Here’s my framework for effective B2B tech thought leadership content

Most B2B tech content suffers from two big problems: 

  • It's packed with generic information and jargon;

  • It doesn’t speak to the real problems customers face. 

With stretched resources and pressure to publish high volumes of content, many marketing teams fall into the trap of churning out content that doesn’t build trust or really achieve any commercial objective.

It’s a quantity-over-quality approach that doesn’t engage or win over decision-makers, who expect higher-quality information from vendors selling premium, enterprise-level solutions. 

But here's what does cut through: sharing valuable insights that add to the conversation and give customers a new approach to solving their problems. Strategically building brand authority through expert-driven, original content - real thought leadership, in other words - is highly effective, and only becoming more so.

So I want to share exactly how I approach building thought leadership through high-quality content for B2B tech companies. 

While thought leadership encompasses many elements (speaking engagements, industry relationships, community building, etc.), this article focuses on the most important aspect of thought leadership: developing and executing a content strategy that communicates distinctive, compelling perspectives. 

What exactly is “thought leadership”? And why does it matter?

The term “thought leadership” is thrown around a lot. Everyone (at least in B2B marketing) seems to claim that they’re “doing some thought leadership”. So is it just another vacuous buzzword?

No, but it’s definitely a widely misunderstood concept. Put simply, thought leadership is an ambitious objective: to be seen as a trusted authority in your industry, which builds brand awareness and drives growth.

However, it’s often mistakenly seen as a type of content rather than a goal. Too often, companies say they want to "do some thought leadership content" without allocating the resources or forming the strategy needed to actually become thought leaders.

You don’t just quickly whip together some thought leadership. It’s not just a box to be ticked off - it takes a lot of effort and a good content strategy to achieve thought leader status.

Unfortunately, pulling together a few generic articles, slapping the CEO’s name on them, and calling it “thought leadership” doesn’t build your brand authority. To put it bluntly, you can’t be a thought leader without interesting and original ideas to share.

If you’re a B2B tech company selling a high-ticket solution, thought leadership is a very powerful marketing strategy. This is because companies aren’t just buying your tech; they’re buying the expertise of the people behind it. They want to know that their vendor of choice has highly knowledgeable, credible and skilled people. Thought leadership marketing is all about showcasing this. 

Research from LinkedIn and Edelman shows that strong thought leadership drives more value than traditional marketing approaches, with 73% of decision-makers trusting it over product-focused materials. And 70% of C-suite leaders have questioned whether to continue working with a supplier after consuming a rival’s thought leadership, showing its value for becoming the go-to choice in customers’ minds. 

What are the key ingredients of thought leadership?

Content that builds true thought leadership for B2B tech combines three key elements:

  1. Technical substance and expertise 

  2. Engaging storytelling 

  3. Understanding and targeting the audience effectively 

These three components are essential to create content that actually builds authority and trust with decision-makers.


1. Real depth and expertise

At its core, thought leadership has to demonstrate genuine expertise that goes far beyond what's readily available through a Google search. This involves several key aspects. 

Deep industry knowledge

True thought leadership is backed by deep expertise in solving customer problems with innovative tech. This means:

  • Identifying emerging trends before they become obvious

  • Breaking down the broader implications of tech developments

  • Publishing original/proprietary data that adds to your industry’s body of knowledge

  • Sharing first-hand, practical knowledge and case studies  

For example, instead of simply describing at a high level how AI is transforming business (a cliché by now), good thought leadership might explain which AI applications are overhyped and which are underappreciated, backing this up with expert analysis and examples.

Challenging conventional wisdom or presenting unique perspectives

Sharing deep industry knowledge is a necessary, but not sufficient, component of thought leadership. 

To demonstrate true thought leadership, there needs to be something unique about the argument or expertise you’re sharing, or something that challenges conventional industry wisdom. 

The good news? Your company likely has at least some unique knowledge, perspectives and ways of approaching problems. 

