I spent a lot of days in very competitive industries, where it was always a “zero-sum game.” If somebody bought from me, they either wouldn’t or couldn’t buy from my competition.
We could label that as some sort of rough ’n’ tumble business practice, or simply recognize that’s the way it is with a lot of things.
What’s nice about Thought Leadership is that it is rarely this cutthroat. Sure, there are winners and losers, but it’s a “winner takes most” sort of an environment where a buyer almost certainly chooses multiple providers.
Think about the last subject you really got interested in. Did you only get information about it from one website? Have you only purchased one book about a subject you are passionate about?
Of course not!
You buy everything you can that you think will be worth your time.
Thought Leadership followers are the same way. They don’t just learn and buy from one source.
This is a piece of very good news. A buyer is a buyer.
This means you can turn your competition into cooperative partners.
It means that if you have a way of targeting buyers from a similar Thought Leader, you have a good chance of capturing their customers as well.
It means that if you can help another Thought Leader serve their audience well, you can rest assured that their smartest customers are going to swim upstream and search you out.
So don’t be afraid of competition in thought leadership. In fact, you should take it as encouragement that other people have been able to build an audience of similar followers.
If you are a Thought Leader that wants to learn more about the business side or the persuasive aspects of Thought Leadership, fire up your browser and go to You Can Be A Thought Leader. When you get there, register for my free daily Thought Leadership emails, where you will learn tactics and tips like this every day.