Over the last 18 months, many of us have had to grapple with behavioural change. Whether it is learning how to work from home or live social distanced lives, we have had to face up to the fact that we are not always in control of what is happening around us and had to adapt our behaviour to fit.

Here at Passle, we aim to drive behavioural change for our clients. However, rather than instruct and inform, we have found that the most effective way to bring about behavioural change is to allow people to persuade themselves, using some of the methods below.

Highlight a gap

Clients want information and insights. Google estimates that at least 60% of the buying decision is made before an individual contacts the vendor or provider. This means that there is a good chance that potential clients have done their research and due diligence before a provider knows they even exist. It has therefore never been more important to have a presence online, and be front of mind for your audience of existing and prospective clients.

Additionally, industry experts and leaders rank at the very top of the list when it comes to the most trusted sources of information, according to Edelman's Trust Barometer. This means that lawyers and consultants are very well placed to be carrying out thought leadership, and explains why it cannot be outsourced to marketing teams.

So when trying to drive behavioural change within your thought leadership programme, highlight the need for expert insights and information from existing and prospective clients.

Reduce the ask

Traditional content creations methods asked a lot of their creators. Whether it was a drawn-out approval process, a convoluted email chain of drafts, or a lack of tangible results, authors of thought leadership faced multiple hurdles when it came to creating their thought leadership. Additionally, traditional long-form content, whilst containing a plethora of expert knowledge, is costly to create, and hard to digest for readers.

When we reviewed all of the data from posts across the Passle network we found that the average time a visitor spends reading thought leadership is 3 minutes. This means that the ideal post length is anywhere between 300-500 words long. 

So, instead of long-form content, encourage your thought leaders to create digestible, shorter-form content that lowers the barrier to entry for thought leadership and reduces the size of the ask.