Hi YATMers, I’m Emily Quance, wife to Lucy and mum to three dogs and two cats.
I live in Bristol, but am completely obsessed with my native Dorset. I spend quite a lot of time thinking about 9th century Wessex. This is because I’m researching (and trying to write) a novel on the life of Dorset’s patron saint, St Wite.
I freelance as a journalist and social media consultant.
I love Rural Historia on Facebook, it pays homage to how the landscape all around us is deeply rooted in the past. I can dip in any time and be transported to prehistoric, Roman, medieval, (my fave) Anglo Saxon or Victorian coins, hillforts, fish, place names and apple picking.
You’ll find me down the rabbit hole!
​Let's make sure we connect today.
Here I am on LinkedIn​
Where I work here​
If you want to be chosen, give people a place to find you again.
That’s what it means to build somewhere people can go. When intelligence is everywhere, what is becoming scarce is trust.
The goal today isn’t to sound smart, it’s to be chosen by the right people. It works when people feel safe with you, they know what you stand for, and they know you’ll be there next week.
Audience growth today isn’t just about how many people hit “follow.” It’s about being chosen repeatedly because you’ve built somewhere that makes choice easy.
Why This Matters Now. We're Better Than “Good Enough”
Short-form is the easiest discovery engine most of us have.
It works, but it also trains all of us, creator and audience, to live in interruption. Joe Pulizzi recently made the point that the real question isn’t “does short-form work?” It’s “where does it lead?” If short-form becomes the destination rather than the doorway, you win attention but lose depth.
Seth Godin also said last week that it’s not slop because AI made it. It’s slop because someone approved it, low effort, low judgement, volume over impact.
Put that together and it points to the same move, if interruption is everywhere, you don’t need to add to the system.
The Shift. From Audience Growth To Audience Access
An audience isn’t just about who can see you, it’s who you can reach, on purpose, next week, next month, when you’ve got something worth saying. That’s the difference between being noticed and being chosen.
Now intelligence is commoditised, the advantage moves to closeness and consistency.
This is how I think about an addressable audience:
- Incidental reach (it might happen).
The social spaces we occupy, but the people we want to reach may not see
- Direct channels.
Intentional reach, where you can actually speak to people (Thursday newsletter, WhatsApp groups)
- Spaces
Compounding trust, where people experience you, not just consume you, in the moment, where people are together (membership, live events)
A deeper way to look at this is, what are you building that still works if a platform changes tomorrow?
Proof For You
Last week we restarted Lunch Club Bristol.
It reminded me that it’s not always about the content you create, but the contact you make.
I felt nervous bringing Lunch Club back, mainly because it didn’t work as anticipated in 2023. When something doesn’t land, it’s easy to treat the place as the problem, when often it’s the format that needed time to figure out.
Where we are today, there’s a format that works. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is, when you say you’re going to commit to a place, you stick to the place. Not just the town or city, also the venue.
People want somewhere that feels familiar, as it helps them feel settled. It means the format and the space, has to be repeatable, so it lowers the social friction.
As each occasion progresses, attendees start making new people comfortable without you having to orchestrate it.
That’s what I want to demonstrate through Lunch Club. You can always walk into a room and be yourself, where you know there are talented people waiting for you.
When it’s framed around a theme people recognise in their own lives, everyone leaves with something. If you put friendship at the centre, you can build everything else around it.
If you have something you want to deliver, and you know there’s an audience for it, you have to put your best foot forward and let the work speak.
I want to build spaces where I can talk to people directly.
The Permission Stack
Here’s how I’m working around an approach of layers, so people can step into different YATM spaces without me being at the whim of someone else’s platform.
I call it the Permission Stack:
1) A doorway. Public visibility​
LinkedIn posts, guest spots on podcasts, speaking. This is how new people find you.
2) A direct line. Owned contact​
A newsletter rhythm or WhatsApp Groups (YATM has different groups for the events around the country). This is where you can speak without an intermediary, and where replies can happen.
3) A local room. Shared time​
Live events around the UK. This is where trust speeds up because people experience you in full colour.
