The ways consumers and clients research, educate themselves about a brand, product or service had changed. Consumers have become contsumers - devouring content online. Yet brands run the risk of being lost in a sea of meaningless content. A thought leadership position on the other hand can provide great insights and the ensuing trust in that brand by its audience. Get it right and the rewards to the business are huge.

1. Thought Leadership
From consumer to ‘contsumer’: how the
sale has changed and what this means for
your business
By Craig Badings, Leading Thought

2. Agenda
• How the consumer has changed
• Content is king, queen and subject
• Brands need schema cracking ideas
• Enter thought leadership
• Having the right culture for it
• Content and lead nurturing/generation

3. Thought Leadership is not

4. Delivering new ideas and content to your target publics
based on deep insights into the business issues and
challenges they face. The value you deliver should go
well beyond merely selling your product or service.
“Your point of view should differentiate you from your
competitors, establish you as the ‘go to’ expert in that
field and position you as a trusted advisor - all with
the intent of underpinning the sale.”
Craig Badings
Thought leadership definition

5. What follows in the next few slides is a brief
summary of compelling sales research showing
how your client/customer has changed.
It means everything to they way you market to
them. Content, specifically thought leadership
content plays a critical role in this.
You ignore this research at your peril!

6. Research of B2B companies about sales
and marketing found three key things:

7. Buyers don’t care about your products
and services rather they buy into your
approach to solving their problems.

8. Companies market features and benefits
but these are quickly copied. Bold ideas
and deep insights are difficult to copy
and create trust in your brand.

9. Marketing and sales are often involved
too late in the buying process. Buyers
need to be engaged early in their
problem-solving journey.

10. 2nd piece of relevant research by
OgilvyOne conducted with over 1,000
selling professionals in the UK, US, Brazil
and China found one key thing:

11. Brands of choice are delivering useful,
insightful client or consumer issue driven
content. It’s not product or service
centric!

12. Today consumers search , educate themselves and buy
differently – they have moved from a:

13. The stats
91% B2B marketers use content marketing
82% B2C marketers use content marketing
78% of chief marketing officers think custom
content is the future of marketing
67% more leads are generated by B2B companies
with blogs
14.6% vs 1.7% is the stat for organic search lead
close rates vs outbound lead close rates
Source: http://www.blog.salesforce.com/copy/2013/06/content-marketing-stats.html

14. What does this have to do with
thought leadership?
Content and preferably thought leading content,
is not a nice PR or marketing gimmick. Instead,
find a common consumer/client enemy or issue
provide the insights or solutions and it will be a
game changer.

15. Every piece of marketing content and thought
leadership material you put out should be with the
intent on lead nurturing, lead generation or
engaging in conversations.

16. Old: Pushed
message/ready to
sell/qualify pipeline
New: No longer in control
Need to facilitate/engage/
two way - don’t ‘sell’
Lead Nurturing/
Generation
(70% consuming your
content will buy from you
or someone else)
Not ready to buy/talk
Own research
In control
Know your brand
Relevant, quality content, maintain conversation and build trust

17. Thought leadership is about insight selling.
These insights come from research and data
analytics. You can then have conversations
that matter to your prospect or client.

18. The best thought leadership campaigns go to
the heart of the pain points, frame new
debates about the way to do things or shift
paradigms. These are typically long-term
campaigns not a quick easy fix

19. The best thought leadership
cracks people’s existing schemas

20. For
Thought
Leadership
to flourish
Environment
Strategy
People

21. Innovative
thinking =
Supportive
environment
Culture of
thought
leadership
Environment

22. Thought
Leadership
Client
focus
Mission
Vision
Strategy

23. Bold thinking
Provoke
Question Challengers
People

27. WWW.LEADINGTHOUGHT.US.COM
• craig@leadingthought.us.com
• www.thoughtleadershipstrategy.net/Craig
• drliz@leadingthought.us.comLiz