Your Guide to Creating Thought Leadership Content
Thought leadership content is constantly sought after in the world of B2B communication and B2B content building. Why? Because good thought leadership content is read by people who are experts in the field. They already know the ins and outs of the industry and they are looking for further industry knowledge and insights.
For content writers, let me summarize the challenge of writing thought leadership content in one line:
Write an article in a couple of hours like you have over 10+ years of experience
So, how do you create thought leadership content? How do you write like you’ve worked in the industry for the last 10 years?
This guide to creating thought leadership content applies regardless of the topic. You could be writing an article in the IT industry, HR, or e-commerce.
Here’s your step-by-step process.
Everything starts with Research
When you get a topic or brief, chances are you know nothing about the topic or industry. A common mistake made by young writers is researching everything that there is to know about the industry. This is a mistake – not because research is bad – but because this leads down a rabbit hole of research that will suck your time.
More time ≠ better research
I’ve always found that good research needs to be laser focused. Find out everything that you can about that specific topic. Avoid drifting off into the branch path of search.
Here are general tips for researching thought leadership content
- Skip Wikipedia: It’s information is just plain
- Read through Consultancy reports : Based on the topic, looking at consultancy publications and reports. My favourite are Mckinsey, PwC and Think with Google
- Expert Opinions: Read up articles and reports from other industry experts
- Fact-check: Ensure that you fact-check your information. Any wrong information will lead to a huge credibility issue for you.
Find Insights from Experts
Research gives you an excellent viewpoint on the information bit. Yet, any good writing – goes beyond just giving facts and information. To be honest, if you just give facts and information, someone might as well read a Wikipedia article.
The reason they are reading a thought leadership article is because they are looking for much greater value than a Wikipedia article.
How do you give that value when you have 0 experience in the industry?
When you conduct your research, read up on expert opinions. Where to find insights from industry experts?
- Industry-specific platforms and publications
- Social media platforms like LinkedIn and X (Twitter)
- Subscribe for industry newsletters
Analyse the insights from experts, especially pick out experiences and quotes shared by them. Depending on the article and publication, you can leverage these insights in your content too (make sure you give credit).
Share your own opinion
How do you make your thought leadership valuable and different from the other content pieces out there? Based on all the research, industry experts’ insights and data you read, share an opinion on the topic yourself.
This is tricky.
When amateurs try to do this, their opinion either states the obvious, or worse, sounds wrong.
Here’s how you can write an opinion that matters:
- Be bold – Don’t be afraid to make a loud statement.
- Use common logic – With common sense, analysing the data and insights may reveal something that no one else spotted.
- Connected the Dots – As a thought leadership content writer, you are constantly doing a lot of research for a wide range of topics. Look at your own research across industries, connect the dots and share an informed insight.
Back everything by Data (as much as possible)
As much as possible, back every point with statistical data and reports.
For example, instead of writing: Healthtech industry got the most funding in 2023
Write – In 2023, the Healthtech sector secured the highest investor funding, reaching $85.8 billion, as reported by Eqvista.
Instead of writing a vague point, you back it with a number. Even better if you add the source too.
What’s your core message
Before you begin writing, build an outline. Make sure you know the sections that you are working on. What’s being communicated in the introduction, middle sections and the conclusion. The really good thought leadership articles have a strong message that is built through the article. Yes, the article may have other data points, yet everything is to push a singular message home. Good thought leadership articles have a core message; that one point for the reader to take away.
Before you even start writing – know what’s the core message that you want your reader to take away.
When it comes to content writing, thought leadership articles are one of the most difficult. It takes a certain level of writing maturity, research capability and insights reasoning to weave it together.
Your first thought leadership article will be okay.
Your second one will be better.
And, by the time you are on your eighth thought leadership article, you will find a significant growth in quality.
So, get cracking!