Attract customers with thought leadership content

by Bruce Kasanoff

Thought leadership is mostly about being willing to say aloud what others are thinking… and doing it in a compelling and engaging way.

It’s getting harder and harder to sell the old-fashioned ways: through advertising, direct mail, industry events. That’s why it’s essential to use thought leadership content to attract prospects, rather than to chase after them.

This is one reason why my blog on this site now features very short, highly plausible “science fiction” stories. With interesting characters, and dialogue. My hope is that the stories are more fun to read than a white paper, but that they get across similar lessons.

I love nothing more than taking on the challenge of attracting people by creating provocative, interesting and informative content. I do this for a growing list of clients, through a variety of approaches.

In addition to the “science fiction” stories in my blog, here are some examples of content I have written or created:

Directories:
- Personalization vendors
- Common Sensor: Marketing When Everything is Smart | overview | directory of sensor firms
- Directory of Brain-Computer Interface research labs | What can you do with a BCI?

Personalization:
- Quick personalization primer
- Why make business personal? (book excerpt)
- How to deliver personalized services to your customers
- Why customers deserve personal treatment
- What corporate mindset does personalization require?
- Mindful Customer Experience – a different way to think about your corporate culture
- Who will write the new business rules for personalization? (chapter in textbook)
- Why personal = smarter (interview at Mass Customization & Open Innovation
- A 2001 perspective on personalization (book excerpt)

Customer-based business strategy:
- 10 ways to build trust with customers
- Use compensation to increase revenues and profits
- The case for ‘sense and respond’ business strategies
- Don’t just question authority, question marketing (Washington Times) | PDF version
- How to kill your business: sell harder (CustomerThink)
- A Half Decade of Entrepreneurial Marketing: Lessons from the Best Entrepreneurs (Critical EYE Journal) PDF document
- Classifying customer experiences (a visual guide)

Disruptive forces and innovation:
- Smart Customers, Stupid Companies: customers are getting smarter, but companies aren’t keeping up.
- Three Levels of Innovation – a strategic way to think about developing new products and services
- Common Sense and Kinect (Open Salon)
- Here’s to impossible triumphs

Free marketing guides:
- LESS: PDF includes dozens of ways to win and keep customers by giving them less of the things that drive them crazy. You can also read a condensed version online.
- Marketing That Actually Works: click to download my free 24-page workbook.
- The Team: how to change a company in four steps, by focusing on the way teams work together. This links to a free PDF.