Dull is not authoritative:
By Sheperd Simmons On Message Strategy
There’s a common misconception among the thought leadership community – that to sound smart, you have to speak or write a certain way. You know what I mean. That formal tone. Passive voice. Third-person perspective. Dense jargon — Ohhh, the dense jargon.
In other words, if you want to sound like an expert, you must go forth and make thy content brilliantly…
…dull.
Source: tenor.com
Wrong.
Dull is not authoritative. Dull is just dull.
It’s uninteresting, unengaging, and unmotivating.
And it’s unnecessary. With the four principles of message strategy, you can be an authority in your field and still share your ideas in a compelling way.
Why your thought leadership doesn’t have to be dull
At its core, successful thought leadership depends on your ability to influence, inspire, and educate. Do you find monotone, passive, unnecessarily long and complex sentences exciting? Do they make you want to stop what you’re doing and make changes? I suspect not. (All I have to do is think back to one or two professors from college. Brilliant? Yes. Boring? Absolute snooze fests.)
Source: tenor.com
The truth is, adding clarity and personality, even humor, to your content doesn’t diminish its authority — it enhances it. It energizes it. When you speak clearly and you’re relatable, you’re not dumbing down your points. You’re getting them across. You’re making it easier for your audience to engage with you and your ideas. And that means they’ll come back for more.
Humor helps me connect with a thought leader. It feels like a deeper relationship. I think “I like this person. They’re smart AND funny.” I want to come back for more.
– Lisa Evano, President of Counterpart
Ready to ditch the dull and get more followers? Want to learn how to make your thought leadership content more relatable? Let’s talk about how.
A message strategy for your leadership content
What the heck is message strategy? It’s a principled approach to what you say and how you say it in order to achieve a goal. Below are its four guiding principles, what we call the 4Cs.
Be customer-centric: Thought leadership is about your audience.
You spend hours, days, weeks — years even — curating your content. Still… crickets. You might even be asking yourself “Why is no one reading my thought leadership content?”
Source: tenor.com
Start with how you interact with your audience.
Thought leadership should be a dialogue, not a monologue. In other words, don’t just dump your ideas in a blog post and move on. Present them in a way your audience can connect with. In a way that addresses their needs, challenges, and curiosities.
The best way to do this is to make your reader or listener the subject of your sentences. You’ll do more than capture their interest; you’ll place them at the heart of the conversation. This is a game changer, because what makes a message effective is not who it comes from, but who it resonates with.
What makes a message effective is not who it comes from, but who it resonates with.
Try this: Instead of saying what you can do, say what your customer will be able to do.
“We have solutions to help grow your audience” becomes “Increase followers with a personalized email campaign.”
And “We can help you with engaging thought leadership strategies” becomes “Turn dull content into real-life stories your audience can relate to.”
Be clear: Jargon doesn’t equal intelligence.
We’re back to that darn jargon again. And maybe there is a time and place for some of it when you’re among peers.
But let’s be real. Jargon is the art of making simple ideas sound complicated. It’s akin to using a GPS to navigate your own backyard. And if you use complicated language and industry-specific jargon — especially among broader audiences — you’ll alienate instead of impress.
So swap the arcane for clarity and break down complex ideas into digestible content. You can start by going from sentence to sentence and replacing formal words with simpler words. For example, go with “use” over “utilize.” “Help” instead of “facilitate.” And “now” instead of “at some point in time.”
Message strategy tip: Put away the word-of-the-day calendars. Big words don’t make you sound smart — communicating well does. You’re just going to have to accept the fact that using hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia at the cocktail party is not the flex you think it is.
Think of it as a rule of thumb. If you can’t explain your concept simply, you might not understand it well enough. This underscores the importance of clarity — not just for the sake of communication, but as a true measure of understanding.
If you can’t explain your concept simply, you might not understand it well enough.
When you strike the perfect balance of being specific enough that your message is unmistakable and easily understood, you’ve officially exited the jargon train. Congrats. Now you’re a true trailblazer, ready to use your own voice to make a difference for others.
Be compelling: Grab attention with authenticity.
The digital landscape is cluttered with content vying for attention — like shouty vendors at a bustling bazaar. The trick is to stand out and make your thought leadership content more interesting than the next guy’s, and the next guy’s, and so on.
Source: tenor.com
The good news is that there are some tried-and-true paths to being compelling. Share a hot take, a counterintuitive idea, or personal anecdote — anything that raises an eyebrow and makes a reader slow their scroll.
Compelling content often contains a hot take, a counterintuitive idea, or personal anecdote — anything that raises an eyebrow and makes a reader slow their scroll.
Use visuals to illustrate your points, and analogies and stories to ground your ideas in reality. You’ll not only capture your audience’s attention, you’ll make your message more memorable.
Try this: Share a surprising personal learning experience related to your field that challenges conventional wisdom.
Be controlled: Consistency builds trust.
Controlled thought leadership adheres to a coherent theme and aligns your overall message strategy. To put it another way, your signature style isn’t just about the topics you choose. It’s about your approach to those topics, the language you use, and the values you express.
Controlled thought leadership adheres to a coherent theme and aligns your overall message strategy.
When you’re consistent, that style becomes your brand in the minds of your audience. You develop your voice as a thought leader. And you position your content as not just one of many they consume, but a — maybe the — reliable, preferred source they seek out and trust.
By developing and maintaining a unique voice and perspective, you’ll stand out and build a loyal following.
Try this: Regularly publish content that ties back to your core message. Make sure each piece complements the others in both style and substance.
Dull is not your thought leadership destiny.
Thought leadership isn’t about sounding serious.
Source: tenor.com
It’s about being seriously impactful — by sparking conversations and making connections.
It’s about speaking to the minds of your audience — and resonating with their hearts.
As you craft your messages, remember that you’re in control of your thought leadership style. And your #1 goal is to serve your audience. To enlighten and inspire them. Not put them to sleep with content as dull as a rusty nail because you think you have to use fancy words to sound smart. You can be — should be — authoritative without being dry or impersonal.
By embracing a customer-centric, clear, compelling, and controlled approach, you can hone thought leadership skills that assert your expertise and genuinely engage and inspire your audience.
Want to learn more about how the 4Cs factor into the bigger picture of message strategy? Check out the post. Or if you’d like to discuss your thought leadership content, get yourself a counterpart.
Related:
How to make your message customer-centric
How to make your message clear
How to make your message compelling
How to keep your message controlled
Message strategy success stories
What is message strategy?
