The best marketers out there are the ones who are thought leaders. People naturally want to engage with and actively be around leaders who inspire and provide true value.
It’s even proven in a 2015 study by AMCF as the most important source for finding consulting expertise after referrals.
Now, a lot of brands and entrepreneurs know this and so they will actively work towards what they perceive to be a “thought leader.” But that’s just the thing— when it comes to being a thought leader, there is no destination, there is no point of arrival.
There’s no threshold or criteria that qualifies you to hold the title.
So what does make a thought leader?
The truth is there’s no simple answer because it’s a moving target. But as a thought leader, your main purpose comes down to providing ever-evolving value. That is absolutely crucial when it comes to gaining influence.
Thought leadership is more about the mindset and the values you hold more than anything else. In part one of this series on thought leadership, I want to discuss some ways to get yourself in the right mind for this path of leadership.
Stay in the Now
Every thought leader starts with zero followers. Nobody just magically jumps to hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers overnight. You’ve got to start somewhere. So start now.
We are in a fast-moving world where trends change from week to week and day to day. By staying current and relevant with these trends, you move with ideas rather than behind them.
In marketing, in business, in your specific industry, and in the news, you always want to be on top of what is happening. There are plenty of content reader tools out there to help you do this. I, for one, am a big fan of Feedly.
Start with what you can do in this moment to make a difference. Even if right now you have just your mom and your friends listening to you, you can still make a difference. Start by influencing your immediate circles.

You don’t need a lot of followers to have massive influence. If you can make big enough of an impact on just a few individuals, you have influence.
That’s inspiration. That’s thought leadership.
You don’t need to wait until you have more people listening to you, or more of established voice in order to be a thought leader, you need to be more of an influence. The more impact you create, the more people will want to share your impact with others.
So accept where you are and who you have in your circle right now and move forward with the trends and your people of this moment. It starts now.
Create Content for Every Step of the Buyer Journey
In the beginning stages of the buyer journey of “awareness, consideration, and decision,” the buyer seeks out third-party neutral information. According to CEB Global, buyers go through about 57% of the purchasing process before ever talking to a brand representative.
That’s why it’s so important to not only provide value, but provide value that evolves with the buyer all the way from initial contact to sales and beyond.
That means that anyone who perceives you as a thought leader will do so because you provided some sort of credibility that gave them enough trust to continue listening to you.
Most of you reading this know that I failed at my first business. I tried, I had some successes, but ultimately I failed. That negative experience became a platform for thought leadership. So when I started The Modern Marketer, and now Palizay Media, I had that credibility. I had already gone through the entrepreneurship experience before.
In the beginning of the buyer journey, in the awareness stage, it’s pertinent to provide unbiased information on the broad topic that they are searching. This can come in the form of:
- Statistics from third party authority sites
- Observations
- Case studies
It’s important to gain that credibility at initial contact. If a buyer can sense in the beginning that the information you’re feeding them is biased, you won’t seem like an honest source of value.
This is how you prove your credibility.
As a buyer’s search becomes more refined over time on the path to purchase, the type of value in content they are looking for changes. In the “consideration and decision” stages they want more specific value.

Actively curating content to support every level of the buyer journey is meeting the buyer where they are, and providing them with the information they need at the right time, in the right context.
But always keep in mind that not everyone who comes into contact with your brand is going to trust your word. The best thing you can do is to continue providing unbiased value to support people wherever they may be in their journey.
How many organizations out there talk about their leadership? Or talk about their methodologies, cutting edge strategies, products, services, or technologies? Too many. Very few people bring value through true curation.
If you can create and curate content about what is trending and what is about to trend, you will much more effectively build trust and “hack” solid traffic growth.
Stay Humble
Some people think getting a few thousand followers on Instagram, or Facebook, or Twitter, and suddenly think that just because those numbers are getting bigger, they’re an influencer. That’s a mistake.
Some people also think that if we serve or do anything less than the potential that we see for our life, it’s somehow less fulfilling. That’s also a mistake.
The best leaders aren’t noticed for what they have. The best leaders are noticed for what they do, what they give.
If you want to grow and lift yourself up, you have to surround yourself with other people and lift them up. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Whether you’re an employee, a manager, an entrepreneur, a small business owner, or something else, the people immediately around you deserve a 150% of you. If you truly want to be of value, you can’t do it without helping others.

So find good people, and don’t be so quick to let them go. People are not to be used and disposed of. That’s something I had to learn the hard way.
I would find good people and set down my roots in business and in life and then when I got uncomfortable with situations that had nothing to do with them, I would try to justify a reason to attach my pain to those good people. But those are the people I needed in order to get me where I was going.
Attention can shift in seconds. But humbly serving— that value is far more evergreen. Your active contributions plus the relationships you build with those contributions are what will grow you as a leader.
It’s not your followers, it’s not your lack of “being your own boss,” it’s not your grind and your grind alone that will make you a thought leader. It’s the people around you and what you give to them.
If you have any ounce of leadership in your body, then go serve somebody else. The best leaders in this world were first servers.
Mentorship
Every step of my business journey and life I’ve always had someone who is pouring into me and somebody that I’m pouring into at the same time.
Next to actually caring about and loving people, having mentors in your life and mentoring others is one of the most accelerated and focused ways to experience growth.
Many people ask me how I’ve gained the knowledge that I have. It’s not because I went to college, because I’m a college dropout. It’s not because I’m some sort of super genius, because I’m not.
It’s because I surround myself with people who are smarter than me and need the knowledge that I have.
Mentorship is important. Learning from those who know more than you is an important process in your growth, and so is guiding others who know less than you.

And it doesn’t have to be a long drawn-out process. A lot of people write articles and books about how to best find a mentor. But the truth is you just need to find people you gel with.
This is 2017. In a matter of seconds you can find other people by searching, networking, and connecting with those who have the same interest as you. Search hashtags and seek people out on every social platform.
With a little due diligence I guarantee you will find other people that are just like you who can either pour into you or that you can pour into. This will lead to incredible growth in your business career.
Conclusion
There’s no formula to thought leadership. There are no qualifications, no endpoint. Thought leadership is truly a journey that you evolve with.
With the right mindset in place, you can begin to make that journey. It takes focus and commitment to get there. It takes effort to stay in the present moment and move with the trends, it takes effort to curate content for every step of the buyer journey, and it takes effort to keep yourself humble enough to serve others and stay open to receiving guidance. But if you can hold true to these values, then you’re on the journey of thought leadership.