Attention Pyramids
Attention Pyramids
Attention Pyramids
Attention Pyramids
Attention Pyramids
As a creator, it’s impossible to control the outcome of your work.
What you must control though, aggressively, is your time and how you funnel it into various channels.
At the beginning of my creator season, I went all-in on short-form video. It was the only channel where I was making content for about 9 months.
I did this because it had the fastest feedback loop, best chance to grow a large following (for brand deal optics) and, as I believed at the time, was the best visual medium for sharing my ideas.
I know a lot more about the content landscape now.
A short-form only strategy will not get me, or anyone I know, where we want to go.
Take a look at this chart, I call it “The Pyramid of Attention”
I’ve mapped each of the popular content channels against 4 factors…ease of attention, views, depth, and likelihood to purchase.
Ease of attention and views are directly correlated with each other. Channels like Twitter and Short-form video are the easiest to pull high views.
But depth and likelihood to purchase are inversely correlated with ease of attention/views, meaning it’s generally easier to get someone to purchase or build deep fandom from content at the bottom of the pyramid than it is at the top.
Now, before I break this down, let me be clear…I’ve seen people win with every combination of these blocks.
Twitter only, books only, the full set of all of them, etc.
There are a million ways to win, and on an infinite time horizon, with infinite effort and max leverage, they’ll all work.
However, what I’m after, is the optimal strategy.
The strategy that gives me the best chance to win based on my natural talent, audience niche, content style, etc.
Instead of giving advice on what you should do, I’ll walk through my general approach and how I’m thinking about it:
Short-form only leads to super high views, big followings and $500K-$1M/year of mostly brand deals and affiliates, but will cap out there and slowly degrade over time (btw, this is great for some most people)
Podcast only leads to super high depth, a potentially huge following, but will take 5-10 years minimum. Could be $5-$10M/year at peak (in theory higher if you look at Rogan)
Medium/long-form YouTube is the best mix of helping you build depth while also not taking a decade to see results
Most of the creators with massive net worths are YouTubers. There are exceptions of course (especially in podcasting), but long-form YouTube has been the magic zone for the past few years. Side note: that doesn’t mean it will continue to be the magic zone for the next few years, but I’m bullish on it
But the question I’ve been thinking about lately is, “How do I add gasoline to my YouTube fire?”
It’s worth noting that the pyramid is mud on the way down and escalators on the way up.
What I mean is that it’s much harder to get people to funnel down the pyramid than up.
For example, if someone consistently watches your short-form videos, it’s hard to get them to jump to YouTube or podcasts…we’ve seen this first hand with the wknds podcast.
On the other side, if they discovered you through a channel at the bottom of the pyramid, it’s much easier to get them to check out your other channels above.
So given that, a failed strategy that most people rely on, is expecting to drive a high volume of people from short-form videos to YouTube/Podcasts. It just doesn’t work well.
That means, you need to gradually stairstep people down the pyramid at a slower pace.
The short-form video → email newsletter and then email newsletter → YouTube/podcast is a much more effective route.
And that’s my strategy…use short-form video exclusively to funnel people to my email newsletters (Blueprint and now, wknds on Mars).
I’ll reference YouTube videos and podcasts within my short-form content through stories and make a Reel every now and then, but the primary focus is to activate through the email list.
Once people are on the email list, I should have an easier time getting them to the higher depth content, because they’re consuming information via email at a much slower pace (i.e. more willing to click links and pursue rabbit holes)
In addition, I’ll be launching a free community for creators and entrepreneurs to share everything I know about content, marketing, and growth. This should also help build a stronger bridge between the top of the pyramid and the bottom. More on that next week.
The funny thing is, the content at the bottom of the pyramid (wknds podcast, my personal YouTube videos, etc.) is actually higher value content than anything at the top, but it takes way more work to get people to find it.
This is my current strategy based on what I’m seeing. As always, things may change with new information.
