For a long time, we’ve advocated quality above all else when it comes to thought leadership. That’s because no matter the industry, distinctive ideas drive competitive advantage and return on investment—and the need for content articulating those ideas will only become more important as generative AI adds to the background noise.
Yet having unique, distinctive insights is only part of the challenge companies face. When we talk about “quality” in thought leadership, we mean quality across the entire content life cycle—from how ideas are generated and developed to how they’re articulated through formats and channels, and how they’re amplified. It also demands content that supports and drives broader external marketing objectives while simultaneously empowering colleagues internally.
In short, we all ask content to do a lot of work. And while our industry has done a decent job of assessing the quality of thought leadership itself—looking at whether content is distinctive, useful, and engaging—it has tended to pay less attention to performance across the life cycle to ensure alignment of strategy, execution, and results.
We’re addressing this through the development of our free diagnostic tool, Content Compass, which in less than three minutes provides a snapshot of where your content operation stands. It’s quick by design: We want to rapidly assess your strengths and weaknesses as a foundation for deeper exploration and the development and implementation of solutions.
For example, we know companies are filled with smart people with smart ideas. But we also know fewer organizations have formalized processes for identifying and developing those ideas into distinctive insights. Even fewer have in place governance bodies—such as editorial boards—to vet proposals, let alone coordination with marketers and brand experts to ensure content aligns with the company’s external positioning ambitions.
At a deeper level, how many companies have formal content production processes that ensure consistency and quality? Audience development professionals to drive SEO and atomize content across multiple channels so it reaches relevant audiences whenever and wherever they are? Employees with deep data expertise to track performance and both recommend and implement changes to optimize impact?
Many moving parts determine how content performs and, ultimately, its return on investment. That’s why we developed Content Compass: It’s a critical first step in assessing whether and how your content operations can be improved. Our experience is many companies may not need to invest more in content but use existing resources more effectively to concentrate on critical, market-moving insights and elevate their performance.
But you can’t manage what you don’t measure, as Peter Drucker famously noted. So take three minutes to complete Content Compass. When you finish, you’ll get an overview of where your content operation stands, along with the opportunity to be walked through the results and implications in greater depth.
Over time, we’ll report on what we’re learning about how our sector is performing generally: where companies tend to do well and where improvement is possible. The goal is, as always, to convert good ideas into great content by making smart investments that deliver outsize results. We’re definitely not suggesting it’s as easy as it sounds. But completing Content Compass is—so let’s get started.
