May I Have Your Attention Please?

There’s really no telling where I’ll get the next title for my blog - and hence, the topic for my regular musings.  Usually, it’s tied to the season, Liberty for 4th of July, some thoughts on faith during the Christmas season, stuff like that.  This month, it was a showertime ear-worm going into the early work of Eminem - specifically - The Real Slim Shady - because it was time to write my May blog, and I hadn’t yet discovered my title.  The song starts - “May I have your attention please?; May I have your attention please? - will the real Slim Shady please stand up?” 

It resonated with me this month because I’ve had a few meetings and podcast conversations recently about catching the attention of the marketplace, in a world that’s evermore crowded with attention-seekers.  Twenty-five years ago, as I was early in my banking career, there were many fewer channels to reach the consumer’s eyes and ears - and if you wanted to be on one of those channels, you had to pay for it.  I’m not talking just TV channels - although that was a part of it - but also and especially, newspapers, magazines, and radio stations - whether you were Pizza Hut or Merry Maids, you had to pay for attention.  

With the rise of blogs, websites, social media, google-search, and now AI, however, there are many more voices seeking attention - many, just for attention’s sake - and most don’t pay for it - the crowds decide what goes viral!  I’ve heard lines like “my son is trying to become an influencer” or similar many times in the past year, and it’s likely almost everyone reading this has an aspiring or actual “influencer” in their circle of family and friends.  But - and - what those media platforms and influencers are basically selling - or attempting to transfer - is a combination of awareness and trust that every business needs to truly scale.  

The other day, I attended a networking event with the SURE Networking group (where I don’t know too many folks), and I used my time to do a quick poll:  

1)  Who here has listened to at least one episode of The LoCo Experience podcast? - half of the hands go up in a group of 35.  

2)  Who listens to at least one episode a month? - ⅔ of the raised hands go down. 

3)  Who listens to almost every episode? - the remaining hands all go down.

It appears to me that I DO NOT have an awareness problem as far as growing our listenership goes - I have a trust problem!  People are not confident that their 90-minute to 2-hour investment of time is going to be a beneficial use of the time - especially if they don’t know my guest.  Will the juice be worth the squeeze? 

Now, I know that I’m not passing out podcast invitations willy-nilly, and that listeners are likely to learn something useful or interesting in just about every conversation - but apparently - they do not trust this notion.  

Conversely, my primary venture (my “real” business) LoCo Think Tank - seems to have the opposite challenge - we’re trusted, but awareness of what we actually do - and for who - remains low, despite being in business for over 12 years in this region.  Last fall, at a Realities for Children event - an organization LoCo Think Tank has been a business member of for over 8 years - I tried a similar poll:  

1) Who here has a positive opinion of LoCo Think Tank? - almost every hand goes up. 

2) Who here feels like they can explain what LoCo Think Tank does to a business friend? - almost every hand goes down. 

Two current and two former members of LoCo were in the room, and were the only hands remaining up.  I’ve been giving 45 second commercials to this room multiple times a year, for 8 years - and almost nobody knows what we do!  They know it’s good, somehow, and related to business, somehow, and that’s about where it ends.  

I should give credit at this point to Brandon West, a very recent guest on the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast, and to his marketing agency - PHOS - for his excellent breakdown on this topic during the show, and detailing of The PHOS Way on their website.  A marketing principal is Awareness > Consideration > Conversion, but PHOS puts extra emphasis on the Consideration segment, and introduces the Trust Funnel:  Competent - Credible - Authentic - Empathetic - if all four are present, and the customer is aware of your brand and needs your product or service, you have a good chance for increased conversions and growth.  

Sidebar:  It feels like I should take a moment to help my readers be aware of what we actually do at LoCo Think Tank - and why we’re trusted by so many business leaders in Northern Colorado. 

Each of our chapters is built on the foundation of a LoCo Facilitator - a high-achieving business veteran that doesn’t need a job - but is seeking a high-leverage role to make the business community stronger.  The facilitator acts a bit like the chairman of the board - sending out agendas, managing effective ½ day meetings monthly, seeking out experts and resources and holding members accountable to do the hard things they know they must do to grow the business.  The members take turns bringing their challenges and opportunities to the group, and chapters use our LoCollaborative Process to gain perspective and make more confident decisions.  We tier our chapters by size and complexity, and fill them with up to 12 non-competitive members - and everybody gets smarter and stronger, a little at a time.    

And - I’m always on the lookout for future LoCo Facilitators - and it turns out they’re qualified largely by their competence, credibility, authenticity, and empathy - I trust that they’ll do a great job managing their chapters.  

There’s much more within the podcast episode and on the website to explore, especially about what builds and what removes trust - but I’ll leave you to explore, and leave behind my favorite quote from the podcast:  “Without trust, visibility is just noise.  Without awareness, trust has no stage.”

We all struggle to catch the market’s attention, and what works changes often. What doesn’t change, however, is the value of trust.  By focusing on a foundation of competence, credibility, authenticity, and empathy, our clients can become raving fans.  Any attention gained down the road, through whatever channels can better lead to conversions and impact.   And, you’ll sleep better at night, unlike the mom whose son is trying to become an influencer!  

Cheers and thanks for reading, and congrats to all the pending graduates out there!