Thought leadership is an infinite game. The sooner you understand that and adopt the right mindset to play it, the sooner you’ll position yourself for success.
Thought leadership is an infinite game. Here’s how to survive and thrive when you’re playing it.
A finite game is a game you play to win. There are defined rules, and there’s a clear end. Football, basketball, hockey, chess, and Monopoly are finite games. There are rules, and winners and losers.
An infinite game, on the other hand, is a game that’s played in order to keep playing. The rules change as time goes on. There’s no end to the game until you choose to stop playing.
Business is an excellent example of an infinite game. If you play the game of business, you’ll soon find out that “winners” rarely keep winning, and “losers” don’t always lose. At no point does the game end with participants being deemed winners or losers. Only when they choose to stop playing can we evaluate their overall performance.
Oh, and the rules often change—usually thanks to the introduction of technology. (Hello there, internet, smartphones, social media, AI, etc.)
Thought leadership marketing is an infinite game, as is content marketing generally. Neither game ever stops, nor can you ever really win the game of thought leadership or content marketing. You just keep on playing—hopefully long enough to cement your status as an authority in the eyes of a target audience that’s always in flux, and who might be persuaded one day by a new market entrant that they’re the true authority.
Here’s how to get into the right mindset to play the infinite game of thought leadership in a way that can help you increase your chances of success without getting burned out or frustrated.
Understand you’re playing an infinite game
First, you have to understand that thought leadership is an infinite game. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You’re going to be in it for as long as you care to try to build up your authority and to attract clients. That could be for decades.
This is not a “snap your fingers and it’s done”-type process. It’s going to require time and energy over the long haul. Once you know this, you should be better prepared to play the game.
Realize you’re in the content creation business
Second, because you’re in the thought leadership game for the long haul, you need to understand that you’re a professional content creator. You don’t just provide services to clients as part of your professional responsibilities; you create content.
Thus, the content creation process—ideating, creating, distributing content — should occupy regular spots on your to-do list. Content creation is part of your professional identity and should be part of the work you’re doing day in, day out.
Always be searching for inspiration
Third, as a professional content creator, you should always be hunting for inspiration for future thought leadership content. Consider looking beyond developments in the law, in society, or in the industry you serve for this inspiration.
Are there interactions you’ve had with a business that provide inspiration for thought leadership content?
Is there an experience you had on a family vacation that could inspire a topic to cover in a future article?
When you’re always on the lookout for inspiration, it’ll come to you more easily, which will help you come up with a practically endless supply of potential topics to cover with your thought leadership content.
Study the game of thought leadership
Fourth, on a related point, to play the infinite game of thought leadership well, you’ll need to become a student of the game of content creation.
What are your competitors doing regarding their content creation?
What are larger companies and firms doing?
What are scrappy upstarts doing?
What are companies in different industries doing?
I’m not saying you should copy the content strategies used by shoe companies, beauty brands, or weight loss supplement companies.
But look at trends in content creation. What are the things that you could do to help keep your content fresh and innovative?
Remember, you’re competing against every other content creator for the attention of your target audiences. Just because they’re coming to you for professional content doesn’t mean you’ll be able to get away with creating content that looks like it was from 2009.
Consider your time spent creating thought leadership as an investment in your professional future
Finally, remember that the time you spend ideating, creating, and distributing thought leadership content is an investment in your professional standing and future.
Obviously, there’s a good chance you’re not going to get calls or emails after you publish every piece of content. That’s okay. It doesn’t mean that you should stop.
At any given time, roughly 95% of your target audience won’t be in the market for your services. But, you’re producing content for the 5% of people who are currently looking for your services AND for the 95% of people who will be looking for them someday.
That’s why you’re playing this infinite game. You’re investing in your authority and your credibility expanding over time. You’re also investing in your target audiences recognizing that you’re the person to solve the problems they have when they realize they have those problems.
Succeed at thought leadership by treating it like the infinite game it is
Unlike some forms of marketing and business development, thought leadership is an infinite game. There’s no definitive end, and the rules change, but you need to play the game to keep on playing the game.
To succeed in the thought leadership infinite game, you need to have the right mindset. It can be frustrating at times when you feel like you’re speaking into the void, no one is responding, and your content isn’t resonating, but that’s the nature of an infinite game.
Many people who embark on a thought leadership strategy will call it quits well before they start seeing results because it’s hard to determine if they’re winning or losing.
But if you keep in mind the five considerations I just walked through, you should be able to persevere and play the infinite game of thought leadership long enough to boost your authority and your ability to attract clients—without burning out.
Thinking about bringing on an outside writer to help your law firm strategize and create compelling thought-leadership marketing and business development content? Click here to schedule a 30-minute Content Strategy Audit to learn if collaborating with an outside writer is the right move for you and your firm.