Fame is increasingly temporary, diverging away from actual influence, which means it also doesn’t generate business results like it used to. 

A lot of advice for creating online is built on fame and reach, almost analogous to mainstream cable. This line of advice is focused entirely on getting attention. Juice up your headlines with hooks! Structure your pieces for SEO! Here’s how algorithms work! 

It’s similar to how a media company would approach producing and promoting mainstream television shows and news. 

It’s not that this advice doesn’t work; it’s great, if your business model is to show people how to get attention, or to do trend and news coverage. That’s when this mainstream cable approach works.

If you’re an artist, writer, programmer, designer, or a creator of all other sorts, who wants to make something lasting, you’re better off treating your work like premium cable. Your business wouldn’t be built on reaching everyone and mass demographics. 

Instead, it’s built on building a reputation for quality, slow development, and originality and personality. Customer information like mailing lists and phone numbers are all channels for you to connect with your subscribers and delivering the value to them. Like premium cable, you can give away trailers, and stimulate demand with free episodes or pilots, etc.

Rather than being CNBC or Fox, your business will look more like HBO or Starz. (Or, on a tangential note, maybe even LVMH.) Or, as Dan Runcie writes, “If The White Lotus was on YouTube, competing for attention with Logan Paul videos and celebrity Mean Tweets clips, then it would be easier for the show to get lost in the mix.” 

Lean into your smaller, and more loyal, audience. Focus on building relationships with them and serving them.