A consultant close to retirement might create thought leadership content because they want to leave a legacy. A leader of a mature firm might want to influence how their industry operates. Those goals are legitimate. But if you’re a working consultant building or sustaining your own business, you might have a different goal. For you, part of the point of thought leadership is to win clients.
What a lead finds when they look you up
Suppose someone meets you at a conference, hears you on a podcast, or a former client shares your name. Before they get in touch, they search for you online. What do they find on your website?
You might have 20 years of experience in supply chain risk, say. Your website has a bio, a services page, and a couple of blog posts on random topics. The lead reads for two minutes, learns nothing about how you work, what you believe, or whether you could solve their problem. The lead's questions go unanswered, and they bounce. They don’t send a message; they don’t book a call.
What a buyer needs to know before hiring you
Before a lead gets in touch, they're usually asking questions along these lines:
~ Will you understand my particular problem?
~ Would your approach work in my situation?
~ What results have you gotten on similar problems?
~ What would it be like to work with you?
~ How long would it take?
~ Why is your way of solving the problem different from someone else's?
~ Would the investment in your services be worth it?
~ Will the results last after the end of the engagement?
You probably answer these questions on discovery calls and do a great job of demonstrating your expertise and what it would be like to work with you.
But a lead who hasn't yet booked a call can get answers only from what you've published. Your thought leadership content makes the case for working with you 24/7, before you get on the call. And leads that are already warmed up are an easier sell.
Give each article one job
Don’t choose topics based on what you’re inspired to write about. Choose topics based on what a prospect needs to understand before they'll feel confident hiring you. The examples below are for our hypothetical supply chain consultant.
Answer a question prospects ask repeatedly. E.g. "What does a supply chain risk assessment include, what do I need to provide, and how long will it take?"
Address an objection. E.g. "Our suppliers already pass audits. Why would I pay for another review?"
Explain your process. E.g. An article about "What happens in the first 30 days of an engagement" helps a lead picture working with you.
Show how you think. E.g. An article on "How I decide which risks to fix first" demonstrates your judgment to a prospect.
What makes you different from your competitors belongs in these articles, but ensure your difference gives the lead a reason to believe it makes you more able to solve their problem. So explain why your unusual approach or your unique perspective is relevant to the outcome the client wants.
How the articles work for you
Once an article exists, it can be used in various ways:
~ A lead looks you up and finds a detailed answer to their question on your site.
~ You email a lead an article that addresses an issue they raised over coffee.
~ An old client has something concrete to pass along (such as an article explaining your process) to a contact they want to refer to you.
~ Poor-fit leads rule themselves out before booking a call, saving time on both sides.
~ Your contact at a potential client firm gives one of your articles to a hidden decision-maker you never meet.
If you’re skeptical about the influence of thought leadership content on hidden decision-makers, read the 2025 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report. It found that hidden buyers are nearly as likely as target buyers to use thought leadership to evaluate a vendor. If your contact has to persuade a CEO or a finance director, your article can make the case to hire you when you're not in the room.
The articles work on leads you get from referrals, networking, speaking engagements, LinkedIn, and so on. The point isn’t attracting cold traffic from the internet. Any traffic that does come is bonus, but SEO — search engine optimization — isn’t the goal.
A small, focused, collection
You don’t need to blog forever, and you don’t need a massive collection of articles. There’s a limited number of questions prospects ask before hiring you, so a small collection of substantial articles can cover them. This is likely to be between 12 and 20 articles. I call this your Thought Leadership Signature Collection. When your articles cover all the necessary questions, you can stop writing. And then use your collection indefinitely.
You’re busy, but you can write the articles at whatever pace suits your schedule. Speed matters in one respect only: an article can't help you turn more leads into clients until it's published.
Where to start
Write down the questions prospects ask before they hire you, including the ones you read between the lines. Add misconceptions you keep correcting and objections that come up on discovery calls. Especially the objections that mean people don’t hire you when they should, if only you’d responded to them. Each item is a candidate article. Don’t shy away from the hard questions.
It'll take work to create your Thought Leadership Signature Collection. But that effort is the moat separating thin, generic drivel that anyone with a ChatGPT account can generate from your serious, helpful content that persuades more leads to get in touch.
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Zena Ryder is a B2B copywriter, journalist, and content marketing strategist who’s run her own business since 2018. She has a PhD in philosophy and has interviewed hundreds of subject matter experts. She helps experienced solo consultants create their Thought Leadership Signature Collection, making their expertise easier to buy.
