Creating content worth publishing
What we control are (A) whether or not we pay attention to and pursue our curiosity, (B) whether or not we create consistently, and (C) whether not we approach our work with confidence, so we can stop holding back from what we're trying to say and how we're trying to say it.
Jay Acunzo • Do Your Ideas Pass the Permanent Ink Test?
What is this piece of content going to do? The before and after of consuming your content should change at least one of three things:
Think, feel, do
The way someone thinks about something.
The way someone feels about something.
The way someone does something.
It's time we reframed this work to see it more clearly. We're not creating content. We're developing IP. We are not an experts. We are investigators.
Jay Acunzo • A Prompt from John Mulaney: How to Come Up with Better Ideas for Content in Less Time
The people with followings, or those gatekeepers at the publications, events, email newsletters, blogs, journals, broadcasts, and accounts have three unique qualities when it comes to sharing your work (or writing about you, inviting you to their event, including your link in their newsletter, etc):
- They’re driven by incentives to earn engagement
Rand Fishkin • Who Will Amplify This? And Why? - SparkToro
Content adds strategic value when it equips the reader with a new conceptual framework, a new first principle, or a new perspective.
Cassie (former VP Operations at Animalz) • The Content Value Curve - Animalz
“When you can’t talk to your audience, eavesdrop. The way they ask for and share advice reveals their pain points and the words they actually use.”
Rosanna Campbell • Audience Research Tips from Real Content Marketers
How do you really feel? You don't need to be the foremost expert. You simply need to be more honest.
Your power starts with your willingness to turn inward, cut past what others expect from you, tear down the walls that inhibit you, and merely speak your mind. Openly. Passionately. Most won't. But that's your opportunity. [Jay Acunzo]
I’m trying to achieve narrative-market fit, which I see as deeply understanding your market of readers to figure out what questions they have that you can answer, and finding what fits.
In building a media platform, that’s one of the most important things: knowing what questions you are responsible for answering, and which ones you are credible... See more
In building a media platform, that’s one of the most important things: knowing what questions you are responsible for answering, and which ones you are credible... See more
Chris Gillespie • The Path to Narrative-Market Fit—A Conversation with Christine Deakers of Bessemer — Fenwick
Start with empathy and curiosity to understand your audience:
What do they care about?
How much do they already know?
What influences them?
What topics do they devour online?
What do they want answers to?
What’s holding them back?
What situations are causing them a lot of pain?
What are all the things they struggle to figure out?