Comprehensive thought leadership consulting for B2B & professional services firms
Articles from Bob’s archives.
Many companies that bring thought leadership to market believe the content they produce doesn’t get much respect from the executives they’re trying to impress. Rodney Dangerfield had his shtick, and it brought millions of laughs over an illustrious career. The self-deprecating comedic genius, with his bulging eyes roving and his nervous hands tie tightening, was famous for …
Why You Must Shed Your Rodney Dangerfield Syndrome Read More »
One keystone document can provide the core argument for articles, white papers, long blog posts and other parts of your thought leadership marketing. Most thought leadership marketers know the benefits of putting an extensive, multifaceted marketing campaign behind a research study or a book. Over the last three decades, I’ve seen companies promote such “big” …
What’s changed the most: widespread use, competition for mind share, and the ascendance of R&D and new distribution channels. This June I celebrated my 30th year in thought leadership marketing. I didn’t know that was the name of this field I had entered back in 1987, when I left the world of business journalism to run …
Looking Back (and Ahead) on 30 Years in Thought Leadership Marketing Read More »
Thought leadership is the prestige that an individual or organization achieves after developing, delivering and marketing superior expertise that solves a significant problem. With so many marketers exhorting companies to become thought leaders in their domains, many people in those firms are asking a simple question: “What is thought leadership? What are we talking about?” Here’s how we define it: …
Companies producing thought leadership don’t see it to be nearly as important as do the companies they send it to. How can that be? How is it that 90% of executives love exceptional, thought-leading content, but only 60% of the firms that create educational content say it boosts their brand? Why do four out of five C-suite executives (81%) …
Why Clients Love Thought Leadership, But B2B Firms Do Not Read More »
A big, big problem in thought leadership arises when multiple people contribute to a piece of content – whether a blog post or a book or everything in between – and there’s no director, no singular view. Every so often, I come across a poignant insight from a legend in some field about a practice …