Attention Economy: how to get some attention as a media entrepreneur

In 2005 I bought the book 'Starting and running a coffee bar'. I had a great idea to combine a coffee bar with digital music services. I wrote a business plan, bought some books, and then... nothing. Suddenly I didn't believe in the idea anymore. I still have the books and maybe it is now a better time to start a digital music location based service. But anyway, today I re-discovered this book about starting a coffee bar. In a chapter about 'The power of publicity' the author Linda Formichelli gave some advice to her readers about publicity: "Getting your name into the public eye doesn't have to cost an arm, two legs and a spleen. By issuing press releases and positioning yourself as an expert, you can have reporters calling you for stories - and when an unbiased media source such as a reporter or TV news anchor puts you on stage, your credibility jumps a lot higher than it does from a paid advertisement that says, 'Hey, I'm great!"

We are living more and more in an attention economy (it seems like everybody would like to have your attention these days). Sending out press releases isn't enough these days to generate attention. A great example with a sad starting point is the story of a Dutch entrepreneur who lost his cat. This internet entrepreneur shared via Twitter with his followers that he lost his cat. He started a special website www.wijwillendirk.nl (we want Dirk. Dirk is the name of the cat) Using Google maps, he made a mash up about where the cat was seen in the streets. Next to this he put some pictures and videos of his cat on this website. He also printed some flyers, posters and he even asked followers on Twitter to create a t-shirt about his lost cat. A great way of crowd sourcing. And showing the world the power of social media. Even a Dutch national newspaper wrote a story about this cat. As an owner of two cats I can tell you that losing one of your cats isn't fun. I was happy to read that they found Dirk back.

One of the most important tasks of an entrepreneur is creating attention for the products or services they offer. I think Jaap Stronks did a great job by trying to find his cat and showing the world how he can create - as a media entrepreneur - a great campaign by using social media.