Is there too much B2B thought leadership? — Joe Kingsbury // Edelman

Joe Kingsbury is the Managing Director of Business Marketing at Edelman. The pandemic brought with it an increased need for high quality thought leadership content. Buyers are concerned with the ‘quantity over quality’ approach being broadly applied. Today Joe talks about whether there is too much B2B thought leadership.
About the speaker

Joe Kingsbury

Edelman

 - Edelman

Joe is the Managing Director of Business Marketing at Edelman

Show Notes

  • 02:31
    Too much B2B thought leadership
    While this content is definitely in demand, many B2B buyers are finding it difficult to keep up. The pandemic fast tracked the amount of this content coming from B2B brands.
  • 03:43
    Differentiating content marketing from thought leadership strategies
    Content marketing strategies focus on products and services. Thought leadership goes a step further to add value by providing education around a particular topic.
  • 05:53
    The voice of thought leadership content
    Thought leadership comes from individuals and companies. More and more buyers demand more authenticity. They want more from individual authors.
  • 08:07
    Relevancy of thought leadership content
    Buyers believe that the amount of content they are expected to consume is unreasonably high while not meeting their needs..
  • 08:58
    Quantity vs quality
    Buyers indicate that the surge in content has led to lower quality and time wasted reviewing said content. They want to spend their time taking in high value content.
  • 10:17
    How marketers should proceed
    Demand for high quality content is undeniable. Ultimately companies have to produce valuable content that is able to break through the noise.
  • 12:42
    Figuring out your voice
    The content should distinguish a company from its competitors. It should also challenge customer beliefs in thought provoking ways.

Quotes

  • "Thought leadership is about educating customers and prospects, and giving them value that genuinely can help them understand a trend to be better at their job." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "In B2B, this educational style of communication is selling without selling. That's really the trick." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "Thought leadership is meant to establish the individual person as an expert and an authority in a field." - Benjamin Shapiro, Host, MarTech podcast

  • "When we look at the research buyers want to see more from the individual author and the personalities behind the thinking." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "People want more authentic content and connection with these thinkers." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "Nearly two thirds of buyers say that the pandemic spawned a huge increase in the amount of thought leadership content in the marketplace." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "About 40% of buyers said that there is more thought leadership content out there than they can manage or reasonably keep up with." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "About 71% of global B2B buyers said that they only gain any valuable insight from thought leadership content about half the time." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "More than half of C level executives spend over an hour per week vetting content that isn't, in their view, high quality." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "The appetite for better and stronger thought leadership content and the time spent consuming it is still increasing." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "83% of a typical B2B purchasing decision happens before a buyer ever directly engages with a provider." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "After you've captured buyer attention, if you don't back it up substantively, you're not going to get the outcome that you want." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

  • "It's up to companies to think about where opportunities are for them to take a stand, be provocative, and challenge customer beliefs in a way that only they can." - Joe Kingsbury, Managing Director, Business Marketing, Edelman

About the speaker

Joe Kingsbury

Edelman

 - Edelman

Joe is the Managing Director of Business Marketing at Edelman

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