Thought Leadership Content

Thought leadership content conveys the compelling ideas that define your organization’s purpose, its reason for being. Not surprisingly, thought leadership is even more effective than your traditional advertising or product marketing approaches.

Thought leadership content is all about sharing valuable expertise, guidance, or a fresh perspective on a particular topic or field. Examples include thought-provoking pieces, research reports, presentations, essays, ebooks, and similar content that organizations around the world make available either for free or through an easy exchange of contact information via a registration form.

Thought leadership in this context does NOT refer to content that solely focuses on promoting an organization’s products or services. It’s the kind of content you provide to define and articulate your organization’s intellectual capital.

At Canright Communications, we excel at the following forms of thought leadership:

• White papers and ebooks
• Industry and technology briefs
• Case studies

Thought Leadership Content Best Practices

We understand that strong, impactful thought leadership pieces should always be persuasive, influence the greater good, strike the right tone, be genuine, and have a strong call to action. 

Thought Leadership Content is Persuasive
It provides the background to justify policy. Businesses can use these pieces to advocate or defend against proposals to change government policy, corporate policy, or industry standards. Technology or engineering companies can use these pieces to introduce new advancements.

Thought Leadership Content Seeks to Influence the Greater Good
Credible, informational content looks out for more than your own self-interest (though it will surprise few readers if your own self-interest is part of the greater good being advocated). Content that advocates change that appears counter to your self-interest is even more interesting because it implies you are a visionary, that you aren’t afraid to think beyond today’s circumstances.

Thought Leadership Content strikes a tone between formality and accessibility
It is not a glib sales pitch. It is not an advertisement. Rather, it is a marketing piece and should speak to your reputation.

Thought Leadership Content is Genuine
If your information is too promotional, it’s not going to connect with your audience.  People can see right through a hard sales pitch, and no one wants to be tricked into reading a commercial. Your content should be authentic to your brand, but not action-driven; you’re seeking to offer perspectives that inspire, not to sell.

Thought Leadership Content Includes the Right Call to Action
You need to be genuine but don’t forget you’re still writing marketing content. You need to make a targeted call to a specific audience somewhere in your content. That requires understanding exactly who your audience is, and who your pieces attract. 

Remember, above all, to soft-sell. This means providing your readers with useful information to solve problems they can relate to, without mentioning your company’s product or service. This creates trust and credibility for your company which results in sales leads.