Introduction

Good content can help sell your product or service. Great content
– the thought leadership kind – can move markets and societies.

In fact, according to Forbes’ authority on the topic, Russ Alan Prince:
“Thought leadership is one of the most powerful methodologies for gener-ating new business opportunities.” And when it comes to promoting your ideas, we’re not just talking about the marketplace – we’re talking about lead thinking around any idea or cause. Big thinkers generate big ideas that drive change – from new sales to new policies to new cultural norms.

But, as with any buzzword, there are lots of misconceptions about what thought leadership content actually is. So to get there, let’s tick off what it’s not:

• A thinly veiled plug for a company’s products or services
• A run-of-the-mill case study that is really just advertising
• A recitation of new research findings from someone else
• Anything with sales-y phrases about you vs. the topic – e.g., “leading provider”
• A brochure – nothing wrong with them, but they’re not thought leadership

Here’s our definition

For us, this description does the trick: “Thought leadership means continually creating and communicating insightful and persuasive ideas that clearly dis-tinguish an organization on the topics that matter most to its stakeholders.”
Expanding on that a bit for business: Thought leadership content is a way of differentiating your company from its competitors by being informative, innovative, challenging, and relevant. It’s about using the power of insightful ideas to open doors with prospects and customers. Insight plants seeds. No insight, no persuasion.

OK, so how do I create it?

Based on our experience working with hundreds of authors and marketing teams, there are five critical steps to creating thought leadership content that sets you apart.