Jess Shanahan is a content strategist and founder of Jet Social where she works with technology and e-mobility brands.
You’ve no doubt heard the phrase “content is king,” but what does that actually mean, and how can you leverage this in the tech world? Well, according to Marketing Charts, 52% of B2B buyers say they’re “definitely” more likely to buy from a brand once they’ve read its content. This presents an opportunity for tech startups and software companies to win over buyers.
In the context of technology content marketing, there are two types of thought leadership. The first is brand-led content designed to position the company as a whole as a leader—this might take the form of white papers or reports. Perhaps even more straightforward is personal thought leadership. This is where individuals within the company create content around their own expertise.
Identifying Thought Leaders
It’s not just the CEO of a company that should be posting thought leadership content. Over my years in this industry, I’ve worked with people from all areas of tech businesses, from scrum masters to chief technology officers to engineers. While the leadership team might have some interesting insights into running a tech company, startup culture or managing teams, you shouldn’t overlook the contribution of others within the business.
Creating A Thought Leadership Strategy
Thought leadership should fit into your wider marketing strategy, but you should consider the specific goals and audience of each piece you create. What’s interesting is that B2B content typically only converts when someone is already close to signing up. Despite this, many businesses focus their attention on moving people through that funnel.
According to Databox, 67% of B2B content marketers say top-of-funnel content is their main focus. This type of content is designed to get more eyes on your brand to help establish expertise. It’s also a lot less competitive than bottom-of-funnel content, where the keywords are often more highly contested.
Consider these things as you build your thought leadership strategy.
• Who is your audience?
• What are their pain points?
• What’s the goal of each article?
• At what points in the buyer journey do you want to create content?
• What do potential customers need to know at each stage in that journey?
• What key messages will you stick to for consistency?
• How will you speak to your audience, and what tone of voice will they respond to?
As you start to answer these questions, you’ll be able to build a picture of the kind of content you need to create, but there’s one key element you need to remember: Write to help.
While it’s fine to talk about your experiences and lean on your expertise, thought leadership isn’t a sales exercise. Yes, some articles might convert, but the main purpose is to establish your credibility. This often means letting go of your business agenda and simply writing articles designed to help or inform.
With this in mind, think about the challenges your target audience is currently facing. For example, if your company offers optimization tools for software businesses, you could create articles on eliminating bottlenecks and increasing efficiency when working with large data sets. This is something that’s relevant to your business, but the piece as a whole will help those facing those specific challenges.
Segmenting Your Content
Once you know a bit more about your audience and the content they might find helpful, it’s important to segment your content. This will make it as impactful as possible. If your audience includes C-suite executives, software developers and UX designers, you’ll want to speak to those people in slightly different ways. For example, you could be more technical when writing content targeted at developers. It’s also worth segmenting based on someone’s place in the sales funnel.
In the work I do, I break this down into three areas.
Awareness
This is where the majority of thought leadership falls, as it’s about bringing awareness of your expertise and business to new people.
Example headlines:
• How AI Will Revolutionize Software Development
• The Technology Trends That Will Shape The Automotive Industry’s Future
• Improving Labor Participation With Remote Operations
While these headlines are still quite specific, they’re designed to inform and educate while staying on-topic for the target audience.
Consideration
This content is aimed at people who already know they need the type of thing you offer but haven’t made a firm decision to buy.
Example headlines:
• How Developers Can Use AI To Work More Efficiently
• Why Open Standards Will Change The Automotive Industry
• How To Bring Autonomous Tech Into The Warehouse
These examples are slightly more specific. While they all still target a particular industry, it’s clear they contain even more actionable information that speaks to the audience’s pain points.
Decision
This content is for those who have made a decision to buy but are looking at the different options available to them.
Example headlines:
• Three Things You Need To Know Before Implementing AI Optimization Tools
• Case Study: How [Company] Doubled Its Revenue In One Year
• Autonomous Tech That Keeps Humans In The Loop
The majority of the decision segment will likely be case studies or content that’s more specific to your product.
Remembering Your Goals
When I first started content writing, I’d often let the client dictate what we wrote and when, but I soon found this wasn’t as impactful as we both wanted. Now, I don’t work with a company unless they already have a strategy in place or are willing to work with me to create one. Thought leadership can be incredibly powerful—but only when done right.
Even with a strategy in place, before you write (or send the brief to your ghostwriter), think about the goal of that piece of content. Consider the expertise you’ll share and how that will help your audience. With this in mind, you’ll be able to create a successful piece of thought leadership content regardless of whether you publish it on your company blog, LinkedIn or somewhere else entirely.
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