As people trust less and spend cautiously, brands need more than flashy campaigns to get their share of wallet. Ben van Rooy, CEO and director of brand strategy at Human Digital, makes the case for thought leadership as a strategic way to earn trust and grow influence.
A few months ago in Cannes, I bumped into Eugene Healey. Chances are you’ve heard of him – he has over 20,000 followers on LinkedIn (and 400k+ more on Instagram and TikTok) and has established himself as one of the most interesting and respected voices in marketing.
I’d followed his work for a long time, but meeting him in person made something click for me. We were standing in the lobby of the Carlton hotel, having a simple conversation, and I realised just how much impact one person can have when they consistently show up with substance.
Eugene had shaped thinking across the industry, including mine, long before we’d ever met. Seeing that firsthand cemented something for me; great thought leadership doesn’t just inform an audience, it can lift an entire category.
This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, as we’re in an environment where people have become increasingly distrustful of companies. A recent report found 75 per cent of Australian consumers trust companies less than they did a year ago.
In a time when trust is declining, authenticity is under scrutiny, and budgets are being tightened, strong thought leadership has suddenly become one of the most cost-effective brand-building tools we have. And most organisations aren’t using it properly, if at all.
Thought leadership isn’t a ‘LinkedIn strategy’ – it’s a trust strategy
Let’s get one thing out of the way. Thought leadership isn’t just writing a clever post on LinkedIn or having your CEO film a video once a quarter. While those are both activities you may choose to do, a robust thought leadership strategy should be far more ambitious than that.
It’s about showing up consistently as a human who understands the space you work in, has something valuable to offer and is willing to give value openly – without immediately trying to sell something. It’s about teaching, decoding, humanising and contextualising what’s happening in your world.
Today’s audience craves realness, not polish. They want perspective, not corporate messaging. They want someone who sounds like a person, not a brand template or an AI chatbot. In a low-trust environment, that human presence does something a brand can’t do on its own: it makes the company feel knowable.
Another significant misunderstanding about thought leadership is the notion that it should be centred on your product. It shouldn’t.
If you want to build long-term brand credibility, talk about the category instead. Talk about the industry shifts, the emerging patterns, the mistakes everyone’s making and the opportunities no one is seeing. Talk about why your space is changing, what customers are really dealing with, what businesses are missing, or what your years in the field have taught you.
This works in both B2B and B2C, by the way. In the B2B space, it can help you establish expertise and earn you a seat at the decision-maker table. In B2C, it can build familiarity and position your brand as the guide in the category, rather than just another option on the shelf.
When people learn from you, they start trusting you. When they trust you, they start remembering you. And when they remember you, they’re far more likely to buy from you – even if you never mentioned the product.
But let’s be clear about expectations: thought leadership isn’t a quick-win tactic. It’s a compounding investment. You’re not chasing conversions in week one, you’re building the credibility that makes conversions easier in month 12.
That’s why it’s so important to understand you can’t just post twice and go viral. Thought leadership is brand-building – you’re investing in your future.
Budgets are tight – which is precisely why thought leadership works
Every marketer is being asked to justify spend. Brand budgets are often the first to get trimmed, and long-term investments lose out to short-term performance activity because they promise immediate results.
But here’s the irony: thought leadership is one of the only brand-building channels that becomes more powerful when budgets are tight.
It doesn’t require a million-dollar production crew or six months of planning. It involves a point of view and a willingness to show up consistently. That’s it. Because so few leaders are comfortable being visible, especially on camera, the competitive landscape is remarkably open. Showing your face, your personality and your actual expertise is almost a differentiator by itself.
The distribution is also practically free – especially if you’re smart about repurposing content across different channels. Video, in particular, has a unique ability to humanise your message. People watch your expressions, hear your tone and sense your authenticity in ways that text alone can’t convey.
And because the barrier to entry is low, even small teams or individual leaders can make a significant impact. You don’t need a production crew or a polished studio – just a clear point of view and the courage to show up.
The result is twofold. First, you’re building trust in a low-trust world by putting a real human in front of the brand. Second, you’re creating a compounding asset: every piece of content that resonates can be repurposed, boosted or referenced in future campaigns, which extends its value far beyond the initial effort.
Thought leadership isn’t a side project or a nice-to-have anymore. It’s a strategic advantage hiding in plain sight.
If trust is low and budgets are slim, the questions every organisation should be asking is: Who is the human voice that will make our brand feel real, credible and worth listening to? And how do we give them the platform to lead?
Now is the time to invest in that human voice, because the brands that do will be the ones people trust and remember.
