1FEBRUARY 2016

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP MARKETINGHOW TO SUCCEED IN THE NEW CONTENT BATTLEGROUND

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INTRODUCTION Tap the term ‘thought leadership’ into Google, and the world’s most popular search engine returns nearly 46 million results. Refine the search by adding the word ‘marketing’ and there are just over 17 million results. Yet, despite the growing popularity of the label, there is remarkably little agreement on a precise definition, and less still on the applied discipline of thought leadership marketing.

In this white paper, we explore the key components of thought leadership marketing, and describe how it can be applied to create a long-term platform for owned, earned and paid media success. The material in this paper is based on interviews with leading communications professionals and 10 years’ experience providing support to professional services brands in the UK and abroad.

1 Google search on 20 January 2016

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThought leadership is the new battleground for marketers fighting to differentiate their brand from the competition. Barely a day goes by without someone laying claim to new intellectual territory by releasing yet another report revealing new thinking about an important topic.

We believe, however, that much of what claims to be thought leadership is anything but. Rather than lighting up the world with agenda-setting insight, lots of content is a regurgitation of existing thinking or thinly veiled sales copy. This approach can generate a few media headlines, tweets and LinkedIn likes, but the brand exposure will be short-lived, unengaging and, ultimately, commercially unsuccessful.

Successful business-to-business brands like McKinsey, Deloitte and Michael Page have long recognised that genuine thought leadership must challenge received wisdom and throw new light

on pressing issues affecting clients, prospects and policymakers. Leading management and recruitment consultancies are now being joined by a growing body of law firms, banks, accountants, and property and transport consultancies, all investing in thought leadership programmes that are inspiring, meaningful and long term.

Why is it so important to get thought leadership marketing right?

In large part, to cut through the noise, demonstrate expertise and find an effective way to build relationships with clients and prospects. But also, because buying behaviour in the B2B sphere has changed dramatically over the last few years. According to Google, purchasers can be up to 90 per cent of the way through their purchasing journey before they make official contact with a provider, having explored areas like research, recommendations and service specifications.

Reports suggests that the journey would have been just 5 per cent complete when a purchaser picked up the phone at the turn of the decade.2

Our research into purchaser expectations in the B2B sector shows there is a growing demand for organisations to demonstrate their commitment to an industry or sector, outside of day-to-day business activities.

By sharing insight about pressing issues and how they might be addressed, thought leadership marketing helps organisations to show how they are adding value. In the process, it starts new commercial conversations with clients and prospects.

Our research and experience shows the most effective thought leadership initiatives share a number of common characteristics.

2 ‘Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT)’ http://bit.ly/VzmKZ5

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Perhaps most importantly, they genuinely cast new light on a timely issue, providing a fresh perspective on a long-standing challenge. The best programmes are evidence-led, but what differentiates a dusty research report from thought leadership material is insight and considered opinion to stimulate thought. Likewise, materials need to be engaging and accessible, and are increasingly presented in infographics, video and bite-size reports, rather than the more traditional 50 page white paper. And the best reports are action oriented, providing recommendations and firm proposals that make it easier for people to follow.

Looking to the future, we can see that thought leadership marketing is increasingly being used to engage and inspire employees, in addition to clients and prospects. As an organisation’s biggest potential advocates (or detractors), employees can often do the marketing department’s job, as long as the material they engage with is authentic and the organisation can walk the talk.

In a related trend, our research suggests that good ideas can come from all parts of the business, not just from senior management, who often have less exposure to day-to-day difficulties. And more money is being invested to ensure thought leadership materials are findable and have a long shelf life. You can’t be a thought leader unless you have a sizeable body of followers.

Thought leadership marketing isn’t an easy activity to get right. Without a robust process, organisations can waste a lot of time and resources or end up producing ‘me too’ research reports. But, done well, we believe thought leadership is the best way for B2B firms to create a long-term platform for owned, earned and paid media success.3 Thought leadership is simply the most effective way for marketers to drive commercial success through the power of insight and ideas.

