Many companies today strive to be “thought leaders,” but only a select few truly live up to that aspiration. Thought leadership requires a unique point of view, the ability to provide valuable information, and a layered approach to disseminating that information. For the few companies who achieve it, thought leadership is proven to drive long-term and higher-value customer relationships and increase brand affinity and loyalty. Stacey King Gordon of Suite Seven led a workshop during LoyaltyExpo 2014 in Orlando, Florida. The workshop explored what makes a thought leader, best practices for thought leadership, and how to develop a publishing and content strategy to help companies grow into true thought leaders — helping with everything from navigating internal politics to prioritizing resources.

1. Thought Leadership
From the Inside Out
LoyaltyExpo 2014
Stacey King Gordon, Suite Seven
@staceykgordon
#loyaltyexpo #TLIO

2. 1. Understand what thought leadership is,
what it isn’t, and what it looks like when
it’s right
2. Develop an action plan for how to start
(or improve) your thought leadership
communications efforts
3. Get tools to take back to your team to
lay the groundwork for thought
leadership communications
4. Exercise: DIY thought leadership content
strategy for a fictional software
company
Goals for
Today

3. Who we are

4. Suite Seven is a content strategy
and brand consultancy in
Oakland, California.

6. Thought leadership: ??????

7. 60%
consider their brands to be thought leaders
27%
have some kind of thought leadership communication program in plac
69%
believe their company could do a better job at communicating their
thought leadership in a way that earns long-term loyalty
What we heard from loyalty marketers

8. Efforts are fragmented.
Different departments are doing different things.
Leaders and experts aren’t involved.
Executives and subject matter experts don’t have time to participate
or interest in participating.
No sense of what’s most important or
impactful.
Teams have difficulty prioritizing projects.
What we heard from loyalty marketers

9. How do you define
thought leadership?

10. My reasons for selecting the people
who appear here were straightforward.
In each instance, I was looking for an
individual who was addressing the big
questions with which today’s most
senior executives are wrestling.
These questions relate to issues of
business strategy, growth, and human
resources, as well as the new social
contract that is taking shape among
companies, employees, and
shareholders, and the ways in which
society itself is changing.
“Thought Leadership”
c. 1994

11. Thought leadership is getting
a bad rap.

13. “To become a thought
leader, hire a virtual
assistant to blog for you
twice a week”
“Thought Leadership”
c. 2013

15. The first rule of thought leadership
is that you don’t talk about
“thought leadership.”

16. It’s time for cute kid pictures.

22. We listen to the people with the
best ideas, and we follow them.

23. Address
the big questions ?
Embrace
change
Establish
a point of view
Innovate
to prepare for change
Guide
their community to
adapt & succeed
Things
thought
leaders do:

26. Why thought leadership matters

27. Long-term benefits of thought leadership
More inbound
inquiries
More short listing
Faster sales cycles
Higher close rates
Bigger deal sizes
Increased
customer loyalty
Higher lifetime
value
Early stage Middle stage Later stage
Source: Laura Ramos, Forrester

28. Brand value and thought leadership

29. Apple: #1 in brand value
“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and
simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex. You
have to work hard to get your thinking clean to
make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because
once you get there, you can move mountains.”
- Steve Jobs

30. Google: #2 in brand value
“I think Google should be
like a Swiss Army knife:
clean, simple, the tool you
want to take everywhere.”
- Marissa Mayer

31. Coca-Cola: #3 in brand value

32. IBM: #4 in brand value

33. Microso: #5 in brand value

34. Defining thought leadership
communication

35. • Starts at the top with a commitment and belief among leaders
• Becomes an integral part of the brand
• Permeates and becomes part of the discourse
Thought leadership is ingrained in the culture.
It shouldn’t be:
• Something that originates in the marketing or PR department
(though it might ultimately live there)
• Another lead generation or PR tactic

36. • Invests in original, unbiased, research-driven content
• Offers authoritative insight based on experience and leadership
• Provides focused, provocative thinking on relevant issues
Thought leadership offers an unique, informed
perspective.
It shouldn’t be:
• Exclusively repackaging ideas or information published by others

37. • Focuses on the success of the customer or community
• Strives for long-term loyalty, retention and brand affinity
• Can be packaged to support sales conversations and marketing
strategies, but should be pervasive part of brand communications
Thought leadership is a long-term commitment
to delivering high-value thinking and guidance.
It shouldn’t be:
• Measured exclusively through page views or follows
• Dependent on short-term gains
• An occasional marketing or business development tactic

38. “With true thought leadership, there’s nothing in it for
me. It’s public service. It’s doing something helpful for
the client.”

