Why use thought leadership as a content marketing strategy? This introductory guide overviews the returns on thought leadership and ways to get started within your content marketing plan.

1. THOUGHT LEADERSHIP AS A
CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY
introductory guide and business case

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“The best marketing doesn’t
feel like marketing.”
- Tom Fishburne

3. CONTENT IS THE MOST SCALABLE DIGITAL
MARKETING STRATEGY
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There’s no digital marketing alternative quite as scalable as content
marketing.
• When you’re thinking about marketing strategy, there’s one reason
that stands out above all others to do content marketing.That’s
scalable revenue growth.
• There’s a lot of marketing alternatives available to any business, and
all of them should drive revenue growth to some degree. BUT
there’s no marketing alternative quite as scalable as content
marketing.
• The best part is that each additional visitor comes at zero cost.
Content has upfront costs, but no ongoing expenses as it continues
to generate active leads for you. For this reason alone, great content
has the ability to generate huge ROI.
• Content is so scalable because you build it once, and then it
continues to return over 5-10 years.There’s no incremental cost to
go from 1,000 leads to 100,000 leads. Once the content is built,
the marginal cost of leads is practically zero.
• There’s other benefits from content. But none are as quantitative
and compelling as the scalability of returns.

4. THE INVESTMENT CASE FOR CONTENT
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Content requires upfront investment, but delivers long term payoff
• With most marketing, your lead generation is directly connected to
your spending. So if $100 = 1 lead, then $100,000 = 1,000 leads.
This is what you’re facing when you think about display advertising,
SEM, radio, and increasingly social media.
• These traffic sources can be great for driving traffic and building
awareness, but every time it drives someone to your business, you’re
paying for it. It’s an expensive addiction that many small and
medium businesses struggle to break.
• Content flips the equation the other way round.You invest upfront,
but your content can last for years as an effective traffic magnet
Low upfront costs but
expensive on per-click
basis
Higher upfront costs
but no per click
costs
# prospects
Cost
# prospects
Cost
# prospects
Cost
ADVERTISING (PPC) SOCIAL CONTENT

5. CONTENT KEEPS YOU FRONT OF MIND WITH
CLIENTS
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Content drives results by capturing “front of mind” expertise
• There have never been so many competing distractions for your
clients attention.This makes it hard for your business to stay front of
mind.
• By delivering more value, more frequently and you have significantly
more chance of being in the right place at the right time. If you’re
not staying in front of your clients with frequent content, your
competitors will capture the ‘expert problem solver’ position of
thought leadership.
• When your clients think about the specific solutions you provide, you
can’t afford for them to think of anyone else but you.

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In the age of Google,
consumers go looking for
solutions (not for brand
names).
It’s no longer enough to tell
people you’re an expert- you
have to prove it.

7. CONTENT HELPS YOU DEFINE THE INDUSTRY
AGENDA
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As a content producer, you have a platform to define the industry agenda
• Those who create content define the agenda.They’re the first to set
the agenda of what needs to be discussed and what’s getting
coverage.
• Do you want to be responsible for defining the agenda, or do you
want your competitors to do it?

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“We need to stop interrupting
what people are interested in
and be what people are
interested in”
- Craig Davis

9. CONTENT ENSURES THAT YOU CAN ALWAYS BE
FOUND
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Content is critical for ensuring your business gets found on Google
• When ranking websites, Google prioritises high-quality content over
anything else.This dates back to the 2011 ‘Google Panda’ update
when Google made changed their search algorithms.The outcome
was that only high-quality, well-written, credible content would get
the top spots in Google’s search rankings. (And the underhand tricks
by scammy SEO companies would no longer work.)
• As a small or medium business, people may not know your
company name – so getting onto the first couple of pages of
Google is even more important.When someone searches for a word
or term that you specialise in, you need to be there.

