Why thought leadership is the key to unlocking public relations success for small business

As the old saying goes, “Opinions are like elbows, everybody has one. Most have more than one.” 

You only need to go online to find yourself buried under an avalanche of hot takes. However, for small businesses or founders who want to build their profile, but don’t have an unlimited publicity budget, opportunity lies here. Offering up opinions through thought leadership is a gateway to building trust and authority with your audience. 

In 2023, there’s a strong media appetite for thought leadership provided it adds value, not noise, to the conversation.

What is thought leadership

Thought leadership involves sharing your wisdom, insights, and experience in order to inspire, educate and inform.

It isn’t about selling. It’s about sharing. And it’s an effective way to build your profile. 

By positioning yourself as an expert in your field, thought leadership helps build your reputation as a go-to media source for trends and industry insights. It’s a honey pot strategy; through sharing your knowledge, you’re able to attract your ideal customer to you rather than the other way around. 

Think Mike Cannon Brooks, Jane Lu, Melanie Perkins or Erin Deering.

These powerful entrepreneurs are leaders in their fields and dominate their industries. They evoke feelings of success, innovation, and leadership. However we only know their names and admire their business prowess because they’re regularly featured in the news, in fashion stories, entrepreneurship articles and in business features.

Through regular appearances in the media where they share their views on topics relating to their industry, they have created a halo effect for their business. 

This is thought leadership.

Should small businesses bother with thought leadership

Clever PR can never replace talent, these founders are successful beyond media headlines. However what keeps them top of mind is the consistent, repeated exposure to their knowledge and success through media visibility.

In a crowded marketplace where it’s hard to separate yourself from your competition, thought leadership puts you a cut above the rest. 

Beyond an impressive media profile, the effect on your business can be significant. Businesses that are founder-led — where the founder still holds a significant portion in the company — significantly outperform those that aren’t. They give the business a clear sense of purpose and are more engaged with the culture of the organisation. 

Leaders that are willing to be generous with their knowledge and take a leadership role in the industry can expect positive flow-on effects to their business baby. 

Introducing the clout and credibility ladder

Once you’ve decided to dip your toe into thought leadership, you can expect to be catapulted to the front page right? 

Unfortunately not. 

You might be breaking new ground, have secured an eye-watering amount of funding, or have celebrity backing. Or you might just be one of the lucky ones. 

But if you’re a small business in a competitive category, it’s probably not going to happen. 

Instead you’ll have to work your way up the clout and credibility ladder. 

The clout and credibility ladder is your journey towards media relevance. It combines your goal to build your profile and personal brand with the publication’s goal to create interesting, engaging content that entertains its listeners and readers. 

We start the journey with our owned channels, sharing big ideas, explainers, and quality content on our socials, through our email marketing or on our own podcast. 

Once we have built a bank of evidence to our amazing prowess, we can step into opinion editorial and expert commentary for relevant publications. 

As we share generously and keep our audience ahead of the curve, we move from being an unknown name to boasting a trusted, credible and well-known public profile. 

We move from commenting on the news to becoming the news, and our stories move closer and closer to our own business milestones.

Source: Supplied

So how do we ladder up

1. Step 1: Identify your zone of genius

   What topics, insights, unique stories or processes do you know inside out? What issues do you want to champion? Where do you want to create change? These topics are where you will have the most impact. 

2. Step 2: Choose your outlets

   Which publications carry stories based on your preferred topics? Deep dive into these outlets to get insights into their agenda, who the audience is, and what the journalists’ passion projects are. The easiest way to do this is to read, read and… read some more.

3. Step 3: Gather your proof points

   What facts, figures and stats do you have that supports your point of view? Even an opinion piece needs to be backed up by research. It will also help the newsworthiness of your piece to identify timely moments that will increase the relevancy of your ideas to the outlet.

4. Step 4: Build relationships

   Connect with the key podcasters, producers, journalists and editors on LinkedIn. Comment on their posts and ensure you’re posting your own content. This will increase the chances they’ll recognise your name when you land in their inbox.

5. Step 5: Send your pitch!

   Send a brief pitch that details your ideas and why they are relevant to the publication. And whatever you do, don’t follow up within 24 hours of sending it!

Whether you’re an expert in human resources, veterinary medicine, marketing, law, beauty products, or fashion, thought leadership PR is key in 2023 for building your brand, managing your reputation, and establishing credibility in your field.

Odette Barry is a head-line winning publicist and PR mentor who designed and teaches the popular Hack Your Own PR program, an intimate program designed for small business owners because she believes every business has a story to tell.