[WEBINAR] Building your executive profile for B2B
Thought leadership is one of the most effective ways to build trust and credibility with the people who matter most.
While it shouldn’t be treated as just another marketing channel, when done well, it can play a huge part in helping your business win its next big contract.
If you’re wondering exactly how, you’re in the right place.
In this article, we share eight ways to use thought leadership to win better business, from building visibility with key decision-makers to converting warm leads into long-term clients.
Every key decision-maker will have different needs and expectations you’ll need to fulfil before they buy from you.
If you can meet these requirements across your social channels, media presence, and trade events, you’re in pole position to convert well.
Tech firms want to see a clear vision for innovation, confidence in data security, and the ability to scale quickly in fast-changing environments.
Finance firms want to see strong regulatory compliance, risk management expertise, and a track record of delivering returns or cost-efficiency.
Impact-driven companies want you to demonstrate ESG commitments, transparency in impact reporting, and alignment with climate or social goals.
Healthcare firms, meanwhile, need proven clinical outcomes, adherence to ethical standards, and deep understanding of patient and provider needs.
If you can meet these requirements across your social channels, media presence, and trade events, you’re in pole position to convert well.
Of course, this doesn’t mean producing overly promotional content. That will only deter your audience.
But it does mean demonstrating your expertise by regularly sharing valuable industry forecasts, analysis on upcoming policies, and real-world examples of how your solutions solve the challenges customers care about most.
This is how you earn credibility over time. Only then will your thought leadership begin to reap tangible rewards.
Picture this: You’ve just had a great meeting with a potential client. They were sold on your product or service. They even liked your team. But you still get the idea that they’re not quite ready to convert.
Prove you’re already an influential industry figure, they’ll be much more likely to sign.
Usually, your marketing team will keep them warm with newsletters or automated nurture emails.
But in our opinion, what always makes a big difference, perhaps a few days after that meeting, is a personal but casual email from a CEO or founder expressing their excitement about a potential partnership, along with a recent piece of high-value thought leadership content.
This could be a standout comment in a national about a macroeconomic trend, or much better, a snippet of you appearing on broadcast that they can quickly listen to.
If you can prove you’re already an influential industry figure, they’ll be much more likely to sign.
After all, this is exactly why you started producing thought leadership content in the first place. So, don’t let any of its value go to waste.
You’d be surprised out how great of a subtle nudge this can be.
Platforms like LinkedIn are incredibly useful for thought leaders for a host of reasons.
On one hand, you have full control of what, when, and who you share content with.
On the other hand, you can create a digital profile that prospects, and even investors, can access at any time.
But what many overlook is how you can use LinkedIn to engage with peers and prospects in real time to build familiarity, stay front of mind, and ultimately strengthen relationships that can turn into business opportunities.
This isn’t about endlessly scrolling or chasing likes. It’s about taking small, intentional steps to show you’re actively part of the conversations that matter.
You can comment on relevant industry news with a short take that adds value.
You can repost clients’ and partners’ content to show you’re paying attention.
You can engage with journalists by responding to their articles or social posts.
Or, you can comment on your prospects’ updates to stay on their radar.
Take small, intentional steps to show you’re actively part of the conversations that matter.
We see this approach work with clients all the time. It builds trust, sparks conversations, and often opens the door to new partnerships before any formal outreach is even needed.
When your company first considers thought leadership, don’t make the mistake of limiting campaigns to a singular member of your team.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO or founder, you lead a large business, and you’re highly credible, there’s a good chance that you won’t be able to comment on every issue in detail.
Even if you can, you’ll be stretching yourself thin across a host of topics, which could weaken your strategic positioning with an abundance of messaging.
Instead, spread the load across your team. Have various members own different topics to give your business more ambassadors.
For instance, a CEO or Founder will always be best positioned to speak on company vision, industry trends, and big-picture challenges.
But a CTO might be more qualified to deep dive into innovation, product development, and technology choices, helping them secure coverage in much more niche, but just as valuable, trade publications that you overlooked.
Have various members own different topics to give your business more ambassadors.
In terms of optics, it not only positions your firm as highly specialised but also shows that your team is passionate about their field and your customers’ best interests.
There’s so much thought leadership in the public domain today that genuinely valuable insights are often tough to come by.
Insights are rehashed, trends are barely added to, and misinformation can be prevalent.
But if there’s one thing that makes a difference to journalists receiving your pitches and key decision-makers scrolling LinkedIn, it’s brand-new and novel data.
Whether it’s data you’ve gathered from your own product, insights pulled from a customer survey, or anonymised behavioural patterns drawn from user activity, these unique findings allow you to say something no one else can.
A fintech platform could analyse billions of pounds in transactions to reveal changing consumer spending habits across income brackets.
A climate consultancy could publish trends on emissions reductions across sectors, based on project data.
A healthcare firm might gather anonymised patient feedback to uncover variations in care experience across regions.
A SaaS company could release insights about which features are most used by scaleups vs enterprise clients.
If there’s one thing that makes a difference to journalists receiving your pitches and key decision-makers scrolling LinkedIn, it’s brand-new and novel data.
The goal is to provide real, first-hand evidence that your competitors can’t replicate, giving you an edge that drives both media interest and high-value engagement from prospects.
Just make sure your data is credible, anonymised where needed, and clearly linked to a valuable takeaway. Without a strong insight, numbers are just noise.
Research shows that testimonials can boost conversion rates by up to 400%.
So, it makes sense to incorporate your most credible and well-respected clients within your thought leadership strategy.
The more your business grows, the more effective this strategy becomes as you partner with more reputable clients.
What does this mean?
Publishing joint press releases for new announcements.
Co-sharing social posts about recent achievements.
Strategically name dropping some of your best clients in media interviews.
Hosting clients’ logos on your website and marketing materials as a stamp of credibility.
Of course, the more your business grows, the more effective this strategy becomes as you partner with more reputable clients who enhance your credibility and open doors to new opportunities.
Just remember: Not every client will want to be publicly associated, so always secure formal approval before featuring them in your thought leadership content.
There's no rule that says a good idea only gets used once.
Your best-performing content should be used repeatedly, just framed differently for various formats, platforms, and audiences.
Let's say you've written a LinkedIn post on a regulatory change or emerging trend. The same thinking can easily be:
Turned into a 90-second video for Youtube.
Expanded into an op-ed for a trade publication.
Repackaged into a briefing note for prospects.
Adapted into a visual for a conference deck.
Included as a talking point for a podcast.
This is all about making the most of the time and energy you've invested, creating a consistent narrative, and ultimately, baking your brand into the minds of potential customers.
If you’re serious about using thought leadership to win better business, you should never pause your pipeline of content.
After all, research shows that 50% of conversions happen more than 90 days after a business sends its first prospecting email.
As soon as you stop producing content, your competitors become leading experts instead and the leads you worked hard to nurture inevitably take their business elsewhere.
Post across social media up to three times a week, engage with the media at least once a month, and attend one or two in-person speaking events every year.
This routine keeps your visibility consistent without overwhelming your audience or diluting your strongest messages.
But most importantly, your brand will come across as the go-to expert, not just another option. And that’s exactly what wins better business.
In our view, you need to post across social media up to three times a week, engage with the media at least once a month, and attend one or two in-person speaking events every year.
Never stop. Stay visible.