What Is Thought Leadership - why a B2B PR agency can help you think and sell

Written by Simpatico PR

Posted on 2025-06-25

No, it isn’t just you. You’re right. Your industry is drowning in thought leadership.

Some of it is genuinely good - potentially useful, but a huge amount of it is little more than b2b advertising or generic thoughts that have already been said by other would-be business influencers.

Drowning in LinkedIn?

And, LinkedIn is largely to blame, stuffed as it is with an endless stream of short to camera videos carrying light-weight soundbite thoughts, snippets of speaker platform performances, trailers for must read whitepapers etc.

There’s nothing truly wrong with these, but the sheer volume makes you wonder whether they cut through.

But B2B marketers are so in thrall to algorithms dictating brand visibility on social channels that they can’t help but try to compete. And yet it’s very difficult to filter out the noise on LinkedIn and find useful thoughts – like this article - without scrolling for half a day.

There is a stack of commentary on how and how often to post – but very little actual data on how many people are posting about what.

I’m connected with more than 3,600 people/companies and follow a load more. If just a fraction of those are posting the recommended 2-3 times a week – well that’s a lot of content.

And that’s just one channel. Our email in-boxes are full of feeds from self-publishing sites and platforms, direct marketing messages and trade media bulletins, national newspaper digests, podcasts to watch – if you ever have time.

And as I’ve said before, AI could make things ten times worse.

And yet we have to do it. We can’t risk going dark. Here are some facts on LinkedIn. And yet more.

What impact is this flood having on decision makers?

It is all very frustrating, especially if your business has genuinely interesting, game-changing views and knowledge to share. How do you compete, especially if your CEO isn’t an extrovert? Get the cattle prod out and make her do it?

You and she probably don’t have much choice. But as you both have to do it, it is worth knowing how to put a quality control filter on to your thought leadership output, to give it a better chance of being heard.

And, it is worth knowing how a B2B PR agency can help translate expertise into impact.

What does thought leadership actually mean?

At its core, thought leadership means providing guidance, insight, or foresight on a subject in which you are a recognised expert. It’s about contributing meaningfully to conversations that matter in an industry or more significantly, advancing understanding, supporting innovation and enhancing performance.

Effective thought leadership is built on three foundations:

Expertise – Deep knowledge or experience in a domain

Insight – A point of view or research that challenges, clarifies, or re-frames

Influence – The ability to reach and shape the opinions of others

It’s not self-promotion. It’s value creation. And, if you do it well it will help sell your service or product.

The basic, better, best of thought leadership

Thought leadership is not all equal and that’s ok. It’s a spectrum.

In order to judge what is and what isn’t thought leadership it’s best to forget what will work on social channels for a moment and think about it in terms of PR – earned media exposure for your business.

Because social has no filter or independent editor or arbiter (other than you). PR does. So, a fundamental test of thought leadership is – would this work as a published comment, article, feature, interview in earned media?

Basic:

Reactive commentary

Definition: Responding to industry news, events, or trends with an opinion.

Example: A retail expert commenting in The Drum on how AI is changing point-of-sale technology.

Value: Shows expertise and responsiveness – a journalist will only use it if it passes their quality threshold. So it is vetted by a third-party and has more credibility as a result. Useful for visibility and relationship-building with journalists.

Limitations: Not always profoundly original; often reactive rather than proactive. It builds on the shoulders of industry knowledge.

Better:

Expert analysis and original insight

Definition: Offering context, frameworks, practical takeaways on a trend or topic or offering a new way of thinking about a known issue.

Example: A cybersecurity firm is interviewed for a piece breaking down a high-profile data breach and what lessons can be learned. A sustainability consultancy argues that circular economy metrics should replace traditional ESG scores—and proposes a model.

Value: Demonstrates depth of knowledge and problem-solving ability. Showcases your business capability. Builds recognition among target audiences.

Limitations: Still within existing narratives and knowledge but the number of sources offering these more refined thoughts will be smaller, therefore your contribution will have more heft and a great chance of cutting through.

Best:

Data-led or visionary leadership

Definition: Contributing new knowledge—via research, proprietary data, or academic future-casting.

Example: Deloitte’s annual Global Human Capital Trends report, or Satya Nadella's writing on the future of work in AI-augmented environments. Or Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari.

Value: Sets the agenda. Attracts media, clients, partners, and talent. Establishes true thought leadership.

Limitations: High investment in time, research, and amplification strategy.

All of these require strong editorial positioning and a degree of boldness in presentation. 

How should a B2B PR agency help?

Your PR team will have to sell your thought leadership to often highly experienced and time poor journalists. This makes the media relations process immediately superior to plain old content marketing as a quality filter. It has to be good to get published.

So, your PR team needs its own thought leader to work with your people:

• To research current trends and ideas and spot gaps in knowledge or questions that need answering

• To interview, brainstorm or tease ideas from your experts

• To develop research that asks the right questions

• To process and package ideas in a way that will win journalist and therefore audience approval

Eight steps to effective thought leadership PR and marketing

And then there is creating a programme that mixes structure, messaging and flexibility.

I created a guide to effective thought leadership marketing here including eight steps and considerations.

Amidst all the online shouting and showing off, remember you don’t have to run with the crowd.

To find out more about our B2B PR agency approach to thought leadership visit www.simpaticopr.co.uk