Get Attention the Old Fashioned Way. EAAAAARNNNN it.

The Most Valuable Attention is Earned

Welcome to the Creativity Business, a newsletter about content strategy and the business side of creativity. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up and get content strategy delivered to your inbox every two weeks for free.

Over the end-of-year break, I thought a lot about what differentiates my thinking from other content strategies. I latched onto an insight that shifted my perspective about this newsletter and my consulting work.

I believe the most valuable attention is earned. 

For marketers and creatives, is there anything most valuable than the time and attention of others? Is there anything people protect more than their own time and attention? In an infinite sea of content across innumerable platforms, how can you connect with the people you hope to impact? Shortcuts and hacks don’t work. You have to do the work. You have to earn it. 

If you want to build trust, you have to earn it.

If you want to create relationships, you have to earn them.

If you want time and attention on a regular basis, you have to earn them.

Earning attention means being awesome over time.

Earning attention means differentiating yourself. It means understanding and truly serving your audience. It means doubling down on empathy and generosity. It means setting a higher bar for quality. And it generally means doing fewer things better.

In short, earning attention requires patience, insight, creative bravery and commitment. This is values-based work. It’s HARD work… and it’s worth it.

This stands in opposition to a lot of other content strategies:

• Make as much content as possible to generate more ad inventory

• Lower production costs as much as possible to increase efficiency and drive higher margins, often at the expense of quality and differentiation

• Use Generative AI to flood the internet with social posts, landing pages, and anything else you can think of

• Buy attention with interruptive advertising that does not create value for the audience

• Click-bait audiences with increasingly manipulative and suggestive headlines

• Focus on shortcuts and hacks instead of doing the actual work

Isn’t it interesting that the most common words associated with attention are GRAB, STEAL, GET and BUY? These are all selfish verbs that benefit the creator and not the consumer.

Why Should You Strive to Earn Attention?

The cardinal rule of media and business success is to put audiences/customers first. If you do this, it’s pretty hard to argue against the value of earning attention by being consistently awesome over time.

• Earning attention means your desired audience is voluntarily opting in because you are creating value. You are creating impact and making change.

• Word-of-mouth comes from earned attention and creating value. People tell others when they experience something awesome. Third-party advocates are a phenomenal driver of audience and customer growth.

• Creating value consistently over time builds trust. There are no shortcuts or hacks that build trust.

• People do business with people and companies they trust.

• Earn attention —> consistently deliver —> trust —> relationships —> customers

What does earning attention look like? Here’s the litmus test. When people have finished spending time with what you have put out into the world, do they feel like the attention they gave was time well spent? Would they recommend it to others?

And as a creator, is there any better feeling than genuinely earning something? Nothing feels better than to hit a milestone and have someone tell you, “Congratulations - you earned it!” (It certainly feels better than hearing, “You really hacked it!” or “Congratulations on your short-term cheat!”)

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Earning Your Attention Here

So this newsletter is going to focus more deeply on how to earn attention. We’re going to dig into strategies, share case studies, learn psychology, and get inspired by amazing work.

Of course, I am going to have to level up my own game to continue to earn your attention. I audited my own newsletter consumption over the holidays and found that even if they are smart and interesting, the longer, meatier newsletters sit in my inbox for quite a while, waiting to be read. The shorter, more scannable (and still insightful) newsletters earned my attention right away and never stayed unread for more than a day. Looking at the previous editions of this newsletter, I have been putting out the longer, meatier stuff. So I’m going to experiment with making it shorter, more scannable, and more attention-worthy.

Bottom line: we should all strive to become the John Houseman of Attention:

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Here’s What Earned My Attention This Week

Behind the scenes: the making of title credits for White Lotus Season 2. So much work, so much creativity, and so many Easter Eggs - this transforms something normally skippable into a sequence that demands repeat viewing. This is no small feat. How inspiring to think about how to do the same with other types of content that we all want to skip!

A Home Depot in Joplin, Mo, held a premiere for the film “Hope Builds”… in their lumber aisle. Who’s going to forget going to Home Dept to watch a film? Or to be in Home Depot and see a film being screened? It’s surprising and memorable.

The Brand Storytelling conference is back as an in-person event at Sundance in Park City, Utah this week and it’s filled with companies earning attention by creating original films and documentaries. 

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What Earned Your Attention Recently? 

I’d love to feature some smart, creative work here. Let me know what’s earned your attention, how it got on your radar, and why it’s special.

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Happy 2023 to all of you - I’m excited to work hard to earn your attention by being consistently awesome in the year ahead!

If you’re a brand looking to earn more attention, or a creative services company wanting to grow your business, please check out the Creativity Business website.