Thought leadership strategy experts

What our thought leadership strategy experts do

Thought leadership strategy at Profile starts by fixing the small number of positions a senior figure should be known for, then testing each against what their buyers already ask about and what an independent journalist would actually run. Everything produced afterwards is measured against that. From there the plan sets which arguments belong in a bylined article, which need original research behind them, which are better made on camera, and which titles carry them. A publishing cadence is set month by month, because a position that appears once does not compound. The result is a written plan rather than a workshop output.

How they work

The test that does the work is the second one: would a journalist with no relationship to this firm commission it. Most positions fail it, and they fail early, which is the point of applying it before anything has been written rather than after six months of pitching. What survives is usually narrower and more specific than the firm expected, and more uncomfortable, because a position with no opposing view is not a position. Profile has been building these since 2014, and the pattern holds: the plans that work commit to fewer subjects than the client wanted, and go further into each one than the client thought necessary.

When to bring them in

The usual point is when a firm keeps being compared on price, when a leader's public standing lags their standing inside the business, or when journalists quote competitors on subjects the leader knows better. A move between roles is another, since the authority built travels with the individual rather than the employer. Profile asks for at least six months.