The pandemic caused many of us to make drastic changes to our daily lives, and the way in which industries operated was no exception. Short-term rental and PropTech companies had to adjust and re-evaluate their use of marketing and sales techniques. Covid brought a new challenge for B2B executives to find distinctive ways to keep conversations open without face-to-face events such as trade shows to continually build their brand with their audience.
This resulted in an influx of low-quality content being created and the rapid acceleration of digitalization. The Edelman and LinkedIn Thought Leadership Impact Study reveals that over a third (38%) of business professionals agree this has oversaturated the market, with only 15% of the content being perceived as good quality making it even harder to stand out from the crowd.
What is quality content?
The importance of quality content is higher than ever. Using expertise, insight and valuable perspective to boost your presence in the industry and become part of the conversation is real thought leadership. This has been proven to influence brand perceptions as well as business with increases of (53%) and sales from new customers (54%).
According to Forbes, this development can begin through being direct, concise and focused in content marketing messages as well as being transparent with your audience to become a trusted and credible source of information.
Insights from almost 3,600 business managers from across the globe show that this type of content can influence businesses to connect with new organizations which were not originally on their radar (42%).
Five ways to establish quality content
The study identifies how thought leadership can influence buying behaviours and the perception of your brand throughout the entire process. C-suite executives are investing more time in reading and consuming this type of content than prior to the pandemic: 51%.
Their opinions from the past four years of data have shown that the following points are preferable when creating valuable content:
Forward outside-of-the-box thinking to challenge their assumptions with provocative insights, is preferred by 81% rather than their current thinking being validated. Including third party data from trusted sources is desired by 80%.
Thought leaders should be informed, opinion leaders who inspire others to act. They often become popular for being experts who delve into specialised topics and deep subjects matters, which 70% prefer over speeches from senior executives on higher issues.
It’s vital for leaders to know their audience and to tailor their message appropriately – intellectually rigorous and fun are aspects 87% look for, with 64% favoring a less formal tone of voice.
Presenting thought leadership
We are now in an age that is predominantly ruled by the convenience and ingenuity of technology, and this digital potential will only continue to grow. Therefore, it’s no surprise that how businesses communicate with their audience has shifted.
B2B decisions are often being made digitally through self-research well before potential customers engage with an organization. It’s not enough to simply reach your audience, you also need to resonate with their specific needs, in fact 55% of C-Suite executives spend no more than a minute reading a piece of thought leadership before moving on if their interest is not sparked.
Gartner research suggests that marketers only have 5% of their customers’ time during their B2B journey. So, presenting quality content that is innovative and transformative is a vital part of developing a successful thought leadership strategy, and marketing this digitally maximises the impact and results of brand perception to reach not only an existing audience but to attract new ones.
Digital Marketing Institute notes there are six key elements involved in the success of digital thought leadership. These include building your personal brand, creating bold content, perfecting public speaking, reaching out to influencers, networking and guest blogging opportunities. This can be achieved by optimizing your social profiles, creating leading-edge webinars or podcasts and building those all important connections through LinkedIn or Twitter.
Here at Abode Worldwide, we understand the influence of a winning thought leadership strategy and work with our clients closely to provide high-quality content that effectively builds brand reputation and a strong presence within the short-term rental, PropTech and hospitality industries.
For more information about the services Abode Worldwide provides for technology companies transforming short-term rentals, hotels and real estate sectors – contact our team.