The Industry Leaders was started in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a way for business leaders and entrepreneurs to get more exposure for their work. But recently, the publication has launched a new service. Co-Founder Rob Barratt explains why.
“The whole idea of The Industry Leaders was to help entrepreneurs and business leaders – particularly those in SMEs – get more exposure for their work at a time when the world was closing down. But we’ve grown in a way I couldn’t have imagined back then.”
The Industry Leaders published its first couple of interviews in late 2020, highlighting the journey and achievements of business leaders in the real estate and construction industries. The intention was twofold:
- To connect with interesting and influential people
- To give more exposure to industry leaders, particularly those in small businesses
- To share lessons and insights from industry leaders with other business owners
“The purpose was to help as many people as we could,” he explained, “though initially, we were only really thinking about the real estate and construction industry.”
However, the site quickly snowballed and was soon publishing interviews with leaders from industries as diverse as tech, crypto, and even sexual health and wellness.
It wasn’t long before they featured some of the biggest names in business.
“Publishing interviews with people like Kara Goldin, the founder of Hint Water, and Ram Charan, ‘the world’s most influential consultant’, was surreal.”
But, as the site has grown, Rob and Co-Founder Kacey Tsang have stayed close to their mission of making sure as many entrepreneurs and business leaders as possible are able to benefit from the site.
“At the end of the day, we set this up to help people, and that has always been front and centre for us. I know how hard it is to run a business, especially when you’re just starting out and don’t have the same marketing budget as your more established competitors.”
Small business owners as far afield as the USA, UK, and Middle East, found themselves at the top of Google’s rankings after featuring on the site – something that would likely have cost thousands of dollars if they had relied on advertising alone.
A France-based executive coach, Michelle Ensuque, is a testament to the power of featuring on the site, saying, “within just a few months, I was ranking at the top of Google’s page 1 for my name, plus ‘industry leader’. Now even my business page is starting to climb Google’s rankings too!”
Following feedback like this, Barratt and Tsang decided to offer a new service.
Zero-Effort PR
“I tried getting an online business off the ground in the past and it’s extremely difficult. I spent thousands of dollars advertising online and not one penny of it brought me any sales. But, the thing is, over 60% of success is due to exposure, so if you want to succeed you need to work hard to get the word out about what you’re doing.”
Their solution was to create opportunities for business owners to showcase their expertise with as little effort as possible.
They named that solution Zero Effort PR, a service that helps anyone looking to create more exposure and get in front of their target audience with as little effort as possible.
The service sees The Industry Leaders do the hard work of finding and connecting business owners with podcasters in their niche so that they can share their expertise with an audience that might otherwise not have found them.
Expert writers also take care of ghostwriting articles on topics of the business owner’s choice, before publishing them on The Industry Leaders website. This ensures that the content works harder for the business owner and potentially gets read by more people, than simply posting a blog on their own website.
“The idea is that we take care of the heavy lifting when it comes to showcasing you and your business, so you can get on with building your business.”
As they also offer to publish press releases for their Zero Effort PR customers too, it looks like The Industry Leaders is continuing to stay true to its mission of helping as many business leaders as possible.
