Chapter 1
The Importance of a Thought Leadership Strategy
Photo by Benjamin Smith on Unsplash
The broadest definition of thought leadership is content that presents insight into an industry or issue that prompts the audience to see its creator as a credible expert.
Thought leadership used to be the preserve of industry analysts and independent publications. However, in today’s competitive technology marketplace, effective thought leadership content can provide B2B marketing teams with a powerful competitive edge.
“Thought leadership engenders trust in a brand,” explains Paul Malyon, Head of Thought Leadership and Data Literacy at Experian. “It’s less about a sale, and more about a conversation that can result in a longer term, consultative relationship.”
“You need to go to the market and tell your story in an effective way. Doing this through traditional advertising and digital banners is simply not enough. You need to build relationships with your potential buyers by demonstrating credibility and delivering high value. Good thought leadership content helps you prove that you have the talent and expertise to get the job done,” says Matthew Holland, Head of Corporate Marketing at Iress.
Good sales conversations always focus on the customer – and thought leadership is the same. “Every time we start any kind of sales engagement, we spend 50-60% of the time talking about their challenges,” notes Gareth Case, chief marketing officer at Redstor.
High quality thought leadership is an opportunity to demonstrate your organisation’s insight, and credibility. If successful, the content will be shared across professional networks, putting your ideas and brand in front of potential partners and customers. IT purchasers are increasingly researching products and services online, presenting a huge opportunity to be discovered through thought leadership, Case says.
“Good thought leadership content helps you prove that you have the talent and expertise to get the job done.”
About Iress
At Iress, we believe technology should help people perform better. Every day around the world, our technology helps millions of people make better financial decisions. More than 100,000 people use our advice software, data and trading services. We manage market data from 153 global exchanges. More than 450 third-party enterprises have integrated Iress technology into their own software. From entrepreneurial and established advice firms to challenger banks, digital disruptors and the world’s most iconic finance brands, businesses of all sizes choose Iress technology to enhance their impact, performance and customer relationships. Together, we help them find better ways to manage investments, navigate financial markets, deliver high quality financial advice, simplify mortgage applications, find and compare insurance and create better customer experiences.
Thought leadership can be a powerful tool for marketing teams to help sales develop trusted relationships with potential customers, adds Mark Terry, Vuzion’s head of marketing. “The marketing teams are engaging in those early conversations and thought leadership can be really valuable in that setting.”
Lorna Nightingale, director of marketing at Esri UK, recalls working on the global rollout of Salesforce.com software at a prior company, that was prompted by thought leadership. “Our purchasing decision was influenced by the company’s thought leadership content, which helped us take a clear business case to senior management,” she says.
Today at Esri UK, Nightingale is working on a project called “Lighting up the Enterprise.” This will build on established relationships and help advocates for the brand to tell their story and showcase how Geospatial technology adds value to businesses, government and society.
There’s no single version of what thought leadership could be. The organisations quoted in this e-book have utilised social media posts, white papers, videos, podcasts and more. While the medium might change, however, the fundamental nature of thought leadership remains the same.
Effective thought leadership should offer value to the reader, usually in terms of insight, actionable advice and a strong vision of how challenges might be addressed. “Good thought leadership uncovers what is going on in the market, and sets an industry standard,” adds Holly Harding, marketing manager at Causeway Technologies.
While much thought leadership uses data to offer insight, the best content combines this with genuine storytelling. Alongside data, a customer anecdote or real-world example of a technology solution can bring content to life. The key is to use storytelling to prove and qualify that you are an expert in what you are trying to sell, or the advice you are giving. “It’s sharing opinions in a way that people are genuinely interested in,” says Richard Turrell, head of marketing at recruitment specialists Handle.
The challenge that organisations face is that too many technology firms use “thought leadership” as a way to push out marketing material, with product led white papers and “solutions” that are thinly disguised vendor case studies. “Companies are often pushing product rather than listening to what the customers issues are,” says Simon Carlton Rhodes, previously Director of Thought Leadership at EY, CS, HSF. “It really should be about current and future industry challenges, and the move to the correct solution for the specific problem/ issue.”
At IBM, the customer’s issues are at the heart of thought leadership strategy. Much of the content is built around curated insight and conversations with customers and industry experts. This means that if a piece of content relates to an issue for CEOs, then the content will feature insight from CEOs.
