Time to wake up!
I am very proud of my role as the Editor for Marketing in Asia Mongolia. It allows me to have a voice and talk about important matters for the Mongolian marketing and business community. When I took on the responsibility for this role, the first thing I wanted to do is connect with the most important Mongolian thought leaders in marketing. Finding them was much more difficult than I imagined. I’ve spent hours looking for LinkedIn posts, Tweets, blogs, award-winning creative work and any news about marketing in Mongolia. Unfortunately, there’s a real lack of thought leadership coming out of Mongolian marketers right now.
I look at the strong thought leadership coming out of countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Australia and I believe Mongolia can do better. We’re a proud nation and should showcase the great work that is now coming out of our top brands.
To start, here’s a simple explanation of thought leadership in three areas:
- Having updated professional social media profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter or Blogs). Personal social media like Facebook can be useful too, but it’s best to not blur the boundaries between personal and professional worlds.
- Regularly published content. This could be written blogs, video content on YouTube, speaking at events, doing webinars or even writing a book. This content presents a point-of-view about marketing, trends, case studies and best practices.
- Local insights. Through content, the idea is to share your knowledge and lift the level of marketing expertise in Mongolia and bring attention to what you and your company is doing.
According to Bruce Rogers, Chief Insight Officer at Forbes and one of the world’s foremost authorities on thought leadership,
“Thought leadership content should be informative and embody innovative and actionable components that, in time, because of their effectiveness and contributions can become accepted industry practices. There are many worthwhile approaches to generating high-quality content. What’s essential is to be extremely attentive to the needs and wants of the audience for the material.”
Thought leadership is not just about ego There are clear personal and business benefits of creating content, speaking and engaging in thought leadership, including:
- Thought leadership is public that promotes your company, the brands you’re working on and directly leads to an increase in sales if it’s done well. The speaking engagements you do, the content you create, and any social media will always have a positive impact on your employer.
- The level of education in the marketing industry goes up. So much knowledge is hidden, so for young marketers starting out, having access to content from marketing leaders will quickly help improve their skills and operational delivery. This could be for your company, or for potential employees in the future.
- Thought leadership is personal branding. Of course, thought leadership should be focused on the work your company is doing but it will also improve your personal reputation. This can lead to internal promotions, new employment opportunities or new ventures that you otherwise wouldn’t know about.
It’s really not hard to get started. The easiest thing to do is get onto LinkedIn or Twitter, complete your profile and start sharing content. If you have more time (or are a good writer) you can start a blog. Many people hate speaking but it’s very rewarding once you conquer your fear and do a speaking event or a webinar. Finally, I’d like to personally invite you to be a contributor to Marketing in Asia Magazine. If you’ve got strong opinions about the Mongolian marketing industry, I’d love to hear from you!
