Most organizations aspire to be known as an industry leader. After all, being known as the leading authority on your marketplace implies a certain level of quality and builds trust with your audience and peers. Many organizations will say that they lead and don’t follow but how do they know if this is true?
Here are the 6 ways you can tell if your company is truly an industry leader:
1. You compare yourself to companies that are outside of your industry. When Martell Custom Homes set out to revolutionize the way that homes were built, they looked outside the industry and took inspiration from technology companies on process management. Leading organizations often look to industries beyond their own for creative inspiration. After all, how can you change an industry without looking outside it?
2. Your team gets requests for speaking engagements. You know that your industry sees you as a leader when you are asked to teach them something. The speaker lineup at Inbound 2017 is a fantastic illustration of how business success and leadership has been elevated to celebrity-status. Think former First Lady Michelle Obama, bestselling author Brene Brown and WWE star John Cena alongside the Chief Brand Officer for Uber and the founders of Hubspot.
3. When your customer searches online, you come up as a solution. A solid SEO strategy is helpful but will only get you so far. Industry leaders enjoy coverage from bloggers and other online news sources time and time again. When your organization starts being mentioned in Top 10 lists and articles, you know that your leadership is beginning to gain traction. Want to test this? Just have a look at the hundreds, possibly thousands, of articles written about the culture, experience and service offered by Zappos. Oh and look at that… they just created another one!
4. You receive requests for quotes and interviews. When you become a trusted source for industry information, you will begin to see requests for interviews in your inbox. Becoming the voice of your industry implies credibility and builds trust. Security firm Fireeye is regularly featured in the mainstream media commenting in articles like this one. Closer to home in the same industry, David Shipley of Beauceron Security has been using this strategy to position himself as a thought leader and to help build the brand of his growing company.
5. Your relationships with your target customers extend beyond the sale. When you notice that your clients truly care about your organization, you are no longer a commodity. To emulate industry leaders like Apple, Zappos and Southwest, it’s imperative to focus on building real relationships with your audience. Would your community honestly feel a loss if you no longer existed? If the answer is yes, you have assumed a position of leadership in your industry.
6. Your reputation is stellar. These days, trust is everything to your audience. Reputation management should be an investment that no organization overlooks because reputation drives business success! Rolex, Lego and Disney topped Forbes list of the most reputable companies this year and it is no coincidence that these companies are absolutely dominating their respective industries.
Are you an industry-leader yet? If not, don’t despair! We can help! Join us for our upcoming workshop where Competitive Intelligence expert Jonathan Calof will teach you how to build a strategy that will dominate your industry.
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