Distribution Is For Being First In The Mind

Growing an audience by writing or talking (podcast, video) is for having distribution. Distribution gives you the ability to put something in front of people’s eyes. It gives you genuine attention.

Advertisers sell distribution—they’ll take your thing and put it in front of people’s eyes. But that is faux distribution. Do you like it when an ad is shoved down your eyes? I don’t. Ad blocker exists for a reason. Genuine attention comes from real audience—people that know, like, and trust you.

Let’s say you’re an unknown creator and you just created something—a product, a piece of essay, an animation video, whatever. Great, you say to yourself, time to share it with the world. But… where, to who? No one trusts or knows you yet. So, you share it on social media by blasting random strangers, and all you get is crickets—or worse, you get blocked. What if you had ten, a hundred, or a thousand people who would be delighted to hear from you? If you had an audience to begin with, the works you release to the world would likely have a better outcome.

Non-obscure creators have distribution—when they talk, people listen. The zero-to-one for internet creators is being out of obscurity.

P.S. A rough way to measure distribution: If you post something then immediately put the phone down, how much do people see it?

P.P.S. Having built a profitable business also gives you distribution.

May 9, 2022