Caroline Taylor OBE, is vice-president and chief marketing officer at IBM Global Markets, likens thought leadership to a dance – it’s something you do in partnership, not on your own. The upside of this collaborative approach is that sometimes the conversations involved can lead to new business, and new relationships. IBM also benefits from what Taylor calls ‘expertise by association’ – resulting in content that the audience is more likely to want to share with their peers and colleagues.
Organisations that take a considered approach to thought leadership are already reaping the rewards. According to the 2019 LinkedIn/Edelman B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study, 41% of chief executives and 37% of business leaders say they would use thought leadership as a criterion for including a company in RFP, where they were not previously in the consideration set.
Edelman also found that business leaders use thought leadership as a standard by which they evaluate potential partners. A huge majority of those surveyed said they use content to gauge the calibre of a potential supplier’s goods and services, especially in smaller, niche businesses.
“Creating thought leadership is a like dance, it’s something we do in partnership, not on our own.”
About IBM
IBM is a leading cloud platform and cognitive solutions company. Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are the largest technology and consulting employer in the world, with more than 380,000 employees serving clients in 170 countries. With Watson, the AI platform for business, powered by data, we are building industry-based solutions to real-world problems. For more than seven decades, IBM Research has defined the future of information technology with more than 3,000 researchers in 12 labs located across six continents.
Top Insights:
People make buying decisions based on emotions. Thought leadership is about having a bold opinion, a clear point of view, and communicating it with a difference.
Susi O’Neill - Head of B2B Brand Content (Global) at Kaspersky
Thought leadership puts your brand front of mind and makes it more trusted. Paul Malyon - Head of Thought Leadership & Data Literacy at Experian
Thought leadership revolves around three connected Rs: revenue, relationships and reputation.
Simon Carlton Rhodes - Former Director of Thought Leadership at EY, CS, HSF
Customers want to know that you are keeping up with what is important in the industry. The big problem is that sales just want to get to the pitch as quickly as possible. David Turner - CMO at SideTrade
People do not want to be sold to. The product pitch should be left behind until they know you, like you and trust you. Sharing insightful and authentic content accelerates this process
David Turner – CMO at SideTrade
B2B business purchasing is influenced by more than just trends. Businesses are looking for things that inspire them which are backed up by research, data and credible people. Clare Delmar - Marketing & Brand Director at Nuada Medical
Thought leadership is an opportunity to stand out in a world where content is abundant, says Joseph Sursock, senior vice-president EMEA at Course5 Intelligence. A smart piece of content with pertinent findings, experience and recommendations will always stand out from the crowd, he says.
If organisations can match the right ideas with the right platform, the benefits can be enormous. Course5 Intelligence has found that using video to share client stories, particularly in areas where there is rapid change and uncertainty, has driven huge engagement. That video content can then be used to help create supplementary content, such as white papers and, increasingly, podcasts. The days of expecting potential customers to read through brochures and long white papers are gone, according to Ian Moyse, EMEA Sales Director at Natterbox. If vendors want content to be consumed, we need to look at how technology – and content consumption – has changed. “Fifteen years ago we didn’t have timelines and newsfeeds but those technologies are now freely available and part of our everyday lives,” he says.
Buyers want to know something and gain insight in a short period of time that’s convenient for them. Research suggests that while senior c-level executives spend up to an hour each week reading long-form content, other executives consume content on the move. In this setting, video and podcasts can be much better content mediums.
Podcasts are useful in terms of exploring someone’s thought process, Sursock adds. “People are exhausted by PowerPoints and charts, it’s much easier to listen to people telling stories in a natural way, and someone throwing questions at them in real-time.”
While content can be consumed quickly or on the move, it’s essential not to neglect the quality of the underlying information, says Matt Kaye, head of marketing with the Lane4 Management Group. “People want to see things backed up by academic rigour,” he says. Thought leadership should incorporate solid research from organisations such as the CIPD, says Kaye.
“People are exhausted by PowerPoints and charts, it’s much easier to listen to people telling stories in a natural way, and someone throwing questions at them in real-time.”
Joseph Sursock
Senior Vice-President EMEA, Course5 Intelligence
About Course5 Intelligence
We enable organisations to make the most effective strategic and tactical moves relating to their customers, markets, and competition at the rapid pace that the digital business world demands. Course5 Intelligence does this by driving digital transformation through analytics, insights, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Our clients experience higher top line and bottom line results with improved customer satisfaction and business agility. As we solve today’s problems for our clients, we also enable them to reshape their businesses to meet and actualize the future.