How To Be A Thought Leader In Your Industry: A B2B Marketer’s Guide B2B Marketing
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2025 9:27 am
For B2B companies who are still on the up, the online playing field is far from level. The big guys are often top of mind because they have the most marketing dollars to spend. But even with a comparatively small marketing budget, determined underdogs can still catch up by establishing themselves as thought leaders. Just because your competitors are the current market leaders, that doesn’t make them thought leaders.
Thought leadership is a different beast from
the realm of product-pushing press releases, and company-sponsored magazine editorials. The aim of thought leadership is to enter your prospect’s buying journey right at the beginning, when they haven’t clearly identified what they need yet. Your prospect comes to trust you, because what you say about the problems they face is straightforward, educational and it adds genuine value.
Give Away Knowledge
You can only be a thought leader if you have something worthwhile to say. Share your knowledge and do so freely. Give it to your buyers in the format they want. Attempt to demonstrate your understanding of the belgium cell phone database problems your buyers have. Show them you understand the the broader industry trends and the direction it’s heading.
Reciprocity builds trust and authority.
Of course, you have to be mindful of exactly how much you share. Don’t go giving away your company’s intellectual property. Strike that balance. It’s like telling someone the ingredients of a meal, without giving them the detailed recipe.
Remember that people want to hear from other people!
Be conversational.
Stuffy corporate speak = snore, so adopt a conversational tone. Your content might be written by a person, but if your tone is too stiff, reading it will be much like talking to one of those voice-automated customer support representatives – highly annoying. Instead, write to pique interest and entertain.
Say who you are and what you do.
If you have a corporate blog, assign an author to it. If you have a corporate Twitter account, say who’s posting the tweets. When you’re sending out emails, make sure it comes from a person instead of a noreply address. Be accessible online for those who want to find out more.
Don’t Be Pushy!
People are more aware of how they’re being marketed to now more than ever, and they can see right through your sales jargon, so don’t even try. Instead of trying to push yourself onto them, try to pull them towards you. Let them approach you when they’re ready to speak to you.
Thought leadership is a different beast from
the realm of product-pushing press releases, and company-sponsored magazine editorials. The aim of thought leadership is to enter your prospect’s buying journey right at the beginning, when they haven’t clearly identified what they need yet. Your prospect comes to trust you, because what you say about the problems they face is straightforward, educational and it adds genuine value.
Give Away Knowledge
You can only be a thought leader if you have something worthwhile to say. Share your knowledge and do so freely. Give it to your buyers in the format they want. Attempt to demonstrate your understanding of the belgium cell phone database problems your buyers have. Show them you understand the the broader industry trends and the direction it’s heading.
Reciprocity builds trust and authority.
Of course, you have to be mindful of exactly how much you share. Don’t go giving away your company’s intellectual property. Strike that balance. It’s like telling someone the ingredients of a meal, without giving them the detailed recipe.
Remember that people want to hear from other people!
Be conversational.
Stuffy corporate speak = snore, so adopt a conversational tone. Your content might be written by a person, but if your tone is too stiff, reading it will be much like talking to one of those voice-automated customer support representatives – highly annoying. Instead, write to pique interest and entertain.
Say who you are and what you do.
If you have a corporate blog, assign an author to it. If you have a corporate Twitter account, say who’s posting the tweets. When you’re sending out emails, make sure it comes from a person instead of a noreply address. Be accessible online for those who want to find out more.
Don’t Be Pushy!
People are more aware of how they’re being marketed to now more than ever, and they can see right through your sales jargon, so don’t even try. Instead of trying to push yourself onto them, try to pull them towards you. Let them approach you when they’re ready to speak to you.