104 Reasons Content Matters: Reason #6: Content Positions You As a Thought Leader

In this series, I talk about why having quality content matters even in a world that is overly saturated with information, maybe especially in a world that is overly saturated with information. With so much free information, just a Google search away, how do you stand out from your competition? The answer—valuable, original content.

 

Reason #6: Content Positions You As a Thought Leader

Thought Leader. I hate that term.

Am I a thought leader?

Are you a thought leader?

You have to be a thought leader!

No one will pay attention to you unless you show them you can lead their thoughts. Blah.

 

What’s a thought leader?

Martin Luther King.

Frank Stasio.

Frances McDormand.

Ira Glass.

Plato.

The Dalai Lama.

Taylor Swift.

Howard Roark.

Hitler.

Oprah.

These are examples of thought leaders. But what is a thought leader?

You can find plenty of book agents, marketing professionals, and business coaches who will promise to make you into a thought leader. If anyone makes that promise to you, make sure you ask them what that means and make sure you like the answer. Maybe you want that. Maybe you like the idea of being famous or semi-famous. Hopefully, you want to impact the world for the better.

But, more likely, what you like is the idea of being valuable. You like helping others and you like it when they reward you for helping them.

Guess what? No one else can make you valuable. You have to make yourself valuable to others—the others you want to serve. That’s the only key to success in business. Experts can help you figure out what makes you valuable to others. They can help you express it in clear, crisp, consistent language (that’s my specialty). But they cannot make you into a thought leader. And they certainly can’t tap into that thing—you know, that thang—that you have.

Thought leader. I hate that term.

Still, it’s true that your content is what separates you from your competition and positions you as a leader in your industry.

Your words belong to you.

They come from your creative mind and they are pure…if you let them be.

Yes, your content positions you as a thought leader because your words tell people why you’re valuable. And, maybe even more importantly, your words tell you why you’re valuable.

Let them flow!