How to Become a Thought Leader, with Natalie Ghidotti

How to become a thought leader—Discover expert advice from a respected thought leader and actionable steps on how to become a thought leader.

How to become a thought leader? Natalie Ghidotti, APR, is principal of Ghidotti, which she founded in 2007 and has since grown to serve a wide range of clients, including some of the region’s best-known brands. The firm serves clients that span all industries, including retail, healthcare, retirement communities, professional services, nonprofits and more.

Prior to opening her own firm, Natalie was a senior public relations account executive with another marketing/PR firm in Little Rock. Before joining the public relations world in 2004, Natalie served as special publications editor-in-chief at Arkansas Business Publishing Group, where she was editor of Little Rock Family, Arkansas Bride, Little Rock Guest Guide and other magazines for five years. While at ABPG, Natalie won national awards from the Parenting Publications of America for her stories published in Little Rock Family. In her public relations career, Natalie has garnered top Prism Awards from the Public Relations Society of America and Bronze Quill Awards from the International Association of Business Communicators.

Natalie is an active community volunteer, serving on the board of the Rotary Club of Little Rock and the Board Development Committee for the Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and as an active volunteer with Holy Souls School and Catholic High School for Boys. She is a past president of the Arkansas Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and a past chairman of PRSA National’s Independent Practitioners Alliance. She serves on the Executive Committee for PRSA National’s Counselors Academy, has served as one of a three-member leadership team overseeing National PRSA’s Section Council and has been a speaker for several PRSA International Conferences. Natalie is a member of PRConsultants Group, a collaborative of 50 senior-level PR practitioners representing the top markets in the country.

She has served on the boards of directors for Reach Out and Read, Museum of Discovery, Centers for Youth and Families and the Girls Scouts. She is a member of Leadership Arkansas Class XII, Leadership Little Rock, Class XVI, was named to Arkansas Business’ “40 Under 40,” and is troop leader for her daughter’s Girl Scout Juniors Troop.

What you’ll learn in this episode is about how to become a thought leader: 

• How Natalie’s journalism career ultimately led to starting her agency, Ghidotti, and how her agency’s focus is on the power of becoming a thought leader
• Actionable steps on how to become a thought leader
• How Natalie defines “the mindset of a journalist”, and how capturing that mindset is a crucial component of her team’s thought leadership expertise
• Why understanding what a journalist considers important is the key to focusing on the right angle for your content to best reach and serve your audience
• How being a consistently valuable source for a reporter can help you build a strong, trusted relationship that can be invaluable in becoming a thought leader
• Why a sense of urgency is important when working with media outlets, and how Natalie defines thought leadership
• How PR and content marketing interact with Natalie’s comprehensive, integrated “PESO” content model: Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned
• How becoming a thought leader and then slicing and dicing your content can allow it to be used across all four channels of the PESO model
• How being intentional and strategic with your thought