Fresh

FindableCollab

orative

Action-oriented

Opinionated

Forward-thinking

Authentic

Engaging

Evidence-led

Commercially-led

Figure 1: The 10 Key Elements of Effective Thought Leadership Marketing. ©Linstock Communications 2016. All Rights Reserved

3 See for example: Stengel, Geri. “5 Ways Thought Leadership Puts You In The News.” Forbes. August 21, 2013. http://onforb.es/1RdVWbI

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Michelle Arnold, Head of Marketing and Communications, BLME

Good thought leadership raises questions, creates a

discussion, demonstrates expertise and is interesting. You can’t be a good thought leader unless you add some value.”

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ACTIONS

1. SET UP A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP TEAM / STEERING GROUP

2. CONSIDER YOUR ORGANISATION’S BROAD AREAS OF EXPERTISE AND ACCESSIBLE DATA SOURCES

3. STAY UP TO SPEED WITH INDUSTRY NEWS AND PREVAILING TRENDS – LOOK FOR WHITE SPACE YOU COULD FILL

4. CONSIDER THE 10 KEY ELEMENTS OF GOOD THOUGHT LEADERSHIP BEFORE EMBARKING ON YOUR PROGRAMME

5. DETERMINE COST PER LEAD FROM BUSINESS AS USUAL AND SET ROI TARGETS TO BEAT THAT

If you’re considering a thought leadership marketing approach:

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP Despite the seemingly insatiable appetite for new content, much of the material cooked up by business leaves people cold or is devoured and forgotten as quickly as fast food. Research conducted in the US shows that most content falls flat and is ignored.4 Significantly, many organisations’ own sales teams ignore marketing collateral, claiming that the content bears no relation to prospects’ needs and challenges and is all but useless as a result.

In a worthy attempt to create more nourishing content, businesses are increasingly turning to thought leadership, a term first popularised in the 1980s, but currently enjoying a worldwide renaissance.5 The discipline is well placed for the digital age, encouraging an integrated approach to marketing that includes communications across owned, earned and paid media.

Done well, thought leadership can bridge the gap between marketing and sales, creating commercial opportunities by opening up conversations about the issues that really matter to clients and prospects. From cyber security and automation, to women in leadership and carbon reduction, organisations are fighting hard to explain what major economic, social, technological and demographic trends really mean to their industry.

Successful initiatives from property experts Knight Frank, energy giant BP, fund specialist Vanguard and recruitment firm Michael Page, show what can be achieved via thought leadership marketing (see accompanying case studies). Interestingly, lots of thought leadership initiatives are targeted at a small number of high value opportunities, rather than adopting a mass broadcast approach.

4 “The State of Play: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, Trends.” The Financial Content Marketing Report 2015, November, 2015. 5 Source 5 See for example: Buday, Bob. “A Brief History of Thought Leadership Marketing.” Thought Leadership Marketing.

November 25, 2008. http://bit.ly/1nnJTvU

Liz Ridgway, Head of Marketing, Right Management

Lots of content is produced but it’s not always thought

leadership. Thought leadership should stand out and cut through the noise.”‘‘

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There is, however, a growing and worrying trend to label all research based projects as thought leadership. Free services like Survey Monkey are only exacerbating the problem. Without careful consideration, there is a danger that content labelled thought leadership will fall flat as a pancake, failing to provide the all-important ‘wow’ moment and undermining the brand they are intended to enhance.

Overleaf we provide our definition of thought leadership marketing and list the 10 key ingredients for successful programmes.

Neil Bird, Senior Business Development and Marketing Manager, Baker & McKenzie

It’s difficult to differentiate in a very crowded thought leadership marketplace.

