Focus on what your audience expects you to know.
Thought leadership is one of those things PR teams talk about constantly and still sometimes struggle to achieve on a large scale.
Adam Kiefaber, senior director of content at Worldpay, said, “We spend too much time asking what’s PR-able instead of asking what our audience expects us to know.”
Speaking at the PR Daily Conference, Kiefaber shared how sustained, research-driven thought leadership can grow from a single idea into a global influence machine.
Don’t chase coverage
One of the biggest mistakes PR teams make is asking what will get coverage instead of asking what is useful to their audience, Kiefaber said.
Knowing what people expect should “drive what you research and what you publish,” he said.
Worldpay processes payments in 174 countries, so its clients expect deep expertise on how people pay, not necessarily commentary on every trending topic. That clarity shaped the Global Payments Report, a deep dive into customer behavior, now in its 10th year.
The same principle applies to any industry, he said. HR firms publish talent data. Reputation companies publish trust data.
Define one or two topics your organization should own, then commit to it long term, he said. What can you offer on a recurring basis that’s unique to your organization or industry?
Build one flagship campaign
The Global Payments Report is a 160-page report backed by proprietary data, global surveys and internal expertise. It is published annually. Consistency matters more than short-term metrics, Kiefaber said.
“The real measure of success is its longevity,” he said. “Clients download the report immediately every year, often without promotion, because they’ve come to rely on it.”
PR pros looking to gain credibility or authority on a specific subject should invest in a single annual or recurring campaign that can anchor media, content, social and internal storytelling all year long, he said.
Make global scale usable
Scaling thought leadership globally doesn’t mean controlling every output. Worldpay created a self-serve content hub so regional teams could localize data, stories and visuals.
This makes it easy for teams to access what they need and adapt it for local markets, he said.
Build toolkits, hubs or playbooks that empower regions instead of slowing them down.
Let others demonstrate credibility
Worldpay works with industry experts and creators who use the data to support their own commentary.
“They’re not promoting us,” Kiefaber said. “They’re promoting insights.”
That’s what makes it stick, he said.
For PR teams, the takeaway is that real thought leadership is about being useful, consistent and trusted year after year.
“We don’t chase trends,” he said. “We show up every year with something our audience actually needs.”
To learn even more tips about thought leadership, head over to view this presentation and more at Ragan Training here.
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at courtneyb@ragan.com.
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