So to create thought leadership, you need to identify these areas of originality. Simply presenting knowledge - even if it’s substantive - isn’t enough, because such knowledge is too readily available these days. 

Rigorous fact-checking and sourcing

You need to back up the claims you make in thought leadership content. Mistakes and unsubstantiated claims can destroy trust, and it's hard to rebuild once it's gone.

Rigorous editorial standards involve: 

  • Fact-checking all technical claims and statistics

  • Consulting multiple sources to verify information

  • Attributing data and research

  • Being transparent about assumptions and limitations

For instance, when discussing cloud computing costs, instead of making broad generalisations, you’d cite specific studies or data, explain your methodology for any calculations, and acknowledge variables that might affect outcomes.

2. Human connection and storytelling

Technical expertise alone isn't enough - thought leadership needs to connect with readers on a human level. Like any good marketing or communications, it needs to speak to their interests, desires and needs. This requires mastering some key elements.

Narrative framework

Stories make complex ideas memorable and relatable. Effective thought leadership uses storytelling by:

  • Opening with compelling, real-life scenarios or anecdotes to hook readers

  • Building narrative tension around problems and solutions

  • Creating a clear flow that carries readers from beginning to end

Practical application

 Theory must be grounded in reality. This means:

  • Including specific implementation examples

  • Addressing common challenges and how to overcome them

  • Providing practical steps readers can take

  • Acknowledging real-world constraints and limitations

Personal voice and authenticity 

Thought leadership should feel like it comes from a real person with real experiences by:

  • Sharing personal insights and lessons learned

  • Admitting to past mistakes and what they taught you

  • Using a conversational, human tone

Clear explanation of complex concepts

Explaining technical concepts clearly without oversimplification is essential if you want your audience to understand and engage with what you’re saying. This means:

  • Breaking down complex ideas into digestible information - without losing the substance

  • Using clear, easy-to-understand examples 

  • Writing in plain English and avoiding jargon

  • Anticipating and addressing common points of confusion

3. Strategic focus and consistency

The final component is having a clear strategy that guides your thought leadership efforts and ensures they serve your business goals. 

There’s no point in creating high-quality, original content if it’s not effectively targeted towards your specific audience. This means creating content that isn’t just valuable, but interesting and timely enough that your audience wants to pay attention to it right now.

And while you may not be talking about your product directly in thought leadership content, you need to build your authority on topics that a) you have the credibility to speak about and b) are highly relevant to your product. 

A strong thought leadership strategy involves: 

  • Audience understanding: Deep knowledge of your audience shapes everything about your thought leadership:

    • Their level of technical knowledge and what they need explained

    • The specific challenges they face in their roles

    • How they prefer to consume content

    • What questions they're asking but not finding good answers to

  • Content planning and development: A systematic approach to content creation ensures consistent quality:

    • Developing clear content pillars that align with your expertise

    • Creating detailed briefs for each piece

    • Establishing review processes that maintain quality

    • Building a sustainable content calendar

  • Distribution and engagement: The best content won't make an impact if it doesn't reach your audience:

    • Choosing the right channels to reach your audience

    • Adapting content format for different platforms

    • Engaging with readers and participating in discussions

It’s essential to get your strategy locked in before you begin creating content, or you risk falling into the “random acts of content” trap. With this in mind, I’ll break down my step-by-step process for creating thought leadership content strategies in the next section. 

Stage 1: Framework for developing your thought leadership strategy

The first phase of my process focuses on creating a solid strategy for thought leadership content.

Without strategy, execution is aimless, as the saying goes. So far, so obvious, right?

You’d think so, but I’ve seen more than my fair share of B2B tech companies that are just randomly creating content with no clear strategy. Or they do have a content strategy, but it solely focuses on SEO or demand generation, not thought leadership.

So to help marketing teams that are struggling with this, let’s break down exactly how I create a content strategy for thought leadership for my clients.

