Why People Ignore Your Content, Thoughts on Niching Down, and Being a Copycat

10 Tactics Thursday: Should you niche down? How to create content consistently? And life updates.

Hey there, friend! 😄

Welcome to issue #2 of Duka’s Desk Newsletter!

Here are 10 ideas I learned and curated this week from Brendan Kane, Tony Robbins, and Austin Kleon.

The format is a little bit different because they are 10 content tactics that don’t work today and what you should do instead. That being said, enjoy reading!

1. Niching down too much — Brendan Kane, author of Hook Point, found that contents that go viral are broad. For example, Ryan Serhant is real estate guy. But he gave his audience a tour in the world’s largest closet (this went viral). Go broad with marketing. Go specific when you sell. 

   

   Brendan Kane | brendanjkane.com

2. Not sharing concrete examples — Tony Robbins said that the best teachers relate something new to what we already know. That’s why we all love analogies and metaphors. Examples make your teaching points real and actionable. 
   

3. Being a content copycat  — Austin Kleon on his book Steal Like An Artist wrote that “if people wonder at apples, go wonder at oranges.” This is a flowery way of saying “be different.” Package your content in a different way— with a story, an unusual example, or in a different angle. 
   

4. Too rigid and one dimensional — We all hate boring content. How to not be boring? People vibe with Gary Vaynerchuk on a deeper level because he shares something outside his business content. People know he’s a New York Jets fan, garage-saling enthusiast, etc. Share more of who you are! 
   

5. Focusing on creating great content alone — People do judge the book by its cover. If your title or headline sucks, people won’t read the rest of what you wrote. I learned this the hard way — packaging matters!
   

6. Not dedicating 30–60 mins per week to ideate — Creators who thrive are not necessarily smarter than us. They just have a process that work. And what’s common is that they intentionally generate ideas on a weekly basis — which is the secret to never run out of content ideas. 
   

7. Assuming your content strategy is great without proper research — Graham Cochrane in his book, points out that we shouldn’t waste time building a product no one cares about. This is where research comes in. It’s inefficient to reinvent the wheel and test instead of making time for audience research (their frustrations and goals).
   

8. Thinking people want a quarter-inch drill instead of a quarter-inch hole — This quote from Theodore Levitt is so famous, yet we still forget about it. People crave actionable takeaways more than ever. Benefits over features.

   

   Photo of Theodore Levitt | uxdesign.cc

9. Not doing guest posts — Successful writers seek publications and newsletter shoutouts. YouTubers get big by becoming guests to podcasts with bigger audience than them. Guest posting is the secret to hack rapid audience growth. 
   

10. Not researching enough about your topic — Brendon Burchard became the “High-Performance” guy, not because he’s an expert when he began. But because he read hundreds of books about his domain. He suggests that creators should claim and master their topic. Why? Because that’s how you get paid with the big bucks.

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What’s New, John? 🤔

It’s been a tough and challenging week. Lots of project planning and big events in our Church for this month.

What I learned is that even though life feels overwhelming at times, it’s about finding that time to reset and set your “feelings” goals again. How do you want to feel today despite of the projects in your plate? Be clear.

I’m also experimenting with some IG this week! Check it out here.

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Community Corner 🤳

DM/chat me your two cents about this issue! Substack rolled out this new feature called “chat” and I’m excited to have a conversation with you as a subscriber of my newlsetter.

Let’s chat! 😄

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Thanks for reading! 🎉

Also, what was your favorite part? Let me know by dropping me a reply for better content in the future.

See you next Thursday!
John Duka