Content is not free.

Just because you can post it for free or email it to 100 people doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost you anything.

There’s the production cost. Whether it’s your time writing an article or paying someone to edit your podcast, creating content costs money and time.

There’s also the opportunity cost. Rather than shooting that video for 30 minutes, you could have been cold calling or talking with a current customer.

Finally, there’s the consumption cost. This is the cost for your audience to consume your content. If it’s a 20-minute read, that’s $10 you just cost your audience ($30 an hour = $10 every 20 minutes).

Note: This cost only increases the higher your target audience is on the org chart. ($250 an hour = $83 every 20 minutes).

While this final cost seemingly is not yours to worry about, I believe it heavily impacts you, not in financial terms but reputation terms.

If I continue to collect consumption costs without feeling like I’m improving or being entertained, I’ll unsubscribe. I will be unlikely to recommend you as I do not want others to accrue the costs I did.

If you do not see these inherent but somewhat intangible costs, you will fail to become more intentional with your content creation.

While these costs are minuscule for a solo creator, they start to ramp up when you create content for a company.   

And this is why you need to become aware of these costs, minimize them where possible, and become more intentional with your content.

Because if you don’t, you’re wasting your money and your audiences.

🧠 + ❤️ // JO