There’s a huge amount of content being produced with much of the ‘thinking’ not ‘leading’.”‘‘

EFFECTIVE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Every year, Michael Page surveys 5,000 financial professionals on a variety of compensation, recruitment and career-related topics. This data provides clients with useful salary comparisons across sectors and is used to create predictions for the following year. The material is both backward and forward looking, describing how things may change over the coming year. It also provides opinions and recommendations on how the financial sector can act to address upcoming challenges and opportunities. Salary Comparison: The Outlook for 2015

Michael Page

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DEFINITION Thought leadership is a marketing discipline that is used to establish an organisation as an authority in a particular field in order to achieve a commercial goal. Done well, thought leadership significantly improves understanding of a pressing issue or problem, and often challenges underlying assumptions and received wisdom. Genuine thought leadership often provides both personal (organisational) and altruistic (wider industry) benefits.

Thought leadership is often collaborative in nature, where organisations work alongside customers, partners and stakeholders to develop thinking and new ideas that benefit all parties. Thought leadership combines the best of applied research, PR, marketing and sales, to create a programme of activity and content that can be used for new business development.

Stephanie Condra, Retirement Market Strategist, Axa Investment Managers

The point of thought leadership is to set us apart from all the other noise that’s out there. It needs to be

concise and very readable, providing points of interest and useful insights that haven’t necessarily been considered before.”

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP MARKETING HELPS BRANDS TO:

■ CLARIFY AND ARTICULATE EXPERTISE

■ DIFFERENTIATE FROM THE COMPETITION

■ CUT THROUGH THE NOISE TO SET THE

INDUSTRY AGENDA

■ CREATE A LONG-TERM COMMUNICATIONS

PLATFORM

■ DRIVE ACTION INCLUDING LEAD GENERATION

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KEY FEATURES Breaking the definition down still further, our research and experience shows that most effective thought leadership programmes share 10 key elements.

Organisations need to ensure they have a legitimate claim to be a thought leader in a specific area. In part, that is down to effective research, but perhaps more importantly, the thought leadership theme needs to be an issue or challenge where you have existing expertise and can practice what you preach. You must be able to walk the talk or disgruntled employees and sceptical customers will be quick to point out inconsistencies and your investment will be wasted.

1. AUTHENTIC

Thought leadership marketing is ultimately about creating commercial opportunities through the power of ideas and insight. That doesn’t mean that activity should focus on specific products or services. Instead, resources should be focussed on creating better relationships with your prospects and clients, opening up new commercial opportunities through new discussions. And any thought leadership programme should be judged by an appropriate return on investment.

2. COMMERCIALLY-LED

EFFECTIVE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Right Management

Right Management specialises in providing organisations with advice on talent management and leadership development, including the gender diversity of senior teams. Working closely with clients, it explored what established organisations can learn from female entrepreneurs. Right Management’s report provides both a blueprint and clear set of actions. The thought leadership initiative was used to create 84 business development meetings in just eight weeks. When women lead, businesses do better: Women in Leadership

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At its best, thought leadership fundamentally challenges underlying assumptions and encourages people to look at pressing issues in a different way. While a complete paradigm shift is not always realistic, it is critical that thought leadership explores issues or challenges from a fresh perspective. That can be achieved by looking at issues through a different lens (for example bottom up, rather than top down), but also by using different research techniques and by asking different types of questions.

3. FRESH

Dominic King, Former Global Research Manager, GTI

Are you looking at it from a new angle, are you adding a fresh perspective or are you just regurgitating what someone else has said?” ‘‘

EFFECTIVE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Vanguard

Over the past 10 years, 15,330 donors have chosen to give to charity using Vanguard’s donor-advised fund. Vanguard analyses trends in donors’ giving patterns and preferences, identifying ways that we can all ‘give more.’ The reflective nature of the study makes it refreshing and meaningful for readers. The study recommends how charities can communicate better, explores donor behaviour and also allows people who use Vanguard’s service to compare their donation experiences. An inside look

Stephanie Condra, Retirement Market Strategist, Axa Investment Managers

Clients are smart and don’t want to be ‘explicitly’ sold to all the time. Why not bring them something that’s of

value to them while you’re trying to build the relationship?”‘‘

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Unlike many other sales and marketing approaches which tend to push material at a broad audience, thought leadership marketing works best when it is run together with specific clients and prospects. Collaboration ensures that you listen to different perspectives and explore issues and challenges that are important and pressing to your target audience. Similarly, the interactive nature of the thought leadership process becomes an end in itself as you engage in new discussions and demonstrate additional value.

