10 Thought Leadership Examples for Tech Companies to Learn From

Content plays a critical role in your thought leadership image, no matter how big or small your business is. For tech companies, thought leadership is even more complicated as it’s more than just putting out an authoritative piece of content.

Edelman and LinkedIn’s survey on the impact of B2B thought leadership shows that companies that come up with timely, thought-provoking thought leadership content are much more successful at drawing customers’ attention and turning that into a positive outcome. Thought leadership content not only helps boost your reputation but also helps increase RFP invitations, close deals, raise prices or average order value (AOV), and cross-sell existing customers.

However, pushing just about any thought leadership content is not a one-way ticket to success. Executed poorly, it may backfire and lead to missed opportunities.

In this article, I will give you the best thought leadership examples from 10 different technology sectors. Learn from these examples, and feel free to replicate the strategies used here.

1. IoT

Internet of things (IoT) is the biggest industry buzzword and a vast market with exponential growth potential. But if you simply write about IoT, it’s hard to get media hits and eyeballs. That’s why you are better off targeting a specific, narrow sub-segment, such as IoT security. Here is an exceptional thought leadership example titled ‘You Are the Biggest IoT Security Threat,’ which used this tactic and succeeded in getting published. In this piece, the author highlights how product managers compromise security over the company’s potential bottom line and how end consumers are oblivious to personal security.

2. Green Tech

With more and more people choosing to embrace eco-efficient technologies while more companies join the global push to decarbonize industries altogether, green technology continues to show immense market potential moving forward. One way to write a noteworthy article for green tech is to address relevant industry issues. In this thought leadership example titled ‘340,000 Reasons to Choose In-Situ Remediation Instead of Ex-Situ and Mass-Transfer,’ the author references a global problem and builds a story around that. He also uses a clever play with the number of contaminated sites, putting it at the front of the headline to make a more compelling case about solid and groundwater remediation procedures.

3. Telecom

Writing an authority piece of content is not limited to what your company is doing or has achieved and learned over time. Another way to get an extra spin for your thought leadership story is to refer to a popular public figure. Like what the author of the article ‘New Tricks Needed to Stop the €45 Billion Counterfeit Smartphone Market’ did, who referenced Alibaba founder Jack Ma for his efforts in pushing the Chinese government to implement stricter regulations against fake handset devices.

4. Predictive Analytics

A textbook case of thought leadership articles is the use of recent industry developments to highlight their impact. The author of the story ‘Could Predictive Analytics Help Tesla Drop the Cost of the Battery Pack’ combines two tactics. First, it refers to the world’s most famous tech entrepreneur Elon Musk to give the research project an extra spin. And second, it includes an in-depth calculation about the EV battery pack economics on a global scale. The story ended up on the pages of dozens of media outlets and was well-received by the global tech media.

5. Quality 4.0

Coming up with an informative article about popular topics is tricky because they are much harder to break through. Industry 4.0, for instance, is a saturated topic that a new generic information-laden piece would just drown in the sea of other Industry 4.0 articles. With the amount of information available on the web, yours might just end up like everyone else’s. This is where you can use niche topics to your advantage. The thought leadership article ‘Quality 4.0: The 3 Most Important Technologies for Manufacturers’ explores the breadth and depths of Quality 4.0, an off-the-beaten subcategory of Industry 4.0. The article takes over an emerging niche topic and scores a nice headline on an online trade magazine for manufacturing.

6. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence is another broad, highly saturated topic that can be difficult to crack. Despite that, a little twist on the headline can sometimes make wonders for an advanced, in-depth topic, such as this one: ‘Can Artificial Intelligence Give the MVNO Business Model Wings?’

7. Video-on-Demand (VoD)

The disruption that VoD and similar business models have done provides countless ideas worth sharing. The story ‘Just Three Months to Stop SVOD Subscriber Churn’ is a quintessential thought leadership example wherein the author outlines how companies can find success in this business model. The article’s headline ties urgency and a promise well together, putting the short customer onboarding period at the center.

8. Digital Identity

Another quintessential thought leadership example is a foreshadowing of the industry’s future. In the story ‘Is Mobile Login the Future for Digital Identity,’ the author gives an analysis and predictions about what’s coming for the digital identity solutions market, which is booming. Everybody knows the privacy problems in social media services. Still, most of us cannot live without them. This thought leadership story links an underlying digital identity technology with this burning issue.

9. Industry 4.0

Reducing business costs is one area that so many businesses can improve on, making it a golden opportunity for discussion. This is what the author brought into play for the article ‘Factories Can Save Up to 90% in Valve Monitoring Costs with Wireless IoT Sensors.’ The headline is the epitome of the phrase, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is not.” However, the meat of the article truly embodies the headline. As a result, it scored massive success among industry media worldwide.

10. Supply Chain

Addressing a specific geographic location is not new in thought leadership. Some topics have to be written in other languages for at least two reasons — to ensure authors get their points across and to get the best bang for one’s PR buck. The story ‘From Offshoring to Rightshoring: Transforming Manufacturing in Three Easy Steps’ outlines the challenges the industrial supply chain industry faces in English and German to address a key market.

In Summary

It’s easy to come up with thought leadership topics that are of great interest to your target audience. However, wrapping them into an insightful, thought-provoking storyline that also meets editorial guidelines is time-consuming. The good news is you can always look for a seasoned technology-focused marketing agency to handle your thought leadership content needs.

Grip Agency is a B2B technology marketing agency led by yours truly. With years of experience and hundreds of successful publications worldwide, we can get your story written and published at reputable outlets within 2 weeks.

Ready to talk about becoming an industry thought leader? Book a FREE 30-minute clarity call with me now!