Don’t Confuse Thought Leadership with Demand Gen
Charles Cooper, Editor-in-chief at Big Valley Marketing sets the record straight and shares a gem on how you can put the thought back into thought leadership: I detest the term &...
English |
Once a week, we will send an email update with the new abstracts that came up on the page, and we will be happy to send you as well.
We do not know much more exciting things than you chose to trust us! Now we just have to leave you with everything that is hot and interesting.
Thanks a lot. We'll get back to you soon.
Our site uses cookies technology for functional purposes and the study of usage characteristics. The use of the Site constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use and the use of cookies.
Charles Cooper, Editor-in-chief at Big Valley Marketing sets the record straight and shares a gem on how you can put the thought back into thought leadership: I detest the term &...
Editor In Chief at Big Valley Marketing
Editor In Chief at Big Valley Marketing
Charles Cooper, Editor-in-chief at Big Valley Marketing sets the record straight and shares a gem on how you can put the thought back into thought leadership:
I detest the term “thought leadership.” It’s a pet peeve, but thought leadership isn’t something that you somehow “do.” Tim Marklein nails it when he makes the case that this is something that has to be earned. It’s not to be – or shouldn’t be – lumped into the same sentence with demand generation.
Splitting hairs? I don’t think so. Marketers should understand the difference between strong thought leadership and gussied up demand-gen. All too often, though, the two concepts get lumped together as if thought leadership were solely an appendage of the overall sales and marketing strategy. That’s a mistake.
My background isn’t in content marketing. For most of my career, I worked as a business and technology reporter and editor where at one point, I was involved in editing the op-ed submissions page. So, whenever I see companies trying to use thought leadership vehicles – whether in the form of opinion pieces or in conference presentations, etc. –to promote their products or technologies, my immediate instinct is to paint my face like Mel Gibson in “Braveheart,” grab a bullhorn and scream “No!”.
If you’re trying to drum up prospects for your new widget, that’s the purview of demand-gen tools and techniques. It’s fine to go about building a “message house” where companies align product messaging with core business objectives, competitive dynamics and the larger company vision. eBooks, webinars, email marketing and product-focused blogs can – and should – be part of a strategy to guide prospects through the conversion funnel.
But if you intend to establish your executives as industry thought leaders, they need to speak to industry issues well beyond your product features and benefits. There’s a world of difference between building and serving an audience, versus selling to your marketing database. Suffice it to say that we’re talking apples and oranges. When it comes to thought leadership, you should aspire to building an audience that is bigger and broader than your prospect list. An audience trusts you to share honest, frank advice and opinions about issues du jour that matter to them. Instead, you’re hitting them with a self-serving sales or marketing message? That’s going to undercut your creditability.
During my time as an op-ed editor, it was easy to separate incisive essays from ham-handed product pitches. Your audience will spot the difference as well. They’ll see through your “pitch” and stop reading (or leave the keynote, or stop showing up when you invite them). If this is how you approach thought leadership, then you’re focused too much on yourselves and not enough about what your audience wants and needs.
Put the Thought Back into Thought Leadership.
Readers are always going to be interested in commentators who have their fingers on the pulse of the market – particularly when it comes to the technology business where change is a constant theme. Customers want insights that help them better understand their markets.
The formula for success is straightforward: build audience by sharing valuable insights and expertise (via interviews, articles, speeches, etc.) about issues of import. Look within your ranks to find experts with something to say. Entrust your executives to weigh in with intelligent and frank commentary about important topics of the day – which will pay off in the coin of greater audience relevance and brand recognition, and perhaps even media interest from reporters whose attention you’ve piqued.
Consider the results in this 2020 LinkedIn/Edelman study of decision makers which, among other things, found the following insights:
So, when the exercise goes wrong, I must assume that someone in authority issued an edict that all content needs to be “on message” (sell, sell, sell) rather than doing right by the audience (inform, engage, inspire). Exactly the wrong move. Readers aren’t stupid and they know when someone’s trying to sell to them. You’re not just going to waste a lot of time and effort; you will lose the attention and trust of your audience.
