3 Benefits of Establishing Thought Leadership as a Lawyer or Podiatrist

“Thought leadership” is just a fancy way to say that you stand out in you industry for your expertise, authenticity, and willingness to share your knowledge. Although it’s a term that is often associated with the tech industry or people that express a lot of unique or controversial opinions, it isn’t limited to those sectors. In fact, it’s become an incredibly important part of marketing yourself in the digital age, even when you’re a brick-and-mortar business.

Being recognized as the go-to authority in your niche is a huge force-multiplier that improves everything you do to market and grow your practice. And the benefit is better branding, more positive buzz, and more clients or patients that want to book an appointment with you.

1. Improved brand “stickiness.”

When you establish yourself as a thought leader in your field, your brand becomes more memorable and recognizable to potential clients or patients. This "stickiness" means that people are more likely to remember your brand and turn to you when they need legal or podiatry services. It also helps you to increase brand loyalty and encourage repeat business.

2. Positive buzz with measurable results.

Establishing yourself as a thought leader creates a lot of positive buzz around your brand. People may share your content on social media, recommend you to friends and family, and leave you more positive reviews and testimonials. The best part is that this extra attention and engagement can translate into truly measurable results, such as increased website traffic, higher search engine rankings, and more leads or clients. Over time, you should be able to see the impact of your thought leadership efforts in your key metrics.

3. Drive more clients and patients.

Ultimately, the goal of thought-leadership marketing is to drive more business to your law firm or podiatry practice, and it does that by establishing your authority, building trust with prospects, and positioning you as a little bit of a “local celebrity.” You become recognizable, and you attract more of the kinds of patients or clients that are a good fit for you by putting your expertise out there and addressing pain points that resonate with your audience. Thought-leadership marketing differentiates you from other local businesses. And it creates a strong connection in your perfect clients’ minds that, when they need a lawyer or podiatrist, they need you.

How to Make Thought-Leadership Marketing Part of Your Digital Strategy

If you want to establish yourself as a thought leader, you need to start with your content. Many of you already use content marketing to educate your potential clients. So, this first step is really just about taking that idea to the next level and making thought-leadership content your priority.

Blogs and articles.

You probably already know that blogs, FAQs, and articles are a great way to share your expertise and provide valuable information to your audience. To turn it into thought-leadership content, you just need to inject more of your personality into your content. Set yourself up as the author instead of leaving it general and generic. Use lots of real-life examples, client testimonials, and anecdotes from your experience. Stay focused on topics that are relevant to your field, and go ahead and give your readers insider tips and actionable insights that help them make sense of their challenges.

And, of course, you want to give them a consistent sense of your professionalism and authority. So, make sure that all your content is well-researched, well-written, and optimized for search engines to increase its visibility and reach.

Email outreach.

Email outreach involves sending targeted emails to potential clients or patients, offering them valuable content and information. When done well, this can help establish your authority and build relationships.

To turn a “normal” email into a thought-leadership email, you’ll want to focus on making sure that it’s personalized to the recipient, relevant to their needs and interests, and full of information that is actually valuable to your audience. You might also design the email with your brand colors and logo, and you might include a signature line with your photograph to reinforce that it’s coming from you and your practice.

If you haven’t done a lot of email marketing in the past, you might get started with an email newsletter that includes a variety of helpful tips, updates from your office, and staff highlights that humanize your practice and make you more approachable.

Webinars and community events.

Hosting webinars or community events is a great way to share your expertise with a wider audience and establish yourself as a thought leader. Webinars can be hosted online and cover a specific topic related to your field. You can reach a wide audience this way, even beyond the bounds of your geographic region. It’s also very convenient for your audience to join, and you can create recordings to reuse or share with anyone that couldn’t make it.

In-person community events help to cement your “local celebrity” status, and they offer the additional benefit of networking and PR opportunities for you and your attendees. These kinds of events are often done in partnership with local schools, hospitals, chambers of commerce, or similar organizations, and they’re an awesome opportunity to really share what you know with people that showed up because they’re truly interested.

Books and guides.

Writing a book or guide on a topic that is highly relevant to your perfect clients or patients is a great way to showcase your expertise and provide value to your audience. It’s longer-form content that offers in-depth information and insights, and you can really dive deep to share helpful tips and examples that resonate with your readers.

Make yourself the person that “literally wrote the book” on a topic that your readers care about, and you’ll increase your authority in their eyes by leaps and bounds. You can offer your book as a free download on your website, which will help you generate more leads and get the word about your expertise out there.

Boost thought-leadership content with strategic promotion.

Adjusting your mindset and producing thought-leadership content will get you halfway there, but you have to keep going if you really want to get results. You also have to build on that foundation of thought-leadership content to get it out in the world and in front of the right people. So, use your marketing machine to cement your authority!

Go ahead and promote your best content on social media. Use targeted paid advertising to drive people to your most compelling offers. Create campaigns that encourage people to download your book or engage with your webinars. By combining thought-leadership content with strategic promotion, you can establish yourself as a trusted authority more quickly and get more people excited about becoming your client or patient.

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Become a Thought Leader With Experts That Know How to Get You There

Becoming a thought leader takes time and effort, but the benefits are well worth it. Not only will you be able to differentiate yourself from your competitors, but you'll also be able to build trust with potential clients or patients and establish yourself as a go-to expert in your field. And with the right digital marketing strategy in place, you can amplify your thought leadership content and reach even more people that need your help.

Looking for a real strategy that can establish your authority and position you as a thought leader? Reach out to us at 888.886.0939 or book an appointment to discuss your goals and get a proposal from our team. With the right content, promotion, and strategy, you can become a trusted authority in your field and attract more clients or patients than ever before.

Digital Marketing Turns Lawyers and Podiatrists Into Thought Leaders