If you’re a creator and have thoughts on this (in support or against), please reply and let me know where your head is at.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.
Attention Pyramids
As a creator, it’s impossible to control the outcome of your work.
What you must control though, aggressively, is your time and how you funnel it into various channels.
At the beginning of my creator season, I went all-in on short-form video. It was the only channel where I was making content for about 9 months.
I did this because it had the fastest feedback loop, best chance to grow a large following (for brand deal optics) and, as I believed at the time, was the best visual medium for sharing my ideas.
I know a lot more about the content landscape now.
A short-form only strategy will not get me, or anyone I know, where we want to go.
Take a look at this chart, I call it “The Pyramid of Attention”
I’ve mapped each of the popular content channels against 4 factors…ease of attention, views, depth, and likelihood to purchase.
Ease of attention and views are directly correlated with each other. Channels like Twitter and Short-form video are the easiest to pull high views.
But depth and likelihood to purchase are inversely correlated with ease of attention/views, meaning it’s generally easier to get someone to purchase or build deep fandom from content at the bottom of the pyramid than it is at the top.
Now, before I break this down, let me be clear…I’ve seen people win with every combination of these blocks.
Twitter only, books only, the full set of all of them, etc.
There are a million ways to win, and on an infinite time horizon, with infinite effort and max leverage, they’ll all work.
However, what I’m after, is the optimal strategy.
The strategy that gives me the best chance to win based on my natural talent, audience niche, content style, etc.
Instead of giving advice on what you should do, I’ll walk through my general approach and how I’m thinking about it:
Short-form only leads to super high views, big followings and $500K-$1M/year of mostly brand deals and affiliates, but will cap out there and slowly degrade over time (btw, this is great for some most people)
Podcast only leads to super high depth, a potentially huge following, but will take 5-10 years minimum. Could be $5-$10M/year at peak (in theory higher if you look at Rogan)
Medium/long-form YouTube is the best mix of helping you build depth while also not taking a decade to see results
Most of the creators with massive net worths are YouTubers. There are exceptions of course (especially in podcasting), but long-form YouTube has been the magic zone for the past few years. Side note: that doesn’t mean it will continue to be the magic zone for the next few years, but I’m bullish on it
But the question I’ve been thinking about lately is, “How do I add gasoline to my YouTube fire?”
It’s worth noting that the pyramid is mud on the way down and escalators on the way up.
What I mean is that it’s much harder to get people to funnel down the pyramid than up.
For example, if someone consistently watches your short-form videos, it’s hard to get them to jump to YouTube or podcasts…we’ve seen this first hand with the wknds podcast.
On the other side, if they discovered you through a channel at the bottom of the pyramid, it’s much easier to get them to check out your other channels above.
So given that, a failed strategy that most people rely on, is expecting to drive a high volume of people from short-form videos to YouTube/Podcasts. It just doesn’t work well.
That means, you need to gradually stairstep people down the pyramid at a slower pace.
The short-form video → email newsletter and then email newsletter → YouTube/podcast is a much more effective route.
And that’s my strategy…use short-form video exclusively to funnel people to my email newsletters (Blueprint and now, wknds on Mars).
I’ll reference YouTube videos and podcasts within my short-form content through stories and make a Reel every now and then, but the primary focus is to activate through the email list.
Once people are on the email list, I should have an easier time getting them to the higher depth content, because they’re consuming information via email at a much slower pace (i.e. more willing to click links and pursue rabbit holes)
In addition, I’ll be launching a free community for creators and entrepreneurs to share everything I know about content, marketing, and growth. This should also help build a stronger bridge between the top of the pyramid and the bottom. More on that next week.
The funny thing is, the content at the bottom of the pyramid (wknds podcast, my personal YouTube videos, etc.) is actually higher value content than anything at the top, but it takes way more work to get people to find it.
This is my current strategy based on what I’m seeing. As always, things may change with new information.