  1. Understanding the business context and goals

Before diving into content planning, I meet with everyone involved to understand what success looks like from a business perspective. 

While I don't set overarching marketing goals - I tend to work with companies that already have a marketing team and product-market fit - I need to understand my client’s marketing strategy deeply. This is to make sure our thought leadership strategy aligns with what the business needs to achieve.

In this stage, I focus on understanding:

  • What business objectives the content should support

  • Which audience segments are most important to reach

  • How thought leadership fits into their broader marketing strategy

  • What resources are available

This context is crucial because it shapes everything that follows. For instance, if the goal is entering a new market segment, we'll need different types of content than if we're focusing on building deeper relationships with existing enterprise clients.

2. Analysing competitors’ thought leadership

When creating your strategy, it’s important to analyse how your competitors are doing thought leadership. This helps identify opportunities to stand out and avoid simply echoing what others are saying.

So I audit key competitors’ content, looking for:

  • Overlooked topics: I map out which topics competitors are focusing on. Then I analyse whether there are important, emerging topics that they haven’t covered yet. These represent a great opportunity to ‘own’ topics and become a thought leader, because there’s less noise to compete with. 

  • Gaps in perspective: Are competitors taking similar angles on key industry issues? This could reveal opportunities for fresh viewpoints.

  • Content quality differences: Topics that competitors are covering superficially present a good opportunity to provide more value and stand out.

  • Channel presence and engagement: Which platforms and publications feature your competitors regularly? Where are they getting the most traction? This indicates where your industry's audience is most engaged and can inform our distribution strategy. 

  • Executive visibility: I look at how active competitors’ senior execs are in industry conversations and how high their profile is. If they’re thought leaders, we need to think about how we can compete; if they’re not, this presents a great opportunity to lean heavily into raising your executives’ profiles.

Ultimately, the most important objective is to identify areas where your company's unique experience or perspective can add something new to the conversation. The goal isn't to copy competitors but to find areas where you can meaningfully contribute, spark a conversation with your audience and build trust.

3. Doing a comprehensive content audit

With a clear understanding of what we need to achieve, my next step is thoroughly auditing existing content. This gives us a concrete picture of our starting point and helps identify the most promising thought leadership opportunities.

I begin by cataloguing all content marketing from the past 12-18 months. For each piece, I analyse several key elements:

Content quality and depth

I examine how effectively each piece establishes expertise by evaluating:

  • Technical accuracy and depth of insights

  • Use of original examples and case studies

  • Quality of analysis and recommendations

  • How clearly they explain complex topics

For instance, when auditing content for a cybersecurity company, I discovered they had excellent technical depth in their white papers but weren't effectively translating that expertise into more accessible blog content. This insight helped us identify an immediate opportunity to reach a broader audience with their existing expertise.

Topic coverage

I map out what topics we've covered and identify:

  • Areas of focus

  • Topics touched on but not explored deeply

  • Missed opportunities in main areas of expertise

Content performance

Working with their marketing team, I gather insights about:

  • Which pieces have generated the most engagement

  • What content salespeople find most useful

  • Which topics resonate with their target audience

  • What formats have been most effective

That’s not to say that we simply stick to what we’re already doing - usually, my job is to improve a company’s thought leadership approach. But by understanding what’s at least working somewhat well, I can propose a new strategy that improves on this. 

4. Mapping out internal expertise

After auditing existing content, I speak with the client to understand where the company has the most genuine expertise to share. This involves structured conversations with key teams.

Product marketing and sales provide valuable insights about:

  • Common customer questions and challenges

  • Competitor messaging and positioning

  • Market trends and emerging issues

  • What content helps close deals

Subject-matter experts: Through interviews with technical experts, I learn about:

  • Real problems they've solved for customers

  • Common misconceptions they encounter

  • Unique approaches they've developed

  • Areas where they have deep expertise

Conversations with subject-matter experts can help to reveal deep expertise that isn’t reflected in the company’s current content. This then allows us to develop a whole new content pillar, where we can bring very valuable insights to our audience, building authority and attracting good-fit prospects. 

