The document discusses the importance of thought leadership marketing for B2B businesses, emphasizing that buyers prefer vendors who understand their problems and provide valuable insights. It outlines a framework for creating an effective thought leadership strategy, including identifying target audiences and engaging them through various channels. The document also highlights the potential business benefits of strong thought leadership, such as increased customer loyalty and higher sales efficiency.

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3. Thought Leadership: The Next Wave
In B2B Marketing
Laura Ramos, Vice President & Principal Analyst
Kansas City BMA, #BMAKC
November 18, 2015

4. Business buyers don’t
buy your product,
they buy into your approach
to solving their problem

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Today, we will talk about ….
› What is thought leadership marketing?
› Why does it matter to your business?
› Introducing IDEA: a guide to marketing
your thought leadership effectively
› Examples of engaging thought
leadership
› Discussion and recommendations

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Thought leadership vs. TL marketing
Source: Wikimedia Commons: Seth Godin in 2009,

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Thought Leadership Marketing
Big ideas and POVs on Customer’s issues
+ Sharing
+ Dialog (before buying)
+ Exchange of Value
= Trusted source

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Thought Leadership sits at the pinnacle
of content marketing strategy
Source: 2015 Forrester Report, “Nurture Thought Leadership To Nurture Your Brand”

9. True Thought Leadership – the
market decides…

10. © 2015 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 10
Let’s continue to talk about ….
› What is thought leadership marketing?
› Why does it matter to your business?
› Introducing IDEA: a guide to marketing
your thought leadership effectively
› Examples of engaging thought
leadership
› Discussion and recommendations

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Source: October 10, 2013 “Competitive Strategy in the Age of the Customer” report.
The Age of the Customer empowers your
buyers – makes them harder to engage

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How can you compete for attention?
Source: http://blog.allegranetwork.com/
Perpetually
connectedTime-pressed
Overrun with
choices
Seeking context
Not always
rational

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Content explains how you solve problems

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Source: Forrester/BMA/OMI May 2014 Global Content Marketing Benchmark Online Survey and July 16, 2014,
“Compare Your B2B Content Marketing Maturity” Forrester report
Yet B2B marketers admit their content
doesn’t engage buyers or deliver value

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B2B buyers don’t find it engaging

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Image source: https://infocus.emc.com/chris_gaudlip/forget-virtual-reality-reality/
68%want vendors who
“understand my business,
my problems – and help
me solve them”
50%want vendors “to
share insights with me that
I haven’t considered.”

17. © 2015 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 17
Let’s continue to talk about ….
› What is thought leadership marketing?
› Why does it matter to your business?
› Introducing IDEA: a guide to marketing
your thought leadership effectively
› Examples of engaging thought
leadership
› Discussion and recommendations

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Forrester’s four-step IDEA framework
I
D
Identify your target audience, their issues, and the
sources of information they trust.
Develop your thought leadership platform: the ideas
and content that express the company’s positions.
E Engage your audience through a considered mix of
digital, social, and traditional channels.
A Assess the impact on your business and revise or
reinvest.
Source: 2015 Forrester Report, “Nurture Thought Leadership To Nurture Your Brand”

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Industry
Issues
Brand
Platform
Strong brands set the stage for strong
thought leadership
Thought
Leadership

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True thought leadership embodies bold
attributes
Source: 2015 Forrester Report, “Nurture Thought Leadership To Nurture Your Brand”

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Xerox praises stubbornness

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Make TL platform broad but specific
Big Idea
Position Position Theme
Position
Position
• A hierarchy of ideas
• Similar to a political platform
• Centered on customer cares

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TL delivers real business results
Recognition as expert More inbound inquiries, short lists
Philosophically-aligned
buyers
Faster sales cycles
Differentiation Higher close rates, selling prices
Sharing & WOM Greater reach at lower cost
Emotional connection
and trust
Increased customer loyalty
More valuable to
customers
Higher lifetime value
Understanding of
customer/market issues
Better product/service fit
Admired in industry Attract and retain top talent
TL helps achieve: Which results in:

24. © 2015 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 24
Let’s continue to talk about ….
› What is thought leadership marketing?
› Why does it matter to your business?
› Introducing IDEA: a guide to marketing
your thought leadership effectively
› Examples of engaging thought
leadership
› Discussion and recommendations

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Source: http://www.greendatacenternews.org/standard/about/
Verne Global shares green data center
best practices

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Mercer features thought leaders to
create engaging conversation

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ChiefMartec keeps tabs on a burgeoning
technology landscape

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Cognizant uses research to explore key
customer issues and trends

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KPMG: highlights global perspectives
Source: World Economic Forum Live (http://weflive.com/)

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Source: Owens-Illinois (http://glassislife.com/)
O-I speaks to socially significant issues

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TEDMED tackles difficult problems

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› Know where you are….
› Focus on customer issues: be relevant and
provocative
› Strive to create conversation, not leads
› Foster company-wide commitment
› Get disciplined: create an editorial calendar
› Report on business results
How do you get started?

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› Focus on one key audience to start
› Develop your “platform”
› Collaboratively select thought leaders
› Decide what to share without expectation of
return
› Create – and continue – conversations
Use the IDEA framework to guide TL

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Questions?

35. Thank you
forrester.com
Laura Ramos
lramos@forrester.com
@lauraramos
Help us create more great research:
Please take our budget survey at:
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