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How to Measure Thought Leadership ROI

How to Measure Thought Leadership ROI

Key takeaways: Thought leadership ROI goes far beyond likes, impressions and website traffic. The most effective measurement strategy tracks awareness, buyer engagement and revenue together, giving marketing leaders a clear view of the business results. When you also measure the value generated for every hour your experts invest, you gain the evidence you need to […]
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Why More CEOs See Marketing as a Cost Center

Why More CEOs See Marketing as a Cost Center

Key takeaways: The marketing cost-center problem is old, but it’s accelerating. The share of CEOs who see marketing as a cost rather than a profit center jumped from 35% to 60% in one year. The cause is measurement. Only 13% of CEOs feel confident that marketing can show financial benefits, and producing more content with […]
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The Double AI Lie: You’re Losing Time and Your Edge

The Double AI Lie: You’re Losing Time and Your Edge

Key takeaways: AI and critical thinking have an increasingly complicated relationship. Research shows that heavy reliance on AI can reduce critical thinking, weaken independent judgment and make ideas more alike. AI can help with efficiency, but marketers still need to question assumptions, challenge outputs and focus on original thinking. AI has incredible power and potential, […]
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The Lab Results Are Fine: When B2B Marketing Data Hides a Sick System

The Lab Results Are Fine: When B2B Marketing Data Hides a Sick System

Key takeaways: Healthy B2B marketing data can make a broken system look fine. Isolated metrics, such as organic traffic, cost per click and lead volume, can hide problems with buyer intent, sales trust and pipeline movement. When sales cycles exceed historical norms or sales teams stop trusting marketing leads, marketing teams need to look at […]
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Why AI Is Ignoring Your B2B Customer Case Studies

Why AI Is Ignoring Your B2B Customer Case Studies

Key takeaways: When B2B customer case studies bury customer problems and measurable results beneath company background and product details, AI systems can’t identify the information buyers need. As a result, many case studies never appear in AI-generated answers. Most B2B customer case studies make it hard to identify the problem, the solution and the results. […]
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The Thought Leader’s Shortcut: Build a Content Bank From 1 Asset

The Thought Leader’s Shortcut: Build a Content Bank From 1 Asset

Key takeaways: Break one anchor asset into a Content Bank of articles, social posts, carousels, videos and sales tools. Use a content repurposing strategy and employee advocacy to distribute those assets and support a 90-day, multichannel campaign. This allows you to reach buyers throughout their research process. In the last Expert-Led Content Engine article, we […]
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The Trust Gap: Why Human Content Wins in an AI Market

The Trust Gap: Why Human Content Wins in an AI Market

Key takeaways: Human-first content in B2B is grounded in experience, a clear point of view and informed judgment. It helps buyers build trust before they with speak with sales. For years at The Simons Group, our North Star has been “content-first.” It’s how we keep the focus where it belongs: on the message rather than […]
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Stop Asking Experts to Write: The Two-Touchpoint Content Workflow

Stop Asking Experts to Write: The Two-Touchpoint Content Workflow

Key takeaways: A two-touchpoint content workflow concentrates expert involvement into two focused moments that support speed, cost discipline and buyer expectations. By structuring participation around an input session and an accuracy review, organizations share insights while buyers are evaluating options. In addition, this workflow reduces inefficient use of expert time, supports consistent execution and aligns […]
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Create a Quarterly Content Planning Sprint

Create a Quarterly Content Planning Sprint

Key takeaways: Quarterly content planning gives B2B teams a clear, repeatable way to set direction before execution. Rather than reacting to scattered requests, teams align on priorities, themes and proof points during a focused planning sprint that brings marketers and experts together at the right moment. Experts contribute insight once per quarter, while marketers carry […]
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B2B Trust Has Turned Inward. Thought Leadership Gets You In

B2B Trust Has Turned Inward. Thought Leadership Gets You In

Key takeaways: B2B trust now forms early and close to home. Buyers place greater confidence in familiar people and proven judgment. New research shows that thought leadership content plays a role in helping buyers assess expertise and reduce perceived risk. However, today, merely showing up with content isn’t enough. Organizations that pair expert-led insights with […]
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A typewriter page illustrates how content marketing writers need key information for their assignments.

Help Your Content Marketing Writers Succeed

The internet is full of advice about how to win at content marketing. Whether you want to create a strategy, plan and build out content or stand out from your competitors, you’ll find plenty of guides, how-tos and tips. Want to know what’s missing? No one explains how to set

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To?

Before I followed my passion and made content marketing my career, I took time off after college. I had to get my head together and mature a bit. Many of my friends did the same. Their activities included backpacking in Asia and working on a fishing boat in Alaska. In

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Marketers: Don’t Fear ChatGPT (Yet)

The marketing world has been abuzz about ChatGPT for a hot minute. And content marketers feel threatened. But is ChatGPT going to replace us? Here’s my take: Don’t worry – yet. Read on to learn why. What is ChatGPT? ChatGPT is a chatbot that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to answer

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Balance Readability and Complexity in Marketing Content

In George Orwell’s “1984,” the Party had several ways of ensuring conformity. The Party limited independent thinking and banished forbidden thoughts and actions. Deleted images and stories landed in the “memory hole.” And of course, Big Brother was watching you. But “Newspeak” was the central initiative through which these original

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A compass represents staying the course on the content marketing road map.

The B2B Content Marketing Road Map Has Changed. Are You Lost?

What’s a business-to-business (B2B) content marketing road map look like these days? Overall, it’s not much different than it was 10 or even five years ago. But if you look closer, you’ll see subtle changes. The focus is on quality more than ever before. Churn and burn doesn’t win customers.

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Writing Is a Lifelong Journey

Songwriters scribble bits of lyrics or notes on paper and file the scraps away in the hopes they’ll be able to craft a complete song some day. Novelists complete the first chapter of their newest books and run dry. Journalists experience writer’s block and can’t get past their first paragraphs.

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Symbol for hyperbole: Image of an owl's wise eyes telling you not to use hyperbolic puffery.

The Most Important Blog Post You’ll Ever Read

I want to discuss the most important subject to arise in the history of Western society. Naturally, I know of what I speak. I’m the foremost and most highly trained expert on the issue. I have knowledge and insights unmatched by anyone on the globe. Don’t fail to heed my

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Social media icons reflect brand marketing tips

Social Media Brand Marketing Tips for Executives

One of the best brand marketing tips for executives is to be active on social media. It’s among the most powerful marketing tools. And yet, many executives don’t take the time. Set it and forget it, right? Social media can help you expand your network, increase referrals and attract business.

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Test Your Grammar IQ

Who doesn’t relish a challenge, especially when it comes to dependent clauses, parallelism and collective nouns? OK, so that’s a stretch, but go with it. Find the errors in the sentences below and I’ll send you a fabulous prize. Not really, but what have you got to lose? Neither an

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