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Thought leadership has long been a popular marketing strategy that companies and entrepreneurs employ in order to establish themselves as experts in their field and enjoy a wide range of benefits such as building credibility and trust, ensuring greater visibility and standing out from the competition. Over time, the term thought leadership has reached buzzword status and the practice has evolved a lot, becoming a staple in the B2B scene.
The business landscape has also changed considerably in recent years and with the world on the brink of a new economic downturn, research into thought leadership has come to play an increasingly important role for companies in all industries. The latest B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report conducted by LinkedIn and Edelman provides valuable insights in this respect, shedding light on the trends that are going to dominate the B2B thought leadership scene in 2023.
The report is based on information gathered from approximately 3,500 management-level B2B professionals and aims to help marketers, communicators and salespeople identify the challenges and opportunities associated with thought leadership. While most of the findings reveal that the consumption of thought leadership content has remained high among executives and those in management positions, the report also brings to light some of the issues that have flown under the radar lately. So, let’s take a look at the top emerging trends in B2B thought leadership and how businesses can use them to their advantage.
Sustainability
With people becoming more aware of environmental issues such as climate change and pollution, and companies playing a key role in tackling these problems, sustainability has become a huge topic in the business world these days. The report shows that people’s interest in these topics on LinkedIn has increased by a whopping 112% last year and it appears that their appetite hasn’t been curbed yet.
Sustainability seems to be the common denominator when it comes to business-related content since all stakeholders are taking a special interest in it, as is clearly reflected in the numbers:
- Nearly 36% of decision-makers state that environmental responsibility plays a key role in their purchasing decisions.
- 81% of workers want their employers to do their part and get actively involved in addressing their environmental impact. It’s also worth mentioning that a company’s sustainability efforts can also influence employee retention rate, with almost 70% of workers reporting that this is a factor they consider when looking at long-term career prospects.
- Job seekers take a similar stance. 75% of millennials who represent the largest segment in the workforce, prefer to work for companies that perform better on sustainability even if that means receiving a lower wage. They apply the same criteria when comparing different employers, with nearly 40% of responders saying that sustainability has been a determining factor when selecting their job.
It's pretty clear that people care about sustainability and they want to hear more about it, so more companies be including it in their thought leadership strategy this year. However, addressing environmental concerns in a general or superficial manner isn’t going to cut it. It’s not about checking a box and adding to the noise just to keep consumers happy, but about providing real value in a space where people crave real insights and innovative ideas. Brands can make sustainability a mark of their thought leadership by resorting to genuine calls to action, providing a fresh perspective and coming up with new and challenging ideas in this area.
Addressing current issues
We’ve already touched briefly on the looming recession that many experts have talked about in recent months. As inflation and interest rates continue to rise and disruptions to the supply chain are becoming more noticeable, predictions are slowly turning into reality. If up till now only a limited number of businesses have felt the impact of the economic downturn, those who have remained largely unaffected said they were already preparing for the worst-case scenarios of a global recession.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that nearly 65% of decision-makers want to see more thought leadership content addressing the issues that might have a direct impact on their business in the months to come. Business owners and managers are less interested in reading about timeless topics and speculative trends but want to know more about the most pressing problems that are currently affecting the business environment, and recession is one of them.
How companies should act, prepare and respond in times of great uncertainty like the ones we’re currently facing should be the main topics of interest for thought leaders as this is what provides value to consumers at the moment. A brand that manages to distinguish itself through thought leadership content, especially in the midst of a downturn, has far better chances of becoming a leader in their field.
A human touch
Unfortunately, much of the thought leadership content that reaches consumers misses the mark. There are several reasons why thought leadership content isn’t able to deliver the value that professionals expect. 46% of them said it was too salesy, 40% found it lacked originality and only recycled old ideas, while 31% thought the information lacked credibility as it didn’t come from real experts. Some responders also believed that the content sounded a bit too corporate.
So, the question is, what would make the content more appealing and relevant to consumers? Surprisingly or not, 64% cited a more human approach and a less formal tone of voice as factors that could improve delivery and engagement. 67% of responders also said that they’d much prefer content authored by qualified specialists over companies voicing impersonal opinions on a general topic.
Getting thought leadership right is definitely not an easy thing to do, especially with so many changes happening in the business environment lately. However, staying up to date with the latest trends can help companies focus their efforts in the right direction and thus make it easier for them to reach their objectives.