Episode Summary
Thought leadership is often perceived as a process where you share your expertise with the world.
But thought leadership is not just about having big ideas; it’s also about creating a community based on your beliefs and thoughts.
In this episode of the Notorious Thought Leader podcast, our host Erin Balsa welcomes Devin Bramhall, a marketing advisor, a TEDx organizer, and a speaker trainer. They dive deep into the concept of thought leadership, how it intertwines with content marketing, and why it’s important to tell people what you stand for.
Guest Profile
- Name: Devin Bramhall
- What She does: She's a marketing advisor.
- Company: N/A
- Noteworthy: Devin is the former CEO of Animalz, a remote content marketing agency producing the best content on the web for B2B Saas companies. She's also a TEDx organizer, a speaker trainer, and the founder of Master Slam, a poetry slam-style debate about startups and tech.
Key Insights
- Thought leadership intertwines with content marketing. Thought leadership has been around for ages, and it's definitely not a new concept, but it has recently become very popular with companies and leaders. As Devin points out, thought leadership is actually very similar to content marketing. She explains, "I guess you could call that thought leadership. To me, it's content marketing. It was part of a content marketing strategy that we put together and executed that served the objectives that our team was tasked with, which at the time was top of the funnel; so, it was traffic. And so I think it's a term that people are using now to talk about something that already existed."
- Be as authentic as possible. The world is constantly trying to change you, but that gives you all the more reasons to be your true authentic self. If you want to stand out in a saturated field, you need to be as authentic as possible. Devin says, "There are different ways of being authentic. So, there are restrictions; the world has constraints. It's fine. We don't have to freak out about it. So maybe publicly, you have to be 30% more constrained, but you can still be authentic with your peers and in groups and events or other places where you're not kind of shouting from the rooftops. Those are places where nuanced discussions can be had and where you can say what you mean. There are no sound bites; there's no recording. So I think it's just about being smart about what you say and where you say it."
- Tell people what you stand for. Instead of constantly taking an anti approach, try taking a pro approach for once. Tell people what you stand for. That's how you'll become a true thought leader. Devin says, "Come up with a hot take and share that and build your brand on that. That's an opportunity, and it's like you don't have to just be anti something. What about being pro something else? And then, now you've got a brand opportunity there. [...] Tell me what you're for then, and now you can, and you will, have followers."
Episode Highlights
Thought leadership is about sharing your subject matter expertise with the world
“I think it means nothing the more we use it, but on a very basic level, it’s a subject matter expert talking about the thing they’re an expert in. That’s literally it. Quite literally, thought leadership is just someone who knows a lot about something and is either building a brand around it or using it to build the brand that they work for. It’s a person talking about something they know.”
Leaning too hard on an individual to grow your brand is risky
“The thing that I have always been wary of is — as you’re trying to grow a brand, leaning too hard on individuals at the brand to grow it; [individuals] who aren’t fundamental like founders or core to the business because again, if they leave, that puts the brand at risk. But at the same time, that’s what works now.”
Take a pro approach
“Following the buzzy anti-messaging alone isn’t a stand. It’s not going to help you stand out. And I think, right now, especially among the sort of work-related banter, the anti category is oversaturated. What’s the pro category and a realistic pro? What would a positive future look like? How do you get there? What do people need to learn? What do companies need to learn? What do leaders need to learn? What do workers need to learn? It’s like, help me down that path.”
SaaSWorks is a great example of content marketing done right
“The example I have is a company that isn’t actually producing a lot of content right now, but their approach to content is correct and smart. So the company is called SaaSWorks, and they make a product for CFOs, and they are taking what I think is a really smart approach, which is they really understand who they’re selling to and what their problems are because they not only did the research themselves over the course of a year, but also they hired a research company to go talk to CFOs one-to-one and go even deeper.”
