The High End

Seth Godin’s blogpost of today pointed toward marketing.  I am copying the whole thing in italics so you can read it.  He blogs every day and it’s generally short tight and focused.

The race to the bottom

When anyone has the ability to announce breaking news, urgent updates, RIGHT NOW, steal attention and emergencies, then sooner or later, many will do just that.

Attention is scarce, scarcer than ever, and we’ve given everyone a machine that can steal attention, and a keyboard that can be used to steal even more.

The race for cheap, unearned attention is a race that can’t be won. As soon as someone gains the lead, someone else will lower their standards and take a shortcut to get even more. The players have already surrendered their self-esteem, so it’s simply an escalating hijack of trust. And so we have dark patterns, once-respected media outlets with shameless headlines and an entire industry based on clickbait, come-ons and trickery.

It’s pretty clear that there’s an alternative. A chance to work toward the top instead. To deliver anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who want to get them. The opportunity to create remarkable products and services for a focused audience, stuff so good that people want to talk about it.

I agree on the race to the bottom. I disagree on the marketing point.  When it comes to brands, yes.  When it comes to hard news, no.  We are seeing that play out in real time.

News organizations have totally discredited themselves when they report on Trump.  So has the Democratic Party.  It’s become so blatent and transparent, no one really believes them anymore.  The boy who cried wolf has had his comeuppance.

Here is how news organizations can win.

Instead of trying to beat Twitter on breaking news which they can’t, the way to go high is to research completely and deeply.  That doesn’t fit with the hyperventilated 24 hour news cycle.  However, if someone tried it, it might work.  The other thing is to take opinion out of the news totally.  There is definitely an opinion in news and the idea that they are just Democratic operatives with bylines seems to fit. On Fox, people like Hannity aren’t “news”, they are trying to shape opinion.

Putting transparent facts, all of them, out there and letting independent minds decide would go a long way to bringing credibility back to news organizations.  Otherwise, Twitter will continue to win and uninformed populism will rule the day.