39. • Packaged for both quick consumption and in-depth engagement
• Written/voiced in a way that speaks to audiences
• Delivered and organized in a user-focused way
• Practical enough to speak to audience’s day-to-day reality
Thought leadership should be useful, relevant
and accessible for targeted audiences.
It shouldn’t be:
• Locked inside a dense publication
• Esoteric, inaccessible or too theoretical for busy audiences to
care about
• Buried in an overstuffed resource library without a way to
surface it

40. Layered Content
DO:
• Provide a succinct summary
with the ability to dig deeper
• Provide layers that people can
extract, digest and share
• Get maximum mileage with
complementary content
DON’T:
• Publish a link to a dense,
40-page PDF report
• Publish the exact same content
in umpteen different formats

42. Video commentary

43. Short summary article
Slide show

44. FOCUS
SUSTAINABILITY
STANDARDS

45. Focus

46. Themes and topics Channels
Frequency Curation
What you
uniquely
know
What your
audience
cares about
Where
You
Credibly
Play

47. Themes and topics Channels
Curation
What you
uniquely
know

48. 1. Define your point of view
• What does your brand stand for?
• What do you want to be known for?
• What do you and your people believe?
• What do you choose to care about?
• Where do your people have exceptional expertise?
• Where can you credibly lead the conversation?
• What perspective do you bring?

52. Your point of view creates a
framework for focused content

54. “In
the
Networked
Society,
connec3vity
will
be
the
star3ng
points
for
new
ways
of
innova3ng,
collabora3ng
and
socializing.
It’s
about
crea3ng
freedom,
empowerment
and
opportunity,
transforming
industries
and
socie3es
while
helping
find
solu3ons
to
some
of
the
greatest
challenges
facing
our
planet.
We
are
on
the
brink
of
an
extraordinary
revolu3on.
A
world
connected
in
real
3me
will
place
many
new
requirements
on
all
of
us
while
opening
up
opportuni3es
beyond
our
imagina3on.”

55. The implications on workplace culture

56. How communication technology can create more
sustainable, affordable, innovative cities

57. The evolution of education and networked
technology

58. Getting to the POV
• Brand positioning
• Existing content
• Company strategy
• Leaders’ vision for the future
• Competitive landscape

59. What your
audience
cares about

60. 2. Define your audience “personas”
• Demographics: age, gender, lifestyle, income
• Psychographics: beliefs, personality
• Motivations
• Challenges (what keeps them up at night)
• Goals
• Barriers

61. Sample Persona: IT Senior Leader
David Wu
Age 52
B.S. in Computer Science and MBA
CIO for large ($500M/year) enterprise software company
Motivation: Professional growth. He was recruited from his last company
that went IPO, and was brought in to overhaul the architecture of his
current company’s software platform.
His day: He’s responsible for an established network of apps and may
have to answer user questions. However, his strong suit is programming,
not marketing or customer service.
Challenges: Budget, resources, outdated infrastructure, relatively junior
team, internal politics (including tension among departmental IT
departments)
Goals: Deliver on an aggressive plan to rewrite and deploy updated
software to 10 pilot customer sites by end of fiscal year
Barriers: Significant code challenges; winning support from senior
leadership; finding the right vendor

62. Awareness Research Consideration Purchase Relationship
WHAT THE CUSTOMER IS DOING
Deciding to buy; beginning to
plan
Researching online;
educating himself about
the basics
Comparing products in
store to what he saw
online; narrowing down
choices; consulting others
Making his final decision
and deciding on a
purchase
Implementation, thinking
about growing the
solution
CUSTOMER MINDSET
Excited, anxious/nervous,
overwhelmed with options,
discouraged about cost
Interested, engaged,
tentative
Hopeful, careful Satisfied, relieved, happy,
proud
Excited and relieved,
then overwhelmed
CONTENT GOALS
Help consumer overcome
sense of being overwhelmed or
discouraged; give him a logical
starting point to understand
options and decisions.
Help consumer explore
options, understand
tradeoffs and factors,
embrace variety and
choice
Answer more advanced
questions and help
consumer make his final
decision
Help consumer make his
final decision and feel
good about it
Bring consumer back for
“what’s next” and
continue to serve him
through the next stage
CONTENT THEMES, TOPICS, TYPES
101-level basics, answers to
basic questions, checklists,
primer videos, easy
infographics and “maps”
Basic overviews,
comparison charts,
decision guides, answers
to basic concerns that
arise during early
research
Answers to more
advanced concerns that
come up during research,
tips for weighing choices
Emotion-driven content
(testimonials, proposal
stories), confidence-
building content (post-
purchase issues)
Guidance on processes,
issues, getting most
mileage out of product
3. Map your content for personas

