4 tips to build a thought leadership strategy that reaches the right audience

IMA Financial Group built a thought leadership program around the collective knowledge of employees across industries, specialties and regions. Instead of repackaging outside research, IMA brings those experts together to identify what they are seeing with clients and in the market, then turns those conversations into reports, articles and other content.

The organization’s strategy is a model for communicators trying to make thought leadership more useful, especially as audiences can increasingly turn to AI for quick answers.

“There’s such an opportunity to educate clients,” said Angela Thompson, marketing strategist for market intel and insights at IMA Financial Group. “I think the expertise that exists within our people …being able to capture that is such a special thing.”

Here are four lessons from IMA’s approach.

1. Find expertise within the organization

Thought leadership doesn’t always need to begin with commissioning new research. Start by finding the people inside the organization who are closest to customers, industry changes and emerging problems. Their experiences can help turn widely available information into a point of view that belongs to the organization.

When Thompson stepped into her role several years ago, she saw an opportunity to better capture the knowledge spread across the company.

IMA’s thought leadership team now works with leaders and other employees who have expertise or firsthand market knowledge. This gives the content something a collection of outside sources don’t provide: IMA’s own perspective.

“Anybody can pull information, you know, external sources,” Thompson said. “We’re really trying to then take that, marinate on it and then gather our own insights based on what we’re hearing and seeing in the marketplace.”

Those conversations can also challenge assumptions, she said. One employee might flag a trend, while another sees something different in a particular region or industry.

“That helps spark conversation for us to then make a claim or stand on, like ‘This is what we believe is happening,’” Thompson said.

2. Build an editorial calendar around audience needs

IMA publishes some form of thought leadership every week, but not every audience hears from the company weekly.

Instead, Thompson built an editorial calendar around the natural cycles of each industry IMA serves.

For example, education clients have needs tied to the school year. Other industries may operate around renewal periods, major events or different market cycles. Some IMA market reports come out quarterly, while others appear only once or twice a year, she said.

“Every industry has a very specific lifecycle,” Thompson said. “The goal is to get information in front of people when it can actually influence a decision.”

A consistent publishing schedule can keep content moving, but consistency shouldn’t turn into volume with no purpose, Thompson said. Map content for the times an audience is most likely to have questions, make decisions or need guidance.

3. Don’t rely on social media for all distribution

Think about distribution while developing the content, Thompson said. Ask who needs the information, when they need it and who inside the organization should deliver it.

IMA uses LinkedIn to show that its experts understand what is happening in the market. But social media is only one part of the distribution strategy.

The company also sends relevant thought leadership directly to clients and prospects, often through the salespeople who already have relationships with them.

“We don’t just send something to everybody if it’s not relevant to their specific industry or niche,” Thompson said.

That turns thought leadership into more than brand content, she said. It becomes a reason for someone at IMA to contact a client with something useful.

The approach also gives the sales team something valuable to share without making every interaction some kind of sales pitch. Thompson said internal salespeople have been grateful to have timely material they can use to reconnect with clients.

4. Thought leadership can strengthen internal connections too

One unexpected benefit of IMA’s program happened inside the company, Thompson said.

IMA has industry cohorts made up of employees from different regions who regularly share what they are seeing. Those discussions feed the company’s external thought leadership, but they also help employees exchange knowledge with each other.

The process “not only creates great pieces for our clients because of that collaboration,” Thompson said. “It creates a stronger collaboration just between people on a day-to-day, so that they’re hearing and sharing what other people are seeing in real time.”

That gives communicators another way to measure the value of thought leadership. The finished report, article or LinkedIn post is only one outcome. The process of creating it can connect experts who otherwise might not interact, uncover differences between markets and spread useful information throughout the organization.

“If we can continue to tell a story that helps impact the way people feel and really helps them understand the implications,” Thompson said, “I think that that’s really where we’re able to differentiate.”