Leadwave Content

80% of content teams I speak to don't have a documented content strategy. Honestly, that baffles me. You can't just throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks 🍝 Successful content programs have one thing in common: they’re intentional about 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 they create, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 it’s for, and 𝘩𝘰𝘸 they distribute it. Here’s the 9-pillar content strategy framework we use to help marketing teams create high-performing content: 1️⃣ 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 – If you’re not talking to customers, your content is based on guesswork. 2️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 – Not to copy, but to identify gaps in the market. 3️⃣ 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 – Stay ahead of trends and align with what buyers care about. 4️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀 – Your strategy should dictate topics, not random brainstorming. 5️⃣ 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 – The difference between thought leadership and recycled noise. 6️⃣ 𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘀 – Prioritize what truly matters to your audience. 7️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘀 – Choose the right formats for engagement and impact. 8️⃣ 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 – Because great content without distribution is invisible. 9️⃣ 𝗞𝗣𝗜 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 – If you’re not measuring impact, you’re flying blind. _____ 👉 We currently have two spots left for a free content strategy audit. Get a customized: ✅ Content analysis ✅ Distribution audit ✅ Content strategy plan for 2026 Book your session here before they're gone: https://lnkd.in/e6fv-iix

If I were hired as the VP of Marketing at a B2B company with long sales cycles, here's how I'd build a thought leadership content engine to drive demand: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Before we create a single piece of content, we need to build the foundation: refining the strategic narrative, digging deep into customer interviews and sales calls, and shaping bold, differentiated points of view. Skip this, and you're just doing random acts of content. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘀 Building on our work in Step 1, I’d identify key topics that speak directly to customer pain points and ensure they align with areas where our executives and subject matter experts can confidently contribute. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗠𝗘𝘀 Your executives and SMEs have unique insights and stories that your audience will love. It's also one of the few ways to really differentiate your content. I’d start small and interview max. 3 people each month who have bold opinions and a clear point of view. Don't wing it. Prepare like a journalist. Bad input = bad output. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 The 1-hour interview recordings are content gold. I'd curate the best insights and turn them into: ➝ 1 long-form article ➝ 5 video clips ➝ 8 LinkedIn posts 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱: 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 You can't expect your content to drive results when you're just promoting it with a couple of LinkedIn posts. Content distribution isn’t an afterthought—it determines whether your content will be successful or not. Here's the distribution strategy I'd use: ✅ I'd publish the LinkedIn posts and video clips on the company page, as well as the personal profiles of the executives and SMEs. ✅ After 2 months, I'd start running LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads to promote the LinkedIn posts to our target accounts. ✅ LinkedIn Ads data will help us identify highly engaged companies. Every week, I'd send the sales team a list of highly engaged companies that will help them prioritize the accounts for outreach. This works really well because outreach is much more effective when there’s already strong brand awareness. ✅ After 3 months, I'd launch an employee advocacy program to turn 3 to 5 additional SMEs into a powerful organic marketing channel with massive reach. We can repurpose the content we have already created to fuel the program. _____ 💡 We've just released the Thought Leadership Playbook for B2B Companies With Long Sales Cycles. It's packed with client examples and insights from top-performing campaigns. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eKVGiBms 👉 Want a free content strategy plan for 2026 with tactics that actually work? Book your 30-minute session here: https://lnkd.in/e6fv-iix

“We want to position our subject matter experts as thought leaders, but they don't have time to write,” a Head of Content told me. Here's how we built a thought leadership content engine that generated $14M in pipeline for a B2B SaaS company: Our client sells $180k+ cybersecurity solutions. B2B companies with long sales cycles need a different content playbook. Here's the thought leadership content engine we built: 1. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵: Interviewed their 10 best customers and analyzed 15 recent sales call recordings to uncover key pain points. 2. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 & 𝗣𝗢𝗩: Turned those insights into content pillars and messaging themes. 3. 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Selected 2 executives and 2 subject matter experts and interviewed them once a month. 4. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Created 1 long-form article, 6 video clips, 8 LinkedIn posts, and 1 newsletter from each interview. 6. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Published the content on the personal LinkedIn profiles of the executives and subject matter experts, as well as the company page. 7. 𝗔𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Promoted the top-performing posts with LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads targeting key accounts. 8. 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Shared monthly lists of highly engaged companies from Thought Leader Ads with the sales team to help them book meetings. 10. 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Tracked both quantitative metrics (engagement rate, dwell time) and qualitative signals (comments, saves, booked calls) to refine and scale what worked. Twelve months later: 📈 +$14M in pipeline 📈 +181% follower growth on LinkedIn personal profiles 📈 +77% follower growth on LinkedIn company page 📈 +145% newsletter subscriber growth _____ 👉 For December, we have two spots left for a free content strategy audit. Get a customized: ✅ Content analysis ✅ Distribution audit ✅ Content strategy plan for 2026 Book your session here before they're gone: https://lnkd.in/e6fv-iix

