Tim Parker at The Bloom Group points out that Gartner have finally woken up to thought leadership – but have got the definition wrong:
Gartner defines thought leadership as:
“The giving—for free or at a nominal charge—of information or advice that a client will value so as to create awareness of the outcome that a company’s product or service can deliver, in order to position and differentiate that offering and stimulate demand for it.”
Tim explains why the definition is wrong and I wholeheartedly agree.
As we have previously commented, the definition of thought leadership has become increasingly muddied. Perhaps more important than its definition is its purpose:
- The purpose of thought leadership is to provide valuable insights and ideas to the reader (or listener/viewer).
- The benefit of achieving that objective is an increased likelihood that those readers will want to build or strengthen their relationship with you and your firm – which one day may result in them hiring you.
We are strong believers in the importance and power of quality thought leadership, but there is rarely, if ever, a straight line between thought leadership and demand stimulation. The B2B marketing and sales process is considerably more complex. In this regard, Gartner’s definition is off target.
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Paul,
To lump all TL pieces into one category is the big mistake – not the definition of Thought Leadership. Just like there is no one piece of marketing collateral that does the trick for all situations, there is no one type of TL piece that will meet the needs of all readers.
One needs to remember that what is mind opening material to IT professionals may not be mind opening material to IT business leaders or the people who invest in IT companies. To that end, I have always recommended multi-tiered approaches to delivering content – all with the underlying ‘message’ that this firm knows what they are talking about and should be called immediately to further dialog with the authors.
The bottom line is that the best integrated marketing strategy is when all levels of decision makers are engaged in dialog – not just the CxO.
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