I finally have my first win to share with you.
I made a video titled Barbie’s Marketing Team Made a Stupid Mistake and it has gotten ~9.5 thousand views on TikTok.
And the video I posted last night: How to Do Content Marketing like Bugatti has close to 4,000 views right now.
These view counts sound fairly decent, considering my largest view count was around ~700 before this.
I would absolutely LOVE to only share these wins with you…
BUT… it would be entirely disingenuous of me to only share the wins.
Because I’ve had so many more losses along the way.
It’s more like 500 losses to 5 wins 😂 (maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration 😉).
So, today I want to share my Wins and my Losses with you.
There were more losses than I anticipated.
I will break this article into 2 sections:
- The 3 Lessons Learned From Creating Content, and
- The 3 Things it Takes to Create Content that Gets Traction
Part 1 — The 3 Lessons Learned From Creating Content
1. There is No Place for Ego Here
For starters, I didn’t realize how much my ego would get invested in the desire to appear successful — both in my content and in front of you.
Didn’t want to admit that I am struggling (just like anyone else).
The reason I told you I’m going to build a brand a few weeks ago was to add external pressure and accountability on myself.
It worked.
It got me hustling and making sh*t happen fast.
BUT… the downside of it was that the results did not come as quick!
And in the absence of results — and being one stubborn man — I did not want to admit that I was losing.
Main Takeaway: Getting my ego entangled in my desire to succeed had zero impact on creating any positive results. If anything, it probably prevented me from being humble enough to learn how to improve sooner.
2. I Couldn’t Sustain the Work of Building 2 Separate Channels at Once
I was building two channels:
- Small Business Marketing Secrets, and
- Integrated Masculine Man
In all honesty, I enjoyed created the masculinity content more.
I speak from my being when I create masculinity content.
BUT… I had to drop this channel because of a few reasons:
- I couldn’t see a path forward.
- It felt more like “here’s my take on this topic” vs. a "here's my knowledge" channel
- I was burning out
- It was having a negative impact on my ability to be a team player
- I couldn't keep up with both channels and my day-to-day tasks
These are just some of the reasons. I’m sure there were a lot more.
But the thick and thin of it all is that I needed to cut down my workload and focus on Doing One Thing Well.
Main Takeaway: Don’t sign checks with your mouth, you a*s can’t pay for 😂
3. Authenticity
You don’t have to be ultra successful but you do need to know what you’re talking about.
This was something I realized during one of my recording sessions.
I’m not sure exactly what I was recording, but I had a thought flash in my mind and I asked myself “wtf am I even saying right now?”
I watched the video from that recording session and I could clearly tell that I didn’t believe in what I was saying at all.
I didn’t feel proud of my own work.
The moment I had that realization, I vowed to change everything.
And I did.
I’ve been much happier with my newer content because it is more accurate to what I think, who I am, and what I believe.
Main Takeaway: I don’t care if anyone else likes what I say, but I — myself — need to like and respect what I’m saying. It's important to me, even if it doesn't matter in the long run.
Part 2 — The 3 Things it Takes to Create Content that Gets Traction
I am assuming here that if you’re creating content, you have some subject matter expertise — or at least knowledge.
This assumption is baked into what I’m saying here.
1. Clarity in Communication
“If you confuse, you lose.”
— Donald Miller, Author of Building a StoryBrand
The viewer must be able to effortlessly understand what we’re saying.
Donald Miller says that our customers will not burn calories trying to figure out what we’re talking about.
Clarity in Communication is first and foremost for any form of content creation.
If we can’t clearly express ourselves, then it doesn’t matter what we’re saying…
…because nobody would understand us anyways.
The purpose of communication is to be understood.
Not to show off our knowledge or sound smart.
When our viewers and listeners can easily understand us, we have clarity in our communication.
Main Takeaway: Clarity is the bedrock for any for of communication, including content.
2. A Visual Hook
This can be anything that’s visually interesting, appealing, or eye-catching.
For example: Most fitness influences are extremely fit and, often, visually appealing to look at.
They themselves are the visual hook of their content.
This extends far beyond fitness content as well.
