Imagine shopping for a car in a market with almost no standardisation. One garage offers “prime automobiles”, but only those powered by diesel, and they come without any tyres or mirrors. The next garage flogs “speedy sportsters”, with a wide range of engine options, but none of which are allowed to be driven on the road. And so on. The purchasing experience would be mind-bending and frustrating, and perhaps just a little bit analogous to what it must be like buying thought leadership services within the B2B publishing industry today. 

Most publishers have been providing some kind of thought leadership offering for years, but this doesn’t mean these offerings are commoditised or standardised. Far from it. 

The reality is that it’s challenging to be a buyer of thought leadership services, especially when trying to objectively compare one media company’s offering to another. From the terminology to the distribution options, and from the core capabilities available to the rules around branding, offerings differ widely from one media organisation to another. 

Some of the common differences that crop up include, but are not limited to:  

• Terminology: Start with the basics of thought leadership “content”, as an example. Depending on the publisher you’re talking to, this can variously be named as thought leadership, sponsored content, branded content, custom content, custom publishing, supported content, customised media, rich media content, corporate storytelling, and more. Each of these usually means something slightly different, but for buyers who aren’t versed in the jargon, it is a bewildering array of terms to get to grips with. 
   
• Primary research is not a given: Sometimes qualitative research capabilities are included, sometimes quantitative are, and sometimes both are. But more often than not there isn’t any primary research capability at all. And for those that do offer this, there is often limited information about the scope and range of possibilities. 
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• Neither is distribution: One of the main reasons buyers want to talk to specialist publishers is about gaining access to their core audience. This is sometimes included in a thought leadership offering by default, but oftentimes it’s not. Sometimes distribution is a paid extra to be considered, other times it’s simply not available at all as an option. Then, of course, the nature of the distribution offering inevitably varies tremendously from one publisher to another. In at least one instance, a publisher offers a distribution capability, but doesn’t provide any service to help create the content to be distributed. 
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• Branding options differ widely. Not just that, but the related house rules for branding vary too. One brand will provide strict guardrails for corporate buyers, while another will allow them to essentially say whatever they want.   
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• Capabilities vary significantly: Some media companies provide full-fledged multimedia capabilities and advanced studios, others can’t do anything other than simple copywriting. As above, research is a core competency for some, but non-existent for others. The same goes with the provision of strategy, planning, project management, design, and so on.   
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• Quality and creativity is unpredictable: Solutions range on a broad scale in terms of creativity, from highly-produced multimedia offerings with high production values, through to very basic advertorial copy without any meaningful design. Similarly, while one publisher might approach this like an opportunity to deliver something innovative and creative, another publisher offers buyers a very basic cookie-cutter solution (do you want a short article, or a long one?).  
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• Different benefits are touted: Some brands lean into creative storytelling and brand awareness, others (often in the tech sector) focus closely on ability to drive lead generation. Other benefits that are mentioned from one brand to another include: drive meaningful interactions, collaborate with experts, align your branding, maximise reach and influence, earn attention, build trust, boost revenue, strike a nerve, and on and on.     
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• Finally, few media brands promote this as a core offering: buyers will need to work hard to find out what’s available, the extent of the capabilities, the rules associated, and so on. FAQs are rarely seen, nor are detailed brochures with information about capabilities and services.  

In short, if you think it’s difficult selling thought leadership, then spare a thought for the buyers too. They’ve got their work cut out for them. Car shoppers would be appalled. 

For those media businesses wanting to better understand the thought leadership buyer, feel free to download our free ebook on the topic. It provides a detailed guide to building win-win relationships with customers, and might in turn help to position your offering. And of course feel free to reach out if you’d like to get some advice on providing a clearer proposition.