4. COLLABORATIVE

EFFECTIVE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Unilever

Unilever uses its research and thought leadership activity to help promote carbon reduction. A key finding for the company is that around 95% of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its products, such as shampoos, soaps and shower gels, come from people using hot water, especially for showers. This type of research helps to understand what the catalysts are for changing people’s behaviour in terms of energy and water they use. The data also enables the business to shape new products and deliver tangible savings and benefits to consumers. Helping consumers save energy, water & money & Unilever Sustainable Living Plan

Liz Ridgway, Head of Marketing, Right Management

You’re giving away an experience of what it’s like working with

you – thought leadership is a collaborative process. It’s important to articulate the value you bring to clients, demonstrating how you are different to your peers.”

‘‘

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It’s important to review what’s gone before but, as the term implies, good thought leadership helps to shape the agenda and anticipate future trends and events. By focussing on emerging and important trends, you can demonstrate that you are adding value to clients and prospects and doing your bit for industry and society as a whole. A forward-looking approach provides a platform for long-term communication, and develops materials for earned, owned and paid media that stimulate new thinking.

5. FORWARD-THINKING

EFFECTIVE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

McKinsey

McKinsey’s ‘Women Matter’ research argues that increasing the number of women on senior management boards is crucial to confronting contemporary business challenges. Each report builds on previous findings to tackle a new theme each year, using the issue as an opportunity to build a forward thinking and long-term platform. The report is highly informative, but the sheer volume of information can be overwhelming. Women Matter: The power of parity: How advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth

Michelle Arnold, Head of Marketing and Communications, BLME

“You need to demonstrate a commitment to the sector you’re

servicing and look outside of your own day-to-day business activities and deals.” ‘‘

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A robust evidence base is critical to thought leadership marketing. You must have the data to back up any claims or arguments. Importantly, however, the data gathering exercise usually involves an exploratory phrase finding out what you don’t already know, and a more deductive phase where you test some of your theories about specific issues and challenges. Throughout, it’s important to consider and assess a wide range of different data sources to produce reliable and valid research.

Genuine insight and informed opinion sets thought leadership material apart from standard research material. Numbers, quotes and related data are all well and good, but what do they mean and why does it matter? That isn’t to say that you need to state unequivocally that you’ve found the answers to one of life’s great challenges, but it is important to influence people’s thinking and encourage them to consider meaningful issues in a new light by expressing a compelling viewpoint.

6. EVIDENCE-LED

7. OPINIONATED

EFFECTIVE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance works alongside Cambridge University to look closely at the role legal institutions play in facilitating economic growth, development and innovation in BRIC nations. The regular reports explain why the findings and issues matter to both emerging nations and the firm’s clients, in a style that makes the content meaningful. The material uses bold questions to encourage the reader to think and form their own opinion. The Rising Powers: What role does Law have to play in the economic development of the Bric Countries?

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Worthy research is all well and good, but it needs to be presented appropriately. Good storytelling distinguishes a dusty old white paper from an effective sales and marketing tool. The format needs to engage. Reports (if that’s the format) need to be short and easy to read. Presentations need to be compelling and accessible. Infographics and video really help, too. And the process can be dramatically improved by including clients and prospects in production.

8. ENGAGING EFFECTIVE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BP

BP’s Energy Outlook is an annual, authoritative report exploring the future of the world’s energy sources, needs and uses. Short animations on BP.com and YouTube explain global and country energy trends in an engaging way. Infographics ensure that big data is accessible and understandable in a format that works well on mobile and tablets. Animating insight on the future of energy

It’s all too easy for teams to produce unthinking, unchallenging and overly wordy generic material that people simply haven’t got time to read. Increasingly, I’m seeing organisations highly target their marketing efforts to clients with thought leadership needing to follow suit.”

