When it comes to choosing an accountant, expertise is KING. Not surprisingly, this is identi-fied as the top selection criteria for businesses when choosing an accountant. Even amongst the profession, knowledge abounds. So how does one go about setting themselves and their practice above the others in the mind of the market?

Enter the concept of thought leadership. By now you’ve heard of it, and you may even be wary that it’s nothing more than jargon, the buzzword du jour, or a flash-in-the-pan success-building trend. But the statistics available beg to differ and paint a significant story. In fact, The Gartner Group has described thought leadership as, “an established field in marketing and a basis of competitive differentiation when well-informed buyers see little perceived differences between solution providers.”

Maybe not the most concise definition, but it ultimately hits the mark. Given that we’ve discussed how specialization can differentiate your practice, this definition actually reinforces thought leadership within the value-added practice concept.

Sure, it sounds great to be a thought leader and all, but how does it actually impact the bottom line?

IMPLICATIONS OF THOUGHT LEADERSHIPSo what are the implications of this on your business? It’s simple. People value knowledge. People recognize where their own expertise ends and are willing to pay handsomely for the security of placing significant business concerns in the hands of an expert.

THE VALUE OF THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BUILDING BUSINESS THROUGH KNOWLEDGE & COMMUNHICATION

1

But thought leaders take advantage of this reality and push it even further. Why settle for an expert when you can employ the services of someone even the experts look up to?

You might not be surprised to learn that people are willing to pay more for the service of industry leaders. You probably didn’t know that people are willing to pay the highest profile leaders over 14 times that of the standard professional (Source: Hinge Resource Institute).

14 times more. Let that sink in for a bit.

Not only does thought leadership bode well for the billable hours of an individual, but the impact of thought leadership on purchase and consultation engagements is significant.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?First, don’t let yourself get intimidated by the fancy moniker of “thought leadership.” Don’t assume what you have to say isn’t valuable or that you can’t become a thought leader. It’s just a different approach. It’s not unlike the difference between a classical piano instructor and a concert pianist. Both are highly skilled. Both are passionate. Both have years of experience.

The difference with the concert pianist is that he or she has chosen to take their music to a larger direct audience and present their talents publicly with all of the risks, responsibilities and accolades that come from a solid performance. Not only that, they adopt a leadership role, working to inspire others to elevate the craft at large. That’s not to say that it’s an easy leap from expert to thought leader, but rather one that can be approached methodically, like any skill.

MANY TYPES OF FISH, MANY TYPES OF PONDSA thought leader in small town Nebraska is no less a thought leader than someone in New York. While the latter may have the benefit of a larger audience directly in their backyard, the web has had a profound effect on making the world a much smaller place

70%Rated thought leadership as important, highly important or

of greatest importance

66%Of firms said having a high-profile

expert was beneficial to their business development

2

Of course there are thought leaders in any industry that have made a global name for themselves, but that’s not the only pond to play in. Trade organizations, for example, are frequently launching regional versions of their primary events, which still include similar content formats (e.g. speakers, breakout sessions, etc.).

The digital ecosystem is continuing to grow in its ability to link prospects and service providers, and with sites like LinkedIn encouraging their members to blog directly in-platform, the possibilities of reach within a targeted segment are enormous, regardless of where you call home. So if you can manage to see yourself as qualified as anyone (assuming you have the expertise to back it up), it’s just a matter of getting started.

WHAT AM I PASSIONATE ABOUT?There’s a belief that how something is said is as important as what is said. It’s true. We can all relate to being enthralled by someone speaking on a topic, even when we don’t find that particular topic interesting at all. So what’s the secret?

It’s passion. It’s charisma. It’s the ability to detect that the person speaking (or writing) has a genuine interest in what they’re talking about and have a passion for communicating it to an audience. And conversely, we can all detect general disinterest or feigned interest. So ask yourself, “What am I enthusiastic about?”

That is thought leadership at its core. It’s the ability to take what you know and inspire, engage, and empower an audience.

WHAT DOES MY AUDIENCE WANT TO KNOW?Good question. After all, if you’re the most brilliant human alive regarding topics no one cares about, what’s the point? Again, it comes back to the beauty of the information age, and there’s a variety of methods to get into the heads of your market.

THE WEB HAS HAD A PROFOUND EFFECT ON MAKING THE WORLD A

MUCH SMALLER PLACE.

3

While most people look to the internet to find answers to questions of their own, it’s just as useful to find out what others are curious about. It just takes some out of the box thinking. Here are some common tools marketers use to find out the questions facing their audience, as well as some sample query results:

By learning what’s important to your audience, you can better pull together thoughts on how to go about addressing these questions. You can choose to contribute to the discourse online if you want, or you can just observe the discussion threads to give yourself some context into:

• Common questions• Common misconceptions• Misguided advice (or blatant misinformation)• Market frustrations• Gaps in overall accounting literacy• Real-life stories and examples (both positive and negative)

Results for “How do I select a good accountant for my small business?”What questions should I be asking?How to choose business accounting software?3 questions every small business should ask their accountantWhere can I find an example of a perfectly organized Chart of Accounts?

Results for the query “restaurant accounting questions”How do I determine what are pre-opening costs and fixed assets?How much does outsourcing bookeeping cost?Has anyone had success providing restaurant clients with weekly financials?

Results for the query “determining a company’s value”What is the opposite of goodwill?How to value a consulting company?What is a 409A valuation?

4

DON’ T BE AFRAID TO HAVE AN OPINIONMaybe your profession doesn’t allow for a completely cavalier attitude toward the rules and regulations, but that’s not to say that you can’t have thoughts, ideas and opinions that go against the grain or challenge new ways of thinking. In fact, it’s the ability to challenge your audience with new ways of thinking that separates you from a common subject matter expert in your field.

Not too long ago, those touting the power of the cloud to transform SMB accounting were few and far between. But given the leadership of early adopters, and their vision for how the digital ecosystem could significantly benefit firms and clients alike, they are looked at as go-to resources for providing a take on the pulse of the accounting tech environment.

The topical opportunities are limitless, it’s just a matter of choosing a message and committing to it entirely.

PACKAGING YOUR MESSAGEBy now, you’ve taken inventory of your expertise and cross-checked it against what resonates with your market. What next? Unless you amplify your voice, no amount of insight matters.

One of the greatest things about the marketing ecosystem is the sheer amount of opportunities to get your message in front of an audience. To start, work with your capabilities and focus on the properties you’re the most comfortable with. As you learn and grow, you’ve got a large amount of channels to amplify your message.

Like anything associated with marketing, consistency and regularity are crucial to success. If you confuse your message or positioning, you can easily lose your audience. And if you let too much time pass between touch points, you can just as easily lose any momentum you’ve built.

• Website• Blogs• White papers / e-books• Podcasts• Speaking engagements

• Videos• Newsletters (print or digital)• Published articles• Social media

5

IT’S JUST A MATTER OF CHOOSING A MESSAGE AND COMMITTING TO IT ENTIRELY.