Budgets and strategy

How leaders plan for success

Budgets and impact

80%

of marketers say thought leadership boosted reputation, relationships, and revenue in the past 12 months

Average expected company growth in FY24

8%

of marketing budgets are dedicated to thought leadership, on average

% of respondents who expect their FY24 thought leadership budget to increase

Same budgets, different expectations

On average, both leaders and laggards allocate 8% of their budget and 9% of their marketing headcount to thought leadership. Where leaders and laggards differ, however, is in their expected budgets for this year. In 2024, 78% of leaders expect their budget to increase, compared to just over half of laggards.

Given that leaders are more able to link thought leadership investment with growth, they would, presumably, also be able to build a stronger business case for a much higher percentage of the marketing budget than laggards. So, while they currently spend the same, the expected increase in FY24 is less surprising.

It’s also possible that laggard organizations are tightening their marketing budgets overall, or it could be that while laggards believe thought leadership contributes to revenue, their inability to measure it means they are unable to secure additional investment. Laggards may also have done fewer programs from which to measure ROI and build a strong business case.

Thought leadership builds reputation and business cases

As with budgets, we found no statistical differences between thought leadership objectives for leaders and laggards.

Most marketers hope to use thought leadership to boost their organization’s reputation (43%), first and foremost. That includes increasing trust and awareness, showcasing expertise, and differentiating their brand.

A third of respondents cite boosting revenue as their top objective, and just under a quarter say they used it to improve relationships.

But thought leadership is also a useful tool for shaping organizations’ go-to-market strategy. As one senior marketer put it: “Thought leadership is a way of positioning ourselves. We can’t roll out a new product without first being part of the conversation.”

Our aim is to create a sustainable transformation company, so we need to position ourselves as consultants, rather than just an IT vendor.

Ryoma Ohashi, Senior Director, Corporate Marketing, Fujitsu

In the past 12 months, 52% of respondents used thought leadership to build a business case for products and services, and 44% used it to innovate new products.

Where leaders stand apart, though, is using thought leadership to collaborate with clients (38% vs just 19% of laggards). Collaborating with clients on key aspects of thought leadership such as ideation, content creation, and activation undoubtedly contributes to a reputational boost (provided it goes well), thus generating greater ROI and, possibly, more deal opportunities. We explore collaboration in more detail here.

Senior input is crucial

While responsibility for driving the thought leadership agenda is not correlated with leaders and laggards, more mature thought leadership organizations, and therefore ones that see better results and returns, have a centralized thought leadership strategy that is developed with input from senior leaders.

A range of teams including the thought leadership team (20%), the company board/senior management (16%), and the thought leadership/editorial board (15%) shape thought leadership agendas.

“Involving senior leaders in brainstorming sessions not only taps into their wealth of experience and insights but also ensures that the ideas chime with our strategic objectives,” says Bhavna Patel, Marketing Manager at Herbert Smith Freehills.

Laggards are significantly less likely than all other respondents to have a centralized thought leadership strategy shaped with input from senior leadership.

Centralization produces higher-quality content. If you let 10 business units have their own thought leadership engine, you can't discipline that. You're just creating more noise in the market.

Serge Vatin-Perignon, Global Head, TCS Thought Leadership Institute, Tata Consultancy Services

This shows that a thought leadership agenda shaped by senior members of the organization and core customer-facing teams, including sales, PR, business development, and corporate affairs, is more effective than one developed in silos. One interviewee explained why collaboration is key to success: “We engage a wide forum of stakeholders so there's common decision-making and brainstorming around a go-to-market plan. If sales hasn’t been involved or had a say around the outcomes of the research, then you can’t expect them to embrace your initiative. A lot of time, effort and budget is lost in the marketing process because of that lack of synchronicity.”

Does your senior leadership team buy into thought leadership?

Yes, absolutely
Somewhat
Not really
Not at all