Go big or go raw. Just don't get stuck in the middle.

I was on a call this week talking about content quality, and I said something out loud that I've been circling for a while.

The middle is where you die.

Here's what I mean. We were watching a really well-produced show and breaking down why it works. Multiple camera angles, different depths, real thought put into how it looks. Two people sitting in chairs talking, and it's still visually interesting the whole time. The guy editing it came from a cinema background, not a podcast background. He edits like he's cutting a movie trailer, with plots and storylines. And you can FEEL it.

So the obvious takeaway is: get more cinematic. Raise the production value. Spend more.

But then I flipped it around, because the exact opposite thing is also working right now.

The stuff blowing up on Instagram is super low budget, barely edited, one person talking straight into the camera. Gen Z calls it yapping. No b-roll. No sound design. No background set. Just a person telling their story and pulling hundreds of thousands of views, sometimes millions.

Both of those are working. At the same time. And they're on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

So which one do you pick?

Neither. You pick both.

The middle looks like effort without payoff

Think about what "medium production value" actually communicates. It says you tried, but you didn't commit. It's polished enough that people expect it to look great, but not polished enough that it actually does. And it's produced enough that it loses the raw, this-is-real feeling that makes low budget stuff work in the first place.

You spent the money AND you lost the authenticity. That's the worst trade in the game.

The cinematic version wins because it's genuinely beautiful and people want to sit in it.

The raw version wins because it's genuinely human and people trust it.

The middle wins nothing. It just costs you a Tuesday.

What this looks like for your business

This isn't only about video. Once you see it, it's everywhere.

Pricing. Be the cheap option that wins on volume, or be the premium option that wins on quality. The mid-priced version has to explain itself constantly and it converts worse than both.

Your website. A beautiful, obsessively designed site works. A dead simple one page with your phone number on it also works. The half-finished Wix template you gave up on halfway through does not.

Your service. Full white glove done for you, or a dirt cheap self serve thing people run themselves. The "we sort of help you but you still do most of it" offer confuses everybody.

The pattern is the same every time. Pick an end. Commit to it hard.

How to actually do this

Sit down and look at whatever you're putting out right now. Be honest with yourself about where it lands on the spectrum. Not where you want it to land. Where it actually lands.

If it's in the middle, you have two moves.

One, strip it down. Take away the production, the polish, the process. Get it to the rawest possible version and lean all the way into that. This is usually cheaper AND faster, which is why I like it.

Two, go all in the other direction. Add the extra camera. Hire the editor who came from a different world. Make it undeniably good.

What you can't do is stay where you are and hope people notice you tried.

The good news? You can do BOTH. Run the cinematic version and the raw version side by side. Different audiences, different moments, different moods. Just don't average them together and call it a strategy.

Pick an end. Commit. Go.

Stay in the fight, Kevin