Donald Trump and the Attention Economy: Steal from Him to Stay Top-of-Mind

Several years ago, I was invited to attend a gathering of Hubbard programmers.  Traditionally when programmers of any company gather, it’s time to learn.  One of the teachers that day, besides me, was Fred Jacobs.

Fred gives a great presentation and something he said that day has stayed with me for years:  Donald Trump would have been an amazingly successful program director because he knows how to command our attention and create talk.

The previous Planet Reynolds (Steve Wants to Sell You a Horse) noted how we are in the Attention Economy now.  Everywhere we turn, something is vying to capture our attention.  I’d mentioned in that piece that often what I hear on radio shows is pleasant people having pleasant conversations about perfectly acceptable topics.  We don’t try hard enough to capture and keep the attention of our listeners.  By not doing that, we create the circumstances where something else will.  That’s one of the reasons TSL is abysmal.

So, Steve got to thinking!  I noodled on this question:  what does Donald Trump do that makes all of us, regardless of whether we love or hate him, stop to pay attention?  And what can we take from that to get better so our fans don’t leave?

Here are the ten items I landed on with applications of how they might work for you.  I’m not advocating you start talking about politics or culture-war issues.  But seizing on some of his techniques noted here up against the topics appropriate for your show might create more energy where listeners will stay longer or come back because you’re electric.  Because tension equals attention.

  1. He frames everything as a fight. Everything is a battle:  winners and losers, there are always stakes.  He knows that friction magnetizes attention.  For you:  think about how you frame things.  For instance, you can say, “Let’s talk about tipping in America.”  Or you can say, “If one more person asks me to tip them, I’m going to drive my car into a building.”   Which is more attention-getting?
  2. He uses memorable labels. He knows how to brand everything with sticky shorthand.  Fake what?  Crooked who?  Sleepy who?  It’s all mental Velcro.  For you:  naming what you do is highly memorable.  Labels are remembered faster.
  3. He talks in simple language. He uses short sentences and everyday words with a punchy rhythm with his barstool voice.  For you:  if the sentence sounds like it belongs in an email from corporate, kick it out.  We’re just in the car chatting.
  4. He repeats the message relentlessly.  He knows that repetition builds memory and memorability builds identity.  Because repetition is branding.  For you:  never fear over-teaching anything by repeating yourself.  A catch phrase or a core belief of the show said over and over helps it cut through.
  5. He creates moments designed for reaction. Reaction fuels attention.  Attention fuels coverage.  Coverage fuels reach.  For you:  engineer a reaction in what you do.  Bold language ignites a conversation in their brain.
  6. He makes everything personal. Stories about people are easier for audiences to emotionally process.  For you:  Who’s human in what you’re doing?  Humans beat abstractions every time.
  7. He performs confidently. He has absolute certainty on everything.  Maybe?  Kinda?  Conviction builds trust.  For you:  Not arrogance, but conviction.  We like being around people who know what they want and think.  Because living in the mushy middle is a one-way ticket to Loserville.
  8. He creates ongoing storylines. Ongoing narratives are followed.  It’s Trump vs. the media.  America is winning not losing.  For you:  make people pay attention to see what happens next in the story.  For instance – Steve thinks golf is stupid.  Let’s change his mind with some lessons and beers this weekend.  Tune in Monday to see if he’s a convert.
  9. He understands the camera. He creates mental cinema.  For you:  speak to create a picture.  “I’m standing in the aisle at Walmart, holding a $9 jar of Hellmann’s mayonnaise, wondering why it’s so expensive.”  You saw me in that Walmart aisle holding the mayo, right?
  10. He is unpredictable. He never lets the conversation become background noise because he knows that predictability comforts and surprise captures attention.  For you:  don’t let your break become background babble.  The unexpected guest, the sudden stunt, the random street audio, a new segment.  It all goes to helping keep their attention.

Attention beats perfection.  A show that occasionally ruffles feathers, but sparks conversation will beat a polite show no one talks about.

The world around us has changed, folks.  It’s louder, edgier, and very, very noisy.  Job #1 is to capture their attention.  Job #2 is to keep it.

Do that and they won’t just hear you, they’ll follow you.