There are two important components to thought leadership: development and dissemination. Unfortunately, most marketers are developing and disseminating thought leadership in an ad hoc manner. Marketers need to get serious about process if they want thought leadership to lead to better business outcomes. What they need is a thought leadership development and dissemination supply chain, including an idea development network.

This survey report looks at each portion of the supply chain in detail, showing the current state of thought leadership practice, as well as the next steps for successful thought leadership.

Key Findings

• Marketers say thought leadership is important or critical to winning business and buyers agree
• Few companies have formal processes for thought leadership development as well as dissemination
• Quality of thought leadership is dependent on cooperation from the business
• The metrics of thought leadership aren’t aligned with the goals

Study Methodology

• Online Web-based survey
• Survey invitations were emailed during October 2010 to ITSMA member and non-member companies
• 151 representatives from 90 companies responded
• ITSMA analyzed the data by:
  • Company type (sells products and services or primarily services)
  • Annual revenue (less than $250M, $250–999.9M, $1–4.9B, $5B or more)
  • Processes (primarily formal processes, mix of processes, and primarily ad hoc processes)

If your company is on the above list, please send us an email (using your company email) and request your free report. Orders will be processed the next business day.

This report is available for sale at member and nonmember prices.

• See if your company is an ITSMA member
• Email ITSMA for more information