In the ever-evolving quest to stand out from the crowd across niche B2B segments, many marketers are turning to thought leadership more than ever before. I recently sat down with Shaun Fitzpatrick, Senior Content/UX Writer, to chat through B2B content programs.
Q: Obviously, the voices behind thought leadership are key to the success of any program. What makes a good thought leader?
A: Expertise is table stakes. What really sets thought leaders apart is a strong POV.
There’s a misconception that you can write content based on keywords or market trends and just try to pull an audience in. If your content is devoid of a POV, that’s not thought leadership. That’s just an article. We must identify topics that we can talk about and have a strong, ownable position.
If a brand can’t contribute their own unique POV to a conversation, it probably shouldn’t get involved in a conversation. That doesn’t mean you’re boxed into a lane. It means you need to think about how your position ladders up to your business and brand strategy.
Q: How important is it for a brand to walk the walk of their thought leadership?
A: Authenticity is critical for successful thought leadership. Thought leaders need to be able to establish trust with their audience. Don’t champion a policy your company doesn’t have in place or promote a tool your business would never use. Thought leaders practice what they preach. That’s why getting alignment and buy-in from senior leadership during the planning stage is important. Understanding what’s an authentic and ownable POV should direct your content strategy.
Q: How should marketers approach planning for a thought leadership program?
A: It really begins with a clearly defined business strategy and set of priorities that everyone is aligned to. We typically begin with a discovery session where we dive into strategy, target audience and themes. From there, we’re able to put together a plan and a calendar of content for the next quarter.
Even with a calendar in place, we always make sure to leave room for agility to respond to timely market topics and market shifts. What you thought might be relevant in January probably won’t look the same six months later. Brands need to be ready to respond to the market and current events, which can also present an opportunity for multiple thought leadership pieces. If everyone in the market is talking about something and you’re not prepared to respond to it, that’s an issue.
Q: What role does data and AI have in thought leadership?
A: Any time we can collect and use first-party data in thought leadership pieces, it’s a huge differentiator. It’s key to making the content unique and ownable.
Adding stats or charts based on your company’s research can help your company stand out in the market. It can also make it more likely that other articles will use your data and link to your site.
If you’re using AI to support your thought leadership, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that you need an ownable, authentic and credible voice. Don’t rely on ChatGPT to pump out thought leadership articles for you. Instead, consider building a custom GPT that can sift through your internal research and documents to help you form a POV that’s reflective of your company culture.
Q: Beyond the content itself, what surrounding elements should marketers be considering as part of thought leadership programs?
A: You can’t have an effective thought leadership program without a distribution strategy, and it has to be in place from the beginning.
Brands will get excited about the idea of creating content, but often don’t consider how it’ll be distributed. Then we end up with all this really great content that lives and dies on a hidden blog page somewhere on your website.
This is where having a strong understanding of your audience comes into play. You need to know where they’ll get information—should you promote your thought leadership on Instagram or TikTok, or is your primary audience on LinkedIn? Once you know where your audience is, you need to be prepared to tailor your promotion to the distinct tone and style of each platform. It’s not one-size-fits-all. How you promote a thought leadership piece on LinkedIn will look very different from how you talk to your audience on TikTok. It’s all about being native to the platform and presenting your content in an authentic, accessible way.
About Shaun Fitzpatrick, JPL Senior Content/UX Writer: Shaun works at the intersection of creative storytelling, content strategy and user experience. She collaborates across the JPL team and with her clients to translate insights into strategic web content for both B2B and B2C audiences.
About Kelly Seipe, JPL Head of Strategic Growth: Kelly evaluates clients’ businesses and identifies growth opportunities to deliver more value, ROI and strategic outcomes for them. She brings deep experience from her time serving as the account leader for many of JPL’s largest clients and over six years building the brands of manufacturers and marketers of building products in the B2B space.
