The Lure of Thoughtertainment
Thoughtertainment is my word for content that looks like thought leadership on the surface but, in fact, serves other ends. As the word suggests, some of it may even be entertaining to read and think about. But the deeper you dig, the more you realize that it just doesn’t have a lot of substance. What’s […]
Marketing Outside the Cage
What happens when you leave behind the desperation-jacking and toxic incentives of content marketing? Content platforms exist for you to fill with content. They will do everything possible to supply their feeds—obligatory reverse foie gras production. Just keep stuffing those ducks. You’re as deprived of freedom as they are. The Choice But there’s one essential […]
The Ultimate Content Algorithm Hack
1 The ultimate algorithm hack is “so what?” “So what?” means extracting yourself from dependency on playing a game whose rules you don’t control. 1.1 Think, write, and publish as if algorithms were irrelevant. Because for thought leadership, what matters is getting your ideas in front of the right people, not the largest number of […]
Growth Mindsets and Thought Leadership
One of the reasons I stress that thought leadership goes beyond marketing is that it gives individuals and organizations a growth mindset. Those who can create change based on ideas often do so by advocating for those ideas effectively. Ideas promoted via thought leadership typically foster individual thought leaders’ professional development and industry influence. They […]
How to Generate Ideas
Generating ideas is the first element of the GRACE model for ideas-led growth. New ideas are the seeds of organizational change and thought leadership. The problem is that few idea-generation methods are up to the task of generating them, let alone in a viable or sustainable way. Even further, most notions of an idea are […]
Beyond Thought Leadership
Something has been bothering me about thought leadership for a little while now. It has turned into a content marketing cliche. Its importance has become inflated. Ideas-Led Growth: Going Beyond Thought Leadership In reality, thought leadership content is simply one tool among many to do something bigger, which is to advocate for change and rally […]
What’s Your Thought Leader Persona?
Who are you as a thought leader? There are many ways to take a stance on a particular topic. Choosing a persona can be a useful technique for creating consistency. Adopting specific personas can shape both individual pieces of thought leadership and their overarching brand. The What and Why of Personas Think of it this […]
Restoring Trust in Marketing
Marketing may have a seat at the table in business strategy discussions, but most of the time, it seems to have a whoopie cushion on it. However, it’s not the fault of individual marketers. Almost without exception, marketers are thoughtful, creative leaders and contributors. They care deeply about their business’s outcomes and customers. Nevertheless, marketing […]
New Year, New Light: Replacing Resolutions
We all know that resolutions don’t work. But what’s the alternative? Ten years ago, I decided to stop making New Year’s resolutions and replace them with annual themes. Instead of a Resolution… The phrase “annual theme” doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as easily as “new year’s resolution,” but choosing a theme for the year […]
Graceful Vision and Graceful Ethics (A Manifesto for Thought Leaders)
All too often, we content marketers get stuck working in the trenches. We stop noticing the stenches. Yet, grace gives us a way out. Ugh, The Stench! Digital channels for content marketing have become open digital sewers. We know it. We can smell it. We experience the stink and waste in multiple ways, but it […]