5. Setting editorial strategy and calendar

With a clear understanding of business goals, current performance of both competitor and client content, and available expertise, I can now develop a focused editorial strategy. This strategy typically includes:

Content pillars

I identify 3-4 core topics where the company can consistently provide valuable insights, based on:

  • Areas of genuine expertise

  • Gaps in competitors’ existing content

  • Gaps in clients’ existing content

  • Available expert resources

For each pillar, I develop:

  • Key topics to explore

  • Types of insights to highlight

  • Specific examples to feature

  • Potential content formats

Subject-matter expert collaboration

I bring my interviewing skills to get high-quality insights from subject-matter experts, and create efficient systems for working with them:

  • Question lists to make sure we have impactful conversations with busy experts 

  • Training to help team members get the most out of short interviews 

  • Review processes that respect their time

Editorial standards

I establish clear guidelines for creating consistently high-quality content:

  • Writing style that balances authority with accessibility

  • Technical accuracy requirements and source attribution standards

  • Tone and voice guidelines

Content calendar

I develop a sustainable publishing plan that considers:

  • Available expert resources

  • Realistic content development timelines

  • Key industry events and marketing campaigns to support

  • Which content ideas should be prioritised 

    6. Setting distribution and promotion strategy

Many thought leadership programs fail not because of content quality, but because of poor distribution. Unfortunately, no matter how good your insights are, you can’t be a thought leader unless we get the right eyeballs on them. 

Here's how I ensure content reaches the target audience. 

Channel strategy development

I create a customized distribution plan for each client based on their audience's preferences and behaviour. This typically includes a mix of both owned and paid/earned media. 

When it comes to distribution, we want to get the most out of your thought leaders' personal channels. Founders and executives typically achieve significantly higher engagement on their personal LinkedIn accounts compared to company pages - often by factors of 5-10x. 

This makes sense: people want to connect with and learn from other people, not corporate entities. The key is ensuring your thought leaders share content in their authentic voice, adding their own perspectives and experiences rather than simply reposting company content. This human touch not only drives better engagement but also reinforces their credibility as industry experts.

While employee advocacy programs are an increasingly important trend that deserves its own deep dive, even focusing solely on ghostwriting content for your top thought leaders can be incredibly powerful. When done well, it showcases your company's expertise through the voices of its leaders.

Content repurposing

When we create content based on expert insights and original data, there are so many opportunities to adapt this content to different channels. 

For example, one expert interview could be turned into: 

  1. A comprehensive thought leadership article (circa. 1000-1,500 words)

  2. 5 LinkedIn posts based on the interviews

  3. A LinkedIn or email newsletter derived from this content

  4. Video snippets to share on socials 

Often I see companies make the mistake of investing in creating a high-quality long-form resource (e.g. white paper), but then failing to adapt this content to other channels. 

This is a wasted opportunity. Why? Because the additional work needed to adapt the content - compared to doing the expert interviews, gathering data, and creating the long-form resource - is quite limited. 

So I always ensure that we repurpose and distribute your long-form content to the max. Don’t let white papers gather dust on your website - share their insights in social media posts, newsletters, and ads (where suitable). 

Stage 2: Executing and creating brilliant thought leadership content

So having nailed down a good thought leadership strategy, how do we actually create high-quality content? 

Let’s break down how to approach each key part of the content writing, editing, and management process here and ensure your thought leadership strategy is properly executed.

  1. Gathering the right raw material (research, expert interviews, and original data gathering)

Research

Before you start writing anything, you want to make sure that you research the topic thoroughly. 

This doesn’t mean that you, as the writer or creator, need to become an absolute expert (that’s why we interview actual experts, after all). 

But to be able to interview experts or break down internal data, you need to have a proficient understanding of the subjects at hand. This means doing more than just a light read of the top Google results (or AI responses). 

