Did somebody say, “How do I find an incredibly talented and humble thought leadership copywriter?”.
I thought so.
Well, you’re in luck.
Thought leadership copywriting is something I’ve dabbled in in the past, but I’ve not had the time to shout about it – until now. Several months ago, I was approached by a now-freelance content strategist who used to work for an agency I’ve done huge amounts of writing for, and that is where this thought-provoking thought leadership tale begins.
“Have you ever done any work in the energy infrastructure sector?”
“The what?”, I responded, affronted by this unlikely combination of words.
Rather than promptly exiting the LinkedIn DM, she patiently explained that she remembered my accomplished (my words) B2B copywriting from previous projects at the agency, and thought I’d be a good fit for a current website rebrand she was working on.
The client, Dalcour Maclaren, wanted a writer to produce thought leadership blog articles to help them share their insights, perspectives and expertise, and position their brand as an authority and trusted voice in their industry. And ever so generously, she thought I was the man for the job.
Thought leadership copywriting: the process
As anything but a thought leader in the energy infrastructure sector, I was curious how the process would work.
During a conversation with the head of marketing, I was mildly horrified to hear that I would be interviewing key personnel in the service areas offered by Dalcour Maclaren (DM), before turning their insights into fully-fledged 1200-word articles. After all, my previous journalistic experience began and ended with a failed interview for a trainee sports reporter’s position at the Devizes Gazette and Herald.
However, my reticence was ill-founded. I’ve now written six or seven thought-leadership articles for DM, and I must say, even as a greatly cynical, general misery of a person, everyone I have spoken to has been impossibly nice and helpful.
To prepare for the interviews, I had to do a fair bit of research on topics that are a long way from my usual day-to-day of cheese and toast and leisurely lunchbreaks. Things like land consent challenges, powering data centres with renewable energy and the claimant’s journey in Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) are now as familiar to me as the consistent and infuriating failings of my Fantasy Premier League team.
Thought leadership copywriting: the results
After the interviews, which I conducted with the assistance of a very helpful AI transcription app (big shoutout to Otter AI – brap brap brap brap brap), I have been turning my learnings into thought leadership articles that, thus far, have been hitting the brief.
I don’t want to give myself too big a pat on the back, after all, we are all potentially just seconds from our next failure (cheery thought), but the feedback from DM’s delightful head of marketing has been a joy to read.
“You have made my day, this is excellent and you may have just written the BEST explanation of what we do that I have been trying to extrapolate for more than a year.”
She was referring to this pithy little number – ‘Our role is to move the project from concept to consent without getting stuck in legal, planning and stakeholder deadlock’.
and
“This is excellent, I am so pleased with it! No changes!”
I told you they were nice!
You can see the fruits of my thought leadership copywriting labours via the links below:
- What are the land consent challenges in Ireland for infrastructure projects over the next five years?
- Electricity network infrastructure consultation: consents, land access and rights
- What the UK can learn from Ireland in powering data centres with renewable energy and battery storage
If you’d like to lead some thoughts in your own industry, whatever it may be, please get in touch for a chat about how I can help.