63. The “status quo shift” —
prospects begin to become
aware that something needs
to change. They become more
aware of the challenges they
have and begin to explore
how they might go about
solving those problems
Prospects begin to
research their options for
solving their issues.
They talk to others, look
for trusted guidance,
read, compare
directions, and put
together an exploratory
committee or RFP to
begin investigating
options.
Once they’ve narrowed
down which path to take,
prospects begin to weigh
who to work with on their
solution, how to design
the solution they need,
how much they want to
spend, timing,
requirements and other
organizational
considerations. They also
make decisions about
what not to do and who
not to work with — so
overcoming objections
becomes a hurdle for
sales at this stage.
Prospects decide on a
solution, negotiate
pricing, create schedules,
design implementation
plans, choose features,
and make other purchase
decisions. They may
need to get committee
buy-in and go through a
careful consideration
process. Once the deal is
signed, they kick off the
project or begin adopting,
training on, implementing
the solution. The vendor
and customer begin
putting the structure in
place for a long-term,
successful relationship.
The vendor and
customer engage in a
relationship through
marketing
communications, sales
representatives or
account managers. The
relationship is focused
on retaining the
customer, maintaining
satisfaction, and
promoting incremental
sales over time.
The customer relationship lifecycle
Content can support the customer relationship from the very first moment prospects become aware of your brand
through long-term retention and loyalty. We like to think about what our target personas need at different stages in
this lifecycle. The stages include:
Confiden3al-­‐For
Internal
Use
Only
63

64. What you
uniquely
know
What your
audience
cares about
Where
You
Credibly
Play

65. Our playground for today:
Digher Straights Tech

66. About the company
• Digher Straights Tech (DST) is a software company, established in 2003, that
creates products for wealth management professionals.
• Still run by one of the two original founders, Matt Knowles; the other founder
left to start a competing company, which was later acquired by a large
enterprise company.
• Matt is well-known in the industry, mostly because he has aligned himself with
regional associations and conferences for independent wealth managers. He
speaks frequently at conferences, mostly about business practices, business
ethics, and new standards for technology in the industry. He is good friends
with many other industry leaders and a visible personality at industry
conferences.
• The company is on the NASDAQ and is growing steadily year over year, but is
focused on driving new revenue by moving into new markets

67. About the products
• Products are geared toward the wealth management
profession. Their two best-known products include:
• Money4Nothing: Financial planning software
• Swing Sultan: Hedge fund software
• They also offer an integrated suite of software packages that
are newer on the market and not as well known.
• They’ve pioneered moving wealth management software into
the cloud, and believe their products are the easiest to use and
most accessible for self-employed wealth management
professionals and small firms.
• They want to extend into being able to serve larger firms as
they grow or get acquired, and to cater to more mid-market
customers.

68. About the market
DST’s biggest competitors have always been two other software
firms focused on small wealth management customers:
• WealthSoft is a long-established company that got acquired by a
large enterprise company but still operates as a subsidiary. They
are more corporate in their communications, and have a big
presence at trade shows and conferences, but don’t publish much
beyond some occasional white papers about their products.
• FutureMind is a more recent startup. They are a SaaS product;
they have a blog and use social media a lot, and are trying to
reach out to a new generation of wealth managers who want
something fun to use and easy. They tend to publish commentary
on news stories about what’s happening in the financial world
and trends in the market.

69. DST persona: Decision-maker at mid-sized
wealth management firm
Sheila Jones
Age 50
B.S. in Economics, Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
COO for $10M wealth management/investment firm in Hartford, CT
Motivation: Watching the company grow; solving clients’ problems; work-
life balance; running a streamlined practice with good people
Her day: She spends about 30% of her day on client service and account
management, and the rest on HR, systems and processes, operational
infrastructure, and growth strategy for the firm
Challenges: Finding good people; working efficiently; profitability; staying
abreast of technology and the latest practices in the field
Goals: Grow the firm 10% year over year; become a visible and
reputable brand for wealth management in the Hartford region
Barriers: Outdated and cumbersome technology; poor recordkeeping;
legacy staff with low productivity

70. Exercise:
1. Write a point of view statement for Digher
Straights Tech’s thought leadership efforts
2. Map the kinds of content DST’s target
persona might want and need as she aims to
solve for goals and challenges

71. Standards

73. Relevance
Structure
Credibility
Accuracy &
Timeliness
Clarity,
Readability
& Focus
Findability &
Organization
Tone &
Style
Overall
Experience &
Effectiveness
The quality
umbrella

