In a previous column, I talked about how a good content marketing strategy can lead to invitations for your organization’s thought leaders to speak at relevant industry events. This time, let’s take a look at how those public speaking engagements can, in turn, be repurposed and leveraged into new content marketing products.
As we did last time, let’s imagine that you’re the managing partner of a boutique urban planning firm and you’ve just made a key hire, “Alice,” who is an expert in the field of high-rise residential design. As part of your marketing efforts to increase brand awareness, one of your goals is to raise Alice’s thought leadership profile in the urban planning community. So from a content marketing perspective, you are looking for ways to gain the greatest possible benefit from a speech she’s been booked to deliver at an upcoming industry conference.Continue Reading
Public speaking is a powerful way to get your organization’s message across, positioning the speaker as a subject-matter expert. Anyone who has spoken at a conference knows the power of wearing that speaker’s badge — a presenter’s words, even in a conversation in the lobby over a coffee and croissant, just seem to have more weight. 
Consider a company that is trying to choose between two consulting firms, each claiming to be a thought leader in solving a particularly thorny problem. One firm’s representative says, “We’ve written five posts in our firm’s blog this year,” while the other says, “Here are reprints of five articles we’ve published this year on the websites of your industry’s most influential professional associations.”
Maybe you think of LinkedIn as primarily an online resume, or a database of potential employees. Take it one step further — 
They’re a staple of courtroom dramas everywhere — expert witnesses. These are individuals whose professional opinion is so valued that it can help sway, or even decide, the outcome of a court case. Clearly, informed opinion from appropriately qualified people has value in our society.
