Business strategy

Grace Andrews: decide what to post and what to measure

Grace Andrews explains how to decide what to post, try new ideas, and check whether your content brings the response you wanted.

28 September 20262 min read7 min listen

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7 min

Its own script, written for listening.

In a world where everyone is shouting for attention, the old marketing playbook is dead. You can't just push a product through a funnel anymore and expect people to buy it.

Editor's note

Why this matters now

Grace Andrews, former brand director of The Diary of a CEO, describes a reel that Instagram celebrated for bringing in followers. She was disappointed with it. Her aim for the series, Pass the Mic, was to start a worthwhile conversation, and the replies fell short.

The dashboard had a different definition of success.

I like this example because a content calendar can look healthy for months without anyone asking what the posts are supposed to achieve. Andrews's city-map analogy starts with the destination. Speaking enquiries, subscribers, and conversations with potential customers each call for different work.

The source

What it says

Distilled from the original. The notes above and below are the editor's own.

Give each format a job

Andrews uses a city map to explain content strategy. The business has a centre, its purpose, and destinations it wants to reach. The audience is the passengers. Formats are the stops along the way.

The analogy is a way to write a brief. If the destination is more speaking enquiries, a post needs to demonstrate something a potential organiser would want on stage. A format made to attract new subscribers has a different job. Judging both by follower growth hides that difference.

Her Pass the Mic example shows how easily the measurements can take over. Instagram highlighted the reel's follower gains. Andrews wanted a deeper conversation, and the response did not meet that aim.

Keep publishing, keep changing something

Her formula is consistency multiplied by experimentation. Repeating a schedule gives a team more attempts, but repeating the same approach can leave it stuck.

She describes the early Diary of a CEO team's willingness to make a large number of attempts, including outreach. Volume gave them more chances to get a response and learn. It also meant accepting imperfect work while improving it.

An experiment needs a reason. A different opening, a recurring series, or a new format should answer a question about the audience. Otherwise a team can stay busy making changes without discovering anything it can use again.

How people find a brand

Andrews describes discovery through clips, recommendations, and other scattered encounters. She wants brands to make content people would choose to watch and return to. Roomies' entertaining stories about renting are an example of finding material in the customers' lives.

She also talks about personal brands, proximity to people whose work you admire, and collecting evidence of your own progress when confidence is low. These are observations from her career. The interview mentions research on discovery and influence without supplying enough references to establish those claims independently.

Editor's note

What to do with this

Before the next batch of posts, put the intended business result beside each format in the calendar. If the result is an enquiry, count enquiries. Keep the view count too, so you can see whether the problem is reaching people or getting a response.

Then choose a change you can explain. You should be able to say what the next attempt will tell you.

Explore The Anatomy of a Dream feature.

The original

Marketing GENIUS: The Strategy Behind Content That Reaches Millions

The Anatomy of a Dream · 7 March 2026