Businesses use thought leadership to position a company as an expert. According to the editor-in-chief of Strategy & Business, Joel Kurtzman, thought leaders are, “recognized by peers, customers and industry experts. They have distinctively original ideas, unique points of view and new insights.” Businesses employ thought leadership to increase awareness and improve credibility for demand generation, which means creating demand using different channels and techniques. This is how thought leadership impact demand generation for your services.
Develop Trust
Thought leadership requires trust, and to develop that, you must focus on reliability. Thought leaders must also be able to provide reliable information.
In 2020, Edelman-LinkedIn performed a Thought Leadership Impact Study. The study determined that around 88% of decision makers in business believed that thought leadership increases consumer trust. This was especially true in B2B areas that featured lengthier sales cycles and higher budgets.
Building a B2B thought leadership plan requires you to know who your audience is and what they want. Once you’ve narrowed that down, you can begin developing content strategy. Be sure to create content that tells your customers about the business. Keep in mind that a business’s brand is about more than the name, logo and the colors associated with it. A brand includes a business’s personality and voice.
Connect with Your Audience
Thought leadership doesn’t operate one way. Be sure to connect with your audience. Great connection platforms include popular social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Determine what interests your audience. For instance, if someone asks a question on one of your social media sites, create a blog post around it or write a status update about it. Then, tag the person who asked or mention them in the content. When you give people time and maintain a conversation, you’ll create a positive connection with them.
Keep in mind that these days, content and audience interaction mainly occur digitally. This shift is changing leadership development by making it easier for you to provide content more efficiently.
Brainstorm Your Content
Brainstorm about the kind of content your business can provide. Narrow down your best ideas and develop your content strategy around several important subjects. Consider performing a content assessment. This task will help you figure out content gaps and select topic ideas, ones that your team has yet to focus on.
What is the Impact of Thought Leadership on Demand Generation?
Establishing your business as an expert takes time and effort. To do this, you’ll need to stay current on your industry’s business trends. Also, forming a clear stance on industry-related situations and creating valuable content that reflects your proficiency are time-consuming endeavors. Is it worth it? According to a 2020 study on marketing and sales, it is.
As long as you implement thought leadership wisely, you can make your business’s expertise available to your consumers. You can also support its reputation and trigger important conversations that increase demand.
Making it Work
Thought leadership impact demand generation by helping a business develop trust, improve its reputation and share its expertise. For help or guidance, contact me at the Productivity Intelligence Institute. I can help.