Whenever I dive into a new topic, I look for the most reliable sources. Think top-tier business publications (FT, WSJ, etc.), content from respected names like McKinsey, and academic publications. I then read at least 5-10 articles or reports from these sources, and note down key takeaways. 

Expert interviews

Insights from your subject-matter experts are valuable to your audience. They help you stand out and be seen as a real authority. 

But expert interviews don’t automatically lead to compelling content. To find an engaging story, you need to know how to interview the right way. 

If you don't interview proeperly, you end up: 

  • Getting lost in technical rabbit holes.

  • Having an awkward conversation where the expert doesn’t share anything interesting. 

  • Wasting everyone's time and undermining leadership buy-in for expert content. 

To avoid these problems and get great material for thought leadership, here’s how I interview subject-matter experts: 

  • Do the homework: I make sure I understand the client’s wider messaging and the goals of the content before the interview. I also research the subject of the interview extensively. I think: what story are we trying to tell? And how does the expert’s knowledge tie into this story?

  • Prepare questions in advance: I bring a list of 10-15 questions to an interview. I may not end up asking all of them - but it gives me a basic plan, and helps to clarify what I want to find out from the expert. I also share these questions ahead of the interview with the expert, so they’re not blindsided by anything. 

  • Conversation, not interrogation: I bring these questions to the interview, but this doesn’t mean I stick to them rigidly. I want a relaxed conversation - people don’t share their most interesting opinions or knowledge when they feel like they're being grilled.

  • But know when to steer the interview: I let the conversation flow and ask natural follow-up questions. But I balance this with making sure we don’t go off into tangents, and will politely interrupt to get back on track.

As content marketers, we need to find a compelling story in the company’s expertise. This means interviewing experts like a journalist. 

Analysing original data 

If we’re creating a piece of content around some original research or data, we want to analyse that data and establish some key conclusions and takeaways before we begin writing. 

If this is internal data from the company’s platform, the content marketers will want to work with product or technical teams to make sure that the data is interpreted accurately. 

This is a subject worthy of a whole article, but to summarise, we want to:

  1. Make sure that the data insights we publish are accurate 

  2. Ensure that these insights are relevant and useful to our audience, focusing on key findings so we don’t overwhelm the audience 

  3. Emphasise data points that tell a compelling story, and emphasise not just what the data says, but why it matters

2. Turning raw insights into high-quality writing 

I may be biased, but I think that writing is a pretty underrated skill. Producing a genuinely well-written piece of content takes considerable time, effort, and creativity. While many people think they know how to write, doing it at a professional level is a craft that takes many years to hone.

When building a thought leadership program, I make sure that everyone involved in the writing and editing process is aligned on what good business writing looks like. Otherwise, our thought leaders’ good insights could be derailed by poor communication. While entire books are devoted to clear writing (like the Oxford Guide to Plain English), let’s summarise some key principles:

  1. Minimise jargon: While some technical terms are unavoidable in B2B writing, excessive jargon makes content harder to read - even for expert audiences. When possible, use simpler language. When using abbreviations, spell them out on first use.

  2. Stay focused: Every section should support your main message. Resist interesting but irrelevant tangents that dilute your core point.

  3. Write concise sentences: Shorter sentences improve readability. While you shouldn't sacrifice nuance and depth, try to be a minimalist with your language.

  4. Favour active voice: Active voice ("consumers desire data security") is generally more engaging than passive voice ("data security is desired by consumers"). 

  5. Structure for scannability: With most readers scanning web pages, an easy-to-navigate structure is crucial. Use descriptive headlines, subheadings, and bullet points to break up text and help readers quickly find relevant information.

  6. Start strong: Lead with your most important point ("front-loading"). Business readers need to quickly grasp why your content matters to them. This applies at both the piece and paragraph level - start each paragraph with your key point rather than building up to it.