‘‘Neil Bird, Senior Business Development and Marketing Manager, Baker & McKenzie

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The best thought leadership material encourages fresh thinking, makes firm recommendations and encourages people to take action. Content often addresses pressing industry or societal challenges, lending itself to both policy and industry recommendations. By maintaining a focus on action, effective thought leadership material lines up future activity and areas for further exploration. This focus on action also acts as a timely reminder that it’s all about business outcomes. Proposals and recommendations also make it easier for people to follow your example.

9. ACTION-ORIENTED

EFFECTIVE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Grant Thornton International

Gender Diversity is an issue that is often debated but discussions are rarely followed by a detailed set of actions to improve the situation. Grant Thornton’s Women in Business Report is very action-oriented, and backed up with hard statistics and evidence. The recommendations show how society, government, businesses and women themselves can facilitate female advancement. By emphasising that diversity concerns everyone, the research becomes inclusive and more meaningful. Women in Business: The path to leadership

Dominic King, Former Global Research Manager, GTI

Research on its own is not thought leadership…you need to say something different and take a thought leadership position. The cream of thought leadership helps people form their opinions.”‘‘

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Thought leaders need followers, so your material must be easy to find. Creative distribution, good SEO and effective use of owned, earned and paid media all help you get the recognition you deserve. And, while there’s an understandable obsession with digital metrics, findable could mean speaking and being accessible at a leading industry event or conference. Otherwise, there’s a real danger that it’s all a waste of time and money.

10. FINDABLE EFFECTIVE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Knight Frank

Global Cities is an annual research report looking at the future of the commercial property market, highlighting future hotspots, risks and opportunities across Europe, Australia, Asia and the Americas. The 2016 Report shows that rapid population growth and innovative infrastructure projects are creating new business hubs and transforming the geography of our Global Cities. The use of diagrams and images helps the reader to engage with the material and visualise future trends. Global Cities

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THE FUTURE

■ Thought leadership marketing will be targeted at a handful of strategically important clients, working together to produce new thinking and insight. A balance will need to be struck to ensure that client-centric marketing doesn’t cannibalise work that could be charged for.

■ A trend towards shorter, bite-size thought leadership content. Forward thinking firms are creating more digestible materials that work well on mobiles and tablets. However, we need to recognise that some issues will continue to lend themselves to more in-depth formats and mediums.

■ In a related fashion, the enduring popularity of TED talks and continued growth of YouTube and Vimeo suggests that video will become the key medium for explaining complicated issues to business audiences. We expect more use of the teaser 90-second video which leads into a more in-depth report for people who have the time.

The volume of thought leadership marketing will undoubtedly increase over the next few years. You need only look at the job boards on LinkedIn and specialist marketing recruitment firms to see that the number of thought leadership roles is increasing exponentially.6 The big trends we expect to see over the next five years include:

6 A LinkedIn search in January 2016 highlights 400,000 people with thought leadership in their title. Figure 2: Thought Leadership Trends for the Next 5 years. ©Linstock Communications 2016. All Rights Reserved

THE FUTURE

Insight-led sales

Clear ROI

Purchasing journey

Focus on followershipShort video

Internal audiences

Bite size content

Client-centric

Behavioural insights

Cross-sector appeal

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■ Insights into how to encourage followership. To date, much academic and industry activity has focussed on leadership but, by definition, all leaders need followers. Part of the solution may be making materials more findable and engaging, but more research is needed to explore why people follow.7

■ Advances in behavioural science will also help to establish what works and how we can attune communications, including thought leadership, to how people think and act. This includes testing different messaging and varying approaches to the way issues are framed to constantly improve the effectiveness of communications.8

■ In all likelihood, ever higher percentages of clients’ purchasing journeys will be spent online, reviewing reports, videos, recommendations and infographics before engaging directly.

■ Firms of all sizes will begin to use thought leadership as a key communications and sales tool. Not everyone has the budget of a large consultancy but, in the era of big data, most firms have potential insight at their digital fingertips.

■ Similarly, what started with well-known management consultancies and professional services firms is now spreading to the energy, transport and not-for-profit sectors.

■ There will be increasing use of thought leadership marketing to educate and inspire internal audiences. The days of separate messaging for internal and external audiences are long gone and employees can become organisations’ greatest advocates.

