Thought leadership and content marketing are powerful marketing tactics for any business aiming to increase brand awareness. However, since both are very effective in generating leads, they are often used synonymously.
Although content marketing and thought leadership both involve creating content, the truth is, they are two very distinct styles of marketing. To better understand what they both entail and how businesses can leverage them to realize organizational goals, let’s first try to deconstruct both terms and what they mean for brands and their audiences.
What Is Thought Leadership?
Anyone with a sizable enough following on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter can become a thought leader in the social media age. But this isn’t always the case. Thought leaders are industry professionals who share their expertise with a broader audience to improve, educate, and add value to the industry they dabble in.
Thought leaders immerse themselves in just about every aspect of their profession. As a result, they not only understand the ins and outs of their industries, but they are also very familiar with the audiences and competitors. Unfortunately, companies don’t realize that engaging with their customers isn’t rocket science. As a result, they still miss that human element in their marketing. In addition, they fail to recognize that through target audience engagement, a well-executed thought leadership strategy can help build brand credibility tremendously.
For brands to establish themselves as a trustworthy, engaging resource for their current and potential clients, it takes a lot more than an online ad, blog posts, or clever commercials. Instead, thought leaders are recognized for their ability to share professional experiences through high-quality, meaningful content on their site and other publications. This way, they can effectively reach, inform, and interact with the relevant audiences.
That’s where content marketing comes in.
Related Content: The Ultimate Guide to Thought Leadership Marketing
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing entails planning, creating, and publishing content for your ideal target audience. However, with customers being more informed and needing to connect with the brands they buy from personally, outbound marketing approaches are not as effective as they used to be.
To engage its customers, the brand needs to communicate to them more naturally through inbound marketing. Simply put, inbound marketing involves attracting customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to their preferences. Inbound marketing helps brands establish a connection with their customer base by providing not just content they’re looking for. Still, meaningful content can solve the problems they may be struggling with.
You could include several types of content marketing in your strategies, such as blogging and social media marketing. With almost half of the global population active on various social media platforms, any business that doesn’t invest in social media marketing will find it incredibly difficult to thrive in an increasingly competitive business climate.
Even so, take note that it is not the same as content publishing. The former is more customer-centric and seeks to solve important customer issues while meeting their diverse needs and challenges.
What Sets Thought Leadership and Content Marketing Apart
Thought Leadership Is Usually Offsite While Content Marketing Is Usually Onsite
It is often distributed on managed onsite resources such as company social media pages and blog posts on the company website. The content follows a particular style as per the brand and is often authored by the marketing team.
Thought leadership, by contrast, focuses on creating insights into important industry concerns. However, its promotional nature is typically restricted to the byline of the business. This makes it an ideal medium for offsite publishing.
Content Marketing Is Lower In the Sales Funnel
It is ideally more reserved for B2C marketing. The content, in general, is much more focused on leads generation and sales conversion. Consider the calls to action and product information that often characterize a brand’s onsite content. On the other hand, thought leadership is often used to make an overall lasting impression on the consumer. It is geared towards lifting the organization’s perception and boosting a trustful relationship between a brand and its audience.
While the primary goal of content marketing might be to sell a product as soon as possible, thought leadership aims to make a brand more reputable so that consumers can be confident in its capabilities to provide high-quality service.
Thought Leadership Is Peer-to-Peer While Content Marketing Is Top-Down
It is usually a peer-to-peer communication style. When executed properly, it helps to establish a direct connection with the audience. The aim is not to sell but rather to influence the consumer’s rationale to develop a business relationship.
This approach encourages consumers to vouch for a product or service to other potential consumers. Content marketing, however, is often top-bottom regardless of if the authoring party is selling to another business or consumer. This is because it aims to trigger a sales relationship with the audience rather than start a dialogue.
While thought leadership seeks to talk with the audience, content marketing aims to speak to the audience since its language and tone of voice are often framed hierarchically.
Also Read: Thought Leadership for Law Firms
The Bottom Line
In the digital age we’re currently living in, you’ve probably heard of the phrase ‘content is king.’ From videos on YouTube to articles on LinkedIn and corporate websites, content has become necessary for companies seeking to expand brand awareness in the online space.
If the content is ‘king,’ does it mean content marketers should work to produce as much content as they can? Is it the most effective way of establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry? If you want to gain leadership in your respective industry, you have to earn it through a thought leadership marketing strategy. But as much as they differ in functional mechanics and objectives, both marketing approaches are incredibly efficient, and depending on business objectives, they can be exploited to good effect.
If you think your brand requires thought leadership and content marketing services, reach out to us to discuss how we can benefit your business.
