Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Intention vs. Attention

The Intention Economy is an idea — maybe even an insight — that I had here at eTech. The gist:

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.

Read the rest here.

Bonus links: Dan Farber on The Amorphous Attention Economy. Aslo everybuddy.org.

Set up

My eTech photo set is up.

Connectivity gets marginal at big tech conferences like etech, where nearly every attendee is online with their laptop. So I'll leave live coverage of the show up to the rest of them.

I do have a lot to report, which I'll do later, mostly at Linux Journal and IT Garage.