As newspapers and magazines continue to cut jobs, it is becoming increasingly difficult for small-to-mid sized companies to compete with larger organizations to garner media attention. So how can a company position itself as a valuable asset and tool for journalists while building trust, credibility and brand awareness with its customers? By becoming an industry thought leader.

Thought leadership can help generate coverage and position a company as an important influencer in the industry. Establishing a thought leadership program requires significant time commitment and dedication. There are several key elements to successfully implementing a thought leadership program. In order to become a well-respected thought leader, consider the following:

• Build Credibility – Building credibility requires that you establish yourself as an expert in your field. How do you do that? Educate yourself on what’s going on in your particular field and industry. Once you’ve established a clear point of view, you can communicate your ideas to the media and key audiences in a number of ways including interviews, byline articles, whitepapers, blogging and speaking at industry events. When expressing your perspective offer credible data points and resources.

• Express your opinions – A thought leader is someone with a clear point of view. In order to be “newsworthy” you must provide a compelling perspective on a particular issue and offer insight and predictions about the future of the industry. Think about your audience and make sure the opinions and perspectives that you offer are applicable to the issues they are facing.

• Foster your relationship – Persistence is key. Journalists are often very busy and receive hundreds of e-mails on a daily basis. In order to stay top of mind, follow up with your contacts regularly and look for innovative ideas to share with them. Comment on stories and blog posts. Securing the initial conversation may be difficult but once you have proven that you are a valuable resource, journalists will reach out to you and they will seek your opinion for future opportunities.

As indicated in previous blog posts, some of the ways companies can generate thought leadership include writing byline articles, leveraging newsworthy trends for feature stories and maintaining an informative and engaging corporate blog. In addition, here are other tools such as white papers, case studies and speaking opportunities that can be used to build thought leadership:

• White Papers

• Case Studies

• Corporate Blog

Thought leadership can be an effective tool to communicate a company’s passion and commitment to providing its customers and the broader marketplace with valuable perspective and information. We encourage you to generate an ongoing effort towards thought leadership by making it a strategic initiative within your company.