The Long Tail of Long-Form Thought Leadership

There are many ways to brand a person or an organization as an expert.

But the most effective strategies often fall into one of two camps.

The first involves producing consistent content — serving up fresh, up-to-date takes through regular opeds, blogs, media appearances, social media postings, speaking engagements, and videos.

This approach can be quite effective, but also requires considerable discipline.

Many organizations take this approach because it requires little upfront investment and appears manageable in the context of its other activities. But it can fall apart if you aren’t fully committed to creating consistent content and finding ways to connect your expertise to current events.

The other option favors big projects over consistent content.

Often, that means creating long-form thought leadership — such as research reports, books, surveys, or big annual conferences.

This approach requires a different type of discipline and a larger upfront investment. Rather than keeping up with the news of the day, you’re banking on your ability to deliver powerful insights and information that will make a big splash.

When done well, long-form thought leadership can create that splash. We’ve been successful turning these enterprise projects into showcase coverage on NPR and The New York Times, serve as centerpieces for annual conference programs, and serve as lead generation tools to build email lists and social media followings.

But you don’t have to stop there.

Ideally, your long-form thought leadership can create a long tail of contentthat can help you get the benefits that come from the first strategy.

The content can be repurposed for your website and blog, generate ongoing social media engagement, and be leveraged for year-round media coverage.

The key is thinking about it not as a one-and-done project, but rather as the source of a longer-term content and thought leadership strategy that will ensure your investment is creating both a big splash, as well as ripples of activity over many months.