Content unit - Three component

The Core Framework: Audience-Growing Content

To grow an audience, content must do one thing: reward the people consuming it.
The 3 Prerequisites for Reward
A person can only be rewarded by content if they:
1. Have a reason to consume it.
2. Pay attention long enough to consume it.
3. Get that reason satisfied.
The 3 Actions for Creators
To achieve the outcomes above, creators must perform three specific actions.
This is the "Hook-Retain-Reward" loop.StageActionDefinition1) HookGet
AttentionGet them to notice your content.2) RetainKeep AttentionGet them to
consume the content.3) RewardSatisfySatisfy the reason they consumed it to
begin [Link] Content Unit: The smallest amount of material required to hook,
retain, and reward attention. It can be as small as an image, a meme, or a single
sentence.
Note: Great content (like viral tweets or jingles) accomplishes all three steps at the
same time.
Deep Dive: Phase 1 - The Hook
The Objective
To give the audience a reason to redirect their attention from whatever they are
doing towards you.
• Measurement: Effectiveness is measured by the percentage of people who start
consuming your content.
• The Reality: This is a competition. You have to beat every alternative they have
to win their attention. Make yourself the best option.
How to Increase Hooks
You maximize the percentage of people who choose your content by optimizing
three elements:
1. Topics: Picking subjects they find interesting.
2. Headlines: Giving them a specific reason to click/read.
3. Format: Matching the format of other content they already like.
Selecting Topics: The Power of Personal Experience

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 Strategy: Use personal experiences.
Why: There is only one of you. The easiest way to differentiate yourself is to say
something no one else can say because no one else has lived your life.
The 5 Topic Categories
1. Far Past
2. Recent Past
3. Present
4. Trending
5. Manufactured
A) The Far Past
Concept: Share important past lessons ("wisdom") from your life.
Guideline: "Give them the story without the scar." Connect the wisdom to your
product or service to provide value.
Example: The "I don't have enough time" Epiphany
• Context: A personal lesson where the author broke the belief that they lacked
time.
• The Content Breakdown:
1. Hook: Complained to a friend about lacking time while glued to the phone.
2. Retain: The friend yanked the phone away and looked at the usage. It
showed 3 hours per day on social media.
3. Reward: The friend looked back and said, "Hey, I found you some time."
• Why it works: It is a simple story about a struggle many people experience (time
management). The epiphany connects to the author's business (helping people
start/grow businesses).
B) The Recent Past
Concept: Do stuff, then talk about what you did (or what happened).
Where to look: Check your calendar for the last week. Look at meetings, social
interactions, and conversations with warm reach-outs.
The Insight: "There's gold in these conversations." Tell stories from them that
serve your audience.
Example: The Marketing Rule of Thumb
• Context: A tweet derived from a meeting with a portfolio CEO who was copying
offers everyone else in the market was making.
• The Content:Alex Hormozi:
"As a marketing rule of thumb: If everyone else is doing it, don't do it."

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 Content Topics (Continued)
1. Leveraging the Recent Past (Notes & Testimonials)

Recording: To avoid subpar results, take notes, make recordings, and keep
records to create a "free, easy, and valuable stash of content" that is easy to
access.

Testimonials & Case Studies: These fall into this category. If you tell a cool
client story in a way that provides value to the audience, you achieve a "win-
win": promoting your services while providing value.

2. Present Topics

Strategy: Write down ideas at the exact time they come to you.

Execution: Always keep a recording method within arm's reach. It is

acceptable to pause meetings to text, email, or note an idea; people do not
mind if you say you are taking notes.

The Benefit: This creates a "bucket of fresh stories" to work with when it is
time to create content.

Public Notetaking (Example): Instead of keeping ideas private, tweet them

publicly as they happen. If a post performs better than normal, it indicates the
topic is interesting, signaling you should make more stuff on that topic.

3. Trending Topics

Strategy: "Go where the attention is." Look at what is trending right now and
make content about it.

Execution: Apply your own experiences to the trend. If you have relevant
commentary or the trend touches your expertise, talk about it.

Benefit: Discussing trending topics is very effective for gaining the attention of
a "broader audience".

4. Manufactured Topics

Definition: Turning ideas into reality. You pick a topic people find interesting,
learn about it/do it/make it, and then show it to the world.

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 Cost vs. Reward: This costs the most time and effort because you must create
the experience rather than talking about one you already had. However, it can
have the "biggest payouts".

Example: "I lived on $100 for a month. Here's how." (The creator creates the
constraint to manufacture the experience).

Author Note: Manufactured vs. Documenting

The Potential of Manufactured Content

Manufactured content has the most potential to grow and monetize an

audience by far.

This is because skilled creators can "engineer the maximum reward for every
content unit".

Example: The top ten videos on the most popular video platform are all music
videos, racking up 60 billion views. This represents a massive amount of
attention.

The Case for Documenting (For "Mortals")

Lower Cost: Documenting experiences has a lower cost than manufacturing

them, allowing creators to keep the volume high.

