What is Thought Leadership Marketing? A New Definition for Marketers Based on Research

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You hear the term all the time. But when you ask what it means, the answers are all over the place. It’s a type of person. It’s a type of content. It’s a marketing strategy.

So we teamed up with friends at Mantis Research and SurveyMonkey Audience and asked 481 marketers some questions to finally answer, once and for all, what is thought leadership?

We combined the most common answers from the thought leadership survey (those with 65% agreement) into this single definition for thought leadership content:

“Educational content, produced by an expert or business, that identifies new trends and is supported by research. It challenges the thinking of the target audience and drives marketing outcomes.”

When we add some of the less common responses (those with 50% agreement), we see a more complete picture. When grouped together, you can see there are really three main qualities: expert insights, personal brand and taking a stand.

These three categories align with Aristotle’s Three Modes of Persuasion. They also align with specific digital marketing strategies and general personas.

The thought leader is at the intersection between the subject matter expert, the social influencer and the key opinion leader. Let’s look more closely at each of those key elements.

1. Thought leadership is expert insights

When asked what types of content are effective, educational/how-to content was the top answer. The consumers of thought leadership articles want to learn.

All of the information-based responses were more common than the opinion-based responses. Education is more important than perspective. Logos is more important than pathos.

71% of respondents said “purely educational content can be thought leadership”

Who makes the best thought leaders?

Any expert can be a thought leader. A strong majority of respondents (68%) feel that expertise is what’s needed. It is the critical component.

In fact, 34% of respondents said “I don’t think the type of person matters; anyone can be a thought leader.”

But role and title still play some part in credibility. Executives make better thought leaders than consultants.

And around 30% of respondents think that writers of books and speakers at events make good thought leaders. Publishing and presenting are strong plusses, but not essential. Analysts who publish original research also have an advantage.

2. Thought leadership requires a strong (personal) brand

The content needs to connect with an audience to have an impact. It’s not the best content that wins, it’s the best promoted content. Without an audience, even the most insightful content has no impact.

Can a company be a thought leader?

Yes. Surprisingly the survey shows that it doesn’t need to be a personal brand. 70% of respondents report that companies can be thought leaders. Of course a company can take a leadership position, but the thinking is always done by the people within the company.

Can thought leadership be outsourced?

And half of the respondents said that ghostwritten content can still be thought leadership content. This is also surprising to me. Apparently, the consumers of the content don’t mind if the writing is outsourced. Who created the content is not as important as the quality.

Continue to the full article.