B2B tech thought leadership is one of the best ways executives can establish themselves as experts in their field, but it's often shrouded in mystery.
It's not uncommon for executives to question what B2B tech thought leadership is or how they can reach the media.
In this article, we answer these questions in detail so you can build a reputation as a trusted voice within your industry.
You're probably aware of this, but running a B2B is tough.
Sales cycles are longer.
Decision-making processes involve multiple stakeholders.
Deeper industry expertise is required.
Building long-term customer relationships is essential.
You simply have to take advantage of any tools available to you to ensure you are consistently firing on all cylinders. And of all tools, there's no better than thought leadership.
It's why the majority of thought leaders run B2B firms.
B2B tech thought leadership improves how you’re perceived in the eyes of your stakeholders.
It can drive a productive workforce, attract fresh talent, increase customers, or convince investors your business is worth backing.
This is achieved by using your industry insights to educate audiences and position yourself as a leading expert.
You might do so by writing thought leadership posts on LinkedIn, partaking in a media interview, or attending an industry conference, where you can share your ideas.
The B2B tech market is one of the largest in the world. It incorporates cloud computing, cybersecurity, and AI companies that are fundamental across almost every sector.
With this in mind, standing out in the space is not only difficult but highly sought after. Most of the time, success is determined by a genuine commitment to the process.
This isn’t only because it takes time to grow your following and populate your search results with media coverage, but because thought leadership must be grounded within what’s timely and relevant to your industry.
You need patience.
Rushing to comment on too many issues at once will only make you seem insincere.
On the other hand, sharing your insights organically and consistently builds trust and sets the expectation that audiences will always hear from you on key matters.
Other than consistency, there are many other characteristics needed to become an effective B2B tech thought leader.
Focus on a niche. This will ensure that you focus on issues you are truly qualified to speak about, helping improve your credibility and reputation as a subject matter expert.
Be confident. If you’re not, audiences won't resonate with you as strongly. You risk facing criticism and won’t drive change within your industry.
Be honest. Eventually, people will see through your lies and false claims, significantly denting your reputation.
Be respectful. If you want people to listen to you, treat everyone how you would like to be treated. Otherwise, no journalist will want to work with you.
Be prepared. By staying informed about developments in your field, you can anticipate potential questions or challenges and avoid getting caught off guard when engaging in new discussions.
While anyone can become a thought leader if they have the experience and insights, most often, the most successful thought leaders are usually CEOs or founders.
This is because their seniority gives them greater credibility and influence when commenting on key issues.
For instance, a CEO or founder can easily talk about scaling a business because they’ve been there and done it. They know, from experience, the tripwires to avoid.
As a result, founders from other startups are more likely to take their ideas onboard and journalists will be far more willing to interview them.
That said, for specific issues, the likes of marketing and sustainability managers can still have influence in the media and on social media with a good thought leadership angle.
A thought leadership angle is the argument that you'll use to pique the interest of the media or social media audiences.
It needs to be well-informed, original, punchy, and engaging, so audiences understand it, believe it, and want to know more.
To get this angle, you will usually have to look for a media hook first, which is a trending story you'll use to ground your argument.
Then, after that, you can think of a way to add to the conversation or pivot it in a new direction, by sharing a hot-take, prediction, or solution that challenges the status quo.
For instance, in the case of the US introducing new tariffs aimed at bolstering its tech sector, you could be one of the first to argue that they will do the opposite by triggering a damaging trade war.
The B2B tech thought leadership space will thrive this year following a wave of significant trends.
AI and automation were big in 2023 and 2024, and they're bound to dominate conversation again this year. Audiences are eager to know how AI will continue to transform operations, enhance efficiency, and drive innovation as the technology develops at a rapid pace.
Growing cyber threats are creating anxieties among the B2B community as well as demand for thought leaders who can help navigate ever-changing data privacy regulations.
The push for sustainable technology is growing, with world leaders required to drive environmental responsibility and help other companies achieve their net zero goals.
The cloud market is being investigated by global regulatory bodies, with it being largely dominated by several tech giants. Leaders need to advocate for more competition and transparency in the cloud ecosystem.
Data centre capacity has become a significant conundrum for global tech companies, with a record 180 zeta bytes of data expected to be generated this year. Leaders should outline how the sector can handle demand while maintaining performance and sustainability.
Beyond this, there's far more trends unfolding this year.