Sustainability: Documenting is more sustainable over a lifetime.

Quote: "I don't want to be filling my living room with sand when I'm fifty."

Recommendation: The author prefers to see entrepreneurs put out more

content, more often, in more places.

Headlines
The Goal of a Headline

Action Step: "Life happens—profit by sharing yours."

Definition: A short phrase or sentence used to grab the audience's attention. It

communicates the reason they should consume the content.

Function: Audiences use the headline to weigh the likelihood they will get a
reward for consuming your content versus another.

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 The Principles of Great Headlines
Rather than using templates, creators should use the timeless principles derived
from the "news," which is the greatest headline creator. A meta-analysis of news
revealed five components that drove the most interest.
Strategy: Try to include at least two of the following components in your headline:

a) Recency: Being as recent as possible (literally the "new's").

Example: People pay more attention to something that happened an hour

ago than a year ago.

b) Relevancy: Something personally meaningful.

Example: Nurses pay more attention to stuff that affects nurses compared
to stuff that affects accountants.

c) Celebrity: Including prominent people (authorities, celebrities, etc.).

Example: We normally don't care what a human has for breakfast, but if it
is Jeff Bezos, we do because he is a celebrity.

d) Proximity: Being close to home geographically.

Example: A house on fire across the country doesn't get your attention. If it
is your neighbor, it sure does.

e) Conflict: Opposing ideas, opposing people, nature, etc..

1. Content Topics (Continued)

Documenting the Recent Past

Preventing Subpar Results: To avoid poor results, creators must take notes,
make recordings, and keep records.

The Benefit: This creates a free, easy, and valuable "stash of content" that is
easy to access.

Testimonials & Case Studies: These fall into the "Recent Past" category.

The Strategy: Tell a cool client story in a way that provides value to your
audience.

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 The Result: A "win-win" where you promote your services and provide
value simultaneously.

Present Topics

The Rule: Write down ideas at the exact time they come to you.

Execution: Keep a recording method within arm's reach at all times.

It is acceptable to pause meetings to text, email, or note an idea; people

generally do not mind.

The Outcome: This creates a "bucket of fresh stories" to work with later.

Public Note-Taking: Instead of keeping ideas private, tweet them publicly as

they happen. If a post performs better than normal, it indicates the topic is
interesting and worth expanding on.

Trending Topics

Strategy: "Go where the attention is". Look at what is trending right now and
make content about it.

Execution: Apply your own experiences or relevant commentary to the trend.

Benefit: Talking about trendy topics is very effective for gaining the attention
of a "broader audience".

Manufactured Topics

Definition: Turning ideas into reality by picking an interesting topic,

learning/doing/making it, and showing it to the world.

Cost vs. Reward: This requires the most time and effort because you must
create the experience rather than just talking about it. However, it can have the
"biggest payouts".

Example: "I lived on $100 for a month. Here's how." (The creator manufactures
the constraint to make the content).

2. Author Note: Manufactured vs. Documenting

The Power of Manufactured Content

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 Manufactured content has the most potential to grow and monetize an
audience by far.

Reason: Skilled creators can "engineer the maximum reward for every content
unit".

Statistic: The top ten videos on the most popular video platform are all music
videos, accumulating about 60 billion views.

The Case for Documenting (For "Mortals")

Lower Cost: Documenting experiences is cheaper than manufacturing them,

allowing creators to keep their content volume high.

Sustainability: Documenting is more sustainable over a lifetime.

Quote: "I don't want to be filling my living room with sand when I'm fifty".

Preference: The author prefers to see entrepreneurs put out more content,
more often, in more places.

3. Headlines
The Goal

Action Step: "Life happens—profit by sharing yours".

Definition: A short phrase or sentence used to grab attention. It communicates

the reason the audience should consume the content.

Function: Audiences use headlines to weigh the likelihood of getting a reward

from your content versus another.

The 7 Components of News Headlines

A meta-analysis of news revealed seven components that drive interest. You
should try to include at least two in your headline.

1. Recency: Being as recent as possible (literally "the news").

Example: People prioritize events that happened an hour ago over those
from a year ago.

2. Relevancy: Personally meaningful information.

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 Example: Nurses pay attention to content affecting nurses rather than
accountants.

3. Celebrity: Including prominent people or authorities.

Example: We care what Jeff Bezos has for breakfast because he is a

celebrity.

4. Proximity: Geographically close to home.

Example: A neighbor's house fire grabs more attention than one across the
country.

5. Conflict: Opposing ideas, people, or nature.

Examples: Pineapple vs. no Pineapple; Good vs. Evil; Freedom vs.

Security.

6. Unusual: Odd, unique, rare, or bizarre.

Example: A six-fingered man at a circus.

7. Ongoing: Stories still in progress with plot twists.

Example: Frequent updates during labor because "anything could happen".

Action Step: Include one or more of these components to create "meatier,

attention-grabbing headlines".

