A great content strategy is one that leverages many different tricks to appeal to the entirety of your intended audience. Practically every business owner or industry expert wants to be seen as a thought leader—someone at the forefront of their industry who others will think of first when it comes to thought leadership content.
But, what is thought leadership? Let's answer that question and showcase some great thought leadership content examples!
What Is Thought Leadership?
Defining and understanding the term "thought leadership content" in its entirety can get a little tricky.
To oversimplify it a bit, thought leadership represents an insight-driven, quality-focused approach to content that takes more time and effort than even the best regular blog content. Thought leadership content demonstrates the creator's expertise in a particular topic. However, it can mean more than just understanding a topic
Creating thought leadership content is a great way to educate a targeted audience in your profession, provide valuable insights, and establish yourself as a great resource for information.
Perhaps the best way to understand thought leadership content is to delve into some prime examples of it.
15 Examples of Thought Leadership Content
1. Acorns
Acorns is a subscription-based service that offers various products, tools, and educational resources to help users master the art of investing and grow their money over time.
Their blog covers a variety of investing, retirement, saving, and financial planning topics to help educate readers on how they can build their money. Many of these posts are quick reads that provide an easy-to-understand overview of a financial topic so that readers can digest complicated topics in "bite-sized" pieces.
One content example is their post titled What Is Growth Investing? This post has a quick set of "in a nutshell" bullet points before exploring the topic in greater depth.
2. Founders Intelligence
To say that Founders Intelligence is big on thought leadership is like saying that Homer Simpson kind of like donuts. The organization delivers a ton of thought leadership content to readers that leverages real insights from successful entrepreneurs based on their real-world experiences.
In addition to blog content that prominently features content from real entrepreneurs, the organization publishes various content offers that explore a variety of topics in greater detail.
For example, they have a whitepaper titled Accelerating Diversity: Building Stronger Founder Ecosystems that goes over how to source underrepresented founders, how to get into organizations by building peer networks, and financing issues underrepresented founders face (and what can be done to address the issue).
3. Deloitte Thought Leadership Publications
Deloitte boasts "more than 263,900 professionals at member firms delivering services in audit & assurance, tax, consulting, financial advisorty, risk advisorty, and related services in more than 150 countries and territories." With a globe-spanning network of professionals like that, it's little wonder that the organization is able to assemble a lot of great thought leadership content for a variety of industries and interests.
Their Thought Leadership Publications page allows visitors to find thought leadership content based on their interests. Whether a visitor is looking for content related to consumer businesses, energy and resources, technology services, or any of more than a dozen other topics, they can quickly find categorized content relevant to their interests.
Reports are presented in the form of PDFs featuring strong visuals and research into the topic at hand.
4. Drew McLellan's Build a Better Agency Podcast
Drew McLellan is a well-known name in the world of digital marketing who has pioneered a wide range of high-impact approaches to getting your message heard.
His Build a Better Agency podcast is an example of structuring thought leadership content creatively in a way that appeals to the preferences and the needs of his audience – in this case, time-strapped agency leaders.
5. Pipedrive's Blog
Pipedrive is a sales CRM that embraces inbound marketing and sales. Because content marketing is a pillar of their brand, they work hard to educate leads and deliver value.
Their instructive, long-form blog posts use quotes, visuals, and much more to tell the story while giving readers points they can use. For example, "How to Get Your Sales Team to Adopt a Sales Process."
6. Autodesk
Autodesk has long been known as one of the undisputed leaders of the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) space. It even has a museum: The Autodesk Gallery.
The company's Design & Make page collects a variety of content that includes not only real-world examples of how others have applied the Autodesk software, but forward-thinking thought leadership posts highlighting the future of various industries.
Take, for example, their article on how AI could drive the future of manufacturing. The text of the article outlines points about the impact of AI on the manufacturing industry, while an included video helps get visitors more engaged with the content.
7. REI Expert Advice Blog
REI has consistently grown to become one of the leading brands for outdoor sports and gear. REI knows its customers well and has compiled the REI Expert Advice blog to serve their need for helpful, thought-provoking content.
