Thought Leadership - its role in building competitive advantage

transcript

Thought Leadership builds competitive advantage

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

Competitive Strategy How and where to compete?

The Elements of Competitive Strategy

Target Market

Differentiation

Target Market

Differentiation Strategic Assets

Work in your “sweet spot” Market on expertise, not price

The Masterchef Challenge

Utilize your unique ingredients

Strategic Assets

• Unique to your firm

Strategic Assets

• “Path-dependent”

Strategic Assets

• Usually intangible

Strategic Assets

• Superior to those of competitors

Strategic Assets

• Difficult for competitors to copy or acquire

Strategic Assets

• Difficult for competitors to copy or acquire

• Contribute to something that clients want

1.“Firm-specific” assets

• Competencies, firm-wide skills

• Organizational culture

• IP, e.g. patents, licences

• Systems

• Lines of capital

2.“Market-based” assets

• Reputation

• Brand awareness

• Reputation

• Brand awareness

• Brand image

• Reputation

• Brand awareness

• Brand image

• Relationships with customers, suppliers, distributors, referrers

What’s special and different about you?

and how can you enhance it?

Your “thought leadership” capability

can become a strategic asset

Here’s my proposition:

Thought Leadership defined:

Thought Leadership defined:• The term was first coined in 1994, by Joel Kurtzman, editor-in-

chief of the magazine Strategy+Business

• Thought leaders are individuals or organisations that are recognised by peers, customers and industry experts as someone who deeply understands the business they are in, the needs of their customers, and the broader marketplace in which they operate

• Thought leaders have a distinctively original idea, a unique point of view or an insight

In professional services

• A thought leader is a subject-matter expert who has unique insights or perspectives to share in his or her area of expertise.

• Their ideas are packaged in an accessible and attractive format, and may change the way people think, and sometimes even the future direction of an industry or community.

Thought leadership is not...

• Pure information

• Pure opinion

• Pure criticism

• Pure opinion

• Pure criticism

• Just getting quoted

• Pure opinion

• Pure criticism

• Just getting quoted

• Just thinking

Thought leadership A sophisticated blend

4 types of promotion(thought leadership could be a 5th)

• Advertising

• Public Relations

• Word of mouth

• Personal selling

An important distinction

• Advertising asserts your expertise

• Thought leadership demonstrates your expertise

• If it looks, feels or smells like advertising, it’s not thought leadership!

The window of opportunity

Get on the client’s “short list”

4 steps to thought leadership

• Have a strategy

• Find something interesting to say

• Have a strategy

• Say it in an interesting way

• Have a strategy

• Say it in an interesting way

• Leverage your work

1. Have a strategy

2. Find something interesting to say

3. Say it in an interesting way

4. Leverage your efforts Get a bigger audience

Leverage your content

• Break it into bits

• Expand it

• Deliver it in different ways

• Expand it

• Deliver it in different ways

• Use different media

• Internet provides potentially huge audience

• Publish via Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, relevant web sites

Leverage your time

Leverage your effortsGet your work in front of

more peopleSay it in an interesting way

Expand with models, metaphors and content

Find something interesting to say

Create your contentHave a strategy

How do you want to be positioned?

Your Thought Leadership Plan

How does thought leadership build

competitive advantage?

Thought Leadership Positions you as the expert

Thought leadership builds reputation and

relationships

(and these are strategic assets)

Attract clients instead of chasing them