At Paradoxes, we have conducted numerous studies from which thought leadership content has been developed. Client results include pipeline growth, and extensive press coverage ranging from Forbes to industry trades to influential bloggers.

Here are the 7 steps paradoxes experts will lead you through:

1. Establish your objective

  • Drive pipeline
  • Raise awareness
  • Associate your brand or product with a specific topic
  • Elevate your brand perception

2. Get internal stakeholder input

  • Ensure your teams are aligned on the goals and how the content will be used.
  • Obtain their commitments for how they will adopt and leverage the content.

3. Be explicit about your target audience

  • Who are you trying to reach?
  • What do they care about?
  • What topics are currently most relevant to them?
  • What pain points are most pressing in their world?

4. Define the content you’ll create

  • One study can be used in numerous ways. How will you use your study?
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • Gated content
    • Press releases
    • Infographics
    • Blogs
    • Speaking tour

5. Determine compelling story angles

  • Conduct the research with the target audience. In this way, you’ll be learning and sharing what their peers are experiencing which is highly impactful.
  • Hone-in on something new and provocative.
  • Get them thinking about their challenges and opportunities in new ways and how you can help them.

6. Blend value and how you can help

  • Provide true value in the form of new insights and specific actions they can take.
  • Don’t make it a sales pitch but do illuminate how your products or services have effectively helped others.

7. Define the research approach that will deliver your thought leadership content

  • Use a blend of research methods
    • Qualitative research to capture the voice of the customer.
    • Quantitative data to provide the numbers that demonstrate what is happening in the market.
    • Augment with other data as available- analyst commentary, social media sentiment, product usage data, etc.
  • Protect budgets with reasonable sample sizes; trends can be spotted with moderate numbers of interviews and survey respondents.

Example thought leadership content

Oracle White Paper

Oracle’s inaugural report on “Security in the Age of AI,” explores perceptions and actions being taken by C-suite executives, policy makers and the general public to improve the state of America’s cyber security.

Click here

DocuSign State of eSig

To better understand the end-to-end agreement process at modern organizations, DocuSign is constantly studying the people, processes and technology involved in contract management.

Click here

Billtrust White Paper

The research covered current trends, challenges, priorities, systems, tools and modernization efforts within the AR function which includes many aspects of the types of payments accepted.

Click here

Prescryptive White Paper

The industry currently faces numerous headwinds, but there is no better time for independent pharmacists to evolve to best meet their patients’ needs and seize the opportunities brought by change.

Click here

Censys Interactive Article

Imagine you’ve been blindsided by a cybersecurity attack that resulted in confidential data loss, monetary loss and reputation damage.

Click here

Fulcrum White Paper

Safety, quality and maintenance inspections are a crucial component of projects in construction industries. Prioritizing these inspections is an opportunity that holds massive gains. Ignoring them invites massive risks.

Click here