Some notable examples:
Chris Williamson
A model-like, handsome man who has a killer podcast.
Sadia Khan
A gorgeous, intelligent psychologist and creates content around relationships.
Andrew Huberman
Always in his signature black shirt and is one of the smartest people alive.
Joe Rogan
UFC commentator, podcaster, comedian. His hook is his podcast studio
Lex Fridman
Computer scientist, MIT Researcher, podcaster. Always in his signature suit
Joey Swoll
Leader of the Gym Positivity movement, jacked beyond belief
Now these are examples of people who have attained massive success with their content…
BUT… they all have some form of visual hook that captures their viewers.
In the constant barrage of content that is thrown our way...
...having a visual hook is important to give you that extra second (or two) from a viewer before they swipe away from your video.
The visual hook I have is the one I learned from Shane.
Shane helped me create a compelling shot that looks 3D with a proper lighting setup.
It makes my videos look professional.
If that wasn’t the case, and my videos looked like a webcam or a selfie-cam video… they would be easy to skip.
An analogy is being an attractive individual.
Attractive people turn heads wherever they go.
BUT… their attractiveness doesn’t make up for a poor personality.
You can be a beautiful woman or a handsome man… but if your personality sucks, you’re not going to attract good partners.
A visual hook is similar.
It will get us through the door, but if we don’t have something interesting to say, people will move on.
Main Takeaway: Your videos need a visual hook to give you that extra second of attention before someone swipes away.
3. Have a Polarizing Take on a Recent Event (Trend Hopping)
After points 1 and 2, I believe this is the reason why my Barbie video really got traction.
My take on it was purely from a marketing perspective.
Which is EXACTLY what my channel is about.
BUT… feminists took me criticizing the marketing of the movie to mean that I am criticizing the movie itself.
And I think their rage kind of helped boost the views of my video.
I want to be clear here:
I do NOT support rage-bait or hateful content for the sake of views.
Watch my video before you think that I resorted to any hate / rage-bait tactics.
I didn’t.
The main thing I’d say is that the Barbie movie is a hot topic right now and I was able to “catch the wave” so-to-speak.
In whatever capacity.
The formula here would be:
- Find a trending topic
- Figure out a hot take. A polarizing take on this topic as it relates to your world.
- And, release this ASAP!! Speed of execution matters immensely here.
Main Takeaway: Trend-hopping works! And it is worth testing further.
Conclusion + Next Steps
First and foremost, thank you to everyone who’s been following this series all along.
I really appreciate you guys and I appreciate the fact that I’m able to publicly screw up hahaha.
Jokes aside, I’ve received personal emails and spoken to you guys as well, and the support you guys show me means a LOT to me.
Thank you so much.
For next steps, I am going to put my theory of Polarizing Takes on Trending Topics to the test.
The next video that I’m working on is Twitter rebranding to X and how it’s a terrible idea to flush 15 years of brand equity down the drain.
I still haven’t fully developed my take on this, but I’m working on it.
Either way, thank you again for joining me today.
Hope you have a fantastic weekend.
Cheers,
Abhi
Hi Abhi thank you for being so authentic. Keep on going.
Why i write the comment: how do you create this 3d effect?
Your videos look like a hollywood production 😀
BTW, one german colleague does also marketing content, and what works best for him (he does it every 5 or 6 reels) is storytelling + very controversial and polarising. Like “When my friend asks me if I can help him to relocate I just say no and give him money to hire somebody to move (…)”
Or “study economics is bullshit. Why? (…)”
It seems unfair, you provide so much value but these videos don’t really take off. If you have more reach, they will convert.
Best, Erik
Thank you Erik! I appreciate your kind words 🙂
Re: how do you create this 3d effect?
The background has a purple light shining on it. It is about 1 meter away from me. The second light is angled onto the right side of my face and the main softbox light is shining on me from the left side of my face / body.
That’s what creates the 3D-depth effect.
Also, I’ve learned there is an element of Quality AND Consistency with content. So far I’ve been able to do each but not both together well enough. But I am changing that now.
Personally, I think it’s a matter of time.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Abhi
Thank you!