In recent years, thought leadership has become an essential part of an effective marketing toolkit. Many businesses and marketers feel the pressure to keep generating new insights to stand out in the sea of marketing content. While thought leadership is a great way to showcase new ideas, it can do much more for your business. When done right, it can position your business as a reliable industry expert. High-quality content that covers a mix of themes and topics can help you bring in strong returns for your business.
Creating quality thought leadership content
Successful thought leadership marketing relies on authentic and reliable expert content. This content can take the form of blogs, newsletters, research papers, articles, webinars or videos. To be effective, your content must be tailored to every stage of the decision-making journey of your clients and prospects. This means that thought leadership should address a range of topics across multiple channels. Here are a few themes and opportunities to consider when creating thought leadership content:
1. Solving your clients’ problems
Thought leaders gain credibility by using their expertise and experience to offer relevant solutions. This requires thorough research into the needs and problems of your prospects and clients. Make sure to include practical and actionable advice, comprehensive real-world case studies, and client testimonials to showcase your business in action. When doing so, keep the focus on your audience. Promoting your products or business too much could turn them away. According to research by Coleman Parkes, 42% of senior decision-makers said that they would be turned off thought leadership content that promotes the advisor instead of solving their problems.
Thought leadership about existing problems in the industry also helps you optimise your online presence for search engines. This allows prospects to easily find and reach out to you when they look for solutions to their problems.
2. Sharing lessons learnt from failure
The concepts of authenticity and vulnerability are not often discussed when talking about thought leadership. However, authenticity is at the heart of building a strong connection with your audience. Authentic thought leadership content stays true to your journey to becoming an expert. This means talking about your challenges, mistakes, failures, and difficult lessons that have contributed to your expertise over the years. It requires the courage to be vulnerable with your audience. This allows your prospects and clients to see the human side of the business and place their trust in you.
3. Showcasing best practices
From climate change to political instability, businesses face a variety of challenges today. Highlighting how your business is preparing to tackle them can go a long way in positioning you as a thought leader. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer (2020), Aussies now have increased expectations of businesses and business leaders to take the lead on societal issues. Employees and consumers alike are seeking greater transparency and engagement from businesses and leaders. Thought leadership presents a great opportunity to showcase your ethical business practices and lead the way. Addressing controversial topics and challenges in your industry can also help position you as a trustworthy expert.
4. Presenting a vision for the future
Almost 9 in 10 decision-makers surveyed by Edelman and LinkedIn sought to understand where their industries were headed. Thought leaders are expected to always stay on top of emerging trends and anticipate potential shifts in the market. Laying out a clear vision for the future can establish you as the go-to expert for prospects, clients, peers, and competitors alike. Creating this type of content helps you introduce your audience to new perspectives and stand out as a pioneer.
5. Starting new conversations
According to the Value of B2B Thought Leadership Survey, 58% of decision-makers were turned off thought leadership that lacked original insight or ideas. Writing about new ideas can start critical conversations in the industry or add value to existing conversations. However, thought leadership around ideas can end up being too generic or conceptual. This could drive decision-makers away from your business. About 40% of decision-makers surveyed by Edelman and LinkedIn said they were turned off by unsubstantiated opinions in thought leadership content. When writing about new ideas, make sure to support them with plenty of research and real-world experience.
Almost 9 in 10 decision-makers surveyed by Edelman and LinkedIn sought to understand where their industries were headed. Thought leaders are expected to always stay on top of emerging trends and anticipate potential shifts in the market. Laying out a clear vision for the future can establish you as the go-to expert for prospects, clients, peers, and competitors alike. Creating this type of content helps you introduce your audience to new perspectives and stand out as a pioneer.
6. Carving out a niche
For successful thought leadership marketing, it’s critical to deeply understand what makes your brand unique. What does your business do differently than your competition? This could be as simple as a product/service your business offers that others don’t. A dynamic thought leadership strategy makes use of the areas you have expertise in.
Another approach is to consider areas in your industry that need to be addressed and currently have a lack of experts and/or content. This could be a niche for your business to capture.
The tactics behind thought leadership marketing are constantly evolving. Successful thought leadership marketing demands a combination of tactics aligned with your content marketing strategy and business objectives. That’s why several businesses work with us. Our processes are designed to minimise your investment and maximise your benefit. With an investment of an hour a month, we can create high-quality thought leadership content that helps you meet your objectives. If you’d like to know more about how we can help you create tailored thought leadership strategy and content, get in touch.