Fashion isn’t the only thing that comes back around, again and again. Marketing tactics tend to do the same. 1) Because most marketing tactics work if guided by a solid strategy, and 2) because you have to do things differently than your competitors — otherwise, people won’t pay attention. So a tactic gets done by everyone, and then it cycles out until someone picks it up again. 

Thought leadership is a brand initiative, not just a marketing exercise. Like positioning, it affects every part of your business, from the way your sales team pitches prospects to the approach of your customer success team. Stakeholder alignment is absolutely crucial for a thought leadership initiative to succeed — because you’ll need every team to be bought-in and speaking the same language across the buyer’s journey.

Thought leadership is about perspective, not product/service. Your perspective is what entices buyers to look at your solution. Once a prospect is hooked by your perspective, they’ll want to learn about your product. Point of view is what gets you in the back door that friends use, rather than leaving you to knock on the front door with no response.

The B2B tech market is more crowded than the Atlanta airport (PSA: Roast Coffeehouse is an oasis, even though there’s always a line). Even solutions that are truly unique get lost in the plethora of options because buyers can’t easily see the difference between competitors.