A few months ago, I had the opportunity to discuss thought leadership best practices at the Public Affairs Council’s Advocacy Conference, drawing upon my experience as a speech writer, strategic communications advisor and someone who learned by trial and error while leading a thought leadership institute for senior executives at Fortune 500 companies. Here are some key takeaways from my presentation to help you revive your thought leadership strategy and fall in love with it all over again.

Get creative about crowdsourcing your knowledge

If you’re developing a new piece of thought leadership content based on research, don’t just limit your information gathering to surveys. In an era of overflowing inboxes, survey requests are increasingly easy to ignore. Instead, couple your traditional research methods with personal, direct outreach:

• Schedule feedback sessions with your best storytellers, advisors and connectors who can weigh in on issues shaping your industry/mission.
• Find time to do monthly calls with your top clients and prospects, working in coordination with your business development team, and use this time to listen to them share their latest challenges and opportunities.
• Do regular check-ins with your Board members and employees to pressure test ideas and discover new topics.

Don’t just do a stand-alone piece of content – think strategically about how it can be a conversation starter. A mistake public affairs professionals make is taking a “one-and-done” approach to reports and white papers they publish but don’t really promote. Turn your new report or research you released into an opportunity to initiate live feedback, commentary and knowledge sharing. The easiest way to do this is to go back to the stakeholders who inspired your ideas and invite them to join a virtual or in-person discussion, perhaps highlighting them as featured experts and speakers.

Partner with like-minded individuals and groups who can provide logistical support and help share what you’re doing more widely. Cohost a discussion with a think tank that has experts who can weigh in on a topic/theme you’re highlighting or a peer organization similar to yours that could expand your network/reach. If your focus is on marketing your content, a partner can be a force multiplier and help you get your content in front of a much larger audience through their network.

When co-creating thought leadership with partners, it’s crucial to align on outreach goals, deliverables and cross-promotional opportunities. If you’re planning an event together, perhaps one partner supplies refreshments and the other provides the space where the event is held. Ideally, both groups should contribute speaker suggestions and agree to invite key stakeholders who would benefit from the experience and expand each other’s respective networks. It’s also important to align on how you will promote the experience. Is the conversation you’re creating a closed-door, invite-only discussion? Or are you opening it up to your respective communities to get wider reach? Can you agree to work from a collective, master invite list to keep track of who each party is inviting? Be sure to also loop in each other’s respective communication teams so you can develop cross-promotional materials.

In the Age of AI, Authenticity Is Our Best Bet

It is no longer enough to push out a report or white paper via digital communications and hope it sticks. People are bombarded by information and craving human connection, especially in a time when things feel like they’re changing quickly and AI makes it easy to produce mass amounts of content that may or may not be accurate.

When it comes to thought leadership, community building is key. Let’s ensure we’re making the most of our hard-earned insights by bringing them to life through interesting, interactive conversations that strengthen relationships.