Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

It’s been a long time coming, but Rich Schefren finally released his Attention Age Doctrine second installment.

You can get your copy for free by clicking here -

www.strategicprofits.com/doctrinenew/

As you may remember I wrote about the first part of this Doctrine back when it was released in July. The first report thoroughly delved into the world of information overload and highlighted how critical it is to find a way to cut through the noise and get attention.

Rich promised that the second part would provide solutions and recommendations for how to deal with the situation. It took him nearly six months to finally finish it and today he released part two.

The reason it took so long is Rich had a lot to say about this issue - in fact his draft version of the document was up to 300 pages at one point - but he’s cut it down to the most important bits in the final release and it’s now well under 100 pages.

How Will This Document Help You?

I was lucky enough to get a preview copy of the Doctrine part 2 a few days in advance and I read it from start to finish. I also briefly chatted to Rich on the phone about what he is doing.

I’ve been very excited about where Rich was going with his business focus because Rich really is a thought leader when it comes to business strategy. He sees what is going on in the marketplace and then produces reports to tell us about it.

Obviously he has products and seminars to sell as part of these report releases, but they are entirely optional - you can enjoy and learn from the lessons without spending a dime. If you want help and more advice along the same lines, you can join Rich’s program or attend a seminar or purchase one of his study packages. That’s exactly what I did after he released his first Internet Business Manifesto report - I joined his business coaching program after reading it (and I had no idea who he was before that!).

The reason why I am so excited about this new report is the heavy focus on the importance of Web 2.0 - social media, online communities and of course, my favorite topic - blogging.

The main reason you need to download this report, especially if you are a blogger, is to see how important you are and how vital what you write on your blog is to business.

Blogs Are The Focal Point

The Doctrine Part 2 highlights several case studies where the power of the web community has impacted business.

In one case study, exposure on the Web of an unfortunate weakness in a product, all but destroyed a company. Someone discovered that a bike lock could be opened with a pen, with blog posts and videos showing how it could be done, and it spread like wildfire over the web, eventually costing the company millions and doing tremendous damage to their reputation.

Rich details several additional examples and in many of the case studies blogs are right in the middle of it all.

Community Interaction Is Key

The thesis Rich presents is that in order to cut through all the things vying for people’s attention you have to initiate an authentic conversation inside the respective communities your market interacts in.

It’s not about marketing in a traditional sense. What most people consider marketing simply doesn’t work and can even lead to negative reactions as detailed in the case studies in the Doctrine.

If you are not perceived as a community member and use the same language and communication tools you risk being branded as a “marketer”. Once you come across as trying to sell something, that’s it - you are doomed. At best you will be ignored, at worst your reputation will be destroyed.

Peers Are More Important

A very interesting statistic presented in the report is trend away from people trusting typical leading figures and organizations, to instead looking to people “just like you” as the most trusted source.

That essentially means that your peers, or at least people perceived as a peer, are the critical reference point.

The best combination is to have someone that is considered a thought leader, but also a peer. Someone who is good at something and demonstrates their knowledge and skills, yet they do it using mediums that present an image of an everyday person.

Does this sound like blogging or what?

Yep - Blogs are the best medium to convey an everyman image, and blogs can be used to prove that you know something about something, establishing community leadership. That’s precisely why businesses are clamoring to get certain bloggers on board - they are equivalent to the “celebrity endorsement” in the new media world.

Rich of course had to practice what he preached with the release of this Doctrine, so you may have noticed over the past few months he’s been blogging like…well a blogger…and not an Internet marketer trying to figure out how he can squeeze a few more email opt-ins out of a blog.

He also was also very careful to include the blogosphere with the release of the second Doctrine and I bet you will see a few more blogs than usual talking about this document. He was quite active behind the scenes to build relationships with certain key bloggers (yes, that includes me - but he’s had me since “hello”…err, I mean since I become a client of his and benefited from his advice - I have no problem recommending his reports to you, they are always good value).

Practical Advice

At the end of the report comes the final points and really this is the section that most people who read the first Doctrine were looking for. Rich details what you need to do in order to succeed in a world where sales marketing doesn’t work and community driven conversational marketing does.

Unfortunately it’s always hard to teach how to do conversational marketing and while Rich does an amiable job, there’s one issue that I personally feel too when teaching my blogging students that I felt while reading the Doctrine2 - taking part in the conversation is work, and requires a genuine interest in the conversation and interaction, not just the result you are hoping to achieve.

You can tell people they need to go to certain community sites, create profiles, start blogs, initiate conversations, take things slowly and build trust, but for most they simply don’t have the patience. When you can’t see a specific direct result that correlates your actions to bottom line dollars, many people just give up.

It’s sort of like branding. In fact I think the whole conversational/community marketing thing is like the next evolution of branding. It’s hard to measure specific results, but you know it makes a big difference. Large companies live and die on the back of their brands, which is why what Rich is talking about and what is happening online now is so critical to the business world.

Rich outlines what’s important to the new media world of marketing and by the end of the report if you read it from start to finish you will have a good grasp of what’s going on online. The very few smart and motivated marketers will take this on board and go to work to begin the process of taking part in Web 2.0 so they, and their companies, are not left behind. I fear most though, will probably not bother and wonder why their traditional marketing methods have less and less impact.

Bloggers Rejoice

As bloggers we are positioned very well for all kinds of great things. At the very least, companies are going to knock on your door wanting to buy advertising on your site. Media budgets are going online and some of that money is going to blogs. That’s a fact, so provided you have some attention for whatever topic you cover, the possibility to make a living from blogging is going to get easier and easier as there is more money to go around.

For those bloggers in leadership positions, you are well primed to launch fully fledged business because you have the attention of the market. What you say counts, as long as you don’t screw up! If you ever wanted to release products or do consulting or even simpler strategies like affiliate marketing, now is a great time because people will believe what you say provided you demonstrate your value and build trust.

As a blogger you already “get” what it takes to build authority and capture attention - it’s what we work towards every day we blog. Your experience, exposure and hard work building a blog will return rewards provided you stick to it long enough.

Oh, and if you don’t blog yet - you better get to it. The Blog Profits Blueprint is a good starting point!

Read The Doctrine

I know many of you have trouble reading reports from start to finish, especially those coming from the Internet marketing community where there is a barrage of information.

The fact that you read this article from start-to-finish means there is hope for you. Rich’s reports are full of content, you might not like all of it, but the information will benefit you if you take the trouble to read it.

Honestly, if you want rewards in this industry you have to study these things - it’s so critical - so please, take 10 minutes now, go download the Attention Age Doctrine Part 2 and read what it’s all about.

You can get your copy by clicking here -

www.strategicprofits.com/doctrinenew/

Yaro Starak
Thought Leading