Creating a Thought Leadership Engine | Will Milano | 498

Executives often feel they need to be the ones creating thought leadership, but true thought leadership needs to move beyond a single person. That's how insights goes the distance; it needs to be elevated by others while you are not in the room.   In order to fully understand how organizations build their thought leadership teams, I've invited Will Milano to join me. Will is the Chief Marketing Officer for Integrity Solutions, which focuses on sales training for organizations.  He is also the host of the podcast "Mental Selling". Early in Will's career, he found that content and insights could drive conversations, increase credibility, and create strong brand affinity. Since then, he has been encouraging organizations to move their thought leadership beyond the C-Suite, bringing senior consultants into the game and allowing clients to see the full extent of what your organization has to offer. While many fear saying too much or "giving away the magic," it actually works as a sneak peek that shows clients why they need your services. One of the hardest parts of creating a thought leadership engine is keeping it going. Will shares how having a knowledgeable team can make it easier to keep that engine going and take your ideas to scale. In addition we learn the importance of by-lines, which give potential clients a name they can seek further content from and grow to trust, and why you'll want to not only meet your audience where they are, but also meet your content creators where they are most comfortable. Three Key Takeaways: ·         Thought leadership is about relationship building.  Building trust and credibility and authenticity as a brand (and individuals in a brand) above anything else. ·         Early in the sales cycle customers care far more about what you have to say than what you have to sell. ·         More and more people are seeking to know exactly where their information is coming from.  By-lines on articles allow the audience to build trust and know it isn't simply AI-generated content.