Written-Word Repurposing Allocation
Invest half of early growth effort in writing that can fuel every other format
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 94%
This decision rule assigns approximately half of an early-stage growth marketer’s effort to written content, but defines writing much more broadly than SEO articles. The allocation covers social posts, blog content, native community contributions, newsletters, lead-magnet campaigns, scripts, headlines, and supporting copy. Writing acts as the reusable source layer beneath other formats: a strong argument can become a video, podcast discussion, carousel, email sequence, or community answer. The remaining effort can support video, audio, channel operations, and other growth work. The ratio is a starting portfolio constraint rather than a permanent law, ensuring that a resource-constrained team continues producing versatile intellectual property while experimenting with richer formats.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain in response to a founder’s question about how much time should still go into text-based content.
Core principles
- 01Written language remains the foundation beneath most internet formats
- 02One written source can support search, social, email, video, and audio
- 03Writing is accessible to more team members than performance-led formats
- 04Allocation should cover the whole written ecosystem, not Google alone
How to run it
- 1
Set the Initial Allocation
Reserve about 50% of one growth-focused team member’s time for producing and adapting written material.
Pro tip Track actual hours for several weeks rather than relying on estimates.
Watch out Do not interpret the allocation as spending half the company’s total marketing budget on SEO blogs.
- 2
Create a Reusable Source
Develop a useful story, argument, guide, or analysis with enough substance to support several outputs.
Pro tip Choose topics that serve both audience needs and company positioning.
Watch out Shallow source material produces shallow derivatives.
- 3
Adapt Across Written Channels
Turn the source into appropriate blog, social, Reddit, newsletter, and campaign formats rather than copying it unchanged.
Pro tip Rewrite the opening and call to action for each channel’s context.
Watch out Identical cross-posts ignore audience and platform conventions.
- 4
Feed Richer Media
Use the written source as a script, outline, headline bank, or briefing document for video and audio production.
Pro tip Start with the format best suited to the founder’s strengths.
Watch out Do not force every team member into video before they can communicate effectively there.
- 5
Rebalance from Evidence
Review performance and adjust the ratio as proven channels, capabilities, and platform incentives evolve.
Pro tip Separate content quality problems from channel-allocation problems before moving budget.
Watch out A fixed ratio can become wasteful if retained after the evidence changes.
In the wild
A founder spends the first half of a content cycle researching and writing one strong market thesis. The team adapts it into a blog post, newsletter, Reddit answer, LinkedIn post, and a short-video script before using the remaining time for production and engagement.
→ One core investment supplies multiple channels without reducing writing to Google optimization.
Common mistakes
Equating Writing with Blogging
Restricting the allocation to SEO posts ignores social, email, community, and scripting work that makes writing foundational.
Treating Fifty Percent as Permanent
The ratio should be revised when performance data or team capabilities justify a different mix.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for founders and small growth teams that need one content investment to support several distribution channels.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal as a rigid company-wide ratio for teams whose proven acquisition system is overwhelmingly non-content-based.
From the transcript
“But at the end of the day, I would say 50% should still be rooted in the written word because that content should be repurposed.”
“Like 50% of written content is still very valuable.”
From the episode
How to Win at Search When AI is Changing Everything