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Want to Become a Thought Leader, Not Just a Content Marketer? Here’s What It Takes

Imagine this: a CEO is sitting across the desk from the head of content, talking about a new direction for the company’s content strategy—thought leadership.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” the marketer asks.

The executive’s brow furrows as he leans back in his chair. “Well, you know,” he says. “Thought leadership. We’re going to showcase our expertise so we’re seen as thought leaders.”

That conversation plays out daily in businesses all over the world. Unfortunately, most of those conversations are missing the part where the marketer pushes back. Instead, the marketing department cheerfully repackages promotional content and educational blog posts, and slaps a label on them that reads, “Thought Leadership.”

When Edelman and LinkedIn conducted the 2021 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study, they found business leaders are drowning in a deluge of thought leadership with barely a drizzle of real insight to show for it. In fact, though most of the 3,000-plus respondents said they trust thought leadership to demonstrate a company’s competence, 71% said less than half the thought leadership they consume is valuable.

Thought leadership: What it should be and what it’s not
Thought leadership content shouldn’t just answer questions, it should reframe ideas. More than 60% of respondents to an Orbit Media survey said they want thought leadership to challenge their assumptions.

Jonathan Copulsky, director of the Business Marketing Strategy program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University says, “Thought leadership communicates unique and novel insights into complex business problems.” However, he adds that much of the content under the “thought leadership” banner today fails the sniff test of “unique” and “novel.” Instead, it’s thinly veiled sales collateral or generic observations that lack insight.

One problem with thought leadership is the assumption that any business-related content can be considered thought leadership. Most marketing content can be described as educational, helping people find solutions to specific problems. An entire content strategy can be built on a foundation of good educational content. The mistake isn’t making this kind of content, it’s in labeling it thought leadership.

And just as not all business marketing content is thought leadership, not all subject matter experts are thought leaders. Joel Kurtzman, who is credited with coining the term “thought leader” in 1994, described a thought leader as someone with “distinctively original ideas, unique points of view, and new insights.”

A thought leader’s observations should raise eyebrows and inspire debate. Yes, a thought leader should have expertise, but they need to have something more—a desire to bring about a sea change. If thought leadership is part of your content strategy, showcasing your expertise is not enough.

How thought leadership misses the mark
A tsunami of mislabeled and mediocre content is diluting the reach of truly good thought leadership. To break through the noise, it is more important than ever to take a strategic approach to delivering powerful, high-quality ideas. Here is when it misses the mark:

Content that’s too broad
It’s better for would-be thought leaders to stick to a narrow topic on which they have true authority than attempt to weigh in on every question related to their space.

“I wouldn’t look to a contractor to help me think about what a new office building should look like and I wouldn’t look to an architect to help me select the best wiring supplier,” Copulsky explains. “Businesses need to create thought leadership focused on aspects of problems consistent with their swim lanes.”

Underdeveloped ideas
Thought leadership takes time to establish. Many fail to see it as a long-term strategy and commit “random acts of thought leadership,” Copulsky says. These inconsistent efforts are often missing carefully vetted sources, polished insights, and high-quality delivery.

Audiences have grown too savvy to fall for promotional content disguised as thought leadership. According to the Edelman survey, 80% of decision-makers want thought leadership to include third-party data and 67% want it to be authored by an identifiable person. Their trust in the piece increases if that author is a subject-matter expert rather than a figurehead from the C-suite.

Tries to please everyone
Leadership in any context means accepting not everyone will like what you have to say. True thought leaders unapologetically share their views—more than half the Orbit Media respondents said it is essential a thought leader has strong opinions—even if they might ruffle a few feathers. Marketing guru Seth Godin says, “Thought leadership always creates tension. It’s about making assertions and you have to be willing to be wrong. You can be certain that people will disagree.”

More articles from AllBusiness.com:
How to Use Thought Leadership Content to Grow Your Business
Don’t Take Yourself or Your Job Too Seriously
10 Reasons to Take a Leadership Training Course
Bring Out the Leader in Each Employee
7 Ways Startups Can Quickly and Successfully Establish Business Credibility
Building a thought leadership strategy
Not every business needs to produce thought leadership. If the idea of taking a controversial stand makes your stomach drop, or you’re daunted by the prospect of consistently sharing valuable insights, you can focus your content on education and entertainment instead.

Thought leadership is best viewed like a campaign, says Copulsky, with clear objectives, clear metrics, and the right cadence. Identify the specific, unique ideas you can own and don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked.

1. Find your big idea
Without listening to the ideas of others, you can’t know if your viewpoint is unique. Get to know the other players in your space and what their positions are. If you disagree with popular opinions and common assumptions, good. You’ve found the seed of an idea you can own.

But don’t just sound off on social media. Dig deeper. Think about what you find wrong with the common wisdom and develop your own alternative viewpoint. Bolster your argument with research. Understand why this idea should matter to your audience. What will they gain if you share it with them?

Your audience is trying to solve complex problems. If you want them to remember you, you must offer a compelling takeaway that influences their decision or inspires their actions. If your content doesn’t have a goal, it’s just adding to the noise.

2. Package ideas thoughtfully
It’s rare that thought leaders have the time, talent, and desire to create their own content; there is nothing wrong with outsourcing creation. Ideas, opinions, and analysis come from the subject-matter expert. In fact, outsourcing content creation usually results in a more polished and compelling piece.

However, would-be thought leaders fall flat when they outsource too much, asking creators to draw insights from a few bullets, or when they outsource too little, forcing sophisticated ideas into a clumsy delivery.

3. Come down from the ivory tower
It’s a noisy world, and once your content is created, your job is only half done. Distribution is crucial. In the case of thought leadership, you are attempting to influence ideas and change people’s minds. Thought leaders must be willing to engage in conversations around a successful piece.

Thought leaders must deliver
The long-term benefits of thought leadership are legendary: community trust, brand loyalty, and resilience in the face of setbacks. But there are no shortcuts. In the noisy media landscape, we don’t need more content, we need better content.

Before proclaiming themselves thought leaders, we need people to consider whether they intend to deliver on all that implies.

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