It’s getting increasingly difficult for businesses to get noticed and connect with customers on the internet. According to a poll by McCann, almost 42% of Americans believe that brands and companies are less honest today than they were 20 years ago. Many firms, however, have discovered a method for generating awareness and trust, increasing clout, and nurturing engagement – what we call thought leadership.
As a B2B marketer, thought leadership is essential for your content strategy. Thought leadership content is all about surfacing those earned secrets — the unique perspectives, experiences, and resources that inform your product and your brand’s philosophy and sharing them with your audience to build credibility, trust, and ultimately, loyalty.
This blog post will discuss why thought leadership is essential for marketers and how you can create content that establishes you as a thought leader in your industry.
What exactly is thought leadership?
Thought leadership is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but it’s often misunderstood. Thought leadership is not a style of content, it’s an approach to content. And it’s one that all marketers should be employing in their content strategy, regardless of industry or niche.
At its core, thought leadership is about thoughtfully and deliberately sharing your unique perspective on a given topic to educate, inform, and inspire your audience. It’s not about selling products or services. However, thoughtfully crafted thought leadership can certainly increase sales down the line.
Instead, it’s about establishing yourself and your brand as a leading authority in your industry. You want your audience to see you as a source of relevant insights about big-picture developments happening in your industry.
What can thought leadership do for your B2B OTT business?
A good thought leadership strategy provides genuine value to your community, positions your company as a recognized authority and knowledge base within your industry, and can lead to:
- Increased awareness among your target demographic
- More leads due to potential consumers putting their faith in you and seeking your assistance.
- A boost in credibility through social proof and engagement
Thought leadership content can be delivered as blog posts, whitepapers, ebooks, infographics, podcasts, newsletters, and webinars.
The art of motivating a group of people to act is known as leadership. Consequently, when you exhibit thought leadership, you’re leveraging your knowledge and experience to be forward-thinking about an industry and lead others through what’s ahead.
Examples of thought leadership content
- A blog post about an industry trend and how it will impact your business
- A whitepaper that dives deep into a specific topic relevant to your target audience
- An ebook that offers actionable advice on solving a common problem for your target audience
- An infographic that visualizes data or trends in your industry
Five thought leadership content best practices
It is difficult to leave a long-term and significant influence on your audience. Therefore, to be a top thought leader in your industry, you must employ a combination of these five best practices.
1. Be authentic
To be a thought leader, you must be genuine. Your audience can spot inauthenticity from a mile away, so it’s vital that you only share perspectives and opinions that you genuinely believe in.
2. Be consistent
Building trust with your audience takes time, and thought leadership is about building trust. You need to be consistent in your approach and the quality of your content to establish yourself as a credible thought leader.
3. Be original
There’s no room for thought leaders who repeatedly regurgitate the same old ideas. You need to offer fresh perspectives and insights that challenge the status quo to stand out.
4. Be relevant
Thought leadership is all about being relevant to your audience. Your content should be timely and address your audience’s pain points.
5. Be valuable
Thought leadership is not about promoting yourself or your brand. It’s about providing value to your audience. Your content should be educational, informative, and inspiring. If it’s not, then it’s not thought leadership.
Wrapping up
If you want to be a thought leader, it’s crucial to be consistent, original, relevant, and valuable. You must be authentic. Only share perspectives and opinions that you believe in to build trust with your audience. When you have an engaged audience, you’re well on your way to achieving your marketing goals.
43Twenty works with OTT video companies to help reach customers who might not have heard of you before to increase awareness about your brand and strengthen what already exists within it.
B2B buyers can be up to 70% through their buying research before contacting a sales rep, so you must develop compelling thought leadership content found by search engines.
Drop us a line to learn more about how we can help with your company’s content marketing efforts and SEO strategy.