ITIC Global 2021: the value of thought leadership

The value of thought leadership is typically singularly aligned with brand awareness. However, Lorien Norden, Chimera Content Marketing, revealed that thought leadership can also lead to a variety of follow-up actions from customers, including seeking information about industry influencers, increasing the amount of business placed with the organisation responsible, and inviting said organisation to pitch or bid on a project.

Norden stated: “It’s about blending the art of storytelling, big data, and building a culture of thought leadership.” However, there are some challenges to successfully asserting your thought leadership, including cultural, technological innovations, and consumer attitudes and values. Norden continued: “Companies face numerous challenges, some consistent and others unique.”

Understanding and articulating what is occurring within the industry is critical, particularly with expressing this to the customer: “Customer values have changed, but some things will always be important: quality, cost, but now we’re thinking about transparency and the human connection.”

Correctly pursuing thought leadership requires a strong direction in strategy and activation – outlining the agenda and campaign goals can be more successful than a wider, less focused effort. Ensuring that your campaign develops will help ensure your audience remains engaged. Norden stated: “Think about short-form content, videos, podcasts, and the channels where it’s best to place that.”

One important consideration is appreciating the right engagement, with Norden isolating the vanity figures of Facebook, which consider three seconds watching a video as successful engagement: “Identify who it is you’re reaching and the engagement you’re driving.”