You’ve worked hard to ensure your building material manufacturer business is always on a path to steady growth. Now, it is time to turn your attention to helping others within your industry.
How do you do this? By becoming a thought leader and guiding those with less experience or different skills than you have.
In short, building materials thought leadership includes guiding others on the best way to grow within the industry, mentoring individuals and otherwise working to be an authority figure for those in your field.
Here are a few tips on how to become a thought leader in the building materials industry.
Step One: Think About Your Target Audience
Before you can become a thought leader, it is important to first consider your audience. Who are they and why do they care about what you have to say?
Consider their point of view and how they feel about your industry as a whole. Brainstorm where they’re at in their growth journey and how you can help them achieve their goals.
When it comes to the construction and manufacturing fields, this might be a new CEO who needs a bit of extra guidance to learn how to lead. Or it might be a company owner that is successful but has reached a plateau they need to overcome.
Your audience might not even be a specific person. Instead, it could be those with a specific job title or even your own employees.
Considering your target audience is the first step in crafting a genuine message and starting your path as an industry expert.
Step Two: Identify a Pain Point
Once you know who your audience includes, it is time to identify a pain point. Since you’re in the building materials industry, this idea should somehow relate to the challenges of growing a company in this niche. However, general topics in leadership, management, and business are also acceptable.
This issue is what you’re going to create your main focus around in teaching others to solve the same problem. By showing them that you have a solution, you help increase your credibility and build trust.
Step Three: Determine Your Thought Leadership Strategy
When it comes down to it, every good thought leader has a solid strategy. Not only do they think out who they’re trying to reach out to and why their message is important, but they’ve also considered how they plan on delivering their message.
The three most common methods are through in-person engagements, content marketing, and social media.
In-Person Engagements
Perhaps you would enjoy a speaking engagement where you discuss how you took your family’s lumber company from just a few thousand dollars per year to several million. Or maybe you want to host a seminar where you explain to sales reps how to become better at what they do.
Talking to a crowded room often takes courage and not everybody is an ideal candidate. Make sure you feel comfortable in your public speaking skills and hone in on the overall message you want to project when planning these types of events as a thought leader.
Content Marketing
Another way to project your status as a thought leader in your industry is through content marketing. Essentially, this includes written content like blog posts, whitepapers, eBooks, or even self-published guides, but not always.
Podcasts, video installments, and more are all popular ways to create thought leadership content. Don’t be afraid to get creative in what you do, too. The more innovative the message, the more you position yourself as a leader in your industry.
Social Media
Once you create content, you’ll want a place to share it. Social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook are always a good choice. Even Twitter and Instagram are good places to offer advice in short form.
And don’t forget about video platforms, too. YouTube talks on how to achieve more in life are always popular and more people are gaining traction with TikTok as a shorter alternative to provide solid advice. Just make sure you’re using hashtags related to the building materials industry to help connect directly with your audience.
Step Four: Decide How to Measure Your Success
Before committing to becoming a thought leader in the building materials industry, it is important to decide how to measure what you feel is success.
Is it helping your company get more recognition as an industry leader? Reaching a specific number of people within your niche of the construction world? Or do you simply want to complete the process for personal fulfillment?
All are very important, but you’ll want to have a way to track your efforts. Maybe this is the number of people who read your blog each week or followers on social media accounts. Perhaps it is the size of the audience you’re speaking to at seminars or trade shows.
Whatever that metric is, make sure you keep track of it along the way to document your progress.
Wrap Up: Thought Leaders in the Building Materials Industry
As a thought leader, your goal should always be to help improve the next generation of workers within your field. By helping them learn these necessary skills now, you’re creating the leaders of the building materials market well into the future.
Not sure where to start? ER Marketing helps brands within the building materials industry with a variety of digital marketing tasks. If you’re thinking about building your thought leadership portfolio, please get in touch with us to start the conversation.
For more tips on how to drive marketing success, read our blog on digital marketing tips for the building material industry.