With informative long-form articles covering topics in a variety of verticals, it is a true resource. The blog's video content reinforces the value and provides a different way to learn.
8. MR PORTER's Journal
Known for its men’s clothing, shoes, and accessories, MR PORTER has created a niche for itself by adopting the styling and sensibilities of a high-end men’s magazine for MR PORTER’s Journal.
This is a brilliant example of B2C thought leadership content: The topics may not be the most mind-bending, but the sophisticated presentation is aspirational for the site’s readers.
9. IBM Watson Marketing
IBM’s Thought leadership page is built to look deceptively simple while offering a variety of content on topics ranging from data and AI to how to transform your business' supply chain and operations.
The major articles on the site are also available as downloadable PDFs to help encourage readers to take a deeper dive into each topic with data collected by IBM to facilitate engagement with the IBM brand.
One especially noteworthy report included in their thought leadership content is their Threat Intelligence Index, which includes statistics about cybersecurity threats, videos featuring security experts, and a link to download the full report for more details.
10. Johnson & Johnson
With more than 200 brands in its portfolio, J&J has a harder challenge than most when it comes to making sense of its story and getting people excited about its capabilities.
Its written content does a tremendous job of crafting targeted messages for consumers and potential business partners alike. You can find everything from winter beauty hacks to in-depth pieces on its medical breakthroughs and innovations.
11. MarieTV by Marie Forleo
Marie Forleo's web series MarieTV is an excellent example of video as thought leadership content.
Forleo has created a brand identity and message around creating a business and life you love every day. She incorporates and preaches this message through interviews with other leaders, presentations, videos, blog articles, and even courses.
She truly excels at understanding and listening to her audience – she even goes above and beyond to answer a question from one of her viewers each Tuesday.
12. HubSpot Academy
HubSpot itself is a huge thought leader in the inbound marketing and sales space. But, one of their shining stars continues to be HubSpot Academy, a free online training resource for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service professionals.
HubSpot Academy specializes in "comprehensive certifications, singular topic courses, and bite-sized lessons for professionals looking to grow their career and business."
We here at Bluleadz rely on the academy to educate our incoming employees and keep us up to date on all the latest information regarding our processes. If it's a go-to resource for us, we think it should be one for you too.
13. American Express's Business Class
American Express’s Business Class blog is flooded with thought leadership content from experts and other business owners.
By allowing business owners to post content on their website, American Express helps establish itself as a thought leader with all the tips and tricks to starting and maintaining a successful business, whether small, medium, or large.
But, not only that, it allows the business owners to establish themselves as thought leaders as they continue to educate and provide insights into business growth.
14. Zendesk
Zendesk's blog is full of great thought leadership blogs, podcasts, whitepapers, and even local events around the U.S.
For example, their article on using AI to improve sustainability and reduce carbon footprint outlines a series of steps that organizations can take to improve the sustainability of their AI tools. This not only helps increase awareness of sustainability issues, but gives readers tips for improving it with AI.
15. First Round Review
First Round Review isn't just your typical blog – they dedicate their time and effort into interviewing entrepreneurs from all industries and gathering their thought leadership to add to their blog.
This personalized approach to content helps provide real insights into how other business owners and entrepreneurs grew their businesses from their various perspectives. In turn, they can share feedback and advice with First Round Review's audience in a truly captivating, inspirational way.
Thought Leadership Isn't One-Size-Fits-All
Across the spectrum of B2B and B2C enterprises, thought leadership can take many forms. The content itself should be top-notch – but the medium and stylistic choices in the presentation are also important.
There are so many content formats to choose from, including whitepapers, ebooks, and podcasts. When these factors coalesce around a compelling message that is truly fresh, brands have the chance to make a lasting mark on how others think.
Use these terrific examples to spark inspiration for your thought leadership campaign!
Douglas Phillips
Former military brat, graduated from Leilehua High School in Wahiawa, Hawaii in 2001. After earning my Bachelor's in English/Professional Writing, took on a job as a writer here at Bluleadz.