How to Write Thought Leadership: Getting Expert Knowledge on Paper to Drive Business Results

There’s a massive opportunity for B2B companies to create thought leadership content that stands out—but many fail because their approach lacks substance.

According to research from Edelman and LinkedIn, 91% of B2B buyers believe that thought leadership can help even non-essential providers earn a seat at the table by delivering relevant insights. Yet, 50% of C-suite executives find much of the thought leadership content they consume lacking in value.

That’s a huge gap companies can exploit by creating quality content that truly resonates with their audience​.

One of the biggest hurdles to producing great thought leadership content is engaging the actual experts within the company—whether they’re executives or technical leaders. They’re either strapped for time or don’t believe their knowledge is valuable enough. I’ve run into this problem myself, especially when working as a marketing director for a tech company, where in-house developers were key to producing credible, developer-focused content.

Here’s the approach that worked for us: I asked for just 30 minutes of their time to discuss a topic in depth. From those conversations, I was able to pull valuable insights and turn them into impactful articles. This approach helped us get expert knowledge onto the page without overwhelming our internal experts​.

The bottom line is this: companies need a process for efficiently extracting expert insights to create thought leadership that drives real business results. It’s about creating better content. By doing so, you can be part of the small fraction of businesses that see positive outcomes from their thought leadership​ efforts.