For the past couple of weeks my mind has been focused on two things, content marketing and Jurassic World. My mind couldn’t leave these two subjects when brainstorming a blog post idea. It’s almost as if the universe wanted this to happen.
Although businesses are always chasing after innovation, the way they approach business blogging, ironically, often lacks innovation. It’s not hard to see why. We all do it: when we’re tasked with doing something repetitive — whether it’s scheduling and writing a blog post every two days or washing our car — we tend to fall into a comfortable routine that, by nature, resists innovation.
One way to infuse your business blog with innovation is to leverage outside topics that already have massive appeal, and apply those topics to your business in unexpected ways.
It’s no secret that the women in marketing are making waves across the industry. These marketing tigresses are inspiring, experienced, and definitely could take you on in a “Marketing Bee” competition. As I was building this list there were so many influential women that it was tough to narrow the list to only 15. There are many other women out there that are rocking the industry, but these 15 are the ones who inspire me the most. These industry thought leaders are must follows for anyone in marketing.
We all want thought leadership in our respective markets. But in the rush of everyone clamoring to reach that lofty pinnacle, the pursuit can get noisy, tiring, and sometimes very frustrating.
However, in times of frustration, it helps to know with clarity — or in some cases, rediscover (if we’ve wandered off the path) — what thought leadership means at its core. Forbes defines it in two parts:
[1] A thought leader is an individual or firm that prospects, clients, referral sources, intermediaries and even competitors recognize as one of the foremost authorities in selected areas of specialization, resulting in its being the go-to individual or organization for said expertise…[2] A thought leader is an individual or firm that significantly profits from being recognized as such.
The value of thought leadership reminds us why we’re in the race to begin with, and that can give us a second wind. But there’s more: the good news is that there are tangible, things-you-can-do-now steps that will bring you closer to that prized title of thought leader.
Targeting decision makers and C-Level executives has been a primary strategy for many B2B marketers in the past.The belief being, why target people who ultimately can’t make the purchasing decision? This question has it’s ground, but with the ever-changing world of marketing and business structure, it may be time for you to investigate other options.
Foxtail Marketing is a digital marketing firm that provides content marketing, digital marketing, and lead generation services for small and mid-market companies.
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