After entering the number, the mobile send button will be available to you in all items.
![]() |
Vanda Jirasek
The right way to get your key prospects on boardVanda Jirasek is a B2B SaaS Demand Generation manager at Oradian.Here's Vanda's gem about prospecting your key prospects: Key prospects with the highest annual-contract-value ...
01:34
The right way to get your key prospects on board
http://summur.ai/lFYVY
The right way to get your key prospects on board
B2B SaaS Demand Generation Vanda Jirasek is a B2B SaaS Demand Generation manager at Oradian. Key prospects with the highest annual-contract-value should require some special attention, right? So you get overly excited and jump on those first. And what do you do, you try to contact them. Out of the blue. And sell to them instantly. Does it work? Not really, right? This is where account-based marketing comes in handy. Sit down and make that research on:
Take the time and really get to know them first. Then create content for them. And now there is a high probability that they might actually reach out to you instead the other way around. And, actually, isn't that what you wanted in the first place? ![]() We just need your phone...
After entering the number, the mobile send button will be available to you in all items. Send to mobile
After a short one-time registration, all the articles will be opened to you and we will be able to send you the content directly to the mobile (SMS) with a click.
![]() We sent you!
The option to cancel sending by email and mobile Will be available in the sent email.
00:00
![]()
60% Complete
Soon...
|
![]() |
Blake Strozyk
Rethink your validation sourcesHere are some key insights by Blake Strozyk, a senior Demand-gen Manager at Transfix: On his recent LinkedIn post, Blake says Demand-gen is more than paid media. "Just" doing ...
02:08
Rethink your validation sources
http://summur.ai/lFYVY
Rethink your validation sources
Sr. Demand Gen Manager Here are some key insights by Blake Strozyk, a senior Demand-gen Manager at Transfix: On his recent LinkedIn post, Blake says Demand-gen is more than paid media. "Just" doing paid media won't solve marketing's acquisition challenge and ability to generate new demand. Paid media is the gas on top of the fire, not the kindling. Before you can have an effective paid media strategy, you need to have solid marketing fundamentals in place. That means knowing, but not limited to, the following questions:
On top of the acquisition challenge, a lot of marketers want to use paid media to "validate" messaging, "validate" a product, "validate" an offering. And I don't think that necessarily aligns with what marketers should use as the primary data point. Having higher CTR on one message against another doesn't necessarily mean one is a "winner" and one is a "loser". Instead, a lot of messaging or product insights should come from the GTM team collectively (marketing, sales, CS, product) knowing the customer and fundamentally understanding what problems they are solving for, and then being able to communicate that clearly back to the market. Marketers lean away from qualitative insights and into quantitative insights because the data makes us feel more "certain", but in reality there is a lot in marketing that requires developing hypotheses based on qualitative data instead of quantitative data alone. I guess I ended up at a few separate thoughts here, but it comes down to:
![]() We just need your phone...
After entering the number, the mobile send button will be available to you in all items. Send to mobile
After a short one-time registration, all the articles will be opened to you and we will be able to send you the content directly to the mobile (SMS) with a click.
![]() We sent you!
The option to cancel sending by email and mobile Will be available in the sent email.
00:00
![]()
60% Complete
Soon...
|
B2B SaaS Demand Generation
Vanda Jirasek is a B2B SaaS Demand Generation manager at Oradian.
Here's Vanda's gem about prospecting your key prospects:
Key prospects with the highest annual-contract-value should require some special attention, right?
So you get overly excited and jump on those first. And what do you do, you try to contact them. Out of the blue. And sell to them instantly.
Does it work? Not really, right?
This is where account-based marketing comes in handy.
Sit down and make that research on:
Take the time and really get to know them first.
Then create content for them.
Answer their questions.
Address their needs.
Their objectives.
Speak their language.
Stand out in their feeds, emails, media they follow.
Get noticed but remember - always provide value.
And now there is a high probability that they might actually reach out to you instead the other way around.
And, actually, isn't that what you wanted in the first place?
After entering the number, the mobile send button will be available to you in all items.
