We teamed up with MRM UK and SiteCore to host a half-day event for Professional Services marketers on the theme of Driving Growth in Professional Services: Turning Content into Value in the AI Era 

The day began with a session by John Riley (Head of Strategy, MRM) on best practices for thought leadership. He highlighted key insights from Thought Makers—a study by Man Bites Dog, and the B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report 2024 from Edelman and LinkedIn. Both are great resources worth checking out if you haven't already!

Key Takeaways:

Be Bold to Stand Out
Thought leadership should enlighten and resonate. John shared Withers Worldwide’s Global Rethinkers campaign, which effectively used storytelling and client voices to create impactful content (Check out the CMO Series Podcast episode with Paul Askew, where he talks about the Global Rethinkers Campaign in detail) 

To cut through the noise, marketers must:

• Offer unique or unexpected perspectives
• Use surprising data and insights
• Challenge conventional thinking
• Leverage design and tone creatively

Leverage Your Brand’s Perspective
A strong brand should shape and reinforce thought leadership. Successful strategies:

• Connect insights to brand positioning and value propositions
• Maintain consistency across long buying cycles
• Ensure thought leadership aligns with brand storytelling

Use Tech & Data for Relevance
Timely, personalised content drives engagement. Businesses should:

• Use data to tailor content dynamically
• Develop a flexible content architecture for multiple formats
• Align personalisation strategies with business objectives
• Measure ROI to justify operational costs

Align Sales, Marketing & BD
Siloed teams hinder impact. A unified approach enhances strategy, execution, and measurement:

• Establish clear governance for content strategy
• Create cross-functional working groups for continuous improvement
• Standardise key success metrics across teams
• Use data-driven decision-making to counter subjective preferences

By embracing these principles, you'll certainly be on track to creating compelling, high-impact thought leadership!