Jordan Ogren

July 26, 2021

The R word that’s more important than reach…

Reach is a lot like cocaine.

Once you get some, you want more. The thirst for another sniff never leaves.

And as you consume more, you realize you can't live off that little 8 ball anymore. You need AT LEAST a 12 ball.

Once you take a break from it, though, you realize the sad truth: The more you took, the more you needed, and the worse you felt.

It's a shitty cycle that makes you never want to do it again. ("Are you speaking from experience, Jordan?" 🤫)

Back to reach.

While it's an easy measurement (views, traffic), how much is it correlated to marketing success?

Is there something better that we could be striving for?

Reach is akin to getting someone to visit your home. If that's all you want, then great.

But what if you're lonely and want them to stay. What metric measures that?

Resonance.

While you can buy reach, you can't buy resonance. It takes work.

Jay Acunzo illustrates the difference between reach and resonance well:

"You can buy traffic for your blog. But you must earn repeat visitors.
 You can purchase downloads for your podcast. But you must earn episode completions.
 You can purchase followers. But you must earn word-of-mouth.
 You can purchase emails. But you must earn replies.
 You can buy initial attention. But you must earn loyal fans."

You earn resonance with your audience. 

Getting people in the door is easy. Getting them to stay is our challenge.

Marketing is not about attention. It's about affinity.

Which are you focusing on with your marketing?

🧠 // JO