Thought Leadership

Extracted 31MAR2012 from http://openviewpartners.com/report/thought-leadership-expansion-stage-companies/

Perhaps nothing is more important than thought leadership when it comes to companies forging their future. It’s an indispensable commodity. Without thought leadership, most companies would be rudderless ships...

Where does the research point? A poll conducted by OpenView Venture Partners on thought leadership indicated that, out of 60 respondents, 40 percent believe that regular blogs are most vital to companies looking to establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry. Therein, a number of publication options can be used to execute the marketing strategy. This includes whitepapers, bylined articles, newsletters and other formats...

One of the most intriguing qualities of being a distinguished thought leader in an industry is that such positioning will often be accompanied by a favorable perception from your customer base (both realized and potential). OpenView’s research of websites from 50 different software and technology companies with revenues between $5 million and $25 million in 2010 has supported the idea that thought leadership is important to companies...

First and foremost, it’s vital to not take a superficial approach. Companies need to immerse themselves in the spirit of innovation in order to truly harness the potential of thought leadership. Additionally, an in-depth approach is necessary because it’s rather easy to see when a company is peddling useless advice.