Why B2B buyers can’t tell you apart, and how thought leadership fixes it.
Here’s a test worth trying: take your latest blog post, remove your logo, and ask a colleague whether it could belong to any of your competitors. If the answer is yes, you have a differentiation problem.
This isn’t about poor writing or lazy marketing. It’s about everyone following the same playbook. When your competitors use identical AI tools, publish similar content, and make the same claims about being “client-focused” and “results-driven,” the outcome is predictable.
Buyers can’t tell you apart, so they choose based on price.
In fact, the perception gap is wider than you think. 71% of B2B marketers believe they communicate a distinct brand position, yet 68% of buyers say brands “roughly act and sound the same” (Dentsu, 2024).
Marketers think they’re differentiated. Buyers see sameness.
Table of Contents
- Why B2B Content Differentiation Fails
- B2B Thought Leadership: From Nice-to-Have to Survival Requirement
- Three Qualities That Make B2B Thought Leadership Stand Out
- How to Create Distinctive B2B Content That Converts
- B2B Thought Leadership FAQs
- Why B2B Content Differentiation Is Now Non-Negotiable
Why B2B Content Differentiation Fails
Why should an IT company’s website look and feel like every other IT company’s website? Does it serve any purpose, or has it simply been created because that’s what all IT websites look like?
The same question applies to cybersecurity firms, financial advisors, and professional services providers across every sector. When buyers have already reviewed fifteen near-identical websites today, yours becomes forgettable the moment they click away.
Research from Ipsos and JKR tested 5,046 brand assets from 523 brands with over 26,000 respondents globally. Only 15% achieved “gold standard” distinctiveness, meaning assets that immediately and uniquely brought the brand to mind. Logos performed at 19%, mascots at 16%, colour at just 4%, and slogans at a mere 6% (Ipsos/JKR, 2023).
If visual brand assets struggle to stand out, what does that suggest about content, where differentiation depends entirely on insight and perspective?
The Momentum ITSMA Value of Thought Leadership 2025 report highlights the scale of the issue; 59% of B2B buyers report seeing almost identical content from at least two different providers (Momentum ITSMA, 2025). When more than half your audience can’t distinguish your thinking from your competitors’, you’re not building authority. You’re adding to the noise.
B2B Thought Leadership: From Nice-to-Have to Survival Requirement
In B2B, thought leadership isn’t a nice-to-have marketing exercise. It’s how buyers assess whether you understand their world before they’ll trust you with their business.
The stakes are higher than most marketers realise, too. 99% of senior B2B executives say thought leadership is important or critical when assessing providers. Yet 56% say they won’t work with a provider whose thought leadership is poor, and 73% wouldn’t recommend them to colleagues (Momentum ITSMA, 2025).
Poor content doesn’t just fail to win business; it actively repels it.
But all is not lost, and the upside is equally compelling. The 2024 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report found that 75% of decision-makers say thought leadership has led them to research a product or service they weren’t previously considering. Among those who engaged with standout content, 23% subsequently awarded business to the organisation that produced it (Edelman-LinkedIn, 2024).
Meanwhile, 60% of global B2B decision-makers say they’re willing to pay a premium for organisations that provide valuable thought leadership. And 70% of C-suite executives have questioned their current provider after encountering superior thought leadership from a competitor (Edelman-LinkedIn, 2024).
For B2B SMBs competing on expertise rather than scale, this defines the difference between growth and stagnation. When your content becomes indistinguishable from competitors, buyers default to the cheapest option.
Want the complete methodology? Download our whitepaper today
Our whitepaper, Brand Survival in the Age of AI, explores how expert-led content creates lasting differentiation for B2B brands, including the three qualities that differentiate B2B content to make your next thought leadership article uniquely yours.
Three Qualities That Make B2B Thought Leadership Stand Out
Before publishing your next piece, test it against these three qualities.
Distinct: Does it sound unmistakably like you? Could this content appear on any competitor’s website without anyone noticing? If a generic manufacturing company’s website looks like every other manufacturing company’s website, it’s probably not distinct. And if your content follows the same pattern, neither is your thinking.
Resonant: Does it address challenges you genuinely understand? Content that tackles problems you’ve actually solved builds authenticity competitors can’t replicate. Deep subject knowledge is a starting point, but your specific experience and perspective are what make content unique.
Memorable: Will it still generate value in one to three years? If you’re constantly replacing content because nothing has staying power, you’re on a treadmill, not building compound authority. Content that needs constant replacement functions like social media: high effort, low lasting impact.
