TMI #62 - Who can you trust? Survey says: Businesses

Who doesn’t lie these days?

If my 9-year-old knows what’s good for him, he won’t! Unfortunately, that’s more than we can say for just about every world leader in 2024.

To me, that’s the craziest thing happening right now. Yes, amid real wars and cold war-like conflicts dotting the globe, run-away inflation and a choose-your-own-adventure presidential race, the scariest thing is: It's harder than ever to decipher the truth!

That’s where you come in, brilliant insurance marketers.

You know what your clients/prospects need to know about employee benefits, workplace mental health, executive liability insurance, cyber risk management and more. So does your C-suite. And it’s time for them to take that expert industry knowledge and emerge publicly as the trusted advisors they already are, giving away their industry truths to the masses.

For the C-suite executive, the vehicle of trust in 2024 is executive thought leadership. Strong executive thought leadership does two things really well: ? ? ?

1.??Helps your customers better understand their business challenges ? ? ?

2.??Provides value by offering guidance and effective strategies to solve them

Whether it’s a blog, executive POV, magazine article or industry report, thought leadership content is what helps your business and its leaders EARN TRUST.

When lies are a commodity, trust becomes a sacred resource

Seen as the most competent institution today ahead of media, government and NGOs, businesses are ripe for earning trust . Shifting from a sales posture to being a true consultative partner is what helps a business become a trusted resource for its customers.

Here's a few examples of what this looks like:

· A CHRO who espouses vulnerability, leadership and accountability

· A CTO who explains InsureTech

· A CEO who shares a piece of herself in the pursuit of managing your wealth

· A CFO who challenges us to up our personal finance ledger

The question I often hear from insurance marketers is: How do we get started? Here’s a short roadmap:?

??? Give your SMEs the mic. Let the most prolific or knowledgeable in each vertical (or however your business is organized) get a chance to speak their truth.

?? Start with the most ready, willing and able. Got any real personalities in your C-suite bunch? Anyone already have a strong presence on social media? Who has the bold ideas? Not everyone is a thought leader, but most businesses have at least one.

?? Be consistent. As a rule of thumb, businesses should put out some thought leadership weekly, but once a month is a solid cadence for individual executives.

?? Make it painless. Create templates, use ghostwriters, incentivize authors who offer their ideas and provide multiple avenues for your experts to provide their thought leadership. Some ideas: Use their presentations, ask them to send you voice notes on new laws or breaking news or listen in on their sales calls.

Be the trusted leader you want to see in the world. Encourage your C-suite to rise to the occasion. Trust is open for the taking. Grab it! All the best, Mindi :)

INSIGHTS? Stuff worth reading

Forbes: Why customer service is key to content marketing

Entrepreneur: 5 types of content that attract eager prospects

B2B Marketing Exchange: Podcast - Turning challenges into chances through innovation

Heinz Marketing: The science of content success

ILLUSTRATIONS? New to the Zissman Media Portfolio

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