How to Create Content That Builds a Business

TL;DR

Educational content builds a business more effectively when it changes the behavior of the specific people the business is best suited to serve. Entertainment may attract more viewers, but the creator’s data showed that those viewers did not become book buyers, email subscribers, or portfolio applicants at an appreciable rate, so clear packaging, credible introductions, and audience-specific teaching matter more than raw views.

Transcript

So, I see content in three buckets. On one extreme, you've got entertainment, which is the entire point of entertainment, just to define the term, is to get people to watch. The only point of the entertainment is to just get people to consume it. That's it. If it accomplishes that, it has succeeded. On the other side, you have education, where the ... Read More

Key Insights

• Content categories are defined by their most common audience outcome, not solely by the creator’s intention. A piece is entertainment when most people consume it for viewing pleasure, education when it changes behavior, and edutainment when it commonly combines both outcomes.
• Education succeeds when it changes what someone does in a relevant situation. If a person receives instruction and subsequently responds differently when the same situation occurs, learning has taken place, making behavioral change a more meaningful measure than attention alone.
• All views are not equally valuable to a business. The creator compared views with book sales, email opt-ins, and applications to become portfolio companies, finding that audiences attracted by educational material produced more of the business outcomes he wanted.
• Entertainment viewers do not reliably become education consumers. The creator’s experience indicated that people who wanted entertainment generally sought more entertainment, while people interested in education sought additional education, with little crossover at a rate substantial enough to build a business around.
• Audience comments can misrepresent the needs of an ideal customer. Positive reactions to entertaining styles came from viewers who were not necessarily the business owners the creator was best equipped to help, so feedback had to be interpreted according to audience fit.
• Clear packaging helps qualified viewers identify relevant content. A thumbnail and headline that plainly communicate a blueprint from zero to a million give viewers a better basis for clicking than vague imagery that does not reveal what the material actually covers.
• Curiosity is not the only effective reason to click. When packaging states exactly what the content provides, people who want that result can select it and receive what they expected, aligning the promise with the substance rather than concealing the topic.
• Educational introductions should increase the perceived likelihood of receiving the promised result. The creator distinguishes this need from merely confirming a sensational entertainment headline, arguing that tactics learned from major entertainers do not always transfer directly to educational business content.
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Questions & Answers

Q: What are the three types of content?

The three categories are entertainment, education, and edutainment. Entertainment primarily succeeds by getting people to watch and consume. Education succeeds when it changes what someone does in a relevant situation. Edutainment aims to teach and entertain simultaneously. Because different viewers can react differently to the same piece, its category should reflect the outcome experienced by most of its audience.

Q: How does educational content help build a business?

Educational content attracts people who actively want to learn and change their behavior. In the creator’s data, those viewers were more likely than entertainment-oriented viewers to buy books, join an email list, or apply to become portfolio companies. Its business value therefore came from audience relevance and subsequent action, not simply from generating the largest possible number of views.

Q: Why are all content views not equally valuable?

Views come from people with different intentions, so identical view counts can produce different business results. The creator evaluated content through book sales, email opt-ins, and portfolio applications and found that educational viewers better matched his intended customers. A view from someone seeking practical business knowledge was consequently more useful to his goals than one generated solely by entertainment.

Q: Do entertainment viewers become educational customers?

The creator’s experience suggests that entertainment viewers do not become educational consumers at an appreciable rate on which he would build a business. People attracted to entertainment generally wanted more entertainment, while people attracted to education wanted more education. His book sales, email subscriptions, and portfolio applications did not support the usual funnel assumption that a broad entertainment audience naturally moves toward instruction.

Q: How should creators identify the right target audience?

Creators should compare audience reactions with the people they are best equipped and most interested in serving. Comments alone can be misleading because enthusiastic viewers may not resemble ideal customers. In this case, the intended audience consisted of business owners and people interested in business, particularly those who wanted to educate themselves, so their needs had to guide content decisions.

Q: How should titles and thumbnails package educational content?

Educational titles and thumbnails should clearly communicate what the audience will receive. The creator contrasts vague packaging about an unspecified rule with imagery that visibly represents a blueprint from zero to a million. Clear packaging helps interested viewers recognize the subject before clicking and increases the chance that the delivered material will match what they expected to receive.

Q: Why can clear packaging work better than curiosity?

Clear packaging allows people who already want a particular result to identify and select relevant content. The creator rejects the assumption that every headline must withhold information to manufacture curiosity. When a title or thumbnail plainly states the subject and the content delivers that exact subject, the viewer’s expectation and experience are more closely aligned from the beginning.

Q: What content changes can better serve business owners?

The creator identifies five tactical areas for serving business owners more directly: packaging, introductions, the main substance, visuals, and pre-work. Packaging should become clearer, and introductions should provide proof that increases the viewer’s confidence in receiving the promised result. Together, these changes shift production away from broadly appealing styles and toward material designed for the intended business audience.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Content can produce three primary outcomes: entertainment gets people to keep watching, education changes what people do, and edutainment attempts both. The category of a piece should be determined by its most common audience outcome, since the same material can educate one person while merely entertaining another person.

• The creator’s business data challenged the common idea that entertainment naturally feeds viewers into educational content. Entertainment-oriented viewers generally wanted more entertainment, while education-oriented viewers wanted more education. Book sales, email opt-ins, and portfolio applications therefore made educational views more valuable for this particular business than a larger volume of entertainment views.

• Serving the intended audience requires changes to packaging, introductions, substance, visuals, and preparation. Titles and thumbnails should move from vague curiosity toward clear promises, allowing qualified viewers to recognize relevant material. Introductions should then increase confidence that the promised result will be delivered, particularly when the audience expects practical business education.