Sr. Demand Gen Manager
Here are some key insights by Blake Strozyk, a senior Demand-gen Manager at Transfix:
On his recent LinkedIn post, Blake says Demand-gen is more than paid media.
"Just" doing paid media won't solve marketing's acquisition challenge and ability to generate new demand.
Paid media is the gas on top of the fire, not the kindling.
Before you can have an effective paid media strategy, you need to have solid marketing fundamentals in place.
That means knowing, but not limited to, the following questions:
On top of the acquisition challenge, a lot of marketers want to use paid media to "validate" messaging, "validate" a product, "validate" an offering.
And I don't think that necessarily aligns with what marketers should use as the primary data point.
Having higher CTR on one message against another doesn't necessarily mean one is a "winner" and one is a "loser".
Instead, a lot of messaging or product insights should come from the GTM team collectively (marketing, sales, CS, product) knowing the customer and fundamentally understanding what problems they are solving for, and then being able to communicate that clearly back to the market.
Marketers lean away from qualitative insights and into quantitative insights because the data makes us feel more "certain", but in reality there is a lot in marketing that requires developing hypotheses based on qualitative data instead of quantitative data alone.
I guess I ended up at a few separate thoughts here, but it comes down to:
After entering the number, the mobile send button will be available to you in all items.
|
Vanda JirasekThe right way to get your key prospects on board |
01:34
|
The right way to get your key prospects on board
http://summur.ai/lFYVY
The right way to get your key prospects on board
B2B SaaS Demand Generation Vanda Jirasek is a B2B SaaS Demand Generation manager at Oradian. Key prospects with the highest annual-contract-value should require some special attention, right? So you get overly excited and jump on those first. And what do you do, you try to contact them. Out of the blue. And sell to them instantly. Does it work? Not really, right? This is where account-based marketing comes in handy. Sit down and make that research on:
Take the time and really get to know them first. Then create content for them. And now there is a high probability that they might actually reach out to you instead the other way around. And, actually, isn't that what you wanted in the first place? ![]() We just need your phone...
After entering the number, the mobile send button will be available to you in all items. Send to mobile
After a short one-time registration, all the articles will be opened to you and we will be able to send you the content directly to the mobile (SMS) with a click.
![]() We sent you!
The option to cancel sending by email and mobile Will be available in the sent email.
00:00
![]()
60% Complete
|
|
Blake StrozykRethink your validation sources |
02:08
|
Rethink your validation sources
http://summur.ai/lFYVY
Rethink your validation sources
Sr. Demand Gen Manager Here are some key insights by Blake Strozyk, a senior Demand-gen Manager at Transfix: On his recent LinkedIn post, Blake says Demand-gen is more than paid media. "Just" doing paid media won't solve marketing's acquisition challenge and ability to generate new demand. Paid media is the gas on top of the fire, not the kindling. Before you can have an effective paid media strategy, you need to have solid marketing fundamentals in place. That means knowing, but not limited to, the following questions:
On top of the acquisition challenge, a lot of marketers want to use paid media to "validate" messaging, "validate" a product, "validate" an offering. And I don't think that necessarily aligns with what marketers should use as the primary data point. Having higher CTR on one message against another doesn't necessarily mean one is a "winner" and one is a "loser". Instead, a lot of messaging or product insights should come from the GTM team collectively (marketing, sales, CS, product) knowing the customer and fundamentally understanding what problems they are solving for, and then being able to communicate that clearly back to the market. Marketers lean away from qualitative insights and into quantitative insights because the data makes us feel more "certain", but in reality there is a lot in marketing that requires developing hypotheses based on qualitative data instead of quantitative data alone. I guess I ended up at a few separate thoughts here, but it comes down to:
![]() We just need your phone...
After entering the number, the mobile send button will be available to you in all items. Send to mobile
After a short one-time registration, all the articles will be opened to you and we will be able to send you the content directly to the mobile (SMS) with a click.
![]() We sent you!
The option to cancel sending by email and mobile Will be available in the sent email.
00:00
![]()
60% Complete
|
We’d love to hear your thoughts.
We are happy to learn and improve for you.