If you’re a creator and have thoughts on this (in support or against), please reply and let me know where your head is at.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.
Attention Pyramids
As a creator, it’s impossible to control the outcome of your work.
What you must control though, aggressively, is your time and how you funnel it into various channels.
At the beginning of my creator season, I went all-in on short-form video. It was the only channel where I was making content for about 9 months.
I did this because it had the fastest feedback loop, best chance to grow a large following (for brand deal optics) and, as I believed at the time, was the best visual medium for sharing my ideas.
I know a lot more about the content landscape now.
A short-form only strategy will not get me, or anyone I know, where we want to go.
Take a look at this chart, I call it “The Pyramid of Attention”
I’ve mapped each of the popular content channels against 4 factors…ease of attention, views, depth, and likelihood to purchase.
Ease of attention and views are directly correlated with each other. Channels like Twitter and Short-form video are the easiest to pull high views.
But depth and likelihood to purchase are inversely correlated with ease of attention/views, meaning it’s generally easier to get someone to purchase or build deep fandom from content at the bottom of the pyramid than it is at the top.
Now, before I break this down, let me be clear…I’ve seen people win with every combination of these blocks.
Twitter only, books only, the full set of all of them, etc.
There are a million ways to win, and on an infinite time horizon, with infinite effort and max leverage, they’ll all work.
However, what I’m after, is the optimal strategy.
The strategy that gives me the best chance to win based on my natural talent, audience niche, content style, etc.
Instead of giving advice on what you should do, I’ll walk through my general approach and how I’m thinking about it:
Short-form only leads to super high views, big followings and $500K-$1M/year of mostly brand deals and affiliates, but will cap out there and slowly degrade over time (btw, this is great for some most people)
Podcast only leads to super high depth, a potentially huge following, but will take 5-10 years minimum. Could be $5-$10M/year at peak (in theory higher if you look at Rogan)
Medium/long-form YouTube is the best mix of helping you build depth while also not taking a decade to see results
Most of the creators with massive net worths are YouTubers. There are exceptions of course (especially in podcasting), but long-form YouTube has been the magic zone for the past few years. Side note: that doesn’t mean it will continue to be the magic zone for the next few years, but I’m bullish on it
But the question I’ve been thinking about lately is, “How do I add gasoline to my YouTube fire?”
It’s worth noting that the pyramid is mud on the way down and escalators on the way up.
What I mean is that it’s much harder to get people to funnel down the pyramid than up.
For example, if someone consistently watches your short-form videos, it’s hard to get them to jump to YouTube or podcasts…we’ve seen this first hand with the wknds podcast.
On the other side, if they discovered you through a channel at the bottom of the pyramid, it’s much easier to get them to check out your other channels above.
So given that, a failed strategy that most people rely on, is expecting to drive a high volume of people from short-form videos to YouTube/Podcasts. It just doesn’t work well.
That means, you need to gradually stairstep people down the pyramid at a slower pace.
The short-form video → email newsletter and then email newsletter → YouTube/podcast is a much more effective route.
And that’s my strategy…use short-form video exclusively to funnel people to my email newsletters (Blueprint and now, wknds on Mars).
I’ll reference YouTube videos and podcasts within my short-form content through stories and make a Reel every now and then, but the primary focus is to activate through the email list.
Once people are on the email list, I should have an easier time getting them to the higher depth content, because they’re consuming information via email at a much slower pace (i.e. more willing to click links and pursue rabbit holes)
In addition, I’ll be launching a free community for creators and entrepreneurs to share everything I know about content, marketing, and growth. This should also help build a stronger bridge between the top of the pyramid and the bottom. More on that next week.
The funny thing is, the content at the bottom of the pyramid (wknds podcast, my personal YouTube videos, etc.) is actually higher value content than anything at the top, but it takes way more work to get people to find it.
This is my current strategy based on what I’m seeing. As always, things may change with new information.
If you’re a creator and have thoughts on this (in support or against), please reply and let me know where your head is at.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.
