Thriving in the Attention Economy

Too often nonprofit organizations are categorized as either profitable or failing. As a guest on The Influential Nonprofit!, Eric challenges the double standard that non-profit organizations face when navigating, learning, and competing in the attention economy. Building a brand is foundational to any organization’s success, as is embracing boldness through messaging, actions, and decisions that reflect the brand and core values. When the branding foundation is strong, everything else a company works to achieve will have a greater impact. In this conversation, Eric shares a variety of tactics that will help organizations thrive in the attention economy because the right messaging shared with the right people will empower people to act for good.

“You don’t get to opt out of the attention economy just because you’re doing good.”

Episode Highlights:

• Eric shares something he is proud of that he doesn’t get to brag about enough. [1:09]
• Cosmic’s strategic choice to work with social impact organizations. [5:01]
• Flipping the script on the double standard of nonprofit and for-profit organizations. [8:24]
• The importance of transparency in failure regardless of profit status. [11:35]
• The number one thing organizations are not getting right in the attention economy, and the action Cosmic encourages them to take about it. [12:07]
• A brand creates meaning for the work that a company is doing and is the symbol of the relationship with its supporters. [15:01]
• Attention-grabbing examples of boldness that stay true to company values. [22:00]
• Tactics for creating a more effective presence in the attention economy. [27:28]
• There are three key types of content to focus on that will increase visibility. [32:15]

Quotes:

“We need to embrace failure and learn from failure as a sector and not sweep those things under the rug when they don't work, but publish them and say ‘We tried this, here's why we tried it. Here's why we thought it had potential. Turns out it didn't work for these reasons, let's all learn from this experience together.’” [10:53]

“Information is no longer at a premium, what's now at a premium is attention.” [13:10]

“You are playing in the attention economy where our attention is being bought and sold by large corporations.” [13:35]

“You don’t get to opt out of the attention economy just because you’re doing good.” [13:40]

“You have a brand, whether or not you think you do, and the more that you can dial in that brand - your visual identity, your impact story, your niche - that foundational kind of brand-building work is either going to supercharge everything else that you do or hold back everything else that you do.” [15:57]

“You don’t want to be bold just for the sake of being bold.” [23:32]

“People want to support progress. They don’t want to support problems.” [26:08]

Resources:

The Influential Nonprofit!