Product-led thought leadership

First a quick recap if you haven't read any of the other articles in this series.

Product-led thought leadership

At the start of this series of articles [https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/seven-thought-leadership-strategies-b2b-marketers-need-adam-benson/ ], I wrote about using the right thought leadership strategy to help business-to-business (B2B) organisations build credibility, carve out a niche in their marketplace, and attract the kinds of customers you want to serve. The key to success is to choose the thought leadership strategy that’s right for your organisation.

I mentioned the seven thought leadership strategies in brief as part of a model I’ve created. The reason a framework is so important is that:

Until you define which applies to your company, there’s a good chance your thought leadership content-generation program will be misdirected, struggle for a flow of ideas and content, or not resonate with your sales leaders and subject matter experts, which means limited internal support.

The seven thought leadership strategies are:

1. People – we are the leading experts.?
2. Process – our process delivers a superior outcome.?
3. Product – our product is the best.?
4. CEO – our leader defines or leads the industry with their vision and passion.?
5. Societal – we are the most powerful and important voice on this issue or cause.?
6. Political – we shape the kind of nation, state, or community we live in.?
7. Cultural – our culture is what defines us and why we matter.?

Don’t think of these as values or strengths of an organisation. Clearly, every organisation needs people, processes, and products or they don’t exist.?

In the context of this framework, only one of these strategies can be applied to your organisation (as a seller). Remember, a strategy is about deciding what goal to pursue in the context of the resources (time, money, energy) that are available. It is, by, definition a singular pursuit.

So, knowing which strategy to deploy is predicated on understanding the primary reason your customers do business with you. Or, to put it another way, understanding the nature of the value that is exchanged between seller (you) and your ideal customer.

Product-led thought leadership

Interestingly, this thought leadership strategy can be a little harder to understand initially. I think the challenge comes because we often interchange what we mean when we say we sell a product.

We productise services and processes; therefore, the product-based thought leadership strategy should or could be interchanged with people- or process-led thought leadership.

So, let’s start by clearing up the confusion.

1. As mentioned earlier, you can only use one strategy for your thought leadership program. That strategy must be attuned to the primary reason that there is an exchange of value between your company and a customer who consumes what you produce. Read my two other articles if you need more information on what a people-led or process-led thought leadership strategy is.
2. A true product company lives or dies when there is profitable demand for what it manufactures. Manufacturing in this context means transforming precursor materials or services into an item (physical or non-physical) that can be purchased at scale (a transfer of ownership, either permanently or temporarily in the case of a subscription) and used mostly in the manner for which it was designed. Words like unit economics, inventory, product design, product marketing, product management, product sales, research and development, consumer behaviour and product augmentation or extension dominate the lexicon of product companies.Product-led companies also usually think about the viability of their solution in relation to their entire desirable and addressable market. They seek repeatable, scalable sales activities, not a series of unique sales occasions.

So, here’s a question.

Where would you put a defence-contracting company that builds ships?

Do they have a product to sell, or do they have the best process which will result in a high-value, fit-for-purpose product?

In my model, I say companies that produce one-off designs and manufacture one-off items (a single class of frigate for example) are actually process-led companies. In most cases, the final product they sell does not exist yet in the form that the customer would like to buy.

So, what do they have to convince each buyer of if they can’t show a finished product? Their process.

OK, let’s stress test this definition a little more.

What about a company that makes a high-value, but ultimately less-customisable product? Say, Airbus?

It spends many years imagining its next generation of passenger jets. They are designed, tested and then the new design is offered for sale.?Are they selling a product or a process?

I say they’re a product company (or this division of their business is). Other than some cosmetic changes, you get the same core product as everyone else because the company has decided, after much painstaking research and analysis, what the entire addressable market needs.?

So, if you’ve identified that your organisation needs to build a product-led thought leadership marketing program, what are the important elements to focus on?

Ultimately, in a B2B setting, you need to convince a buyer that your product is better than other products they are considering purchasing. Although, I should say that’s if you make it that far in the sales process.

