How to Create Impactful Thought Leadership, Easily
Creating content on highly technical topics can be challenging (I know!) but an interview-style blog is hands down a great way to showcase the people and expertise within your business – it's also faster and easier to do.
The most effective way to do this is to interview a key influencer in your business. Not only does it save you hours of academic and technical research, it humanises the business and helps builds trust in their capabilities.
This is the format I use for interviews – it’s even resulted in publications and conference invites overseas (for the person interviewed, not for me!). Don’t miss the early preparation part because it makes ALL the difference to the end product.
Step-by-step:
Know Your Audience and Objective
Get clear on who you're talking to and what will capture their interest. Are they looking for highly technical insights or broader industry trends? I've learnt working with technical industries that what resonates often surprises you – don't discount the topics that matter most to your audience.
Do Your Homework, Prep Smart Questions
Think about the topics that will genuinely help your reader. Here are some questions that consistently draw out great insights from technical experts:
What's the most exciting development happening in your field right now?
How did you get into this line of work?
What do you expect to see in the industry over the next 10 years?
What's the biggest misconception people have about your work?
Mix complex technical questions with personal ones. It helps put the person being interview at ease if they’re nervous and it will connect with the audience too.
Choose Your Expert
Who's the person in your company that really knows their stuff? This is your chance to introduce their role, credentials, and personality. Most people are forthcoming I’ve interviewed because they see the benefit for them and the company.
The Interview Process
You can do this online or face-to-face – just make sure you record it and let them know when you've started recording. Send the questions ahead of time so they can have some idea of what you are after. Keep it to 6-8 questions maximum.
Start with the softer, personal questions as a warm-up – sometimes it takes a few questions to get someone into the groove of talking. Don't forget to ask for photos too - it all helps bring the story to life, including a photo of the interviewee.
Put AI to Work
Drop the entire interview into your AI tool of choice to clean up all those ums, ahs and other odd words. I find Otter.ai does a great job here. Use AI to tighten up waffly sections, but keep the original voice and personality – that's what makes it authentic.
Get Sign-Off and Approval
Send the polished version back to your interviewee. There's may be something that needs clarifying, plus it gives them a chance for a final read and to add any extra insights they might have thought of later.
Final Approval and Launch
Once you're both happy then interview, get that final approval – then you're good to go.
Put Your Content to Work
You've got a cracking article, now put it to work for you. Here are some ideas:
Publish it on your website (don't forget to add an 'about <‘about name' blurb at the end)
Slice and dice for social media
Share on LinkedIn (and personal profiles)
Pitch it to industry publications
Feature it in your newsletter
Share with your current customers
One interview give you high-value content you can use for months
Don't overthink it – the best expert content comes from simple conversations with people. Your audience wants to hear from real experts in their words.
The expertise is already there; you're just giving it a voice.
