Subject matter expertise and thought leadership are often lumped together in
content marketing,
but is an instruction manual for a complex solution thought leadership?
Definitely not, though subject matter expertise may be needed to make a good one.
What Is Thought Leadership?
Thought leadership advocates an idea, theory, opinion, or point of view for the purposes of adding to,
influencing, or advancing the discourse in an industry or discipline.
Ideas, theories, opinions, and points of view are thoughts, which thought leadership content advocates.
What Is Subject Matter Expertise?
Subject matter expertise is expert-level information, or basic information delivered expertly.
And if you're wondering what separates subject matter expertise from garden-variety information, think
about it this way: a student can read all the textbooks on a subject and repeat them back but that doesn't
make them a
subject matter expert (SME).
Subject matter expertise is built by moving beyond the textbooks.
SMEs have firsthand knowledge and experience doing the work or advancing their industry some other way
(such as in academia).
Subject matter expertise in marketing can be basic knowledge delivered with an expert's touch (perhaps
including a story or anecdote that makes a basic concept more understandable), or deep knowledge (arrived
at through deep insight), or hands-on knowledge (learned by doing).
Sometimes subject matter expertise depends on or discusses a theory, but thought leadership advocates for
one.
If I publish new applications for string theory, such
content is subject matter expertise. But when I advocate
for it as the one true way to understand the universe, that's thought leadership.
Subject matter expertise is information, sourced wholly or partially from expert insight or experience.
Thought leadership advocates how to interpret it.
The Benefits of Each
There's plenty of data indicating
thought leadership is a competitive advantage.
The problem is, different people and different marketing authorities have different definitions of thought
leadership, many of which are fuzzy as hell, rendering such data problematic without more details.
Subject Matter Expertise Has More Marketing Utility
As you might have guessed, subject matter expertise (with its focus on facts and giving the right
answers) tends to be more practical than thought leadership (which focuses more on truth and asking the
right questions).
And since most organizations tend to have more subject matter experts than thought leaders, and less
pressure on SMEs to generate original insights, SME content tends to be easier to make.
And since it tends to focus on facts instead of opinions, it tends to be easier to approve.
And since subject matter expertise tends to focus on answering already-asked questions (as opposed to
stimulating new thinking), giving it more short-term SEO/GEO utility and potentially translating faster into
new leads (when answering questions asked by in-market prospects), its final output
definitely falls more under marketing, however....
Thought Leadership Content Has More Brand Utility
Subject matter expertise ticks more boxes, making it easier to sell internally, but it's still only
information.
It usually has no moat. And it rarely excites people on its own.
But good thought leadership lights people up, gets them talking, wins fans for your brand (as opposed
to just followers).
It has B2B brand building utility, by helping establish your brand's
point of view.
Are you a leader, challenger, innovator, etcetera?
Good thought leadership reflects this, though it's particularly challenging for
non-leader brands,
who can't simply repeat what the leaders say, because nobody will read it.
People don't want the party line second hand, they want it straight from the party.
And nobody gives a shit what
startups or other non-leaders think. It's not important, unless they're saying
something different from the leaders.
There is
real hunger among business leaders for thought leadership challenging the status quo (since
it often talks about the future), so don't think of thought leadership as merely keeping
up brand appearances.
It can also deliver real value on
the buyer's journey, just as subject matter expertise can help
build your brand (innovation is as innovation does).
To learn more about how thought leadership and subject matter expertise can fit into your
content strategy,
click
here.
