Business writing: Why thought leadership content is crucial

The latest statistics show that most businesses are well aware of the potential of content marketing for their business. In the UK, up to 90% of marketers say they are investing in content marketing, with half saying they are planning to increase their budget for the coming year. For the majority, the focus is still on graphic and social media content. Although both of these are valuable, businesses also need to ensure their content plan includes detailed thought leadership pieces.

Thought leadership content – such as white papers, blogs, ebooks and guides – helps to position your company as a leader in your market area. By creating this kind of content, you can provide useful answers to the questions people are asking, while demonstrating the knowledge and expertise that exists within your organisation.

Although such business writing doesn’t contain direct sales messages, high quality thought leadership pieces are beneficial at every stage of the purchase funnel – helping to grow awareness of your business, generate new leads, and build brand trust to make prospective customers confident in making a purchase from your company.

Business writing to gain awareness

The first area where thought leadership pieces can have a positive impact is in growing awareness of your business while also demonstrating the market and customer expertise that you have around your product or service.

One of the key ways that people might come across your business is through search, and writing pieces that answer common questions can position you as an authority in your field. It will also help you be found ahead of competitors for the questions your target audiences are asking in search engines.

This kind of awareness-building content is normally available to access without any kind of browser sign-up commitment, for example on blogs or within searchable online guides.

Case study: Moz online guide

A classic example of awareness-building thought leadership content is the comprehensive Moz Beginner’s guide to SEO. This guide demonstrates their expertise in the subject matter, as well as positioning them as a leader in the field. Although a beginner’s guide may not seem particularly forward thinking, the world of SEO is full of people trying to sell this kind of information, so putting it online for free was unusual and innovative for this industry. The fact that they have shared such a valuable resource also means they attract lots of links from others to the content. Consequently, the guide is the top result in Google, hugely raising Moz’s visibility.

Using content to generate leads

Once you have attracted new visitors to your site, it makes sense to collect their information so you can stay in touch. Understandably, people are less likely to sign up without an incentive of some kind, but by sharing your knowledge through extra downloadable content, you can create benefits for them whilst increasing your leads.

Prospective customers will be more willing to part with their details if you provide genuinely valuable, detailed and informative downloadable content such as email courses, white papers, eBooks and in-depth guides.

Case study: Hargreaves Lansdown

Many businesses have used this approach to generate leads. For example, Hargreaves Lansdown has a huge range of free guides and white papers, useful to their target audience of would-be investors, all of which are available by providing your details. They also provide a reviews of their business writing’s utility on the download page, encouraging new users to sign up.