I talk A LOT about thought leadership. It’s something I work on with every client.
Why do I think it’s so important?
It’s always helped companies stand out from competitors—because sharing unique points of view and expertise is what customers look for when making a buying decision.
At a time when trust is everything, it builds credibility for businesses.
Why does thought leadership matter?
The need for brands to be seen as thought leaders is rapidly rising.
It ranked 20th among the most important decision drivers for buyers in 2023, but rocketed to third in 2024 (source: Dentsu).
Further, thought leadership impacts buyers’ perceptions. 73% say that an organization’s thought-leadership content is a more trustworthy way to assess capabilities versus marketing materials (source: Edelman/LinkedIn survey, March 2024).
And it helps businesses stand out. More than half (54%) of buyers surveyed said a solution provider “that consistently produces high-quality thought-leadership content has prompted them to research the organization’s offers or capabilities” (source: Edelman, 2024).
One more stat to consider. Gartner reports that 72% of B2B buyers conduct in-depth research before contacting sales. Thought leadership content plays a key role in this research.
Putting a process in place – and getting executive buy-in
Despite data supporting the success of companies that consistently publish and promote thought leadership content, getting folks on board can be a challenge, which is why it helps to have a dedicated resource to manage the effort.
Writing, or ghostwriting, the articles is just the first step. Skilled PR professionals know how to interview thought leaders and write content, but we also have an advantage because we understand how to place it as earned media.
Put a process in place that makes it easier for your subject matter experts to contribute. It also helps if your C-suite leaders are supportive. Having their buy-in will help you build momentum. If it’s deemed a priority by them, it’s more likely to be prioritized by contributors.
The good news is that the end of the year and the start of a new year can be the perfect time to kick off a thought leadership effort. End-of-the-year wrap-ups and articles that look ahead to what to expect in 2026 are often an ideal way to get your executives and subject matter experts involved.
How to get started with a thought leadership push
Ready to kick off your thought leadership program? Here are some helpful steps to follow:
1) Choose your experts: The first step is to choose your experts. This is crucial to the program’s success.
Thought leaders are often C-suite executives – but they don’t have to be. To ensure we’re all on the same page regarding the definition of a thought leader:
- A thought leader is often described as an individual or firm recognized as an authority in a specific field.
- A thought leader is a person who specializes in a given area and whom others in that industry turn to for guidance. As the term implies, a thought leader leads others in the thinking around a given topic.
- From the perspective of a thought leader as the ‘go-to expert’, being a thought leader means to consistently answer the most significant questions on the minds of the target audience on a particular topic.
Of course, credibility counts. Consider:
- What have they done in the industry to be trusted as a thought leader?
- Will people trust and listen to them?
- What proof points back up their credibility?
Trust in the thought leader is vital.
“Trust in the thought leader is the foundation of credibility. People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision … leaders cannot take their people to places they haven’t yet traveled to themselves,” as leadership authority John Maxwell puts it.
The experts also need to be committed to the program and able to devote the time required. Even if you hire someone like a PR consultant to conduct interviews and ghostwrite the articles, the experts themselves must be available for interviews and to review drafts. The program can quickly go off the rails if the commitment isn’t there.
As mentioned previously, if the program has the support of the C-Suite, it tends to alleviate these challenges. It’s a good practice to discuss this before you start.
Case in point: I was once hired by a client to kick-start and manage their thought leadership program. I was excited, as it was a company with a recognizable name in the manufacturing space. I worked with them to put all the pieces in place. We had knowledgeable experts, interesting topics, and unique points of view—but when it came to actually working with the experts, they were too busy to fit in interviews or review drafts of the article. Disappointingly, the program never took off the way it could have if it had been prioritized by the experts—and by leadership.
2) Select topics: The next step is determining topics to focus on.
To capture ideas, work with the selected experts. They may have pet topics they’re passionate about. Set up a brainstorming session to make a list of potential topics. Ask them to share articles they see that spark ideas.
You can also read industry newsletters and publications and keep track of ideas you spot.
Another avenue to pursue is to ask the sales team what’s on customers’ minds. What questions/issues come up when they’re out in the field?
3) Types of content: What type of content will you create?
Some popular types of thought leadership content to get started with include industry insight, trend pieces, and original research.
Industry insight piece:
- Interview the expert about what’s happening in the industry
- Frame it as what customers need to know as they make decisions
- End of the year/start of new year (i.e., NOW!) is a good time to publish
- Mid-year check-ins
- Quarterly insight posts
Trend piece:
- Choose a trend on which the expert can share their in-depth point of view
- Keep in mind that unique points of view stand out
- 68% of buyers believe “many of the brands I see at work have very similar marketing and communications messages – they all sound and act the same” (source: Dentsu/Marketing Week)
Original research:
- Research focused on providing your audience with new insights
- Highlight pain points, missed opportunities, and related issues.
- Focus on the most compelling finding(s)
- Framing is important
4) Create the content: Now it’s time to write the content.