The challenge with selling complex, high-value B2B products is that sales success is predicated on the buyer a) knowing they need your product (do they recognise they have a problem that needs fixing?) and b) knowing how to buy your kind of product. Some products are once-in-a-career purchases, and complex products are usually hard to purchase because of the degree of shared risk between buyer and seller.

I’ll explain these two points further.

a)????? Does the buyer know they need your product?

When we sell complex, high-value products to a B2B market, we’re often faced with two barriers to overcome at the outset. First, the buyer has to be aware that your solution even exists. That’s problematic because buyers don’t search for products they don’t know exist (hence why Google search engine marketing is almost a complete waste of advertising spend for high-value product companies).

Second, many B2B products solve problems that potential buyers don’t realise they have until someone points it out to them. Problems in this context are often missed opportunities to improve returns on available resources, deliver greater operational efficiency, reduce risk, improve productivity, reduce cost, or improve revenue or profit.

The problem stems from the fact that it’s hard to know you’re missing an opportunity if you don’t know about it. Sometimes, products come into stark relief because they solve an acute pain point (such as millions of workers needing to work remotely and securely during COVID); in the absence of such a trigger, your customers may not know they’re missing an opportunity.?

So, who brings missed opportunities or new challenges to your buyers’ attention? It could be the government introducing new regulations around cybersecurity or financial management, for example. Or, it could be a competitor rapidly gaining market share. Or, it could be you explaining to your ideal prospect that they’re overlooking an opportunity to improve their competitive advantage.

When you consider those two initial issues, you can start to see why education and awareness programs for B2B product companies are compulsory for building a sustainable new business pipeline. No-one will be in the bottom of your funnel without it (except by word of mouth or some other low-volume organic method of promotion which limits growth).

b)????? Does the buyer know how to purchase your product?

Buyers often don’t know how to purchase complex, high-value products. There’s awareness, education and, once interest and motivation are established, there’s the complex and often costly process of selling the product to an inexperienced buyer (of this kind of product).

This is where your marketing engine has a role in supporting the sale with content (artefacts) which helps the buyer:

• imagine the implications of a successful product implementation by pointing out a range of benefits delivered by product features. (Side note: ideally, these benefits are contextual based on the specific categories of product buyers. For example, a government buyer will attach importance to different features than, say, a mining company buyer. Case studies can be important here)
• procure the right product variant or combination to deliver the value they anticipate receiving
• understand the internal resources and decision-making structures they need to invest in to de-risk implementation
• dive deeper into product architecture to ensure compatibility with existing or planned business processes and other products.

Some examples of product-led thought leadership artefacts will include:

• customer case studies which show the outcomes delivered by your product
• business-led whitepapers, guides or tip sheets which explain how to recognise opportunities for business improvement or improved risk mitigation
• educational content (eBooks, videos, animations, webinars, whitepapers, etc.) which helps buyers understand how to assess and rate different product features or benefits so they consider the right factors when making a purchase decision
• logo stacks showing the companies that have already purchased the product
• customer quotes on your website and in supporting sales and marketing collateral
• email nurture streams which share useful and expert content with potential buyers while they are in the research and education phase.

Remember, in a thought leadership-led marketing program, we don’t want the centre of gravity in our marketing to be focused on product features. That’s really in the category of sales support.

Our biggest challenge as marketers is making buyers aware and educating them so they progress into a sales opportunity with a reasonable propensity to engage. Lead with the business outcomes (benefits) the product delivers and explain why those benefits are important and how they can be realised cost-effectively.

One last thing. Product-led companies often sell through a channel, not directly to end customers. Remember that convincing your channel partners of the benefits of reselling your products to their customers requires a different message to that of an end customer.

I won’t expound on that here as channel marketing and building a channel value proposition is a topic for another time. Just keep it in mind.

Your channel value proposition is going to be about demonstrating alignment and support of your reseller partners' business models, not convincing them that you’ve got a great product they should resell.

If you want more detail on how to build a product-led thought leadership program, you can message me directly or enquire via outsource.com.au to see how we can help you succeed in market.

This article is 100% hand written. The image is AI generated.