The Audience Experience of Thought Leadership | Ginger Conlon | 421

Thought Leadership sits at different positions in different companies. It can be bucketed with research, content marketing, or even brand building. Given those options, how can you ensure all divisions are aligned in the story an organization's thought leadership is telling and the brand it is building? To examine how to achieve a harmonious alignment, I've invited Ginger Conlon to join me for a conversation. Ginger is the Thought Leadership Director at Genesys, a software company that specializes in customer experience and call center technology. At Genesys, thought leadership is research-driven and sits at the top of the funnel. The thought leadership team works with content marketing to learn about their priorities and focus on the most important issues - then, the former research reports which form the foundation of content for the months ahead. Through a shared editorial calendar, all parts of the organization tell the same story, and align around key points of the research. Too often, great content sits on a shelf, untouched. To ensure that doesn't happen, Ginger forms relationships with the owners of internal content management hubs and owners of team-specific newsletters. That way, she keeps them informed of new, relevant content, and uses their channels to push content through the organization. In addition, by seeking input from others throughout the organization, Ginger and Claire Beatty, senior director of thought leadership, create a sense of ownership in the content as leaders see their input influence thier content. Ginger shares great advice for anyone working on or alongside a thought leadership role on how to create a great end user experience for content. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought Leadership is about engaging your audience and sharing insights with them on a broader level. * A shared editorial calendar is the key to ensuring thought leadership and content marketing work hand in hand. * In order to get your message across an organization you not only have to build relationships but you have to understand how information is disseminated across it.