Unpacking the Power of Thought Leadership to Drive Growth with Insights from Edelman: Culture, Creativity, and the Right Questions

As B2B decision-makers, we understand B2B thought leadership as free content organizations and individuals publish on a topic they know a lot about. But how do we maximize the impact of our thought leadership and generate business opportunities? 

Our guest today, Ben Laws, Executive Vice President, and Deputy US lead for Business Marketing at Edelman, is here to help us figure this out. Ben has extensive experience shaping an organization’s story based on research-driven insights, developing creative and thought leadership platforms, and leading campaigns centered on highly relevant content. 

Ben will unpack the value of building relationships, utilizing creativity, and asking the right questions so that we can craft a winning value proposition for our B2B thought leadership. I’ll also detail how Ben Laws recommends we do it, so stay tuned!

About Ben Laws

Ben Laws is the Executive Vice President and Deputy U.S. Lead for Business Marketing at Edelman, a global communications firm. Ben has managed numerous integrated communications and marketing programs to strengthen corporate reputation, draw business results, and manage critical organizational moments. His extensive experience leading campaigns centered on content relevant to stakeholder groups and deploying them via multichannel campaigns has driven measurable results. 

Ben has a strong understanding of specific audiences and their motivations and is passionate about helping organizations make their content relevant to their intended audience. He believes that relationships are formed based on experiences and conversations and that creativity is critical to capturing attention and conveying a value proposition. Ben is committed to helping organizations develop thought leadership platforms.

Why do businesses need to maximize the impact of their B2B thought leadership?

Thought leadership is a powerful tool for B2B businesses, enabling them to improve their customer relationships and build trust in their brand. B2B businesses can demonstrate their expertise, authority, and credibility by offering insights and perspectives on their industry. This can help them to foster relationships with potential customers and strengthen their credibility in the market. Maximizing the impact of thought leadership is essential for B2B businesses, as it can help to create greater visibility and establish an authoritative voice in their industry. 

In addition, by producing engaging, educational, and valuable content, B2B businesses can attract more attention and build a reputation as a reliable source of information. This can increase brand awareness, reach a larger audience, and drive more sales.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Understanding the motivations and realities of the intended audience

2. Crafting a value proposition that resonates with the audience

3. Focusing on creating relationships and building trust by sharing expertise freely.

1. Understanding the motivations and realities of the intended audience

Understanding the motivations and realities of the intended audience is an essential first step in developing effective thought leadership. It requires looking beyond the surface to identify what matters most to the target audience and how the organization can provide value. To do this, businesses must take a deep dive into the research-driven insights of the audience, such as their current challenges, values, and needs. This research can be conducted through surveys, interviews, and other data collection forms. 

Additionally, businesses should strive to build relationships with their intended audience to personally understand their motivations and realities. This can be done by engaging with them on social media, attending events and conferences, and actively listening to their feedback. By understanding their motivations and realities, businesses will be better able to develop thought leadership that resonates with their intended audience and drives measurable business results.

Once the motivations and realities of the intended audience are understood, businesses should create a strategy for thought leadership that will drive engagement and action. The strategy should focus on the most important topics to the audience and the desired outcomes the organization wants to achieve. 

Additionally, businesses should consider the tone, language, and format of the B2B thought leadership content to ensure it aligns with the audience’s preferences. For example, companies should create content in that format if the audience prefers video content. On the other hand, if the audience is looking for in-depth, data-driven content, businesses should strive to create content that meets those expectations. 

Companies should also develop an effective distribution strategy for the thought leadership content. This should include determining which channels are most effective for reaching the intended audience and how to maximize the reach of the content. 

Businesses should consider how to track the impact of the thought leadership content, such as monitoring engagement levels and website traffic. By taking the time to understand the motivations and realities of the intended audience, as well as creating a strategy and distribution plan, businesses will be better equipped to develop effective thought leadership that resonates with the audience and drives tangible business results.

