Own the Issue, Engage the Audience, Master the Market

It’s not about us, our image or our offerings. To excel and win in today’s marketplace, we have to be seen as something more than mere peddlers of products and services. We have to be thought leaders on the issues that are most relevant to our audiences.

 

To be a thought leader, one must establish a role as a provider of superior guidance. But to accomplish this objective, we must, in a sense, own an issue or issues.

 

Where are you today and where do you want to go in the future? Where, most importantly, do you want to take your audience? Given the issues you identify, what questions do they raise for your audience? If the issue is Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, then you will raise a certain set of concerns with certain audiences. But the issue could be all sorts of things. It might be offshore outsourcing or energy prices or turbulence in the economy.

Whatever the issue, you are then challenged to answer the questions it raises for your intended audience. You ultimately must fill their knowledge gaps – or, at least, some of them.

Once you demonstrate that you understand the key issues that matter to your audience and the implications these issues raise for them, you are in a position to offer recommendations that will have an impact. You are a thought leader on your way to becoming a market leader. You are illuminating the future.

Comments

[GamePlanHayden]

In other words, "if you aren't a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem."

We always go through the motion with a client trying to engage an audience...it is not about the millions that allow a CPM value to be monetized -- it is about the diligent qualification of those eyeballs, hearts and minds that are earnestly engaged. To do this, it goes beyond relevance and into the realm of addressing the needs of an audience in terms of convenience, community, control and emotion...all of which are tied to our personal issues and needs.

[Britton Manasco]

Interesting response. You are clearly honing in on the necessity for us to increase our sophistication about what customers need, want and intend to do. "Diligent qualification," as you put it, will be the focus in the coming years, I believe -- much more so than mere lead generation. But engaging them in the first place will require greater research and insight, too. BLM

[Brian Massey]

How about this spin: the first product you provide to a customer is information to help them understand their problem. Suddenly, marketing isn't a separate function, it's a feature of your product. How would this change your approach to your Web site?

[Britton Manasco]

Now I know we're on the same wavelength because this is EXACTLY what I am arguing. Consulting firms have been the first to grasp this dynamic, but soon everyone will.

Just as Dell and HP bring "Intel Inside," I am arguing that product companies should bring "McKinsey Inside" -- positioning strategic consulting and professional guidance as part of their overall offering. Strategy firm McKinsey & Co puts its strategic frameworks into its articles, which it publishes in places like the McKinsey Quarterly and uses to attract new business. The key is to offer valuable content in exchange for the prospect's attention along a decision cycle. Content-rich marketing -- the guidance -- becomes part of the offering. The buyer, meanwhile, chooses one seller over another because they offer superior guidance -- whether or not the buyer explicitly pays for the guidance with money... I think this is my next post. ;>)

[Mike Barlow]

Britton, I'm beginning to think that maybe thought leadership is the ONLY reliable platform for a successful business development program, especially if most of your outreach is online and through social media. Content is king (or queen)and you can't generate fresh content without thinking. But we need a new sexy name for this strategy... how about "vision intelligence" or "vision horizon" or something along those lines. Cheers!