B2B Thought Leadership in Practice: Distinctive Assets that Create Differentiation
We’ve seen these principles work in practice.
For one IT services client, we developed a thought leadership content series culminating in a whitepaper. The campaign generated such strong lead flow that we had to throttle activity because their team couldn’t process enquiries fast enough.
For a cybersecurity client, a regular newsletter covering industry trends, core concepts, and challenges built a loyal audience that fed directly into their lead generation activities over time.
The common thread: content that reflected experience they’d actually earned, not generic advice anyone could give.
How to Create Distinctive B2B Content That Converts
When it comes to creating distinct and memorable thought leadership, AI can be a strategic ally and not a threat. To use AI to produce distinctive thought leadership requires these three foundations.
Quality data as input
Generic AI produces generic output. When you train content creation on your brand’s specific knowledge, methodologies, and voice, the result is harder for competitors to replicate. Feed AI your distinctive perspective, and it becomes an amplifier. Feed it nothing specific, and you get content that sounds like everyone else.
Human judgement at decision points
AI excels at execution, but humans provide the directional guidance that keeps content aligned with your brand. Without oversight, content slowly diverges from your intended positioning until you’re producing material that no longer sounds like you. The brands that stand out will be those using AI to amplify expertise, not replace it.
Enduring value focus
The question isn’t “How many pieces can we publish?” It’s “What will this be worth in three years?” A well-maintained thought leadership programme builds compound authority. Each piece strengthens your position as the obvious choice in your category.
Download our whitepaper, Brand Survival in the Age of AI, for our full methodology on how to create thought leadership that differentiates your brand.
B2B Thought Leadership FAQs
What does thought leadership mean in B2B marketing?
Thought leadership in B2B refers to content that demonstrates genuine expertise and an original perspective on industry challenges. Unlike product-focused marketing, thought leadership helps buyers understand trends, rethink assumptions, and make better decisions. Research shows 73% of B2B buyers consider thought leadership more trustworthy than traditional marketing materials when assessing a company’s capabilities (Edelman-LinkedIn, 2024).
What are examples of effective B2B thought leadership content?
Effective B2B thought leadership includes original research reports, expert commentary on industry trends, case studies showing methodology rather than just results, and content series addressing specific challenges your audience faces. The common thread: content that reflects experience you’ve actually earned, not generic advice anyone could give. Strong examples challenge assumptions rather than confirm what readers already believe.
How does thought leadership support marketing product differentiation?
Thought leadership is often the primary vehicle for B2B product differentiation since buyers research extensively before engaging sales teams. When your content addresses challenges only you deeply understand, it becomes harder for competitors to replicate. This creates sustainable differentiation that pricing alone cannot provide, helping you command premium positioning rather than competing on cost.
What is strategic thought leadership and how does it differ from content marketing?
Strategic thought leadership ties directly to business outcomes and brand positioning rather than just traffic or engagement metrics. It’s intentional about what you want to be known for, serves specific stages of the buyer journey, and builds compound value over time. Where regular content marketing might chase keywords and volume, strategic thought leadership focuses on fewer, higher-quality pieces that strengthen your position as the obvious choice in your category.
Why is B2B content differentiation a survival requirement for SMBs?
For B2B SMBs competing on expertise rather than scale, undifferentiated content leads directly to commodity pricing. When buyers can’t distinguish between providers, they default to the cheapest option. Research shows 56% of buyers won’t work with a provider whose thought leadership is poor, and 73% wouldn’t recommend them to colleagues (Momentum ITSMA, 2025). In professional services, where credibility equals revenue, forgettable content can undo years of trust-building.
Why B2B Content Differentiation Is Now Non-Negotiable
Blending in is no longer an option when 99% of buyers say thought leadership matters to their decisions, yet only 26% rate the brands they engage with as excelling at it (Dentsu, 2024).
That gap represents both a warning and an opportunity. Over the next 12 to 24 months, brands previously considered unremarkable will start standing out through original thinking and experiential quality. When anyone can ask an AI tool a general question and get a general answer, there’s no point creating content around general topics. It has to be different. It has to be new.
The commoditisation risk is real and urgent. 72% of senior marketers fear generative AI will make all thought leadership identical (Momentum ITSMA, 2024), while 59% of buyers already report seeing almost identical content from multiple providers. That convergence is already happening.
If you’re producing content that could sit on any competitor’s website, you’re adding to the noise, not cutting through it. Thought leadership is the difference between being chosen and being compared on price.
Ready to build content that actually stands out?
Let’s discuss how distinctive thought leadership can work for your brand. No generic pitch, just a conversation about your specific challenges.
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