4. Format
Matching Expectations

The Principle: Once you have a topic and headline, you must match your
format to the "best content on the platform".

Why: People consume content because it is similar to stuff they liked in the
past. Matching popular formats gets more people to interact with it.

Execution: Make your content look like "what they expect will reward them".
Even if your content is good, better-looking content will hook them first if your
formatting is off.

Action Step

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 Format your content for the platform first, then tweak it to hook your ideal
audience. Use the best content on the platform that targets your market as
your guide.

5. Retain (Phase 2)
The Objective

The focus shifts from "Hook" to "Retain" in the content loop.

Primary Driver: Curiosity is the author's favorite driver of retention.

Power of Curiosity: If done correctly, people will wait years to know what
happens next (e.g., waiting for a book release).

How to Build Curiosity

Method: Embed questions in the audience's mind.

Types: Unresolved questions can be explicit (asked directly) or implicit

(implied).

Top 3 Ways to Embed Questions:

1. Lists

2. Steps

3. Stories

1. The Core Content Framework

Effective content follows a three-stage progression to ensure the audience
remains engaged from start to finish:

Hook (?): Attract the right audience using proper topics, headlines, and
formatting.

Retain (!): Keep the audience interested by utilizing lists, steps, and stories to
drive curiosity.

❤️
Reward ( ): Clearly satisfy the reason the content hooked the person to
begin with.

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 Key Principle: Content quality is determined by "value per second"—how often
you reward the audience relative to the time it takes to consume the material.
There is no such thing as content that is "too long," only content that is "too
boring".

2. Retention Tools: Lists, Steps, and Stories

Content creators can organize their material into three primary formats to maintain
audience attention:

A. Lists
Definition: Sequential presentation of facts, tips, opinions, or ideas.

Best Practices: Effective lists follow a specific theme (e.g., "Top 10 Mistakes").

Benefits: Using numbers in a headline or the first few seconds tells people
what to expect, which retains attention longer.

Flexibility: Lists are highly flexible as items can be presented in any order,
though they offer a less "explicit" reward than steps.

Examples: "7 Ways I invested $1000 in my 20s" or "28 Ways To Stay Poor".

B. Steps
Definition: A series of actions performed in a specific order to accomplish a
goal.

Function: If early steps are valuable, the audience will naturally want to
complete the sequence to reach the goal.

Comparison: Steps are less flexible than lists because the order matters, but
they provide a more explicit reward upon completion.

Examples: "3 Steps to Creating a Great Hook" or "The Morning Routine That
Boosts My Productivity".

C. Stories
Definition: Descriptions of real or imaginary events that include a lesson or
takeaway for the listener.

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 Function: Stories drive curiosity by making people want to know what
happens next.

Scope: Stories can describe things that have happened, might happen, or will
never happen.

Examples: "My journey from sleeping on the gym floor to a 5-star hotel".

3. Implementation and Strategy

Interweaving: You can use these tools individually or mix them—for instance,
including lists within steps or telling a story about each item in a list.

Creativity: There are no hard limits on how these formats can be combined.

Strategic Goal: Use these structures to embed questions in the audience's

mind, keeping them curious about what follows.

The "Reward" Test: If you promise "7 Ways to Make Up with Your Spouse,"
you must ensure the content actually delivers on that specific promise to
satisfy the audience.

The Art of "Rewarding" Your Audience

The success of your content is determined by whether you effectively "reward"
the viewer for their time.

Definition of Rewarding: Matching or exceeding your audience's expectations

the moment they decide to consume your content.

Signs of Failure: If your content is not shared or your audience isn't growing,
you are likely failing to reward them.

Example: If your hook promises "4 Marketing Strategies" and the

strategies are unusable, you have failed to reward the viewer.

The Litmus Test: If your audience is growing, your content is good. If it isn't,
you need more practice.

Action Step: Provide more value than anyone else. Completely answer the
"unresolved questions" you planted in the audience's mind with your hook.

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 2. Content Units: Short vs. Long Form
The difference between a quick social media post and a long-form video or book
is simpler than it seems.

The Content Unit: The smallest amount of material required to Hook, Retain,
and Reward attention.

Structure:

Short-form content: Uses fewer content units.

Long-form content: Simply links multiple content units together.

The Skill Gap: Long-form content is harder because it requires the skill to
string many "good" units together in a row without losing the audience.

Growth Path: Start small. Master "bits" or short stories before attempting
hour-long specials or epic novels.

3. The "Strangers" Rule for Growth

A common mistake creators make is catering only to their existing fans, which
inadvertently stunts growth.

Make Content for Strangers: To grow a "warm audience," you must write or
film as if the person consuming it has never heard of you before.

Avoid the "Inside Joke" Trap: Using inside jokes that only your current
followers understand makes strangers feel unwelcome. This slows down your
growth.

The Benefit: Strangers feel invited in, and your existing audience won't mind
the reminders or the clear context—they will appreciate the quality.

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