Doc Searls on The Intention Economy
Doc Searls, inspired (or goaded?) by the Attention Economy meme of the Etech conference, has offered up a completely different, but alliterative term for the world we are now entering: The Intention Economy.
In the hallway yesterday I was talking with r0ml Lefkowitz, who now works with Seth Goldstein at Root.net. r0ml was talking about how his brother, not a techie, didn't understand what r0ml meant by working with "attention". After r0ml explained, his brother said, "Oh, isn't that what they used to call 'eyeballs'?"Bull's Eye.
Now, I'm sure eyeballs aren't what Steve Gillmor means by Attention. Or what Seth and r0ml mean, either. In fact, r0ml explained to me that Root.net is actually concerned with something much simpler and less creepy than eyeballs; namely, leads. In other words, people who are ready to buy.
Though I'm not much more comfortable being a "lead" than being an "eyeball", at least "lead" regards me as a potential buyer, rather than as yet another "consumer" who might become a buyer if I find a "message" persuasive. The chance of that happening in any individual case is so close to zero that advertising only yields useful numbers in the calculus of mass marketing. Which, even in 2006, at eTech, we still use.
So I'm thinking, Can't we get past that now? Please?
Hence my idea: The Intention Economy.
The Intention Economy grows around buyers, not sellers. It leverages the simple fact that buyers are the first source of money, and that they come ready-made. You don't need advertising to make them.
The Intention Economy is about markets, not marketing. You don't need marketing to make Intention Markets.
The Intention Economy is built around truly open markets, not a collection of silos. In The Intention Economy, customers don't have to fly from silo to silo, like a bees from flower to flower, collecting deal info (and unavoidable hype) like so much pollen. In The Intention Economy, the buyer notifies the market of the intent to buy, and sellers compete for the buyer's purchase. Simple as that.
The Intention Economy is built around more than transactions. Conversations matter. So do relationships. So do reputation, authority and respect. Those virtues, however, are earned by sellers (as well as buyers) and not just "branded" by sellers on the minds of buyers like the symbols of ranchers burned on the hides of cattle.
The Intention Economy is about buyers finding sellers, not sellers finding (or "capturing") buyers.
Doc's model is smart: individuals define or describe what it is they intend to buy, or what they are intent upon, and this information -- made available in perhaps even an anonymized fashion -- allows sellers to connect with the appropriate buyers or users. It's not where we have been spending our attention, its not even buried in our clickstreams, its what we have in our hearts and minds that matters. Perhaps part of that can be discerned from the conversations we are having online, in blogs and chat, but maybe not. Perhaps just a simple statement of intent might go a long way.
[Update: Greg Narain points out that the x:posted service is a perfect example of the dynamics that Doc is talking about. I am using this as the link to set up my own x:posted account, so I can begin to sell my writing, as described here.]
FYI "Les Demandeurs" is a French site I created one year ago to demonstrate what I called "Pop'Marketing".
--> http://demandeurs.net
Demand-side Marketing is coming...
Posted by: Stephane Lee | March 13, 2006 at 01:23 AM
Stowe, Otavo's approach is to group statements of intent (we call them quests) to create a place that allows users to find what they are looking for with the help of others.
In Otavo, a user's intent may start as a vague desire but as information for the intent amasses it is shaped and clarified.
http://otavo.com/
Posted by: Amanuel | March 13, 2006 at 09:44 AM