2 April 2019: Today, FT Marketing Services unveils a new study into how thought leadership influences the behaviour and commercial decision-making of C-level executives and wider business leaders.
The original study, conducted by Longitude, a specialist provider of thought leadership services and part of the Financial Times Group, aims to determine how senior business audiences discover, engage and act on data-led branded content and the impact this has on their buying habits and perceptions of the brands that create it.
From a survey of 1,000 respondents, the study shows that quality of thought leadership can lead to direct commercial outcomes, with 98% of CIOs say that the quality of the content shown to them during the sales process influences their decision on awarding a deal. Five out of six executives say that they’ve been influenced to do business with the brand producing the content and, overall, 87% of responders say that it plays a vital part of the sales process.
“It’s clear, based on this study, that when credibly researched thought leadership is well-conceived and properly executed, it can be a really powerful tool in the marketing toolbox,” said Jon Slade, chief commercial officer for the Financial Times. “As this type of marketing proliferates, it's very clear that quality - in terms of the research and the presentation - will become increasingly central to how it performs.”
“Companies that create thought leadership are all competing for the attention of a very small pool of influential business leaders,” says Rob Mitchell, chief executive officer of Longitude. “To gain traction, they have to generate original, thought-provoking insight and create content that stands out from the crowd. Provided they can do this, they have the opportunity to gain real influence on commercial decisions at the top table.”
More information about the research can be found here.
- end -
For more information, please contact:
Katrina Fedczuk
katrina.fedczuk@ft.com
+1 917-551-5093
About the Financial Times
The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading business news organisations, recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. The FT has a record paying readership of one million, three-quarters of which are digital subscriptions. It is part of Nikkei Inc., which provides a broad range of information, news and services for the global business community.
About FT Marketing Services
FT Marketing Services is an end-to-end commercial offering from the FT Group. It integrates the capabilities of the Financial Times’ advertising department and FT Live with Alpha Grid and Longitude to create compelling and effective C-Suite targeted campaigns, from strategy to execution.