⚠️Turnpike Troubadours’ cautionary tale for content creators

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Happy Halloween, Inbox Hackers.

Today’s Main Thing was written to keep you motivated even when your content isn’t taking off like it deserves to. If it can happen to the best band and #1 songwriter, it can happen to any content creator.

After that, you can sift through This Week’s Marketing Wrap-Up (couple of updated tools in there).

Appetizer: The YouTube settings that can ruin small channels. 

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The Main Thing

Even the Best Content Has No Guarantee of Success

Last Saturday night, we headed up the winding hills of Highway 11 to Asheville, North Carolina. Had tickets to see the Turnpike Troubadours. 

This band is our favorite and the best thing going today. Not just our opinion. Lots of music connoisseurs say the lead singer (Evan Felker) is the greatest songwriter on Earth.

Anyway, there were two opening acts. And the place was only about 65% full. I figured it’d fill up by time the headliners hit the stage.

It did not. I’d say 20% of the seats remained empty once the Troubadours opened up with The Bird Hunters song (a good lesson in concrete writing).

Not only that but there were even a handful of people who left the show early. Enough to where the lead singer called them out… “For you folks leaving early to beat traffic, there’s a lotta show left you’re gonna miss.”

The point is, this band could not be any better. The songs punch you right in the heart. They’re high-energy, even the sad songs. 

Yet, they couldn’t sell out a pretty small arena. Not to mention the second opening act, Dawes, has had major hits with solid writing over the years (& 400K followers on Spotify).

So, why was this concert “a failure?”

Factors Outside Your Control Affect Your Content

The thing to remember with creating anything is, as the great Rick Rubin says, “The outcome has no place in the creative process.”

The Turnpike Troubadours showed up and brought their A-game. They had no control over how many tickets were sold or how many people actually made the effort to fight Asheville traffic to use their tickets.

All the band can control is their effort. Same goes for you, me, and anyone who creates content of any kind.

Here are possible reasons this concert wasn’t a sold out event:

• Traffic

• Cost of tickets

• Lots of competing events in the area

• Asheville’s beautiful, but has seen crime rise terribly in the past few years

• Parking sucks

• Fans could be saving money for the almost-here holidays

I could go on and on. 

Just like I could go on and on about why a video I make gets just 500 views. Or a LinkedIn post you make gets only five reactions. Or a podcast you did, never got more than ten downloads per episode.

Countless variables and factors. 

All you can do is put the content out into the world. The “world” will either show up or not.

If a few people show up, be glad of it. Serve THEM. No matter how small the numbers.

“Gentlemen, I am sick and tired of hearing you talk about us getting bigger. What we need to be talking about is how to get better.” ~Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A founder

Last Saturday night, the Turnpike Troubadours (and both opening acts) played like there were 80,000 people there to watch them.

That’s how it should be. Don’t rob your audience of your best work, even if the audience is tiny. 

Those are your super-fans. They deserve to see your best. 

Bottom line is, keep creating. And keep putting the content out there.

Ok, let’s treat ourselves to This Week’s Marketing Wrap-Up below.

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Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

“Sears had layers and layers of people it didn't need. It was very bureaucratic. It was slow to think. And there was an established way of thinking.” ~Charlie Munger