Jay Baer is the founder of Convince & Convert, a Hall of Fame keynote speaker and emcee, host of the award-winning Social Pros podcast, and the author of six books including Talk Triggers: The Complete Guide to Creating Customers with Word of Mouth.

A headline from the 2019 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study caught my attention: Thought leadership has more influence on sales than marketers realize.

As it turns out, when it comes to thought leadership, marketers and those whocreate thought leadership have different beliefs when compared to decision makers and those whoconsume thought leadership content.

Consider these examples:

• Thought leadership creates access to top-of-the-food-chain decision makers. Forty-seven percent of C-Suite executives said they shared their contact information after consuming thought leadership content. Only 39 percent of marketers believe thought leadership generates leads or provides new contacts to call on
• Thought leadership content influenced 45 percent of business decision makers to invite an organization to bid on a project they were not previously considering. Only 17 percent of marketers said they felt thought leadership was effective at generating RFPs
• Thought leadership directly influenced 58 percent of decision makers to award business to an organization. Only 26 percent of marketers believe thought leadership is responsible for helping them close business
• Sixty-one percent of C-Suite executives said they would pay a premium to work with organizations that have clearly articulated a vision through thought leadership. Only 14 percent of marketers said thought leadership allowed them to charge more than their competitors who produce lower quality thought leadership content or none at all.

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