74. Relevance
Structure
Credibility
Accuracy &
Timeliness
Clarity,
Readability
& Focus
Findability &
Organization
Tone &
Style
Overall
Experience &
Effectiveness
The quality
umbrella
• Image
• Professionalism
• Clarity
• Effectiveness

75. Setting standards helps you meet
your goals
• Set business goals for what your thought
leadership content should help you accomplish
• Defines what quality means to your brand
• Gives you a set of guidelines to use as your efforts
expand and more people get involved
• Provides a benchmark for evaluating and
measuring success

76. Sample content goals
Build loyalty and trust
Give consumers an informative, accessible, pressure-free way to learn about
your product, helping to reduce anxiety and build confidence in a way that will
support customer loyalty to your brand.
Provide information in the way customers want to consume it
Create a mix of written, visual and video content, and package information in a
clear way, with the right balance of emotion and detail.
Give consumers an easy place to start — and the ability to go deeper
Content will be architected in a way that allows users to start with basic
questions and information, then will lead them to more in-depth information as
they move deeper into the sales funnel.

77. Sample voice guidelines
Trusted We’re here to help, not sell; give advice, not a pitch.
Human Language is conversational, friendly and encouraging. We
speak in the second person (“you”) and use plain English.
Business and industry jargon is OUT.
Genuine We don’t use unauthentic slang to sound trendy.
Smart We’re informal but informed, intelligent but not overly clever.
Empathetic We know this purchase is a big deal. Our positive, descriptive
language shows it.

78. Sample content quality standards
Credible
Accurate, impartial, high-quality and authoritative
Valuable
Supports customers’ decision-making: educates, inspires,
enhances their shopping experience
User-
Friendly
Clear, easy to find, easy to consume
Relevant
Matters to jewelry consumers, gives them the right
amount of information relevant to what they need to make
decisions

79. Checklists
Style Guides

80. Sustainability

81. Thought leadership publishing is a
commitment.
You have to prepare for it to be hard.
It takes awhile to settle into the groove.
There’s a lot of trial and error involved.
If you stick with it, you’ll start to see results.

82. Boiling the ocean

83. Hamster’s nest

84. Content graveyards

85. Lean teams
Limited time
Little to no budget

86. Sustaining thought leadership success
Ownership &
Communication
Publishing
Strategy &
Prioritization
Processes &
Planning
Organization &
Lifecycle

87. Ownership & communication
• Roles
• Responsibilities
• Ownership
• How we communicate

88. Roles in a sample governance model
Editorial management Who owns the process and makes
the final call
Content owners Who own the content or topic
Contributors Subject matter experts, writers,
interviewees
Reviewers Who needs to weigh in or sign off
(including Legal)
Editorial/steering
committee
Who can guide the strategic
direction of the efforts

89. Publishing strategy & prioritization
• What goes where and when
• Frequency
• Resource allocation
• Responsibilities

90. Sample:
Three Tiers
of Content
Premium/Proprietary Content
Best Practices/Solution Content
Current Awareness/Expertise

91. Sample: content priorities/production
guidelines
Tier 1: Premium/
Proprietary Content
Criteria: Original research, first-time
publication, data-driven but with a
narrative, fostering external credibility
Tone: Educational, more formal, smart
and incisive, upbeat
Frequency: Quarterly/semi-annual
Creators: Professional writers/
marketing, or subject matter experts
with support of professional editors
Extending the Value: Complementary
content to support sharing at every
level: social content, video, PPT decks,
infographics, blog posts
Tier 2: Current Events / Awareness
Content
Criteria: Smaller bites of thought-
provoking content, highlighting individual
expertise, conveys unique POV, timely
Tone: Smart, conversational, upbeat,
succinct, humorous (when appropriate)
Frequency: Regularly (a few times a
week)
Creators: Subject matter experts,
salespeople, marketing
Extending the Value: Sharing on social
channels, curating and packaging “best of”
content into more premium publications

