What Works and What’s Just Noise
You’re drowning in advice. One day it’s “post three Reels a day.” The next it is “start a podcast.” Someone swears by daily emails. Someone else insists you need long-form YouTube.
Then come the hacks, follow-unfollow tactics, engagement pods, reposting viral threads, and automation tools that promise to get you 10K followers by Friday. You’re not lazy.
You’re not ignoring strategy. You’re overwhelmed. And the worst part? Most of what’s called a “growth hack” today is either recycled fluff or designed to grab attention, not revenue.
The phrase used to mean something. It came from a lean startup culture where teams didn’t have money for traditional marketing. So they had to get clever. Dropbox’s early referral system.
Airbnb’s Craigslist integration. These were smart, efficient, and focused on results. Now, most “hacks” are just busywork. You try one tactic, it flops, and you’re told to keep “testing.” So you jump to the next trend. The problem isn’t you. The problem is the sheer volume of tactics being pushed by people who profit from keeping you in motion, not momentum.
You get caught in cycles. Monday, you’re editing a Reel. Tuesday, you’re rewriting your lead magnet headline. Wednesday, you’re recording a webinar you might never finish. Thursday, you’re joining three Facebook groups to “network.”
By Friday, you’ve made a lot of noise but very little progress. You feel like you’re always behind, but you can’t point to what exactly went wrong. It’s not effort. You’re working. Its direction. You’re not building a business. You’re chasing virality like it’s a strategy.
Real growth doesn’t look like constant movement. It looks like building something that compounds. That means fewer platforms, better offers, and systems you can sustain even on your worst week. If it only works when you’re hyped up and caffeinated, it’s not a strategy. It’s adrenaline. And you can’t build a business on that.
The hacks that do work aren’t the ones with the most clicks or the slickest headlines. They’re the ones that make you more efficient, more consistent, and more aligned with what your buyer actually wants.
But those don’t get shared as much. Because “Use one opt-in with a strong follow-up sequence” doesn’t get likes the way “Post this at 7:37 PM with these five hashtags for maximum reach” does. People chase magic. They don’t want to hear that the magic is focused.
Let’s talk about what actually creates traction. For one, evergreen content. That means blog posts, videos, or tutorials that solve problems people are always searching for. Something that brings you traffic while you sleep.
That’s not a hack. That’s leverage. Next, audience ownership. Building a solid email list beats getting featured on a big account. Platforms change. Algorithms get moody. But email gives you a direct line.
Then there’s clarity of message. If you can explain your offer in ten words or fewer, you win. Confused people don’t buy. The faster someone gets what you do and why it helps them, the more likely they are to pay attention.
Contrast that with what most growth hacks focus on, surface-level metrics. Views. Likes. Comments. Followers. None of that pays your bills unless you know how to convert it.
That’s where quiet strategies beat loud hacks every time. Quiet strategies are built around behaviour. What are your buyers actually doing? What do they need to see, hear, or experience to take action? How do you remove friction instead of adding more layers? These questions don’t make sexy headlines, but they make strong sales.
Another reason so many people get stuck is that they’re waiting for a tactic to save them. “Once this goes viral, I’ll finally get traction.” But even when a post pops off, if you don’t have your house in order, it won’t matter.
You’ll have attention with nowhere to send it. The hack brought you traffic, but you weren’t ready to convert it. That’s the trap. You can’t skip foundational work. You can amplify it. But if there’s nothing there to amplify, you’re just yelling into a void.
You want momentum? Get clear on three things: your core message, your best buyer, and your most valuable offer. Then build your content, your systems, and your automation around those.
Everything else is extra. If it doesn’t support one of those three, it’s probably noise. And yes, that includes some of the trendy hacks that make their way into every online marketing space.
Here’s where things get especially deceptive. Some hacks do work, but only for certain stages of business. What gets a newbie’s attention will not scale a six-figure brand. What works for a mass-market influencer will tank a niche expert.
When someone tells you, “This worked for me,” your first thought should be, “Am I in the same stage, niche, and context?” If not, smile, scroll, and move on. Don’t twist yourself trying to replicate something built for someone else’s business model.
Let’s ground this with an example. Say you sell digital products for beginner fitness coaches. You’ve got a couple of offers, a small list, and under 1,000 followers. You see someone talking about a “follower loop giveaway hack” to grow fast.
You run one. You gain 800 followers. But most of them aren’t fitness coaches. They’re just there for freebies. Your engagement tanks, your DMs are filled with spam, and you feel worse than before. That hack worked. But not for your situation.
Now, imagine that instead, you take one core pain point, “I don’t know how to write a client workout plan”, and create a free workshop. You promote it with a short email sequence, a few posts that address the fear behind the struggle, and a follow-up offer at the end. You only get 40 signups. But 25 show up. And 5 buy your $97 mini course.
That’s $485 with zero ad spend, no gimmicks, and no algorithm stress. And now you’ve got five new customers who trust you, plus 35 more who may buy next time. That’s a strategy. Not a hack.
Hacks promise speed. Strategy builds resilience. If you want a business that lasts, pick the second path. It won’t always be exciting. But it will work. Especially when others burn out trying to chase trends that shift weekly.
If you really want to grow fast, slow down. Step away from the threads and templates. Ask what you’re building and who it’s for. Then reverse-engineer your content, your offers, and your systems. If it can’t be repeated next month, it’s not a system. If it can’t scale without killing you, it’s not worth keeping.
Your growth doesn’t need to go viral. It needs to be intentional. The truth is, most of what’s sold as a hack is just another distraction. You’re better off ignoring the noise and doubling down on the few things that move the needle. Consistent, clear, intentional effort will beat clever shortcuts every time.
And that’s the truth most people won’t tell you because it doesn’t sell as well as a hack. But it works.
Discover more from Dominus Owen Markham
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.