Age of the Attention Hog

Local TV news programs often follow a very simple directive:
“If it bleeds, it leads.”

That’s why crime stories and negative news regularly top the daily newscasts. “Bad news” almost always steals our attention.

The “good news” about the church that raised $100,000 for a blind orphan comes much later in the newscast – if it makes the news at all.

Frustrating, isn’t it? Why do the negatives often grab the spotlight from the positives? Why is our attention drawn to negative thoughts and events?

Blame it on the “attention hogs.”

Sept. 11, 2001. It got our attention. Evil terrorist attacks on the United States and the resulting, ongoing war on terrorism. It’s held our attention.

But while fear and bad news often grab the headlines, our “good news” – perhaps your own marketing message – suffers as a consequence of dastardly “attention hogs.” By capturing and holding attention, these hogs leave little room for other more attention-worthy news.

Just who are these attention hogs?

The list is long and it grows longer by the day…

Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, the late Anna Nicole Smith and Princess Diana. They join the ranks of Monica Lewinsky, Barry Bonds, Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, global warming, Hurricane Katrina, Harry Potter, and the Apple iPhone on our impromptu list.

They are all persons or entities that have won our attention, for better or worse, in the Attention Age.

Not all will hold a treasured place in our memories. In fact, many may be fading as we speak, but they still receive attention. At least for a moment – usually more – and just long enough for us to emotionally brand our brains.

Our attention is a scarce resource, and so is the attention of the marketplace. How we allocate our own attention really matters.

But there are those “attention hogs” among us who are trying to steal more bandwidth. They want real estate in our brains, and with the help of technology and mass media, many have left their mark forever.

Attention hogs not only suck your attention, but they make it more difficult for your own marketing to be successful. In essence, we are all competing with Paris Hilton and the terrorists for attention.

When people are paying attention to them, they’re not paying attention to you and your products.

Terrorism is clearly an instrument of attention-getting cowardice. Osama bin Laden is known worldwide as a terrorist mastermind. His name and face are synonymous with terrorism. Bin Laden’s acts of terror have made an emotional connection in our brain. He captures that much of our attention, as we hope to capture him.

Far from the only evil “hog” in this Attention Age, Bin Laden is joined by the Virginia Tech killer – no name is necessary – as having successfully seared his image and actions in our brain. The tragic events at Virginia Tech in 2007 and the 33 people killed will long be remembered, even if the name of the killer is soon forgotten.

Why do we know or care about Paris Hilton? How do we know about Lindsay Lohan’s progress in rehab? What about Anna Nicole Smith or the intimate details and tragic turns in Princess Diana’s life and death?

All are celebrity-driven drains on our attention, with two receiving more attention in death than the considerable attention they had already received in life.

Why? Because we allow them to take hold of our attention and keep a piece of it for themselves.

Barry Bonds sets a home run record, but we pay more attention to rumors of “performance-enhancement drugs.” Monica Lewinsky becomes infamous for an adulterous affair with President Bill Clinton. Her last name becomes a slang term for oral sex. Now, that’s attention.

Hurricane Katrina is a metaphor for natural disaster, hope and recovery. Global warming straddles the line between hoax and reality. Oprah is Oprah. Harry Potter is a book-selling, movie-making wizard. And the iPhone becomes the “next big thing.”

All claim attention, all are attention hogs. They hold themselves up as “winners” in the Attention Age.

The losers? Anyone who pays too much attention to any one or all of these winners. They are not all worthy of that much attention, but they get it just the same.

Remember: What we give them in attention, we can never reclaim as our own.

So let me ask you this: What are you receiving from all of the attention you freely give?

In other words… What is your “return on attention” – your personal ROA – from the attention you so willingly pay to the attention hogs?

Create a list of the “good” and “bad” attention hogs in your life.

Tell us what you demand in return from each attention hog and how you will make them earn your attention in the future.

Let’s discover new ways to channel our attention, fight off the hogs, and help our businesses grow.

