A thought leadership program can provide a host of benefits as a multi-pronged marketing tool. By offering original insights and opinions on important themes that audiences care about (or should care about), brands showcase vision, leadership, and ultimately, empathy for their prospects and customers. We shared our insights on this topic in our first post in this series.

Creating and sustaining a corporate thought leadership program is a significant undertaking. But if done well, it can provide a host of benefits as a multi-pronged marketing tool. 

We've seen a tremendous amount of articles about the overwhelming rate of content production, the saturated information market that content gets dumped into, and the disillusionment with content marketing as a result. But here's the thing: That's actually good news.

Marketers have access to more data than ever before. Our business decisions depend on it—so much so that “Show me the data!” has become a rallying cry heard in nearly every discussion in which strategy, execution, or measurement is up for debate. Content, and its role in the buying process, is no exception.

According to a recent Salesforce report, the three most pressing business challenges facing B2B marketers are:

1. New business development
2. Quality of leads
3. Demand and lead generation

So how will these B2B marketers overcome their biggest challenges? One indication is where they plan to invest their budget in the coming year. And according to the same Salesforce report, 68 percent plan to increase their spend on content marketing—more than any other single budget item.