92. Sample: content guidelines by channel
BLOG EBOOKS/GUIDES WHITE PAPERS /
BRIEFING PAPERS
VIDEOS WEBINARS IN
PURPOSE Become central
repository for all content
relevant to our
audiences
Add value with credible,
relevant content
Add value with credible,
relevant content that's more
specific and educates about
product
Engage and
entertain, add
credibility
Engage, educate, add
credibility
E
en
cr
GOALS Become a customer-
focused small business
resource melding
business, technology
and culture relevant to
personas; serve both
customers and
prospects
Generate and nurture leads
and add value for existing
customers by offering
valuable, helpful,
educational content
packaged for a specific
audience. Help prospects
feel confident.
Generate and nurture leads
and add value by offering
specific, timely and detailed
information. Help prospects
and customers feel
confident. Show how
software works with other
experts on the pulse.
Generate and
nurture leads and
add value to existing
customers with
inspirational,
informative, thought-
provoking videos
Generate and nurture
leads and add value to
existing customers with
informative, educational
webinars that offer
different voices/points
of view on specific
topics
D
m
in
so
CONTENT
Good mix of product vs.
business, basic
(making the case, 101
education) vs.
advanced (playbooks
and detailed advice
from experts and peers.
Focused on a topic that
personas really care about;
answers common questions;
should be issue-focused
instead of product-focused;
writing at basic to
intermediate level.
Like a issue paper or longer
article vs. an ebook; topics
can be more specific and
written for more targeted
audiences. Technical
product information more
appropriate here. Briefs
showcasing data, research,
case studies by external
experts. Writing at
intermediate to advanced
level.
Interviews with
customers, panels,
use cases (how
Desk is used to
solve for specific
issues), meet the
team/internal
expertise (helps with
community-building)
Customer panels, guest
speakers, Desk experts
speaking on customer
service and experience
topics, some product-
specific content
Q
in
re
su
w
pr
th
“I
it
DISTRIBUTION
AND
PROMOTION
Open; ability to sign up
for RSS and email
updates; promoted
through email
newsletter, Twitter,
Sent with offer (lead
gen/nurture), form required
to download; later posted in
online library as free (no
sign-up) content and
Sent with offer (lead
gen/nurture), form required
to download; later posted in
online library as free (no
sign-up) content and
On the blog and on
YouTube (need a
tagging system for
SEO); could be sent
with offers / short
Sent with offer (lead
gen/nurture), form
required to register;
later posted in online
library but form
O
Tw
w
fo

93. Processes & planning
a.k.a. how to get ’er done
• Setting expectations
• Accountability
• Regular cadence
• Planning the content mix
• Getting the most mileage out
of efforts

94. Sample: editorial calendar

95. Sample: process definition
eBook: 5 week process
Topic
genera3on
Vet
with
content
review
board
(op3onal)
Research
and
wri3ng
First
review
Second
draS
Director
review
Final
draS
Design
and
publish
Blog: 2 week process
Managing
editor
assigns
topics
Write
draS
posts
First
round
edits/back
to
writer
if
needed
Editor
edits/
finalizes
Director
approval
Publish
3
days
2
weeks
2
days
3
days
2
days
2
days
1
week
1
week
3
days
2
days
2
days
1
day

96. Sample: content mileage decision tree
ebook
blog posts,
white
paper
Webinar Video Email offer Infographic Twitter, FB
Create other content if:
• Appeals to multiple audiences
• Can be useful at different levels of expertise
• Can be broken down into multiple topics
• Can create a case study
• Can create a video interview
• Can create slides
• Can get an expert to speak

97. Organization & lifecycle
• Where content is stored
• How content is categorized and tagged
• How content is made search-ready
• How content can be leveraged across
departments/roles
• Cross-referencing related content
• Regularly auditing content for freshness and
accuracy
• Archiving policy, processes and timing

98. Measuring success

99. Benchmark where you are today
Engagement
• Website visits, bounce rate, time on site, user paths
• Email opens and click-through rate
• Downloads (of documents) or views (of videos)
• Social engagement
Relevance
• Feedback from customers (surveys, sales conversations, etc.)
• Syndication, shares, inbound links
Quality
• Evaluate existing content against goals and standards
• Use scorecards to quantify the quality of content against these standards
Brand Perception
• Voice of the Customer (VOC) research
• Surveys
• Social listening, media coverage

100. Define goals
S
M
A
R
T
pecific
easurable
ttainable
elevant
ime-bound

101. NO:
We want to foster 30% more repeat
business among existing customers
in the next 2 years.
YES:
NO:
YES:
S
M
A
R
T
We want to grow brand
awareness.
We want to grow our online
followers by 50% this year.
We want to increase sales.

102. Start small and stay focused
• Choose 3-5 KPIs related to goals
• Focus on long-term, brand-level results
• Software and processes in place to measure regularly
• Make a commitment for the long haul

103. Resources
Thought leadership tools, templates, articles and more:
http://info.suiteseven.com/TLIO
Slides at:
http://www.slideshare.net/staceykinggordon

104. Thanks!
Stacey King Gordon
Suite Seven
stacey@suiteseven.com
#loyaltyexpo #TLIO