10. "THE KEY TO CREATING A GREAT WEBSITE IS TO CREATE
THE BEST POSSIBLE EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR AUDIENCE WITH
ORIGINAL AND HIGH QUALITY CONTENT.”
"IF YOU WRITE ABOUT HOW TO TRAIN A DOG, MAKE SURE
YOUR ARTICLE PROVIDES MORE VALUE OR A DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVE THAN THE NUMEROUS ARTICLES ON THE WEB
ON DOG TRAINING.”
"YOUR SITE’S CONTENT SHOULD BE UNIQUE... SHOW YOUR
SITE’S CREDIBILITY BY USING ORIGINAL RESEARCH.’’
WEBMASTER TOOLKIT 2016
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11. CONTENT CAN BE REUSED, AND REPURPOSED
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Content can be reformatted and reused across many different platforms
• A great content plan has many opportunities for content
repurposing.
• This means identifying many ways to leverage developed content
time and time again.There are many opportunities to get content
reused and requoted many times (without ever incurring duplicate
content penalties).Things like Ebooks, videos, presentations, blogs,
podcasts and social media.

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About Thought leadership
Partners

13. Expert focused content marketing makes sense for companies who have a high gross margin sale with a significant requirement
for customer education, and an average pricepoint greater than $1000.
As a result, industries we do a lot of work with include finance/wealth, education, management consulting and tech. In addition,
there are specific use cases where expert content makes sense, such as:
> An individual executive looking to build profile to secure board roles
> As part of an employer brand campaign for recruitment.
AtThought Leadership Partners, we're experts in CEO blogging. Our clients are CEOs, NEDs and Executives looking to build
front-of-mind market awareness, and make it pay.
We’ve got a unique specialisation in expert focused content marketing (also known as “CEO blogging” or “thought leadership
marketing”).
At thought leadership Partners, We’re Experts in CEO blogging
Who we deliver for:
What our clients say about the impact:
Thought leadership / Expert content audit
Earning returns from CEO content requires (a) the right
positioning, (b) great content execution, and (c) a
cohesive digital sales funnel.We audit each element to
ensure you have the right foundation for success.
Supported CEO blogging
Build a recognised, industry-leading blog, without the time
commitment.We turn a one-hour interview into five
video supported blog articles, saving you at least 24 hours
of time each month.
“You will learn things
about your customers
that are worth many,
many times the
investment.This work
has given us a strong
foundation for all our
future marketing.”
Dr. John Cummins
Director - Executive
Medicine
"TLP are first rate.
They're highly
knowledgeable,
responsive and
accountable in
delivering results..”
Gillian Fox,
MD - Gillian Fox
Leadership Consultants
“TLP are impressive.
They have aligned
themselves with our
company goals and
exceeded
expectations.”
Jon Windust,
CEO – Cognology
How we build broad recognition of your expertise:
“The content audit
was incredibly valuable
in thinking about our
positioning and how
we use our website in
a sales context… it’s
an investment I have
no hesitation in
recommending to any
B2B business.”
Chris Stevens,
Managing Partner –
Digital Frontier Partners
“Content has been an
incredibly strong
marketing investment
for us.We’ve become
the "go-to" source for
updates on what's
new in Australian HR,
and promotes
significant client
engagement and
inbound conversation.”
Mandy Loftus-Hills,
Head of Marketing -
People Ingenuity

14. OUR OFFERS AT TLP
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We deliver two offers, designed to benchmark, build, and outsource
expert focused marketing capability
1.Thought Leadership / Expert Content Audit
We use analytics, client interviews and a detailed
workshop process to review your website and blog
from every perspective
You receive a comprehensive 90 page report, with
detailed analysis and concise recommendations.
2. Supported CEO Blogging
Build a recognised, industry-leading blog, without the
time commitment.We turn a one-hour interview
into five video supported blog articles, saving you at
least 24 hours of time each month.

15. +61 3 9111 5659 | www.thoughtleadershippartners.com | Level 17 / 31 Queen St, Melbourne
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