Teaming Up With eLearning Bloggers
What is Thought Leadership Marketing and How Can You Use Its Benefits for Your E-Learning Business?
First, let’s analyze what thought leadership marketing is. Thought leadership is a strategy that content marketers use to build credibility. You either do this for yourself, as marketer, or for the executives in your company.
If you are into content marketing to achieve thought leadership, the main goal is to be recognized as a top expert in your field. That way, prospects will trust you and consider you a respectable person. With this approach, technical experts become a point of contact in their niche areas.
To become a thought leader, one can create and publish helpful educational content. For example, our own C.Pappas is a well-known blogger and industry leader in eLearning. Such influencers are active in the industry community, especially on social sites, and always have something valuable to say about new trends. They even post eLearning software reviews! And believe me, your opinion is very important.
Would you like to better understand the benefits of thought leadership and why you should implement it? Continue reading!
Do you want to become a thought leader in eLearning?
Learn how to address your ideal buyers and effectively influence their purchase decisions.
Benefits of Thought Leadership Marketing
In a crowded place like the eLearning marketplace, who wouldn’t want to use the power of thought leadership marketing to break the noise, especially when it comes to B2B businesses in the eLearning niche?
There are so many eLearning solutions out there today that it is difficult for companies to choose. Hence, it takes a breakthrough strategy to dominate the brand conversation. Your approach should make sure your voice is heard. And make sure prospects highlight your solutions in the crowded eLearning marketplace.
To do that, you need to use a powerful tool that is not just another marketing jargon. You need to find a solution that will help position your company as a leader in its field. There is no better way to do this than using thought leadership marketing to your advantage. So are you done Here are some of the key benefits of thought leadership marketing:
1. Advertising loves thought leadership
By being a thought leader, you can increase your PR opportunities. That said, if the industry sees you as an expert in your field, more media outlets, bloggers, and influencers will get in touch with you. You will feel the need to seek your advice since you are the expert. As a result, this can lead to more publicity. Imagine being featured in major publications … that would skyrocket your brand awareness and maybe attract more customers in the future.
The more niche-related your expertise, the better. For example, you might be the best person to talk to about gamification in e-learning. It’s about creating a buzz in your niche. So make it your goal this year to become the contact person for eLearning matters.
2. Thought leadership fuels content and promotes cooperation
An enormous amount of content is created every day. Hence, creators use such content published by thought leaders as one of the most popular resources for finding new trends and ideas.
Having a content creator referencing your work will create more publicity for you and your eLearning business. You can also contact content creators for collaboration. Even if other bloggers refer to your work, you gain influence when it comes to backlinking opportunities.
I bet you might be thinking, “If thought leadership marketing can bring new deals, I’ll be there!” Good for you!
3. You can build credibility and increase trust through content
Successful eLearning industry leaders provide people with valuable information on an ongoing basis. This is what creates credibility and relationship. At the same time, you can use thought leadership content to gain the respect of your colleagues. This can make your supporters more likely to help you.
Plus, your customers and prospects will trust you more. The main goal of thought leadership marketing is to make them feel like you gave them something of value. As a result, you will be able to increase the chances of choosing your company over a competitor.
It’s no secret that your expertise is an important part of your eLearning brand. Hence, your customers or clients want to know that they are hiring or buying from knowledgeable people. That means your team has to show that there is a lot of experience in every area. Hence, getting this message across in your marketing and PR is vital to growth and success.
Tips for planning your thought leadership marketing strategy
The most respected industry leaders are giving away all kinds of content. Most of all, they do this for free. For example, you can publish content in the form of webinars, eBooks, podcasts, videos, blog posts, and more.
Those who already have an audience are in luck because more people will land on their content. However, companies that lack an audience typically turn to other influencers and e-learning executives to leverage an already-integrated audience and get huge results.
Let’s analyze!
a) How to become an industry leader in eLearning
Giving away free content in any form can be your way of showing your expertise and engaging with your audience. Of course, this wouldn’t happen if you asked for money right away. This is the sweet spot of content marketing and thought leadership. They help prospects come to you and then gradually and elegantly get them converting through lead nurturing.
Generosity makes them trust you. By supporting and supporting the people in your target group, you make it your business to offer them real added value. This is how influential e-learning companies reach more people, build loyalty and gain market share.
For example, you can create stories and content that focus on titles like How To, Why You Need To Know, and How To. You can use your content as lead magnets. This is a great way to target prospects and customers and turn them into paying customers later.
Just choose the best eLearning topics to write about and create valuable funnels of free information.
Read the following information for more information on creating the perfect content strategy for your eLearning business:
b) Reasons for working with e-learning bloggers and influencers
To get to the top you often need more than your own strength and knowledge. And to be honest, the influencer marketing industry continues to grow every year. As a result, more and more agencies and brands are integrating influencers into their overall marketing strategies. They do this either by marketing their commercial messages or by sharing their value propositions with the influencers’ followers.
Influencers and bloggers know their audience, but they also know how to get their message across to their dedicated fans. Additionally, working with them is inexpensive and can help you grow your organic traffic.
Additionally, if you care about SEO, you should know that working with bloggers can also affect your SEO rankings. Hence, it is best that you choose carefully who you will work with. This way, you can increase your credibility by improving your ranking on Google Search as well.
One of the best things about thought leadership marketing is that influencers can write content for you too. Undoubtedly, the right influencer knows what your potential customers are thinking. It’s about the intent of the buyer. By following this strategy, they can write the content for you and target your potential audience.
In addition, online influencers are active and noticeable on various platforms. Therefore, along with the text, they can also advertise images, podcasts and videos.
Best of all, working with a leading e-learning industry leader, you have an authority that shows confidence in your product or service. Plus, by contacting eLearning influencers, you can leverage their followers and influence with little effort.
For a successful collaboration, you should review the following resources:
Next Steps
According to a recent study by Edelman and LinkedIn, 83% of buyers believe that thought leadership has increased their trust in a company. In addition, 88% said they use thought leadership to create a shortlist of potential vendors. And 47% of the executives of the C-Suite reported that the content of Thought Leadership had a direct influence on the award of contracts.
All of this suggests that thought leadership could be your groundbreaking course of action. Plus, it could also be an essential part of your content marketing strategy as only 50% of B2B marketers said they would benefit from it!
Here’s what you need to do to get your thought leadership marketing plan into action:
- Start blogging and guest blogging
- Write about interesting eLearning topics
- Solve the pain points from prospects
- Share (blog posts, podcasts, videos and more)
- Be active on social media, relevant forums, and groups
And remember, if your company lacks the time, resources, or expertise to become a thought leader, there is always no point in reaching out to eLearning bloggers and influencers to do the hard work for you.
