Beyond Metrics, Embracing Conversations
Here’s my challenge to you as you think about how to measure thought leadership outcomes in 2024. Stop focusing on metrics like views, clicks, likes, and leads. Stop worrying about SEO. Instead, start having conversations. Ask your sales team, “Did you use this in a meeting? How did it help you? What else would help […]
A Strategic Roadmap for Marketers
Marketers can take a practical step towards building 2024 thought leadership TODAY with one simple action. Schedule a 30-minute call with client-facing subject-matter experts. If you don’t have names, find them out. The agenda is to ask them about what questions clients have started asking lately and what trends they see emerging. Develop and share […]
2024 Thought Leadership Strategy
Here we are in September, and yes, it is time to start planning your approach to thought leadership in 2024. I’ve noticed companies that don’t have a plan in place before the start of the year tend to get stuck and not produce anything until much later in the year. Companies with a plan in […]
The Power of High-Value Thought Leadership in B2B
If you think about spending $200K to develop one major anchor piece of thought leadership, your immediate reaction might be that it’s far too expensive. On the surface, it may sound egregious. Who has budgets like that? Very few. On the other hand, in certain B2B categories and segments (high-trust, high-ticket products and services), if […]
From ‘Demand’ to ‘Delight’: Transforming Your Marketing Paradigm
Everything changes when you realize that “demand” is just an anagram for “damned.” Many marketers (maybe most) live in a world of pain and demand and targeting. These are the actual words used. Ok, “but they are just metaphors.” There’s no such thing as just a metaphor, my friends. If you can get your marketing […]
Unpacking the Implications of the ‘Fill the Container’ Mentality
We call it “content” because we inhabit a world where we fill the databases and filesystems that were designed for us. And at some point, it became our job as “content creators” to fill those containers. It seems as natural as calling one of those several things that hold up a table a leg. The […]
Attracting the Right Audience Through Your Approach
How you do marketing reveals a lot about what you value and how you see other people. It also sends signals about how your company views and treats others—above and beyond the surface-level messaging in your marketing collateral. And finally, those signals attract like-minded, similarly oriented prospects. Market with big ideas, focused on advancing the […]
A Cautionary Tale of Hiring Writers
A parable about hiring thought leadership writers… Imagine buying and paying for a Range Rover, but ending up with a terrible car that is clunky and doesn’t even go where you want it to. It’s frustrating. Infuriating. What’s even more galling—people are expecting you to take them places. You then have to spend even more […]
What’s the Most Irrational Thing You Do?
What’s the most irrational thing you do? I’ll admit to one: using tarot cards.
Unlocking Lead Conversion
Do you struggle with generating high-quality leads who actually convert into customers? The solution is thought leadership.