Thanks very much for referencing my post and sharing your take on it. I like your ideas!

To be recognized as a thought leader, one needs both to identify and solve customer’s or prospect’s problems. If a solution involves a product capability, especially in an interesting or unique way, does the thought leader avoid mentioning that capability, to avoid being branded as a salesman? Would mentioning several products take away to feeling of being sold, even at the expense of not solving the problem most effectively, hence potentially diminishing his or her status as a thought leader?

I think we often look to thought leaders to reveal products that can solve our problems.

I like your observation that “thought leadership…underpins the sale without talking to the sale.” If thought leadership involves approaches to solving a problem, then product-related content has a place in that discussion, not just at the point of sales, because many problems do not have 100%-effective solutions, or potentially they introduce other (hopefully less severe) issues.

I agree with you completely that product-related content is not on its own thought leadership. The thought leader who frames the debate around customer issues is not necessarily bad/evil/deceptive if the leader believes and expresses that a certain product solves the issues most effectively.

Thank you for your comments, Craig!

Thought leadership content should engender trust in your brand, position you as the ‘go to’ experts in your space and frame the debate/s around issues your customer’s businesses face. Once this platform has been laid and the lead has been generated or the customer is ready to move the next stage it makes sense to move to product simulation or product marketing content.

The point about thought leadership is that the entire process underpins the sale without talking to the sale. Sales specific talk and product information should only come right at the very end of this cycle – on its own it certainly isn’t thought leadership.