‘I’ll have a pound of attention please’…
In the not so distant past, attention could be bought and traded, practically in weights and measures. It was a commodity bartered for in after-work drinks and tickets to Ascot/The Premiership/The BAFTA’s for the people who held the keys to that magical gateway, beyond which was the land of rapturous attention. Once upon a time you bought airtime and were guaranteed that at least half the population would sit and listen to what you had to say.
Only now the control gauge has swung a 180 and the dial is pointing firmly at users…oh, and it’s not about what YOU have to say, it’s about what you might have to hear. Listening has long been a one-way street, unless of course we’re engaging in a bout of expensive market research and then we’re all ears. It’s not enough just to listen when we ask a question anymore; we need to be listening even when we’re not being spoken to. Think of it like that friend you don’t keep in very close contact with, until you remember that their brother works at Apple and you fancy discount on your new iMac; they’re not going to keep picking up the phone to you forever if it always comes down to what they can do for you.
You can’t buy attention today anymore than you could buy respect or love. It might look like attention on the outside – real estate on a website, air time on a targeted satellite channel – but users own the time and the space and if they choose to withhold their attention then they’ll simply fast forward through the TV spot you paid for (they’re probably watching the programme days later than it aired or have downloaded it on their PC/mobile anyway).
Attention today is earned and every last drop requires the creative and strategic pairing that means that your thought-starting gem of an idea is waiting in the right places for whenever your eager, investigative audience should happen to search it out…and tell someone about it.
Value is in the eye of the beholder and as marketers there is a large debt to our ‘listeners’ to be repaid. Users are in the driving seat and they’re demanding to see the proof in the pudding, we said we understand better, care more, work harder, last longer….so prove it. Congruence is our new best friend. User control means that businesses need to be totally transparent and keep every promise. Surprise and delight by doing exactly that.
