This summary is provided by the IPR Behavioral Insights Research Center

Edelman and LinkedIn conducted their sixth annual study examining how thought leadership influences buying behaviors among B2B decision-makers and C-suite executives. Thought leadership was defined as content that offers expertise, guidance, or a unique point of view on a topic or in a field. This content included thought pieces, essays, webinars, live presentations, and research reports that organizations make available to the public for free.

An online survey of 3,484 global business executives was conducted in December 2023.

Key findings include:

1.) 54% of C-suite respondents (i.e., company owners, partners, and founders) said they spend an hour or more reading thought leadership content per week.
2.) 73% of company executives said an organization’s thought leadership content is a more trustworthy assessment of its capabilities compared to marketing materials.
3.) 75% of all respondents said thought leadership content led them to research a product/service they weren’t previously considering.
— 60% of company executives said this content made them realize their organization was missing out on a significant business opportunity.
— 23% said they began buying or working with that organization who produced the thought leadership.

Read the original research here

Heidy Modarelli handles Growth & Marketing for IPR. She has previously written for Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, The Next Web, and VentureBeat.
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