The concept of Thought Leadership Marketing, already widely used in the USA, is a highly effective method for both customer acquisition and retention. Whether it's B2B marketing, consumer goods marketing, or marketing for professional services (e.g., consulting firms), the goal remains the same: to attract customers, delight them, and emotionally connect them to the brand. This fosters customer loyalty.
However, many companies primarily offer monetary incentives to maintain customer relationships. This approach no longer works in the age of digital transformation. Customers constantly question their relationship with brands as they receive new stimuli from other brands and their offerings. Customers switch faster than before, sometimes due to just one unsatisfactory situation in their overall customer experience. This could be an unresolved issue at the call center or a confusing user experience on the website.
Today, customers want to be noticed, inspired, and delighted constantly. They are courted by other brands more intensely than ever before and can choose their preferred brand every day. Thought Leadership Marketing addresses this need directly.
Thought Leadership Marketing Goes Beyond Traditional Strategy and Market Engagement
In the past, market leadership was the ultimate goal. Companies across all industries purchased market shares, expanded them through price cuts, and defended them with new products. Budgets for traditional advertising soared higher and higher. The formula was simple: the higher the media spendings, the greater the visibility of the advertising. The greater the visibility, the more customers bought products—whether consumer goods, services, B2B, or high-tech products.
But this formula no longer works. Smartphones and social media channels have taken the world by storm, fundamentally changing customer behavior. As a result, attention spans for traditional media like TV, print, and radio are diminishing. Marketing executives find it increasingly challenging to reach their target audience through traditional channels. Buying market share is becoming more expensive, unreliable, and exhausting. Once a traditional marketing campaign ends, the hard-won market share quickly erodes. Being number one is becoming increasingly costly and fleeting. Sustainable marketing takes a different approach—through Thought Leadership Marketing.
Brands like Tesla, Apple, and IBM escape the pressure of constantly having to defend their market leadership by defining their market themselves, primarily in the minds of customers. They achieve a unique market position through a Thought Leadership strategy.
Is the iPhone just another smartphone, or is it a unique experience of mobile freedom with its own cloud, iTunes, and App Store?
Is a Tesla Motors car simply an alternative sports car to a Mercedes, or a conscious statement for non-conformity and forward-thinking?
Is IBM Watson just the smartest computer in the world, or does Watson create a new form of artificial intelligence that can significantly help solve humanity's problems?
There is a central difference between a mere Market Leader and a Thought Leader. A Thought Leader not only potentially achieves market leadership but also establishes a lasting unique position in the market. With a Thought Leadership strategy, a company optimizes its entire operation for this positioning. This includes the brand's storytelling and marketing campaigns, products, and often the entire business model.
Even if you are not Apple, Tesla, or IBM, you can build new customer contacts with a precise Thought Leadership campaign and surpass established players in customer perception. A well-executed Thought Leadership campaign incorporates both traditional media (e.g., print, TV) and social media, content marketing, and the latest inbound marketing techniques.
Principally, any company and any brand can become a thought leader. But how do you turn customers into fans? By building brand loyalty and, beyond that, creating a personal, emotional connection with customers and prospects. Thought Leadership Marketing is actually quite simple: you don't just buy advertising time to get in touch with customers and thereby interrupt people while they are watching TV or reading magazines. That is traditional so-called interruption marketing. A thought leadership brand, on the other hand, creates a strong resonance with customers by offering valuable content that helps people solve their problems. Thought leaders engage with people where they can help – across all available communication channels.
A brand can only achieve this if it is willing to stay in constant dialogue with customers. Additionally, it must provide new prospects with high added value throughout their customer journey (e.g., on their own website) through comprehensive help, inspiration, and support. This fundamentally changes the process of acquiring new customers and generating leads in marketing and sales. The usual interruption of customers through advertising is eliminated. Instead, the brand is in constant dialogue with customers through its unique positioning and modern content marketing, creating constant opportunities for customer enthusiasm.
The Thought Leadership methodology represents a disruptive innovation in marketing. Thought leaders do not just market products; they also inspire people to become ambassadors and faces of the brand, actively engaging with and contributing to the brand's world.
The Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) is, by the way, one of the most well-managed and professional customer communities in the world. Supported by Harley employees, customers meet for numerous activities, exchange knowledge, and build personal relationships with each other. The brand itself does not try to push itself into the spotlight. It sees itself merely as an enabler of the customer community – but in doing so, it becomes an indispensable brand platform. People ride motorcycles not only for the riding experience but also for the sense of community within the group.
Thought leaders also exist in the demanding business-to-business (B2B) and software marketing sectors. Take, for example, HubSpot from Boston, USA. On the surface, HubSpot offers a leading cloud-based marketing automation software. However, the brand invests significantly in training and educating its customers and the global marketing community to prepare marketing professionals of all ages for modern "Agile Marketing" in the digital age.
Every HubSpot customer is constantly in touch with their personal account manager, who assists with any questions about their marketing role and the software. Additionally, the HubSpot fan community and agency partners gather in local user groups and attend the annual HubSpot convention in the USA. Thus, thought leadership marketing also works effectively in high-tech marketing.
If you have questions about thought leadership and anything related, contact our experts. We are happy to help.