  7. Use concrete examples and data: Your arguments are made clearer and more persuasive through specific examples and data points. Rather than just saying "this improves efficiency," explain how and provide real-world proof.

  8. Mind your tone: Business writing should be professional - but not stiff. Aim for a conversational but authoritative tone - imagine explaining something to a respected colleague. Avoid overly casual language but avoid being unnecessarily formal.

I’m experienced in following these pricniples when doing the writing myself. If other writers (either freelance or in-house) are handling this part, where necessary I provide training and put together style guides to help them write clear, engaging content.

How to find great writers is a whole separate subject that I won’t go into here, but let me say this: while generic freelance writers are a dime a dozen, but ones who can write well and meet all the objectives discussed in this article are much rarer.

I’d be remiss not to mention the role of AI in content writing. There are some very effective ways that we can use AI to boost our productivity, but we need to be very careful not to sacrifice creativity and originality. For more on this, check out my recent article, Using AI for thought leadership writing: how to complement - not replace - your creativity

3. Rigorous editorial and content management processes 

You can have the best writers and content creators in the world working for you, but without good processes, it’s unlikely the end product will be excellent. 

This is because no one’s work is perfect, and we all have blindspots when creating content. And the input of multiple (although not too many) people on a piece of content is always better than just one person’s.

How to edit effectively

Much like writing, editing is an often underappreciated craft. Knowing how to improve a piece of writing - without going overboard and making unnecessary changes - requires experience and judgement.

Here are some key principles I advise all editors to follow:

  1. Separate line editing and copyediting: Read through first for overall flow and message (line editing), and later read for detailed language fixes (copyediting). On the first pass, focus on structure, logic, and whether the piece achieves its goals. Save grammar and word choice for later passes.

  2. Edit for your audience: Keep your readers' expertise level and needs in mind at all times. Would they understand these terms? Are you answering their key questions? Does the piece provide the right level of detail?

  3. Don’t overedit: When considering proposing a change, ask yourself: will this really improve the quality of the piece? Or am I just imposing very subjective personal preferences over e.g. particular word use? Unnecessary editing is demoralising for your writers, increases the time you spend on a piece of content, and can harm the quality. 

How to establish good editorial and content management processes

Successful editing doesn’t just require you to have actual editing chops. You need good editing and content management processes in place, or things will go off the rails. 

Here’s what an efficient content editing and reviewing process looks like:

Define clear roles

  • Who has initial writing responsibility.

  • Who conducts first-round edits. This should really only be one person, to avoid conflicting feedback and an unnecessary number of revisions and comments for the writer to address. 

  • Who gives final approval. Unless the piece is very sensitive or strategically important and requires approval from higher-ups, this should be a professional editor or content marketer.

  • Which subject matter experts need to review. Ideally their input is confined to making sure their ideas are expressed properly, rather than line editing or copyediting.

Set good editing processes

We want to build in enough time for thoroughly reviewing content while maintaining a good publishing frequency and staying efficient. A typical editing process might include:

  1. First draft completion

  2. Initial editorial review

  3. Subject matter expert input

  4. Final polishing

  5. Leadership approval (only if really needed)

Help reviewers focus on appropriate feedback by specifying:

  • What aspects they should review (technical accuracy, messaging, etc.)

  • How to provide feedback (tracked changes, comments, etc.)

  • Use style guides: Maintain consistent standards across all content by creating and following a clear style guide. Document preferences for formatting, terminology, and common language choices.

  • Suitable turnaround times to prevent pieces of content from getting unnecessarily delayed

  • Processes for resolving conflicting feedback. The primary editor should consult other relevant parties, agree on feedback, and then provide this in a unified manner. Getting conflicting feedback from lots of people at once is every writer’s nightmare. 

Create a content calendar

When it comes to creating your content calendar, here are some key considerations:

  • Consistency over volume - Establish a sustainable publishing cadence (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly) that the marketing team and subject-matter experts can maintain with quality content rather than frequent but rushed pieces.