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Comments:

http://www.unityglobal.com Mark Cutino

I got an email from Mike Filsaime telling me about how great this guy “MIKE LONG” was. The first 30 seconds of mike longs video told the viewers that he made $10,000,000 in the last 4 months,

that got my ear, mike longs website blows, his emails blow, the emails he tells his friends to mail to his opt in list blow!

he says he’s working on a “TOP SECRET” project, everybody knows that if it were secret he wouldn’t be talking about it?

and lets say he made $100,000 in the last year, he would stillh ave $600 to create a good site, not some $20 template with nothing but videos of himself, i think he hit the bong waaay too much before he thought about getting http://www.area51marketing.com.

as far as the $10,000,000 he claims to have made or earned or whatever, the approach he took makes me think he read a “HOW TOO” ebook that was writen in notepad 8 years ago that taught him how to mislead his readers.

I ALSO TRULY BELIVE that when his MAGIC playing card confernece was over he walked into the other room and met some internet marketers and decided to “GIVE IT A SHOT”

if anybody reads this and can get a message to him tell him MARK CUTINO will debate him about any subject regarding the internet or business in general in front of millions of people. I’ll go project vs project with him, he has no graphic eye and no concept of the term “CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE”

what did he expect? to play Magic Playing cards for 10+ years then make a billion on the internet? nah,

watch his videos he acts like a child and thinks he can lie about stuff and people wouldn’t catch on…

if he made $10,000,000 then post a screen shot of the account, back up his statments or else just play checkers!
http://CommonSenseLiving.com Carole

First – to Dana – I was given this link because I also write about nutrion and health. You might want to check it out. http://digestiveenzymetherapy.com/index.html
Don’t ever give up!

Now why was I here? Guess I got distracted…. ;0)

My biggest hog? Certain marketers who require your email every time you go to look at something they’re hawking so you can get 20 of the same email every day. And even when you’ve bought soemthing from them, you can’t possibly concentrate on it because all they want to do is sell you the next thing. They don’t care if you ever “make it”

And then they offer you a free CD (you pay shipping) that is nothing but a sales pitch – no usable content – and then come to find out that you’ve been subscribed to a $30 a month membership.

I kept swearing I will never buy another product – sigh…

Someday I’ll be able to afford a real mentor like Rich – instead of all these other IM idiots.

Oh Well, I’ve spent far too much time here – gotta get some work done!

Thanks for letting me rant.

Carole
http://trivisionglobalinbox.com Roger

Rich. How about next time you add even more value by asking the readers along with your own suggestions highlight what things we give our attention to that have a high ROA so instead of filling our minds with all the negative stuff everyone listed above so it now sticks in our head, we have positive things that cause us to think and take those great ideas. Antiquity says to meditate on the truth day and night and you shall have good success. What if we meditated on “What can I give my attention to right now that will have the greatest return on my business, my family, my health” Great question? So how about a list of things we can give our attention to? Let me start by giving a few great things to give attention to, to start the trend so we focus on the positive and walk away with greater value.
1) Give attention to strategic planning for what is the most important step to take next in my business. (Rule of 10. For every one hour of planning we save 10 hours of work)
2)Giving attention to great training like Vic Johnsonâ€™s Who Wants to Be An Internet Millionaire, Cracking the Code boot camp” One DVD will return over $20,000
3) Giving attention to reading annual reports that Warren Buffet recommends
4) Prayer and reading the scriptures of Solomon the wealthiest person ever to walk the face of the earth.
Now how do you feel? Better I hope. Hopefully you did not read too many of those posts. Otherwise you may have to go outside and wash out your brain yes? Nope! Just go read something positive and it will put your focus back on track. Actually to do it really quick, check out these special flash films that are designs to focus your attention. Just go check out our FREE movies at http://www.trivisiongobal.com/movies.html Check out the one that reads 212. It will snap you back to high ROA. Roger Gauthier, CEO Tri-Vision Global, Inc. How is that for ROA? Let me know.
http://trivisionglobalinbox.com Roger

Let us try that one again with the right link. See what happens when we stay up late at night trying to help the world! :)

http://www.trivisionglobal.com/movies.html
Martin

Attention Hog – What a brilliant term.

That sales call I receive at meal time is stealing my attention from my quality time. Now I know why I must ignore it.

The trouble is that that my own sales message could be in danger of doing the same thing to others.

You want to attract attention but it must be worthwhile for the attention providers to give you their time. I don’t want to hog their time and give nothing back.

Never thought a simple term could provoke such a response from me.