Isn’t that a good question!

One of you delightful readers sent it to me last week for my response (you know who you are).

Well let’s get to it then.

I think the simple answer is ‘sometimes’. But I wouldn’t advise it (surprise, surprise).

The fact of the matter is that if you are a big brand in your B2B markets, then you are expected to be clever, knowledgeable, standing out from the crowd of (less strong) competitors. Because of your brand, you may well be charging a price premium… you know… ‘reassuringly expensive’.

So you’d better jolly well demonstrate your knowledge at every possible juncture. You really don’t want to disappoint the customer’s expectations – and the higher those expectations, the further there is to fall if you don’t fulfil on them.

In addition, big brands often want to either clarify what their brand is all about, or alternatively ‘stretch’ the brand into new areas of business. What better way to demonstrate the brand’s focus than by generating insights and guidance in the core business areas.

If, on the other hand, you want to move into pastures new, then what better way to do so than to publish thought-leadership which demonstrates your knowledge of these new markets. If the customer sees knowledgeable outputs that speak their language and demonstrate a clear understanding of their business issues and pressures, then they assume the expertise of the author company.

Of course, the value of thought-leadership cannot be confined to external expert publications. It has to be imbued throughout the company. If the external face of the company seems to have its finger on the customer sector’s pulse, then the people you meet face-to-face clearly don’t also have that market understanding, the reputational (and commercial) damage will be huge. And rightly so. That would be a total confidence trick. Sales and service personnel must at least be aware of – and trained in the basics of – the thought-leadership programme.

Integration is the word… and it’s all too often neglected.

Rather than questioning whether a strong B2B brand needs to do thought-leadership, should we not be asking why all strong B2B brands aren’t investing in it? Or at least, even if they are investing, the output is frequently of poor quality… often little more than loosely veiled sales yabber.

We all like to buy a sense of security from our suppliers, larger or smaller. If we regularly see their expertise on display, we find it reassuring that we’ve chosen to go with the really knowledgeable company.

In fact, a dear client contact rang me the other day to tell me how she had used our thought-leadership programme for them to get a big sale over the line, even in the face of a competitor who was marginally less cost.

I didn’t ring her, she rang me!

So, big companies, little companies… show the world how clever you are…

…with your thought-leadership.

I hope you find these bulletins entertaining. I’m happy to discuss all relevant engagements – from customer community creation, to directorial mentoring, to strategy development, to thought-leadership content development, to full campaign structuring and management, and more.

Do get in touch!