How to leverage the synergy between thought leadership content and brand voice

There is no secret elixir in content marketing, apart from the consistency and quality, two tenets that are unanimously recognised by brands. However, if there’s something that could promise and deliver universal potency, it is thought leadership content. The term invites interest, intrigue, and ire simultaneously. But one thing is indisputable: Thought leaders exist and thought leadership holds an important place in content marketing. However, reducing thought leadership to a buzzword is to seriously dilute its efficacy. 

While most companies looks to offer distinctive, authoritative, and insightful thought leadership content and every content team or agency burns the midnight oil to deliver, the results often fall short of spectacular. One reason for this may be the fact that the synergy between thought leadership and brand voice is seldom understood, and rarely acted upon. 

“While the thought leaders of the organization draw from their expertise, focusing on ‘hero’ content creation that solves for industry needs, the content marketing battalion on the ground studies audience behaviour, firing rounds of ‘hygiene’ content crafted in a mainstream voice. At best, this incongruity is overlooked by your consumers. At worst, it isn’t,” explains Nirati Agarwal, Head – Content and founder of Edisol, a content marketing firm best known for its thought leadership content strategy and execution.

Here’s Edisol’s perspective on how thought leadership content and brand voice share a symbiotic relationship and how brands can leverage it for better results. 

Thought leadership and brand voice – Two sides of the same coin

While thought leadership aims to provide insights into pressing issues your audience is grappling with, brand voice is concerned with how you communicate with your audiences. However, both converge at a single point—your brand. 

Both thought leadership and brand voice draw from your past experiences and your current competencies and are based on the expertise you bring to the table. Brands who understand and act on this link are often perceived as authentic. Think Apple. There is something very consonant about a direct, snappy Steve Jobs’ discourse and the simple yet punchy iPhone ad. Both exude confidence and the harmony between the two makes for memorable brand identity.

Thought leadership can define and inform brand voice

Much of crafting a brand voice today revolves around looking up tone of voice charts and conducting audience research. In contrast, identifying the areas in which the company has domain expertise and thought leadership potential may be a more rewarding path to take. Think about the advantages of developing your brand voice in this way—by culling from your best thought leadership material the characteristics and principles that define your brand. 

Thought leadership content, when used as a key ingredient of brand voice, helps you create a genuine, authentic tonality. When used consistently in all your content marketing, such a brand voice has the inherent quality required to stand out and sustain your efforts. 

Brand voice can amplify thought leadership

It is a common perception that thought leadership must be serious. Perhaps the emphasis should be on the fact that thought leadership content needs to create value. How is this value created? By having expertise, yes, but also by enjoying credibility and being relatable. The right brand voice helps thought leadership content do this—build trust and achieve relevance. 

“Thought leadership content for its own sake and created in a silo, away from the overall digital marketing strategy, is only going to yield finite results—not the kind of gains that are possible when it is supported by a brand voice that lends the right emotion to its substance,” says Jocy Fernandez, Head – Creative, Edisol.

Think of brand voice as your messenger. It delivers your content. When thought leadership is amplified by brand voice, you can create deeper, more meaningful relationships with your audience.

While thought leadership content grounds brand voice with a firm foundation, brand voice makes thought leadership content more powerful and accessible to audiences. At Edisol, such synergies are explored through thought leadership content services to help brands discover their niche, dominate it, and communicate it effectively.