⛔ Most marketing teams are overinvested in SEO and underinvested in executive thought leadership. Here’s how we built a thought leadership program for a B2B SaaS company that became their top-performing campaign of the year: This legal tech company wanted to develop a strong POV on the impact of AI in the legal space. They had several subject matter experts with great insights on the topic, but lacked the time to write and promote content themselves. That's where we stepped in. 1. 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Identified 6 subject matter experts with strong perspectives and conducted 1-hour interviews with each. 2. 𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘀 & 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴: Developed key themes and messaging angles that would resonate with their target audience. 3. 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀: Prepared tailored question sets to uncover engaging stories, insights, and practical examples. 4. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Produced 6 video clips and 8 LinkedIn posts from each interview. 5. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Published content across the personal LinkedIn profiles of the experts and the company page. 6. 𝗔𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Boosted the top-performing posts with LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads targeting key accounts. This playbook is currently generating millions in pipeline for our clients with long sales cycles. Why? ✅ It builds trust at scale ✅ Ungated content outperforms gated content ✅ It positions your experts as industry thought leaders (people buy from people) _____ 👉 Need help creating high-performing content from interviews with your execs & SMEs? Book your free 30-minute strategy session here: https://lnkd.in/eSqakbR8

A VP of Marketing came to us with a familiar story: ⛔ Struggling to get qualified leads ⛔ Random acts of content without a distribution plan ⛔ No thought leadership presence on LinkedIn ⛔ No unique insights or points of view This cybersecurity firm sells $250k+ projects to enterprise clients. B2B companies with long sales cycles need a different marketing approach. Here's the thought leadership content engine we built: 𝟭. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵: Every quarter, we interview 10+ customers and analyze 12+ recent sales call recordings to uncover key pain points. 𝟮. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 & 𝗣𝗢𝗩: We distill those insights into messaging themes and content pillars that resonate with the market 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: We chose the CEO and CISO as our primary thought leaders and run monthly interviews with them. 𝟰. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: From each interview, we produce 1 long-form article, 6 video clips, 8 LinkedIn posts, and 1 newsletter. 𝟱. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Content is published across executive and employee LinkedIn profiles, as well as the company page. 𝟲. 𝗔𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: We boost top-performing posts via LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads targeting key accounts. 𝟳. 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Each month, we share a list of highly engaged accounts with sales to help book qualified meetings. 𝟴. 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: We track both quantitative metrics (engagement rate, dwell time) and qualitative signals (comments, saves, meetings booked) to double down on what’s working. Eleven months later: 📈 +$8.3M in pipeline 📈 +121% follower growth on LinkedIn personal profiles 📈 +66% follower growth on LinkedIn company page 📈 +105% newsletter subscriber growth 👉 Want a free content strategy plan for 2026 with tactics that actually work? Book your 30-minute session here: https://lnkd.in/e6fv-iix

Last week, a VP of Marketing broke down her LinkedIn spend for me: $50k/month on lead gen and $5k/month on brand awareness. Now she's wondering why her pipeline is drying up 🙄 Here's what I told her: When you spend almost your entire budget chasing the 5% of buyers who are in-market today, you ignore the 95% who will be in-market over the next 6-24 months. 80% of B2B buyers already have a shortlist before they ever speak to sales. And when that moment comes, the only thing that matters is: Did they remember you? Were you in their consideration set? Did your content build enough trust and familiarity over time? That’s what real marketing does. It builds trust at scale. It builds top-of-mind awareness. It positions your company as the go-to authority. If you're just focusing on pushing gated whitepapers and webinars to drive MQLs, you're setting yourself up for failure. Metadata published a report analyzing $37M ad spend on lead gen campaigns. The result: only 0.2%(!) of MQLs converted to closed-won deals. That means you need 500 leads to acquire a new customer—which is painfully inefficient given the average cost per lead of $123. So why has traditional lead gen become so ineffective? It's because buyer behavior has significantly changed over the past few years: 1. Buyers now prefer to educate themselves at their own pace, diving deep into content to find solutions to their challenges (without giving up their email address or phone number in a lead form). 2. The buying journey has become more dynamic and unpredictable, with dark social channels playing a crucial role in how buyers gather information. 3. Buying committees have nearly tripled in size over the past decade, leading to longer sales cycles and a greater need for multiple touchpoints. 👉 Based on our work with 70+ clients, we've published the Thought Leadership Playbook for B2B Companies With Long Sales Cycles. It's packed with client examples and insights from top-performing campaigns. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eKVGiBms