Attention Economy? Or is it the Personalization/Brand Economy

One stat led to me writing this. Please note this stat is political in nature but this is not a political blog, this is talking about marketing, and specifically channels. The stat comes courtesy of Prof G podcast paraphrased “Kamala Harris going on the Joe Rogan show would net her 5 times the viewership of her going on Fox news”.

It used to be the story that was most significant, I would posit now it’s the channel that matters most not the story. Yet, that channel is intrinsically tied to the story. Every time you get it right it builds equity over time, and that becomes a force multiplier for the next piece of content.

9 years on… building a personal brand

I rebelled against the idea of building a brand, or even being called an influencer for quite some time. I tend to be a bit counterculture. I hate mavens, folks who get rich selling the idea of a process or framework to life that if you just listen to me, I can unlock. Being in marketing I understand populations, and how to reach them, but I’ve also been very focused on being genuine and less salesy.

When I went to a startup my personal brand building began. There were some tricks I used initially to get to the first 500 followers, then the next 1000. Why was I so intent on building the brand? It was in service of my day job of course. I needed a soap box to stand on and a megaphone because how else could I get the reach I needed. Fast forward into my time at Dell and having to deliver a POV that ran counter to the popular “cloud first” movement. In a world of “cloud first” there wasn’t much opportunity for Dell. It turns out though that betting against “cloud first” was the right call. There was massive value we had to offer, there were very legitimate reasons why it was time to re-evaluate the mix of cloud.

At some point some of the brand building declined. Twitter becoming X took down a channel I really enjoyed. I want to be clear this is not a political statement, but I was finding X didn’t deliver the value and I wasn’t seeing the kind of engagement I once did. I also got very busy in my work.

The road forward requires a personal brand

Make the bet on your brand and your content because the future requires that. I’ve heard a lot of experts talk about the performance characteristics of long form video as being a death nail for performance on social. How do we reconcile that with Joe Rogan being the biggest podcaster on earth then? His slower pace often rambling podcast delivers content his audience craves. They understand going in what the expectation is on them as a listener and so they commit. I once had a webinar with Mark Hamill and Dr. Michio Kaku on it. I learned a lot about channels and about content. We didn’t draw as many eyes as we wanted but it had something like a 98% attendance rate for the full hour. People, those who tuned in for it, loved the content.

I’ve recently been taking on any podcasts that come my way, started a series with a colleague called Humans in the Loop, and I’m very active on social media to say the least. Sometimes you wonder if its all worth it, and then you discover something like RAG before the rest of the world, or you show up at a conference and a named analyst in this industry is like “oh I know you from all the LinkedIn Posts”.

Personalization creates new channels and distribution methods

Believe it or not we have three massive movements that have created upheaval in the market. One right after another dropping dominos. The internet was the first piece, ubiquitous access to information. Then came Web 2.0 or social media, which exploded a volume of content turning each person from consumer to producer. And this then led to cord cutting which destroyed the reach of traditional media channels.

Traditional media was one direction, it broadcast ideas directly to you and the only signal in response you had to send was turning the channel. The YouTube era is funny when you think about it. Who hasn’t watched their friend’s kids going to say goodbye when they’re still relatively young and don’t know what they’re saying signing off from a gathering with “be sure to like and subscribe”. We are training folks at an early stage for this personal branded production company vibe.

Doing it right vs. doing it fast

A couple of things to boost the relevancy of your content and your personal brand:

Authenticity: be yourself, it’s all that you can be. People talk a lot about bring your full authentic self, and maybe I’d say just bring the self that’s appropriate for that environment.

Buying into a channel can be good: Whether its traditional media buys (Forbes, CIO etc.) or its working with a respected analyst or influencer, this can be a great way to augment your reach. Just make sure there’s strong alignment.

Be relentless: When I was getting started every single like or follow was a victory. Sometimes it won’t perform. Sometimes it will blow up.

4:1 ratio: I probably need to work on this one. While my stuff is very educational in nature its probably a bit too self-serving at the moment. The rule is 4 posts to delight your audience to every 1 for yourself.

Don’t pay for subscribers: Paid boosting isn’t engagement its grey hat type stuff that peters out.

Follow / Engage with leaders: When you engage with folks in your space you strengthen the community and people appreciate it.

Educate/Entertain don’t sell: Look if you’re in marketing you want to ultimately close a deal. But how you get to the deal is a winding road of building trust. Its empowering your audience and delighting them. Don’t ask for the business, that’s for sales.

Be 100% all in: I often say if you’re not doing social, you’re only doing 80% of the job. With AI creating an explosion in content it will be important for the modern marketer to move from simply producing content to becoming a promotional wing for it.

Measure and respond: Hold yourself accountable. Not everything will work, but through failure comes growth. Also don’t be afraid to recycle ideas that were ahead of their time. Sometimes it’s execution, sometimes it’s the channel, sometimes it’s the timing.