Here at Retaindly, we work with a lot of executive search firms and executive recruiters to write and produce effective thought leadership and content that is impactful and drives results. Countless times I have seen search consultants write a blog post of ~500 words, but miss the mark entirely in terms of positioning themselves as a “Thought Leader” in their specialization.
The purpose for developing or building up a thought leadership library of content is to appropriately market and position yourself as a Trusted Advisor to win more search work. Content (for example: blog posts, articles, white papers, video, ebooks and more) is a great way to showcase your expertise and the value add you can bring to a client relationship. When writing and publishing your own thought leadership there are three major things you must consider for a piece to resonate with clients and prospects.
Relevancy. In this case relevancy means subject matter. When writing and creating content for your thought leadership library, search consultants and executive search firms should be focusing on themes, topics and ideas that are relevant to their target audience. For example if you are targeting new or prospective clients with content that focuses on interviewing tips, candidate resume editing, etc. - this content will not perform well and miss the mark. Prospective clients are gainfully employed and aren’t interested in content geared towards candidates. Choose a subject that keeps your prospects up at night and build upon this concept by adding your own opinions and expert insights as to how a solution can be reached.
Timeliness. In addition to writing and producing thought leadership content that is relevant to your audience, maintaining an element of timeliness is also important. Within your thought leadership, you can comment on reference any recent events or trends shifting within the industry. Instead of producing a basic article that discusses “Top Traits Leaders Need” focus on real-life examples of how these skills and / or traits will be leveraged. This will add a much more human and compelling perspective to your thought leadership content.
Value And Insight. The most common mistake I see search firms and executive recruiters make when writing thought leadership is not being able to articulate the value add they bring to a prospect or client. This is probably the toughest part of developing impactful thought leadership and requires a delicate balance of insights. Instead of focusing heavily on industry trends, reports or statistics do a deeper examination into how you view and foresee trends impacting your clients for both today and tomorrow. Truly effective thought leaders and writers are able to insert themselves into the perspective of the prospects they are targeting and allow for this to inform their content’s strategy. By considering the client’s perspective you are able to understand the obstacles and challenges they face and weave these solutions into your thought leadership, thus providing value.
This blog post is on the shorter side of a typical blog post length (564 words to be exact), however, we were able to touch on and communicate a few points that will add value and drive change within your thought leadership and content’s performance.
If you need help creating or refining your thought leadership content or would like to learn more about Retaindly - get in touch with us.
About The Author:
Thaddeus Andres has been working as a marketing expert serving executive search firms and individual executive recruiters for over 10 years. He has an intricate first-hand knowledge of the executive search process and the value executive search provides combined with 10 years of marketing expertise and execution.
Thaddeus has written and produced hundreds of thought leadership content pieces for executive search firms and executive recruiters across a wide variety of sectors. He has also designed websites, implemented lead generation campaigns, driven paid and organic social media campaigns, launched email marketing nurture programs and more.
10 years ago, Thaddeus fell into executive search and 10 years later his mission is to continue transforming the industry for the better through marketing, technology and collaboration. Get in touch with Thaddeus.