2. Crafting a value proposition that resonates with the audience

Understanding their motivations and realities requires crafting a value proposition that resonates with the audience. It is important to engage with the end audience and find out what is important to them and how the organization’s product or service can be made relevant. It is also important to capture attention in this digital age with creative and dynamic content that is enjoyable for the audience. 

Thought leaders must also be able to prove their expertise and build trust through conversations and relationship building. A purpose-driven organization is key to creating a value proposition that will resonate with the audience. The mission and culture of an organization should be reflected in its B2B thought leadership. Being part of the community and providing helpful insights and solutions to the audience is important. This will allow the organization to become a thought leader and be seen as a solution provider.

Assessing the audience’s current needs and challenges is important to create a strong value proposition. This can be done through market research and data analysis. The organization should understand its target audience and what they are looking for to craft a value proposition that resonates with them. Building on current trends and creating relevant and helpful content for the audience is important. 

Creating content that can be easily consumed and understood is also important. The organization should provide helpful insights and solutions to the problems that the audience is facing. Content should be easy to understand and have practical applications. When crafting a value proposition, it is important to keep the audience’s needs and preferences in mind. 

The organization should create informative and entertaining content. Creating content that is easily shared and consumed by the audience is also important. This will help the organization to become a thought leader in its industry and build relationships with its target audience. In addition, a well-crafted value proposition will help the organization stand out from the competition and be seen as an expert in its field.

3. Focusing on creating relationships and building trust by sharing expertise freely.

They are focusing on creating relationships and building trust by sharing expertise freely. Developing relationships and building trust by sharing expertise freely is vital to thought leadership. 

Ben Laws says relationships are built based on experiences and conversations. Therefore, bringing creativity to creating experiences that resonate with intended audiences while having relevant conversations is important. Listening to the audience and understanding their motivations and realities is essential to make content relevant. 

Good creatives can get attention, encapsulate a value proposition in something memorable, and make content enjoyable. When creating thought leadership, it is important not to proclaim to have all the answers but rather to catalyze conversations with peers and establish trust. This should be done by sharing expertise freely and understanding the organization’s mission, vision, and values. 

Companies should also use native expertise to help the audience understand issues and provide potential solutions. Ultimately, thought leadership should reflect the organization’s culture and help drive home what they offer.

Sharing expertise freely also requires measuring and tracking the impact of thought leadership. It is important to measure success as it provides valuable insights and helps to identify areas for improvement. 

Companies can measure success by tracking engagement metrics such as website visits, email open rates, and social media shares. These metrics help identify which topics and content pieces resonate with the audience and which must be adjusted or improved. 

Additionally, it is vital to measure the impact of thought leadership initiatives on the bottom line. This can be done by tracking the number of sales generated, website traffic changes, and leads generated. Ultimately, companies should focus on creating relationships and building trust by sharing expertise freely as part of their thought leadership efforts. 

This can be done by creating experiences that resonate with the audience, providing creative content, and measuring the impact of thought leadership initiatives. By doing so, companies can ensure that their thought leadership efforts are successful and beneficial to the organization.

Thought leadership is essential for B2B businesses to boost their reputation, visibility, and credibility in the market. By understanding their audience’s motivations and realities, crafting a value proposition that resonates, and fostering relationships and trust by sharing expertise freely, businesses can maximize the impact of their thought leadership and drive measurable business results. With the right strategy and creative solutions, you, too, can unlock the power of thought leadership and prove the ROI of your activity.

I’d love to hear how you apply Purpose-Driven Thought Leadership to establish trust, relationships, and value. So leave me a comment on how it went for you, or drop me any questions you want me to answer!

Some topics we discussed include:

• Why do B2B marketers seem to discount the value of creativity
• How can creativity speak to the buying process
• Proving the hard ROI of B2B thought leadership activity
• Utilizing creativity to capture and engage audiences
• Exploring the importance of brand values, mission, and purpose in B2B thought leadership.
• How thought leadership impacts the bottom-line by winning business
• Why and how to invest in B2B thought leadership consistently
• And much, much more…

Listen to the episode

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