■ As with all marketing disciplines, firms are getting better at evaluating the success or otherwise of thought leadership initiatives. Outputs will remain important but sourcing leads and gauging value for money and ROI will become simpler.

7 See Robert E. Kelley, “In Praise of Followers.” Harvard Business Review, November - December 1988. 8 See for example: “Thinking Fast and Slow.” 2011, Kahneman, D.

Stephanie Condra, Retirement Market Strategist, Axa Investment Managers

The number of people that are recruiting specifically for thought leadership roles is growing.” ‘‘

Done well, thought leadership marketing is an effective way to demonstrate that you empathise with clients and drive commercial success through the power of insight and ideas. However, organisations would be wise to refrain from claiming the moniker before considering the 10 key features outlined in this report. Fail to combine areas like robust evidence, informed opinion and meaningful and timely findings, and the chances are that you’re more of a thought follower than a thought leader, and in danger of wasting hard won budget and resource.

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ACTIONS 1. SET UP A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP TEAM / STEERING GROUP

2. CONSIDER YOUR ORGANISATION’S BROAD AREAS OF EXPERTISE AND ACCESSIBLE

DATA SOURCES

3. STAY UP TO SPEED WITH INDUSTRY NEWS AND PREVAILING TRENDS – LOOK FOR

WHITE SPACE YOU COULD FILL

4. CONSIDER THE 10 KEY ELEMENTS OF GOOD THOUGHT LEADERSHIP BEFORE

EMBARKING ON YOUR PROGRAMME

5. DETERMINE COST PER LEAD FROM BUSINESS AS USUAL AND SET ROI TARGETS TO

BEAT THAT

If you’re considering a thought leadership marketing approach:

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ABOUT LINSTOCK AND FLIINT™ Linstock is a communications consultancy specialising in thought leadership marketing. We help organisations lead industry debate, raise their brand profile and differentiate themselves from their peers with smart insights and game changing ideas. Ultimately we help organisations generate new business leads by initiating new conversations both off and online.

Our thought leadership process, FLIINT™ will give you content that can underpin wider sales, marketing, PR and digital activities. It will help you understand what your organisation is really good at; what sets you apart. And it will provide immediate benefits by engaging your target clients and partners in the content development – the collaborative process itself often helps to achieve the end goal.

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CONTRIBUTORS As Head of Marketing and Communications at BLME, Michelle Arnold is responsible for all marketing, PR, branding and communications for the UK and Middle East-based institution including building thought leadership and brand awareness campaigns.

Neil Bird is Senior Regional Business Development and Marketing Manager at Baker & McKenzie, Asia Pacific. Neil formerly drove business development using thought leadership marketing at the Brownfox Consultancy and Grant Thornton International.

Stephanie Condra is a Retirement Market Strategist at AXA Investment Management, where she develops thought leadership on retirement finance issues. Stephanie previously worked at Mercer Investments, Invesco Ltd and BMO Harris Private Banking.

Dominic King is Insights Manager at Accenture. Before that he was Global Research Manager at Grant Thornton International, where he drove much of the global advisory firm’s research and thought leadership activity on issues including women in business and changing trends in business sentiment.

Liz Ridgway is Head of Marketing & Sales Support at Right Management, the global leader in talent and career management workforce solutions and workforce experts within ManpowerGroup. Prior to joining Right Management, Liz was Marketing Manager at people and organisational advisory firm Hay Group.

MICHELLE ARNOLD

DOMINIC KING

NEIL BIRD

STEPHANIE CONDRA

LIZ RIDGWAY

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0207 089 2080 (Switchboard)info@linstockcommunications.com www.linstockcommunications.com

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Linstock Communications Ltd.

© Linstock Communications 2016. All Rights Reserved

Feel free to share the material in this report and reference it. To cite this researchplease use: ‘Thought Leadership Marketing: How to Succeed in the New Content Battleground’,February 2016, Linstock Communications, www.linstockcommunications.com/thoughtleadershipmarketing