Attention Pyramids
As a creator, it’s impossible to control the outcome of your work.
What you must control though, aggressively, is your time and how you funnel it into various channels.
At the beginning of my creator season, I went all-in on short-form video. It was the only channel where I was making content for about 9 months.
I did this because it had the fastest feedback loop, best chance to grow a large following (for brand deal optics) and, as I believed at the time, was the best visual medium for sharing my ideas.
I know a lot more about the content landscape now.
A short-form only strategy will not get me, or anyone I know, where we want to go.
Take a look at this chart, I call it “The Pyramid of Attention”
I’ve mapped each of the popular content channels against 4 factors…ease of attention, views, depth, and likelihood to purchase.
Ease of attention and views are directly correlated with each other. Channels like Twitter and Short-form video are the easiest to pull high views.
But depth and likelihood to purchase are inversely correlated with ease of attention/views, meaning it’s generally easier to get someone to purchase or build deep fandom from content at the bottom of the pyramid than it is at the top.
Now, before I break this down, let me be clear…I’ve seen people win with every combination of these blocks.
Twitter only, books only, the full set of all of them, etc.
There are a million ways to win, and on an infinite time horizon, with infinite effort and max leverage, they’ll all work.
However, what I’m after, is the optimal strategy.
The strategy that gives me the best chance to win based on my natural talent, audience niche, content style, etc.
Instead of giving advice on what you should do, I’ll walk through my general approach and how I’m thinking about it:
Short-form only leads to super high views, big followings and $500K-$1M/year of mostly brand deals and affiliates, but will cap out there and slowly degrade over time (btw, this is great for some most people)
Podcast only leads to super high depth, a potentially huge following, but will take 5-10 years minimum. Could be $5-$10M/year at peak (in theory higher if you look at Rogan)
Medium/long-form YouTube is the best mix of helping you build depth while also not taking a decade to see results
Most of the creators with massive net worths are YouTubers. There are exceptions of course (especially in podcasting), but long-form YouTube has been the magic zone for the past few years. Side note: that doesn’t mean it will continue to be the magic zone for the next few years, but I’m bullish on it
But the question I’ve been thinking about lately is, “How do I add gasoline to my YouTube fire?”
It’s worth noting that the pyramid is mud on the way down and escalators on the way up.
What I mean is that it’s much harder to get people to funnel down the pyramid than up.
For example, if someone consistently watches your short-form videos, it’s hard to get them to jump to YouTube or podcasts…we’ve seen this first hand with the wknds podcast.
On the other side, if they discovered you through a channel at the bottom of the pyramid, it’s much easier to get them to check out your other channels above.
So given that, a failed strategy that most people rely on, is expecting to drive a high volume of people from short-form videos to YouTube/Podcasts. It just doesn’t work well.
That means, you need to gradually stairstep people down the pyramid at a slower pace.
The short-form video → email newsletter and then email newsletter → YouTube/podcast is a much more effective route.
And that’s my strategy…use short-form video exclusively to funnel people to my email newsletters (Blueprint and now, wknds on Mars).
I’ll reference YouTube videos and podcasts within my short-form content through stories and make a Reel every now and then, but the primary focus is to activate through the email list.
Once people are on the email list, I should have an easier time getting them to the higher depth content, because they’re consuming information via email at a much slower pace (i.e. more willing to click links and pursue rabbit holes)
In addition, I’ll be launching a free community for creators and entrepreneurs to share everything I know about content, marketing, and growth. This should also help build a stronger bridge between the top of the pyramid and the bottom. More on that next week.
The funny thing is, the content at the bottom of the pyramid (wknds podcast, my personal YouTube videos, etc.) is actually higher value content than anything at the top, but it takes way more work to get people to find it.
This is my current strategy based on what I’m seeing. As always, things may change with new information.
If you’re a creator and have thoughts on this (in support or against), please reply and let me know where your head is at.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.