  • Buffer time - Build in 1-2 weeks of buffer between content creation and publication for unexpected delays or adjustments required.

  • Key events and campaigns - Time content to fit in with key industry events and decision-making cycles.

  • Integration with marketing calendar - Align thought leadership with broader marketing initiatives where relevant.

  • Balanced content mix - Time your publishing so you vary content types and topics throughout your calendar. The exception is when you’re running a focused campaign on one subject; but generally, some variety is good.

Finally, there’s measurement and continuous optimisation

Along with setting a rigorous thought leadership strategy and following through with effective execution and content creation, you'll likely want to consider how to measure results and make continuous improvements. This is an area where I've seen many marketers struggle, as the impact of thought leadership isn't always straightforward to quantify.

The measurement challenge: balancing qualitative and quantitative insights

From my experience working with B2B tech companies, I've observed that many of the most valuable benefits of thought leadership are qualitative or difficult to measure directly. Like with any investment in brand building, drawing a clear line between your content and increased sales can be challenging. Was that pipeline boost due to your thought leadership program, or because of those great new sales hires? The reality is often complex.

That said, I've found it beneficial to track what we reasonably can, as having some measurement framework is often vital for maintaining senior management buy-in. We should do this, while simultaneously making it clear that a powerful brand's full impact isn't captured in numbers alone.

Metrics worth considering for your measurement approach

In my work with clients, I've found that focusing on these three categories of metrics can provide useful insights without overcomplicated attribution models:

1. Engagement indicators can help you understand if your content resonates with your audience. Some metrics I typically suggest monitoring include:

  • Time spent reading articles (many successful thought leadership pieces achieve 3+ minutes of engagement)

  • Social sharing patterns (which pieces get shared most often and by whom?)

  • Comment quality and frequency (are you sparking meaningful discussions?)

2. Audience quality signals can suggest whether your thought leadership is attracting the right people:

  • Changes in lead qualification rates when thought leadership is part of the journey

  • Seniority level of engaged contacts and any increases in enterprise-level engagement

  • Improvements in relevant segments of your sales funnel

3. Qualitative feedback loops from your sales team provide context that numbers alone can't capture:

  • How frequently thought leadership content is being used in sales conversations

  • Whether prospects are proactively mentioning your content in meetings

  • The types of conversations your content is enabling with decision-makers

Continuous improvement approach

To take this data and feedback into account, I typically recommend:

  1. Identifying which content and campaigns appear most successful across these metrics

  2. Looking for patterns and improvement opportunities

  3. Periodically refining your content pillars, distribution strategy, and upcoming calendar

The framework above isn't prescriptive but rather represents approaches I've seen work well for thought leadership initiatives in B2B tech. Remember that measurement approaches should be tailored to your specific business context and goals.

For example, the thought leadership metrics and feedback that matter the most to a business looking to build authority in a new market might differ from a business consolidating its position in an existing market.

Summing up my thought leadership process 

Effective B2B thought leadership involves combining genuine expertise with compelling storytelling, strategically targeted to your audience's needs. 

To achieve this, I’ve developed a methodical framework:

Stage 1: Strategy foundation 

  1. Understand your business objectives and audience needs

  2. Analyse the competitive landscape to find your unique angle

  3. Audit existing content to identify gaps and opportunities

  4. Map your internal expertise to uncover hidden knowledge assets

  5. Establish clear editorial pillars and standards

  6. Develop a distribution strategy that maximizes reach and engagement

Stage 2: Execution

  1. Gather high-quality material with thorough research, expert interviews and/or original data

  2. Create well-written content that balances authority with accessibility

  3. Implement rigorous editing processes

And then measurement and optimisation to continue building on successes and adjusting approaches that weren’t as effective.

When you create thought leadership content with this- rigorous framework, you lead industry conversations and become seen as the go-to authority.

The investment pays off: prospects seek you out rather than the other way around, and competitors find themselves responding to your narrative rather than setting their own.

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