Attention isn't the win. What happens after is.

We’ve let the attention economy make us lazy. We report on CPMs and CTRs, celebrate “cheap reach,” then stare at commercial metrics that haven't moved.

I’ve seen brilliant brand and mass engagement campaigns that have driven decent engagement from my big-media agency days that, when mapped to behaviour and commercials (revenue, margin, LTV) added up to nothing.

That’s not an attention problem. It’s a measurement problem.

This is not a rant against higher funnel marketing. I am the number one advocate of balanced media investment, but if the important metrics are not moving, it is time to be honest with yourself.

The Trap: Vanity Attention

Counting eyeballs is easy. Changing behaviour is hard. We talk “brand awareness,” “visibility,” “views,” and “likes,” but those can be vanity if we’re not hitting the right people at the right moments.

Worse, teams run ads-first and pour traffic into journeys that aren’t ready; when the commercials don’t move, we are quick to turn ads off and call it a failure.

There is one harsh truth to contend with. The strategy work (audience, message, experience) was never in place.

Driving ‘Better Attention’

For me, “better attention” means attention that creates memory, reduces friction, and moves people to the next meaningful step.

Most importantly it can be linked to behavioural change that leads to commercial results.

Cheap attention is “here, there, everywhere” programmatic that isn’t aligned to your TAM or context.

Better attention is processed attention: people land, engage with the right content/tool, come back, and progress. Track it through engagement with problem/solution assets, soft intents (downloads, tool use), and clear attribution of return behaviour.

A Useful Nudge from McKinsey (and where I land)

McKinsey’s Attention Equation is a good reset: not all attention is equal (honestly, give it a read). The value of attention is driven by focus (how actively someone engages) and intent (why they’re there). Their survey of 7,000 consumers shows quantity alone misses the story; valuable time beats time spent. Use that lens to weight what you already track. McKinsey & Company+1

My line in the sand: attention only matters if it predicts pipeline, payback, LTV, retention. If your “attention” goes up and commercials don’t, you’re optimising for noise.

Journeys, not Funnels: the second point of attention

Let’s stop just thinking in funnels. They definitely help when broadly considering media investment, however they do not account for the behaviour of real people.

Real people loop: Google, skim, ask a mate, save a link, forget, see you again, then shortlist.

Brands are sitting on a plethora of data. Raid the CRM, review platforms, sales calls and make these the messages you anchor to for attention.

The ad (first attention) is your bid for attention.

The second point of attention; the first problem page, the explainer, the calculator, the reassurance is where attention either compounds or dies.

Practical tools? Keep it scrappy: Microsoft Clarity / Hotjar for real behaviour; tag downloads, compare clicks, configurators; sample sessions from live campaigns to see what people actually do.

Salience > Stunts

If you want attention that lasts, build mental availability: repeat distinctive assets, phrases, and proof in context; check aided/unaided recall around category entry points; watch branded search and direct share.

Salience grows slowly, often showing up 2–4 weeks after big bursts, so give campaigns time to reach maturity (assuming your audience, message and channels are right).

This is where your strategy works.

Fix the friction and win the messy middle

Before buying more media, remove the leaks:

• Onsite, first 90 seconds: aligning our messaging to the problem we are solving, clear signposting towards next action, further consideration content or value.
  
  
• Messy middle support: reviews, comparisons, samples, calculators, guarantees placed where people actually pause and seek further reassurance.
  
  
• Onboarding, first 7/30/100 days: name the steps that create early value, track completion, and reinforce with helpful touches. Attention isn’t an ad thing; it’s a lifecycle thing.

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Attention doesn’t stop at retention

It’s easy to think that we have done our job once we have closed the sale.

Winning attention is only one half of the battle. We need to maintain, nurture and leverage attention amongst the customers that we have won.

These customers then become our advocates and ambassadors, helping prospective customers navigate the ‘messy middle’ via social proofing and trust mechanics.

I’ll leaky bucket does not stop in acquisition. It’s just as true for retention. I’ve analysed countless datasets where the main issue is in the % of dormant or lapsed customers that are business has on its CRM.

This is a consistency issue.

Attention has to be consistent

Like any good strategy, consistency is key.

If we are not bringing the different business departments on the journey and deploying a consistent message across the full customer journey then we are already losing the battle for better attention.

See attention as a thread that we need to weave through the communication strategy across the brand. If one part of the thread breaks or one department is misaligned, then we create an attention problem.

The scoreboard I use

Link leading indicators to lagging outcomes so the business believes it.

Leading (earn & keep attention):

• Qualified visibility: viewable reach to TAM; % exposures with distinctive branding.
  
  
• Processing signals: 75% video completes / read-through; active-window time; problem-asset and tool usage.
  
  
• Memory & comeback: 14-day returning users; brand search uplift; direct share; saves/shares.
  
  

Commercials (the verdict):

• Movement: soft conversion rates, demo/sample requests, assisted conversions.
  
  
• Money: pipeline/revenue created, AOV/margin shift, payback trend, LTV/churn data.
  
  

Weight the leading indicators by focus and intent (double weight), per McKinsey’s framing then judge everything against the commercial column. McKinsey & Company

AQS: a simple Attention Quality Score you can ship next sprint

Score each 0–5; weight Focus and Intent ×2; track weekly beside revenue.

1. Qualified Reach (viewable TAM reach × % distinctive branding).
   
   1. Are we actually hitting the customers driving the commercials?
      
      
2. Focus (read-through/75% completes/active window).
   
   1. Are they actually engaging with the message we are delivering?
      
      
3. Intent (% sessions hitting problem/solution or tools).
   
   1. Does their behaviour suggest the likelihood of conversion
      
      
4. Return & Recall (14-day returners + brand search uplift).
   
   1. Have we successfully navigated them through the ‘messy middle’?
      
      
5. Commercial Link (assists, pipeline, payback/LTV trend).
   
   1. Are we driving business outcomes?
      
      

If AQS rises and commercials don’t, you’re losing the battle for better attention..

Bottom line

Attention isn’t the outcome, commercials are.

Our role as marketers is to gain attention, maintain attention and change behaviours to drive commercial success.

This can only be achieved by having absolute clarity on audience, message and context across a customer lifecycle.

Advertising is not the silver bullet solution to driving attention. We need to do the hard yards before this point to ensure we put ourselves on the path to economising attention.

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