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I’m happy to see that the Urban Media Festival is kicking off next weekend. Monetizing Your Media is the theme. I’ll be there to support and lend a few nuggets of wisdom about developing a Web 3.0 approach to marketing your business. When I say “Web 3.0 Approach”, it means leveraging all of these free and low cost tools such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs in a coherent way that it won’t kill you to manage it. More than ever, we live in an Attention Economy. If you can capture people’s attention, chances are you can develop that into a business model that generates revenue for your cause or business.

If you have a business or cause, the first thing that you need to ask yourself and then your friends, family and customers is “Do you have a compelling narrative?” Does your cause or product help solve a particular pain point? If so, the key to generating income is being able to tell that story in an efficient and elegant way. The principles are the same. Only the tools have changed. Word of mouth is your most potent tool. In the world of social media with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. that word of mouth is passed on electronically.

Keep in mind that there 3 basic steps that people need to take before they actually become a customer. Awareness, Trust and Purchase. I’ll go ahead and break this down a bit.

Awareness – People have to know that you exist. Remember this is an Attention Economy. If people simply don’t know your product or cause is even there, they will never make a purchase. That’s why you see major brands hitting you repeatedly with ads on TV, in video games, billboards, etc. They want to be top of mind when you think about where to buy insurance or that new TV. So, think about establishing Facebook and Twitter feeds for your business or cause. Then start using them to make people aware that you exist.

Trust – Once people know that your product or cause exists, what do they think of when you come to mind? Is it good, bad, indifference? Are your tweets the ones that make them smile or reflect? Do your tweets make people angry? Do your Facebook updates reinforce how you want them to perceive you? Are you always selling something or do you take the time share useful information? Does your blog and/or web site reflect the same tone that you set in person and in social media? All of these things have influence on whether they trust you, your product or cause.

Purchase – Ah, the almighty purchase. Can you get them to write a check or volunteer to help? There’s a difference between someone who writes you a check once and a customer. A customer is someone who continues to make purchases or advocates for your cause. Whereas the former, was a lucky shot in the wind. Your customers come back to you because they trust you. They trust you because they know you. If they purchase or invest time in you and it’s a negative experience, the circle is broken and chances are they will let their friends know as well.

I say all of this because there was a time when we had media gatekeepers. TV, Radio and Cable controlled what we could see for the most part and if we wanted to reach a large audience, we had to go through them. Now, they will continue to have significant influence but there are many free and low cost tools that allow mom and pop operations to create media that rivals many of the largest media conglomerates. In fact, one of my clients, the movie review site Spill.com, gets over 2 million views of its video streams and about 40K podcast downloads in 1 month. Those are better than some cable numbers and their production is done by 8 people out of a condo in South Austin. They have extremely loyal fans from as far away as London, the Netherlands, and Australia willing to come to Austin just to meet and hang out with them. They are now owned by Hollywood.com, which is a large company but they started off with a laptop, some audio equipment and animation skills. They were “discovered” on YouTube, a free platform that any one of us can use.

So, I know it can be overwhelming with so many options out there but if you can be savvy about your approach, you can get an incredible amount of value and generate the Attention and Money you deserve. The Urban Media Festival is shaping up to be a great place to network, learn and share information.

If you are savvy about media and your use of it, you can become a sphere of influence and have folks eager to make that purchase or join your cause. The trick is to choose the right infrastructure so that you can spend more time communicating with your audience and less simply trying to figure out the technology to carry your message.