{"id":29275,"date":"2021-03-04T11:42:25","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T17:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vendasta.com\/blog\/?p=29275"},"modified":"2025-10-17T19:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T19:35:10","slug":"thought-leadership-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vendasta.com\/blog\/thought-leadership-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Thought Leadership Content: The Fundamental Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Who is the most interesting person in the room when you\u2019re at a networking event or a social outing? Simple, it\u2019s whoever has the most unique and insightful stories to tell. Thought-leadership content is built on the same principle. By seeking to answer the unanswered or to provide unique insights into complex problems, thought leadership content captivates an audience and sparks meaningful conversations between your brand and your prospects.<\/span><\/p>\n

A recent study determined that <\/span>91 percent<\/span><\/a> of business decision-makers deem thought leadership important or critical, and nearly 40 percent of those respondents spend between one and three hours a week consuming this type of content.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, thought leadership is just one of many levers that marketers can pull to support lead generation, but it is rarely effective on its own. Check out <\/span>The Fundamental Guide to Lead Generation<\/span><\/a> to unearth 38 additional lead-generation strategies that you can use to build an integrated communications strategy, including thought-leadership content.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”What is Thought Leadership Content?” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n

What is Thought Leadership Content?<\/span><\/h2>\n

In a broader sense, thought leadership can be characterized as an insightful and original opinion within a given field of expertise. Thought leadership can be shared in presentations from industry experts as well as through original research studies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pertaining specifically to lead generation, thought leadership is a popularized content methodology whereby original research is conducted for the purpose of providing unique insights into a given industry climate or market problem. These insights can then be used to create a gated asset that can be promoted online and used to acquire contact information in exchange for the download of the asset.<\/span><\/p>\n

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An Example of Vendasta\u2019s Thought Leadership<\/span><\/h2>\n

Thought leadership content is a powerful mechanism for businesses to leverage because it positions a business as subject-matter experts and trusted advisors on a given topic. One of Vendasta\u2019s most prominent examples of thought-leadership content is our renowned churn study.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"churn<\/p>\n

Source: <\/span>Vendasta Churn Study<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This study analyzed data from 100,000 businesses that use the Vendasta platform. The objective was to determine leading causes of client loss among marketing and advertising service providers and sought to determine strategies for improving client retention. This study and resulting media coverage, promotion, and remarketing has, over the last two years, generated hundreds of shares, dozens of backlinks, and led to the conversion of hundreds of MQLs.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Pros and Cons of Thought Leadership Content<\/span><\/h2>\n

The cost of creating great thought leadership is often high, but, the benefits tend to far outweigh the cost. Here are some of the pros and cons your team may want to consider before tackling a thought-leadership project.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Pros of Thought Leadership:<\/span><\/h3>\n
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  1. Thought leadership builds credibility and trusted status.<\/strong> Insights gathered from original research demonstrate thought leadership, offer unique value to your customers and help to elevate your trusted advisory status.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. It fuels other content production.<\/strong> Once you\u2019ve conducted research and published original work, you\u2019re only half done. Thought leadership should then be paired with an organic blog strategy, video content production, email marketing, paid social media, event marketing, and additional content syndication efforts.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. It strengthens engagement.<\/strong> By pioneering ideas, your brand has an opportunity to foster more insightful conversations with your audience that wouldn\u2019t otherwise be possible.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. It\u2019s PR-friendly.<\/strong> Unless you\u2019re Facebook, it can often be difficult to generate media coverage for your brand. Insightful research will always be of more interest than marketing and sales pitches to third-party publications searching for great stories that directly benefit their audiences.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. It makes great gated content.<\/strong> At the end of the day, it\u2019s all about lead generation. Thought-leadership content is among the most sought-after content to place behind a form wall.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    The Cons of Thought Leadership<\/span><\/h3>\n
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    1. Not every business has access to primary data.<\/strong> At Vendasta, we gather massive amounts of client data, which makes it much easier to generate thought-leading content. But if your business does not collect or only has access to limited data, then this marketing tactic may not be a realistic pursuit.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. It\u2019s high-involvement work.<\/strong> Great thought leadership content requires leadership involvement, business intelligence teams, and perhaps more than one content writer and editor.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Not all of it lands.<\/strong> The sad reality may be that you might put a lot of work into creating great original content, but if no one sees value in it, then the time may have been wasted. That\u2019s why prior consumer research is a must. In fact, with our <\/span>Challenges Agencies Face<\/span><\/a> study, we began our work by conducting a massive survey on marketing agencies to determine a clear current state, then honed in on the challenges these companies faced.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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      How to Create Thought Leadership Content<\/span><\/h2>\n

      If you\u2019re ready to start generating more leads with the help of great thought leadership content, then these are the steps that you need to take.<\/span><\/p>\n

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      1. Answer These Three Questions<\/span><\/h3>\n