The efficacy of traditional outbound marketing channels is in decline. As a result, savvy B2B marketers have turned to inbound tactics to provide customers with compelling, relevant, valuable content. But the question is: How do you know if your content is compelling?

Thought leadership content is not just about sharing ideas. It’s about offering a credible, well-reasoned, and occasionally provocative point of view on topics your audiences care—or should care—about. Not for the purpose of making the quick sale, but to start conversations, impart a vision, and engage others. You can use it to position your company as a potential valued partner or your executives as influential authorities in their fields, but in the end, it’s about building trust and relationships. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Marketing programs often have short shelf lives. They spring up around a product, an initiative, a new corporate slogan (“We’re all about value!”), and a year later (or less), there’s a new product, with a new slogan (“We’re all about innovation!”). In our increasingly connected and interactive world, shutting down a campaign and its related social channels is harder and less desirable. It's much easier—and wiser—to refresh that existing effort.

Video plays a number of important roles across the demand generation cycle. It can drive people to gated assets, be a component of lead-nurture streams, or complement and enhance primary offer content like e-books and virtual events. But it could also be the offer content if you follow these three steps.