provided extra research to contextualize Latin America’s booming tech industry as part of our Mexico Connect campaign with a global internet carrier, explaining why a network expansion was significant in the region.  

2. Pinpoint your target audience: The second step is identifying your target audience and their needs. Who are the people you want to reach, and how can you craft a story that matters to them? By understanding the specific needs and preferences of your audience, you can choose the right channels to maximize your content’s reach. Pinpointing your target audience helps you narrow your thought leadership strategy to the most important outlets, ensuring that relevant readers will recognize your company’s perspective on pressing issues.

3. Find the unique points in your story: In a crowded market, it’s essential to find the unique differentiator in your story that will help your company stand out. What is your story saying that hasn’t been said? Even better, can your story present a contrarian viewpoint? For example, we asked a client recently if they manufacture their components in the US or overseas. Supply chain constraints and the U.S. CHIPS ACT have highlighted the importance of domestic components manufacturing, so we tied their answer to a newsworthy angle.  

4. Develop an interesting angle: Once you've established your unique points, you must brainstorm ways to spin the topic and make it more engaging. This is where an experienced PR agency can help. They can provide fresh perspectives and outside-the-box thinking to help you develop innovative angles that resonate with your target audience. There are many compelling angles for any story; a good PR agency can help you navigate your options.

5. Create shareable, high-quality content: Include graphics or videos to draw attention and get people talking. Ensure your content is informative, inspiring, well-written and free of company and product promotion to establish you as a trusted source of information in your industry. In our own efforts, social media posts with good visuals always perform well, so ensure you have visual content to accompany written content if you want to maximize your thought-leadership reach.

6. Identify key influencers shaping industry narratives that resonate with your buyers: A company in a crowded market must target key influencers who have an established platform and a respected voice, including media, analysts and other decision-makers. Relationships with these influencers can help you increase your visibility in the market, expand your reach and establish credibility.

Want to be a thought leader? Don’t overthink it

Thought leadership is a powerful PR tactic that can help technology businesses get ahead and take their brand to the next level. Though it's important to include the essential components when looking to create an effective campaign, thought leadership is much more than just technical expertise and industry advice. In addition to being perceived as influential and knowledgeable, companies must engage in conversations that give value back to their audience, so they can be seen as relatable and reliable. Businesses should strive to become credible resources for discussion on salient topics in their respective industries if they hope to shape the narratives that matter to their customers.  

However, these can be choppy waters to navigate, so an adept PR agency can help steer your thought leadership efforts without adding more work to your plate. If you're ready for your tech brand to stand out from the competition, consider engaging with a PR firm that has helped other tech brands create successful thought leadership campaigns. Let our team of professionals guide you through this journey and create a thought leadership platform your customers will appreciate.

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