In 2024, most content marketing programs focus on driving results through delivering value. These programs achieve these critical goals by meeting users where they are, creating connections, and directly supporting buying activities.

As the buying journey grows in complexity, marketers must adapt and develop various content supporting multiple goals and buying tasks. Blog articles and thought leadership pieces are two examples of owned media essential in connecting with users and driving engagement or conversions.

Let’s start with the main differences between blogging and thought leadership before discussing how both support a strong content marketing program.

What’s the Difference Between Blog and Thought Leadership Content?

Many businesses think they’re creating “thought leadership” pieces when they’re simply blogging, or vice versa. If you’re confused about which is which, that’s okay because they share attributes. Both are valuable to your audience, but key differences exist in how they’re written and used.

Here’s an easy way to distinguish the two:

Blog writing is more research-intensive, and blog articles are more like news articles.

Thought leadership content builds on this research, containing strong opinions from trusted sources and experienced industry leaders, evoking fresh ideas and pushing readers to use their knowledge in determining whether these ideas are valuable.

What Is Blogging?

With 77% of internet users reading blogs, blogging is short-form content where brands can get their voices heard and create meaningful initial connections with their target audience.

What Does a Blog Post Look Like?

Blog posts typically share these characteristics:

• The content is short and topical. Blog writing concisely answers a specific question in fewer words.
  
  
• Blogs rely on SEO and keyword strategy to target a precise intent. Users find an answer and then move on to the next step in their content consumption journey.
  
  
• Most brands with blogs publish new posts regularly. Producing short-form content means adopting an active publication strategy and providing users with fresh content weekly.
  

• Blogs connect your site. They’ll often have archives, tags, categories, search boxes, and other features that support content discovery.
  
  
• Blog formatting emphasizes readability. Users can skim a blog post and get the main takeaway. You’ll often see short paragraphs, headers, bullet points, and images.

Blogging Strategies and Benefits

With blogging, the goal is fulfilling an immediate search query while preparing the user for the next step in their content consumption journey. A successful blog post will often grab the reader’s attention, answer their question, and introduce a new idea or suggestion.

The focus is often on users in the buying journey’s early stages because these short-form pieces are easily read and are ideal for generating awareness and interest.

As a user progresses along their buying journey, additional blog posts can create a series of brief but meaningful touchpoints that cement their image as a reliable provider of valuable information.

Additional strategies include:

• Developing personalized content through user personas. Blogging is a cost-effective way to target multiple groups at scale.
  
  
• Using a call to action (CTA). Brands with blogs generate 67% more leads on average. Incorporating strong calls to action can turn your blog posts into an effective lead-generation channel.
  
  
• Reading short pieces of content keeps users engaged. They don’t require a lot of time and effort. Sharing blog posts via email or social media is an effective way to re-engage users.
  
  
• Adopting a consistent publication strategy turns blogging into a tool. It builds your online presence, increasing your brand’s visibility and gaining a larger share of voice while targeting trending topics.

What Is Thought Leadership?

With blogging, the defining concept is the platform where your brand publishes content and the associated format. Thought leadership takes many forms and happens on multiple channels. Still, these pieces share a common goal: Establishing your brand’s experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.

How Do You Build Thought Leadership?

Thought leadership pieces share vital characteristics:

• Thought leadership creates conversation. Authentic thought leadership is rarely, if ever, accomplished in just one article. The content tends to be long, deeply explores concepts, and establishes connections between ideas.
  
  
• It uses more direct formats. The formats can include long-form articles, white papers, case studies, research papers, videos, and webinars.
  
  
• Their publication is less frequent. These pieces require a significant amount of time to put together.
  
  
• Principle figures and key influencers create thought leadership content. It often comes from executives, industry experts, and other individuals with extensive backgrounds.
  
  
• These pieces build your credibility. Thoroughly researched industry insights and crucial data points paint a larger picture of your company’s position in the industry and lend credibility to it.

The Benefits of Thought Leadership Content

While blogging increases awareness and generates engagement at the beginning of the buying journey, short-form pieces often fail to address the increasing complexity of the modern buying journey. As a user gets closer to making a buying decision, they’ll often perform advanced buying tasks and seek content that matches a higher level of sophistication.

Thought leadership provides actionable insights during the advanced stages of the buying journey. In fact, 48% of marketers agree that thought leadership drives sales.

Here, actionable insights and unique ideas come together to deliver value and differentiate your brand. The benefits extend beyond conversions and sales when thought leadership guides your brand image and reputation. Some professionals even describe thought leadership as the new PR.

On a broader scale, thought leadership supports long-term goals by increasing awareness of issues affecting your industry, proposing solutions, and fostering change at the industry level.

Developing a Strong Content Marketing Strategy Using Blogging and Thought Leadership

Blogging and thought leadership are crucial components of a successful content marketing strategy. Instead of developing these two types of content separately, you should emphasize connected touchpoints and consider how users can progress from short-form blog posts to longer pieces.

Creating a content strategy can be challenging due to the in-depth nature of thought leadership and the publication frequency of blogging. It’s where a managed services provider like Tempesta Media can make a difference.

Tempesta Media offers a unique solution that enhances your content creation capabilities by giving you access to innovative tech tools, an account manager overseeing your digital marketing efforts, and a team of augmented experts who can craft high-quality blog posts and thought leadership content.

Learn more about our Bullseye Effect solution and how it creates value for organizations like yours!