Essentials of Thought Leadership and Content Marketing: Boost Your Brand, Increase Your Market Share, and Generate Qualified Leads

Thought leadership consists of ideas that require attention, that offer guidance or clarity and that can lead people in unexpected, sometimes contrarian directions. Thought leadership needs to be educational and ideally provocative; content marketing can simply be fun or entertaining.”2

It’s not enough to define the problem or issue; thought leadership should guide the reader.

buyers about your products and services. Effective content marketing brings customers to you, because buyers self-select through their interest in the content you provide.

Thought leadership must, in the end, introduce and map topics that address an audience’s key issues and provide solutions for solving those issues.

“Thought leadership consists of ideas that can lead people in unexpected directions. Thought leadership needs to be educational and ideally provocative.”

“New, informative, useful information on a compelling, complex issue that positions a company or professional as an expert in a field.”

Most important, content marketing educates buyers about the best solution for their needs—allowing you to influence how clients evaluate possible solutions.

1.Understand the current issues, evolving trends, and pressing business concerns for your prospects and clients. 2.Create a road map of how you think industry players should react to trends and problems. 3.Show how prospects and clients can solve some of these issues through your company’s products or solutions. This does not mean simply showing th