What do you do if your mid-career in digital strategy isn't getting you recognized as a thought leader?

Crafting your personal brand as a digital strategy leader needs to evolve; just like businesses constantly reinvent themselves to stay relevant. Here’s a set of guru tips to help you shape your personal brand: 1. Define Your Leadership Essence: Start by clarifying your vision, mission, goals, and values. 2. Connect with all levels of your organization - from the boardroom to the front lines. Being a change leader means effectively conveying your ideas, insights, and strategies to inspire action and foster collaboration. 3. Harness the Power of Social Media: Amplify your impact and influence, especially on platforms like LinkedIn. 4. Consistency is Key: your content, visuals, or brand voice, consistency breeds trust and recognition.

Personal branding is critical. Pls remember you may have the best answers to all the global problems however unless you have any takers the ideas will die out. Your personal branding must be authoritative, exhibit your experience, the battles you have bled in, the content you share and the network you maintain.

Cultivate a strong personal brand that showcases your unique perspective, skills, and experiences in digital strategy. Consistently communicate your value proposition and expertise across your online profiles and interactions.

In digital strategy, cultivating a strong personal brand is essential—it’s essentially what distinguishes me in a crowded field. To elevate my personal brand, I dove deep to pinpoint my unique value proposition, that special something I bring to the table that others don't. Once I got a clear picture, I meticulously aligned every aspect of my digital presence with it, from my LinkedIn profile to my personal blog. I've aimed for consistency in messaging and visual style across all platforms to ensure my personal brand resonates clearly and cohesively. This strategic approach has not only made my personal brand more memorable but also solidified my position as a go-to expert in digital strategy.

If you're mid-career in digital strategy and striving to be recognized as a thought leader, implementing a focused and strategic approach can elevate your status and visibility in the industry. Building your Personal Branding is crucial to stand out in the crowded digital strategy field. ?? Craft a unique value proposition that highlights your specific expertise, perspectives, and contributions to digital strategy. ? Develop a professional website and active social media profiles where you share insights and engage with the digital marketing community.

From experience, the most engaging content I read, follow and post after A/B testing my own feed is that in first-person with key learnings that anyone can learn from — specifically those with honest and transparent data rather than subjective analysis. We all love a good graph and a good story, particularly those that generate debate.

Creating engaging content takes practice. Not everything will hit, there would be misses too. But the hits and the misses together teach what will work. Keep putting yourself out there, and your content will improve over time

Digital strategy is a vast field. Identify your niche and create/share content within your area of expertise. Avoid jumping on any bandwagon and stop flowing with the masses. It will be detrimental if you tend to project as a Jack of all trades. In strategy we do need Jack of all trades however being master of one or few is more critical and foundational.

Generate high-quality and insightful content related to digital strategy through blogs, articles, whitepapers, or social media posts. Focus on topics that are relevant, innovative, and demonstrate your expertise.

Creating and Sharing Engaging Content that adds value to your audience can position you as a source of authority and knowledge. ?? Write articles, blogs, and white papers on emerging trends, case studies, and best practices in digital strategy. ?? Leverage platforms like LinkedIn, Medium, and industry-specific forums to publish and distribute your content.

Networking Smartly by connecting with other professionals in the field can open doors to collaborations and opportunities. ?? Attend industry conferences, webinars, and workshops to meet peers and leaders. Don’t just collect contacts; aim to build meaningful relationships. ?? Use LinkedIn to engage with the content posted by industry influencers and contribute to discussions to increase your visibility.

Thought leadership also grows through strategic networking. Attend industry conferences, webinars, and events, not just as a participant but as a speaker or panelist. Engaging with your peers, sharing insights, and contributing to discussions can significantly elevate your status as a thought leader. Online, actively participate in professional groups and forums by offering valuable advice, answering questions, and initiating discussions on the latest digital strategy trends and challenges. Connecting with other professionals and thought leaders can lead to collaborations that further amplify your visibility and influence in the digital strategy community.

Actively engage with professionals in your industry through online forums, networking events, and professional associations. Build meaningful connections and collaborations that can help amplify your presence and credibility.

Thought leadership, or any form of leadership, is an always on switch. Leadership can't be done only on weekdays or only between 9 to 5. Similarly, thought leaders must consistently engage with their audience and drive discussion on their ideas.

Maintaining Consistent Engagement with your audience and within your professional community helps keep you top of mind. ?? Regularly update your social media with insights, comment on relevant topics, and participate in industry conversations to maintain visibility. ??? Start or join podcasts, webinars, and panel discussions on hot topics in digital strategy to showcase your expertise.

Continuous learning is a good idea, but applying and executing that learning is essential. It's better to apply a little learning effectively than to have lots of knowledge with little application. In my view, thought leadership stems from the ability to apply and execute and not from the ability to just think.

Stay informed about the latest trends, technologies, and best practices in digital strategy through ongoing learning and professional development opportunities. Position yourself as a lifelong learner who is committed to staying ahead of the curve.

Committing to Learning Continuously ensures you stay ahead of the curve and informed about the latest trends and technologies in digital strategy. ?? Invest time in ongoing education through courses, certifications, and reading industry publications. ?? Consider mentorship opportunities, both as a mentor and a mentee, to exchange knowledge and insights with others in your field.

Following the learning loop of Explore, Apply, Experiment & Engage can help in growing and building recognition. 1. Explore the current ongoing trends and technologies by interacting with blogs, articles, thought leaders etc. 2. Apply the learnings in your current role or to help others. 3. Experiment: Keep experimenting with the learnings and continue to evolve & sharpen your learnings. 4. Engage with your peers & network across the industry and organization to share your learnings & get feedback from their experiences and thoughts to sharpen your leanings.

The key is to keep learning and evolving your approach. Take a look at what content resonates with your audience and what might need a refresh. Maybe it's time to connect with a new group of people or try a different format for your ideas. The best thought leaders are constantly adapting to the ever-changing digital world, so don't be afraid to experiment and have fun with it!

Reflecting and Adapting your approach based on feedback and results allows for growth and improvement in your journey toward thought leadership. ?? Regularly assess the impact of your activities on your thought leadership goals and be willing to pivot your strategy as needed. ?? Seek feedback from peers and mentors to gain insights into how you can improve your visibility and influence.

Being seen as a thought leader may not be priority for everyone, and that's okay. But for those who have this goal, focus on becoming one first, then seek recognition. Work hard on your expertise, and recognition will follow.

Try following people or groups that you want to be part of and associate with. Learn from how they are projecting themselves and continuously improvise.

Being a thought leader is as simple or difficult as actually being one in reality. Few thoughts: 1. Nothing begets respect as success does. If you have been able to crack/reinvent something in your organization using digital then that’s a great start. Socialise it at all levels from the board room to the key stakeholders. If you haven’t then keep that as part of your experiments going forward. 2. In order to be the thought leader, it’s also important to roll out learning sessions through industry experts on various topics and get as many people to participate across functions. 3. Roll out projects for people in the organization to participate in and learn 4. Celebrate every success, small or big to build confidence

Offer mentorship to junior professionals or collaborate with peers on projects or initiatives that demonstrate your leadership and expertise in digital strategy.