4) A home base. Continuity​
For me, that’s YATM Club and Creator Day is the flagship occasion when people come together. This is where the relationship doesn’t reset to zero every time you show up online.
The further you move from the doorway, the more worthwhile it becomes for people. This is because you’re not competing with everything else on their screen.
Why This Is Relevant Now?
People choose who they want to be with.
It’s not necessarily the loudest, but the person who is consistent, stands for something, shows up and has a track record.
That’s what building these spaces does. It lets people experience you over time, not just consume you in fragments. It turns your work into something people can return to, which is the foundation of being chosen.
One of my biggest mistakes has been delivering in silos, where people couldn’t see how one activity fits with another, or how the parts connect. I made it confusing for people to connect the dots.
This is what I mean when I say relevance doesn’t come from how well posts perform. It comes from relationships that repeat, one person at a time.
You just have to be clear on what people are actually buying today, such as certainty, safety, proximity, belonging and connection.
Let’s Round Up
When content becomes effortless, the feed gets louder, not better.
Build one way to talk to people directly without asking permission from anyone else. Start a newsletter rhythm, or a small local group with a clear purpose, where you can commit to the place.
You just have to keep feeding it. This is the real alternative to fighting for attention, build somewhere people can go.
When you have a home base, where you’re not doing it alone, it becomes more rewarding for you and everyone else involved, continuity, support and people on your side.
Share this with someone else đź’Ś
​youarethemedia.co.uk/build-an-audience-without-social-media/​
Time Wasting
Top 10 lists of the globally most-watched TV and films on Netflix.
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This Week Around The Web
GROWTH, CREATION & YOUR INDEPENDENCE
​You can build all this on your terms - from Jessica Lackey
👉 Goals don't have to be huge, but designing your businesses the way you wanted.
​Humans were the original slop machines - from Trevor Young
👉 The question is, who controls how your expertise shows up in the world?
THE COMMUNITY YOU CAN BUILD
​In the age of AI it makes sense to double down on community - from Rosie Sherry
👉 You participate to benefit from the wider network effect.
​Community before currency: The trust strategy people forgot - from Detra Davis
👉 The opportunity to stand out, simply by caring a little more.
GROWING YOUR NEWSLETTER
​Email newsletters as a source of news - from Pew Research
👉 Newsletters offer a distinct format for briefings, opinions and deep dives.
​9 email games to win your subscribers’ hearts (and clicks!) - from Mailerlite
👉 Ideas to inject some fun into your work and test out
Lowering Your Guard
The future belongs to those who protect their work with the connections made and the meaning that someone else interprets.
That means you feel right for them.
When everything can be generated, the only thing that can’t be faked is knowing someone else.
A strategic move to make is simple, don’t forget the people around you.
Making Creator Day an experience for you...
Conference formats don't have to just be about the day, you can make an occasion that feels right with everyone.
That means others from the wider community can join in and you create an immersive experience for everyone involved. This pic above, is from Tuesday and what we're doing for Creator Day (in the Creator Day WhatsApp)
When you spend money to attend an event, that moment in time is precious, it has to feel special.
If you haven't booked yet, let's get you in and make you feel at home in May. Use the code YATMNewsletter to save ÂŁ20.
Slow growth is ok, when time is on your side...
YATM pal, Jason Bradwell has Pipedream Podcast with a focus on audience-driven marketing.
If building community or feeling part of a community has it's place with you, here's the show that came out on Friday. I share what it takes to make a space people feel a part of. My takeaway, scale is the wrong north star for community-led growth.
Come and join in this April...
April leans into more themes to figure out together and head to the Lunch Club table. There is a wealth of great people ready to make you feel at home.
If these locations are ok to head to, this is what's happening...
Poole | Thursday 16th April and the theme is relationships, book here​
London | Thursday 23th April and the theme is consistency, book here​
Bristol | Thursday 30th April and the theme is turning points, book here​
Our plan is to launch in Manchester, this autumn.
​Here's the video that sums up today. Enjoy the day...Mark
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