In addition to being valuable for anyone trying to navigate the pandemic, reading this wealth of material reminded us of the following fundamentals of writing great thought leadership content.
- Answer a question people care about. This might be something that affects them personally, like “what needs to happen before the government lifts social distancing restrictions?” Or their business, such as “will the economy fail?”
- Say something interesting. The point of thought leadership is to deliver a message that influences other people’s opinions or changes their actions.
- Be timely. People are most interested in a topic when it is current and hasn’t been covered extensively by other commentators.
- Be passionate. Choose a topic you’re genuinely fascinated by. Readers can tell when you’re going through the motions.
- Use data and make it visual. Include quality facts, metrics and expert opinions to provide context and authority. Presenting complex data in a visual way makes it easier for non-experts to understand.
- Write well. The format of thought leadership writing varies but use a logical structure and clear, concise language to make it easy to follow.
For a deep dive into thought leadership writing and how it can be used to build your business or reputation, see Grant’s book Think Write Grow. Or contact us at Editor Group for expert writing and editing services to help you on your next thought leadership piece.
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