So I've been working on my youtube channel a lot lately. And as much as I enjoy the process, it can be a bit slow-going. Especially when it comes to gaining more subscribers and having people engage in the comments.

Similar to these emails, my goal is to simply provide value and build a great business at the same time. But these things don't happen overnight.

On youtube, a big ranking factor is something called viewer watch time. This simply means how many collective minutes/hours people have been watching your videos. And this brings me to the topic of this post... Attention.

Attention is currency. 💰

Similar to the dollar bill, time and attention have massive value in the real world. Especially with all of the things competing for it. The person (or youtube channel) collecting the most attention will inevitably build a reputation and find new opportunities rather quickly. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

Not all attention is created equal. There IS such thing as negative attention and it can have the opposite effect in a great (or not so great) way.

The thing to remember is that if we want someone to relate to us, trust us, or eventually buy from us, then we must get their attention first. Or none of those things will ever happen.

Not only do you have to grab someone's attention, but HOLD their attention as well. This can be even harder to do.

What grabs your attention? What holds your attention?
There is a bit of a science behind it believe it or not.

In the next email, I'll give you a solution that works time and time again and isn't going anywhere.

Attention is in low supply and high in demand, making its value skyrocket.

Just like my youtube channel, you must be patient and always prioritize your audience's wants and needs.

As we’ve gathered, Attention basically a currency in and of itself. The reason it’s so valuable is that attention is directly associated with time spent.

You’ve heard, “Time is Money” right?

The more time that someone spends listening or engaging with you, the more they can begin to trust you.

Trust is the cornerstone of any relationship - personal or professional.

But for any relationship to develop, it starts with getting (and holding) someone’s attention. So how do we get someone to pay attention to what we are saying? Well, there is a bit of a science to this actually!

I'm not going to speak on the crummy or manipulative tactics that many marketers and advertisers use to rope people in. Instead, let's focus on one tried-and-true concept.

Pain aversion and the pursuit of pleasure. Let me explain.

You see, we as humans make all of our decisions based on whether something will make our life better, or keep it from getting worse. We consciously (and many times subconsciously) convince ourselves that a certain purchase will satisfy one of these requirements because if not, we won’t buy it.

For example, when’s the last time you bought an insurance policy because it made life better? Never! But it definitely helps to have when crisis strikes. Or how about the latest iPhone - making your life better right? Or at least we convince ourselves that it will.

This concept isn’t new, just look up ‘the pain-pleasure principle, originally developed by Sigmund Freud.

Now let’s connect the dots.

To develop effective marketing, you need to get their attention. To get their attention you’ll need to position your brand or products as a solution to either avoiding pain or living a better life.

Like an onion or a wedding cake, there are layers to this.
The concept is simple but the practice isn’t.

The big win is to convert attention into attraction - and attraction into conversion.

Attention is basically currency but conversion actually is.

What are your thoughts? Did you learn something? What else can you add?

P.S. Take the next 24 hours and examine every purchase you make and advertisement you see… Is it a solution to pain or pleasure? And yes, sometimes it can be both. Pretty cool huh?