How to Use Content to Become a Thought Leader

ATTORNEY ACCOUNTANT COMMITTEE,NASSAU COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION

PRESENTED BY:STEVEN WILSON

What is a Thought Leader?

• An individual or firm that prospects recognize as a foremost authority in select areas.

• The go to individual or firm for said experience.

- Forbes

What is a Thought Leader?

• A person or entity that is recognized by peers for having progressive & innovative ideas.

- Wikipedia

Thought Leadership Facts

•Thought Leadership is about having the answers to the questions on the minds of your audience.

•Thought Leaders are a trusted resource and in an information industry are extremely valuable.

Thought Leadership Facts

•Thought Leaders have an enormous competitive edge.

•Prospects prefer Thought Leaders, regardless of price.

What Is Content Marketing?

•Creating, curating and sharing to engage customers and prospects.

•Use metrics to measure awareness, lead gen and customer acquisition.

•Make content easy to be found & draw customers to your web site.

What is Content Marketing?

What is Content Marketing?

•Content Marketing is providing value to receive value.

- Wikipedia

What is Content Marketing?

•Create a Call to Action (CTA) on your Home Page that leads to a Landing Page that offers a lead generation offer.

Why Content Marketing?

• “Circulation” is as wide as the Internet, not TV or radio ratings or print rate base.

•Much lower cost, much lower risk

• “Pull” vs. “Push” strategy.

How Do We Amplify Our Content?

• Offer a Novel Point of View (NPOV).

• LexisNexis and Google Trends for high quality news articles and trending keywords.

The Connection

•Thought Leaders create Trust openly and freely with valuable content.

•Prospects might be attracted to your NPOV but will relate to it only if they trust you

The Connection

•Thought Leadership & Content Marketing results do not happen overnight.

•Design strategy to nurture and build trust.

•Promote a NPOV as an idea in a way that your competitors cannot duplicate.

A Study in Thought Leadership

•Tax accounting firm wants to be a Thought Leader.

•New law that will have a dramatic effect on how to address depreciation of certain corporate assets.

A Study in Thought Leadership

•To be a Thought Leader the firm needs to do more than regurgitate the law.

•Need to dig into the law and determine how the law will impact companies.

•Must develop distinctive insights and a plan attached to the analysis that proves to be beneficial.

A Study in Content Marketing

• In 2001 River Pool and Spa (RPS) was a $4 million / year company in Virginia.

•They spent $400,000 / year on traditional (outbound) marketing, mostly in radio & cable TV.

• In 2007 – 2009 they added PPC (Google Adwords) with mixed results.

A Study in Content Marketing

• In 2010 Mike Sheridan, the RPS owner saw the cost of keywords rise dramatically.

•Mike realized he spent lots of hours sharing information on a one-to-one basis – and not selling.

• In 2011, Mike Sheridan decided to share his information online and make it easy to find.

A Study in Content Marketing

•The initial objective was to educate large groups and achieve one – to – many selling.

•Mike Sheridan put his faith in the fact that prospects trust sources where they find the most credible answers.

A Study in Thought Leadership

•Mike knew that people use Search Engines to get information.

•That web sites on the First page of Search Results are perceived as more credible.

•Mike felt he could leverage information and SEO to draw prospects to the RPS web site.

A Study in Content Marketing

•Blog with valuable content worth sharing on swimming pools and maintenance.

•To rank high on search engines he regularly added new and insightful content.

•For 18 months he blogged at a consistent 2x / week pace and his search engine visibility grew.

A Study in Content Marketing

• Mike’s focus on keywords and long tail keywords contributed to his success.

• He compiled the questions from clients and turned them into blog post headlines, which resonated with customers.

• Mike learned that long tail keywords, although they were lower volume, were highly qualified.

• Mike created diverse content, sometimes on pool pricing, other times on pool installation.

A Study in Content Marketing

•Mike’s use of openly sharing information helped strenghten RPS’s credibility.

•The turning point was RPS’s NPOV on pool pricing.

• It went against industry policy.

A Study in Thought Leadership

• Mike’s “Fiberglass Pool Prices, How much was my pool really going to cost?”

• Blog received 20,359 Page Views and 84 Inbound Links – the highest numbers in his history.

• Mike’s ultimate goal of blogging was to draw leads and close deals. So, he added a Call to Action (CTA) to his Blog.

A Study in Content Marketing

• Instead of a CTA on the bottom of his Blog (standard) he put a general message and links to diverse sources at the top of the blog which no one could miss.

i.e., “free pool industry news and information”.

• In addition, a search box in the center of his Blog to make it easy for prospects to find links on his site.

A Study in Thought Leadership

•Mike used Link building to strengthen the Blog’s credibility and visibility on Google.

•He got Inbound Links – links to a blog from authoritative third party sites.

•They also used external Inbound Links on his Blog page to other web sites.

A Study in Content Marketing

• Social Media to promote his Blog and updated the RPS business Facebook page as frequently as it updated it Blog.

• Mike also participated in online forums related to swimming pools.

• He provided answers to inquiries and referred people to the RPS Blog for additional resources.

A Study in Thought Leadership

• In 18 months the RPS blog grew from

50 views and 467 blog subscribers to:

45,000 blog page views and 400 views for each blog article.

A Study in Thought Leadership

•Oh yeah,

River Pools & Spa sales tripled to:

$12 million / year.

A Study in Content Marketing

•The River Pool and Spa Case Study is one example of how Content Marketing can help your firm become a Thought Leader and in the process help propel you in ways you could never imagine.

•Mike Sheridan committed to a strategy, similar to one you can adopt for your firm.

Steven Wilson

Steven@SMWMarketingNY.com

631-539-2084

www.SMWMarketingNY.com