Here’s my process:
- Interview the thought leader
- Ghostwrite a draft
- Share with the thought leader
- Make revisions
- Finalize
If the expert doesn’t have time for an interview (which is always best), you can:
- Work from something the thought leader already wrote – or transcribe video or audio they’ve recorded
- Ask the thought leader to write a draft or jot down thoughts that can be edited into a draft
- Record questions for the thought leader to answer
Remember that B2B thought leadership content shouldn’t be overly promotional, cookie cutter or AI-generated. (To understand why this can hurt you, refer to my blog post.)
For any piece that you’ll be pitching as earned media and/or publishing on your site, consider what visuals you can send to accompany it. Remember that articles with images get 94% more views. Think through what you might need before you need it, versus allowing imagery to be an afterthought. Don’t use stock or AI-generated images.
Send captions along, as that’s another branding opportunity. Publications also ask who should be credited for use of the image, so include that to save them time.
Placing and promoting thought leadership content
Once you have the content, you’ll want to make the most of it.
Survey results published this fall indicate that companies are publishing their thought leadership on LinkedIn and in their newsletters, and sharing it during speaking events and webinars (per CMI). But what a missed opportunity.
Pieces should be repurposed in numerous ways. Leveraging them as earned media coverage through PR should be at the top of the list. Why?
- Buyers increasingly seek third-party validation of brands during their decision-making process
- 45% cited reading news articles about the supplier – up from 41% vs previous year (source: Merkle, 2023)
- 46% of those surveyed said they need to see a brand more than five times before they take them seriously in their category (source: Marketing Charts)
For B2B companies, trade publications top the list of sources seeking insightful content. They also happen to be where prospective buyers are seeking guidance.
Make a list of a few media outlets in your space that accept contributed articles. Look at their guidelines: Do they only accept previously unpublished content? If so, you’ll want to pitch it before publishing it on your site. Some publications allow the submitter to publish the content on their site after 30 days, for example.
If you do pitch the content as a contributed article, make it easy for the editor to say yes. Package everything in one email and anticipate their needs by including visuals and proper attribution. I usually include multiple photos so they can choose which they prefer, along with a company logo and the expert’s headshot. If you reference any data, be sure to link to the research.
Other ways you can repurpose the content include:
- Publish it on your blog or elsewhere on your site
- Include it in your newsletter
- Break it into multiple LinkedIn posts and/or publish it as a longer LinkedIn article
- If you pitched it as earned media, consider revising it and pitching it to another trade journal
- Turn it into a speaking abstract and pitch it to an industry conference to secure a speaking opportunity
- Turn it into a script and film a video to publish on YouTube
- Use it in your marketing and sales materials
Organizing and tracking your thought leadership content
To organize and keep track of your content, start a Google sheet to track each thought leader:
- Log topic ideas
- Start a story bank with ideas you’re working on – or those you want to save for the future
- Track where articles are in the process
- Track where articles are placed and/or how they’re repurposed
- Share with other teams (e.g., content and social teams)
Measuring the impact of thought leadership content
If you pitch thought leadership content as earned media, look at the impact it had on your brand:
- Is it helping your company appear as a source in search results (especially important in AI-driven search or GEO, but it also helps SEO)?
- Did it send referral traffic to your site?
- Did it lead to increased views of your site?
- Did it generate backlinks to your site?
- What about the intangible benefits
- Boosts morale
- Helps recruiting efforts
- Builds credibility/reputation
- Positions your brand/spokesperson as the go-to source
- Snowball effect – leads to other opportunities to speak, contribute articles, be quoted in roundups and so forth
Realities of building a thought leadership program
A thought leadership program can bring many benefits to companies that have patience. Similar to many marketing and PR initiatives, it’s not a strategy for overnight success. It takes time to get a program in place and get it on the experts’ radar. It can also take a few months for content pitched as contributed articles to appear.
Getting executives on board can be a big help. Leadership can help champion the cause.
Be sure not to create a silo when implementing a thought leadership program. Encourage teams to work together. For example, the PR team can work with the content and social teams to maximize efforts.
Track your results. Refine your program as you go to ensure you’re getting the most out of each thought leadership piece created.
Last of all, don’t wait. There’s never been a better time to build momentum with thought leadership.
Need assistance getting your thought leadership content program started?
Learn more about my freelance PR consulting services here. Book a no-obligation call to talk about your needs here. Buy my book here.
About the author: Michelle Garrett is a B2B PR consultant, media relations consultant, and author of B2B PR That Gets Results, an Amazon Best Seller. She helps companies, especially those in manufacturing and technology, create content, earn media coverage, and position themselves as thought leaders in their industry. Michelle’s articles have been featured by Entrepreneur, Content Marketing Institute, Muck Rack, and Ragan’s PR Daily, among others. She’s a frequent speaker on public relations and content. Michelle has been repeatedly ranked among the top ten most influential PR professionals.
100% of this blog post was written by me, the human.
Featured image is courtesy of Adobe Express.