When you’re first starting out as a B2B tech thought leader, you need to focus on building familiarity among your audiences by securing trade coverage.
Popular publications include Computer Weekly, IT Pro, Computing, and The Register, with each regularly interviewing industry leaders, and some offering guest columns.
By focusing on these titles first, you can establish credibility, earn some useful media relationships, and begin to populate your online search results with content.
After three to six months of building your profile, you can target more prestigious national publications eager for fresh perspectives. This might be the Washington Post or The Times.
Then, once you've secured coverage in national’s you can step up the ladder again and target broadcast media, which to this day, remains the most trusted form of media.
To secure media coverage, not matter the publication, you’ll need a media pitch.
Essentially, this is an email you’ll send to a journalist that outlines who you are, your experience, and why your ideas are relevant to their audience.
Within a minute of opening your email, the journalist should know what your argument is and what a potential interview or article written by you might look like.
For this reason, consider using bold font, punchy bullet points, and any data to highlight and support key information.
You should also attach a photo of yourself to give the journalist an image to use with any coverage.
If you lack an existing producer relationship, find a relevant news show like CNBC TechCheck, and reach out directly.
When you do, send a clip showcasing your speaking skills alongside a few insights tied to a story they're likely to cover.
If your pitch isn't hyper-specific, you won't be successful. Worse still, you'll ruin your relationship with that producer. So, this is incredibly important.
Whether you are successful or not, it’s also important to avoid over-pitching yourself to broadcast shows to avoid getting blacklisted.
Pitch yourself to a show no more than once every six months. Or, if you're lucky, producers may begin to come to you once you're well established.
After securing an editorial or broadcast interview, it's essential that you make the most of the opportunity.
Most of the time thought leaders will undertake media training, whereas a specialist outlines how long they need to speak, the questions a journalist or producer might ask, and what can be said to improve coverage prospects.
In our experience, as long as leaders stick to their key messages, remain composed, and avoid potentially sensitive remarks, they do well.
The multimedia content that you send to a journalist or producer needs to be of professional standard. This means that your iPhone camera won’t suffice.
Instead, you’ll need to book a professional shoot with a multimedia team to capture image and video content that shows that you're the real deal.
You can also use these videos and photos as a bank of content for your social media accounts, where you can achieve over twice as much engagement.
Images should have a good quality resolution and framing, taken within varied environments. This allows them to be used throughout the year, without giving the impression they were all taken on the same day.
Videos should be direct, similar to an interview format, and not too lengthy, with the thought leader discussing one topic in depth. They also shouldn't be over-edited so that they distract from the message.
Unlike media engagement, you’ll be spending a lot of time on LinkedIn as a B2B tech thought leader to regularly connect with important stakeholders and share your ideas.
Therefore, it's essential that you know what a good social media post looks like.
Principally, you’ll want to make sure you are posting at least once and no more than three times a week, with strong opinion-led posts that share actionable advice.
If you want to prompt engagement, you need to avoid rehashing what others have said. Feel free to throw curveballs at your audience if they're there to be thrown.
Additionally, ensure you include anecdotes and personal life lessons within your posts to show personality. You want to resonate with audiences rather than appear as another corporate talking head.
You can also feel free to use emoji’s, bullet points, and short and punchy sentences to make your posts easier and more enjoyable to read.
As mentioned earlier, use video content to add variety to your posts since they perform much better than text-based posts.
After improving your reputation, you’ll begin to be invited to speak at various events.
Web Summit
Mobile World Congress
RSA Conference
SaaStr Annual
TNW Conference
Besides many more.
Each of these conferences provides great opportunities to network, secure new partnerships, attract investment, and capture high-quality content to repurpose online.
While you can pitch to these conferences, they are highly competitive to secure a speaking slot on, often requiring extensive forward planning and interview stages. So, it's always important to think a year ahead if you plan to.
There isn't a definitive way to measure the success of a B2B thought leader beyond social media followers or the pieces of coverage they have online.
And even then, it's possible to buy followers and pitch yourself to low quality publications that don't offer much value.
Ultimately, once you begin to notice an uptick in positive conversations with suppliers, partners, investors, employees, and customers, you'll know that you're starting to have a greater influence thanks to the issues you've been speaking about in-person and online.
For this reason, reaching the right audience is just as important as a vast audience. So, always value quality over quantity.