10 Essential Elements of a Profitable Thought Leadership Platform (Part 1)

Note: This is Part One of a two-part article.

As a result of the Big Quit, in the last three years in particular, an increasing number of executives have decided to put down their ‘employee’ hats to dawn proud ‘indie’ hats:

Independent coaches, consultants, solopreneurs, and entrepreneurs are popping up left, right, and center. ?

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And every one of these experts is fighting the Visibility War.

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They are writing a book, getting on a TEDx stage, dancing, and pointing on Instagram - whatever it takes to establish themselves as thought leaders. ?

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So, in this sea of thought leaders, some with worthwhile thoughts that are worth following, and others a little less so: How do you stand out, find your tribe and serve them? How do you build influence, income, and impact? ?

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It’s simple: Use the only tool that nobody else has. YOU.

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In this two-part article, I’m going to outline the TEN essential elements of a robust, profitable thought leadership platform.

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The kind of platform that:

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??Gets you seen and heard in a sea of problem-solvers.

? Gets you over-subscribed.

??360-proofs you: Bulletproof, recession-proof, pandemic-proof, weather-proof, and summer-proof (who’s experiencing summer slumps? Not profitable thought leaders!)

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Ready? Let’s get into it.

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The 10 Essential Elements of A Profitable Thought Leadership Platform

I know. Too obvious, right?

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And yet, there are so many coaches, consultants and experts out there trying to be thought leaders simply by regurgitating other people’s ideas and content.

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Now don’t get me wrong, you don’t need to have all-original ideas. Most ideas, revolutions, frameworks, concepts are inspired by the things we experience, read, see, do.

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Instead, process these experiences, the things you read, see and do. Apply a unique lens to them, your perspective. The combination of YOUR experiences and actions. And then share an idea that truly, genuinely invites people to see or do things differently. ?

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The perspective I’m sharing with you here, for instance, is that after 12 years of having built brands, I don’t believe a robust thought leadership platform requires one single strategy. I believe it requires ten essential elements. I’m sharing a (hopefully) perspective-changing framework with you here.

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None of these ideas are novel or original or have never been thought of before. But have they been thought of in this combination? Can anyone else share this, coupled with my specific experience and expertise, unique to my life and career path?

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Not unless there’s some parallel universe Aditi in a different timeline…

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So: What are the distinct thoughts and ideas that you'd like to put out there? What is your thought leadership about? What does it change, and for whom?

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A rather exhausting misconception is that you’ve got to be everywhere to be anywhere in today’s online landscape.

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I am not about to tell you that less is more. Because the truth is that more is definitely more: A 10,000-strong following on one platform is less than a 10,000-strong following each on four platforms.

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But what is exhausting is trying to build them all at the same time. The secret here lies in sequencing and building your digital presence One Channel At A Time.

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So, pick ONE main digital channel where your people are hanging out. Pick a channel that allows you to create and share content that you enjoy creating and sharing. And Get Started.

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At the end of every quarter, assess how you’re doing in terms of: Followers or the size of your community, engagement and interest in your content, and, most importantly: Sales.

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Are you able to take people from strangers to connections to clients on your chosen channel? If, at the end of 90 days, you have not been able to create that result, it might be time to assess your strategy.

Yes, long-form content. No, it isn’t dead. Nor is it dying. It's friggin' blooming.

BUT

Long-form content is now served alongside short, easy-to-consume bites of content on social media.

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Social media platforms are prioritizing these short content bites, so your short-form content game on whatever channel you choose will need to be strong.

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That said, short-form content is a hook. It draws your ideal client or customer in. And then what?

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How do you deepen the relationship once you've got their attention?

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You guessed right: Long-form.

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Know this:

People are listening to 9 hours+ of podcast episodes per week.

Blog articles that are 2000+ words long are still ranking high on Google.

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Long-form content has the following timeless benefits:

-??????It displays your depth of expertise

-??????It establishes your thought leadership

-??????It allows clients and customers who want to consume deeper content to do that

-??????It compounds over time: Your first article will continue to garner views as your blog grows. (My first article on LinkedIn STILL draws potential clients to me, five years later)

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What is the ideal length and size of these? Not any longer or shorter than they need to be. I can show you articles, podcast episodes and YouTube videos that perform amazingly well at almost ANY length and word count.

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It is NOT about length (lol, out of the gutter, please). It’s about your ability to say something meaningful in the time you have your audience's eyes and/or ears on your stuff.

P.S. Are you on the Profitable Thought Leadership Live Training Waitlist Yet? This way, if you aren't >>>

So, you’re putting all this time and energy into creating great content, and you share it with your audience. Once.

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This is where most digital brand builders leave money on the table.

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A robust content distribution strategy details how you are going to get the most bang for your buck (and your time) out of every piece of content you create.

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Repurpose your content so that it has an extended digital shelf-life. You can share the same content again a few months later (EVERYBODY does this – it’s PERFECTLY OK!), and slice up your content to create quote cards, teasers, reels, and more.

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Over time, build multiple channels where you can get eyeballs on your content.

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A great content amplification strategy makes your content work for you instead of you working to keep the engine chugging.

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?If you really want to take your online presence from ‘nice' to ‘profitable’, the one thing that will get you there fastest is to get product-clear.

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A loose ‘ways of working with me’ isn’t enough: I mean well-defined, time-and-effort-defined products and services with precisely defined input (yours) and outcomes (your clients').

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Having this in place allows you to create a magical business transformation elixir. I call that elixir ‘revenue predictability.’

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When you have one, two, or three (I urge you not to do more right out the gate), products that you sell, you can lay clear paths to purchase leading to each of these products.

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All your content is then just inviting people into your world and then recommending a ‘path’ for them to follow towards an outcome.

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Think about it: How do you expect a prospective client to find their way around your business when it’s likely that you would get lost in it yourself?

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Alright, I’m going to leave you with that much for today.

Take your time to think through each of those essentials in relation to your thought leadership platform - which areas need improving? Which areas need building from scratch? What are you already doing very well?

??Coming up next:

The five remaining success-essential elements of a profitable thought leadership platform:

Establishing relationship-building channels, finding your brand voice, getting message-adamant, and two more equally powerful pieces of your success puzzle.

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?? ANNOUNCEMENT: We are looking for 20 Founding Members for the Profitable Thought Leadership program. Serious, 'digital-ready' coaches and consultants who want to work with me to hit US$250k in annual revenue using organic content strategies. Is one of those seats yours? Get on the waitlist!