Media is a powerful tool.
And by the way, that was an understatement.
Of all the institution of men, media is the most powerful.
The reason is very simple, actually;
They know how to get our attention.
Plus, we trust them.
You can’t do without giving media your attention.
You must listen to (or read) news.
Most of us have to get much entertainment (not me anyway), so we depend on the TV.
Because media is able to get our “love” and devotion in this way, every other thing is possible with them.
Let’s start from the obvious.
Media can build or destroy your reputation, just in matter of days.
Media can make you rich or poor also.
You think about it, for Close-Up to loose market, it only takes the likes of Punch, Naij.com or Vanguard to write (either false or true) story of how a child brushed her teeth with Close-Up yesterday and died.
Will you buy Close Up again if you read that news?
Even if it’s false, most of us would never buy such a product, again.
In this case, media directly uses its power to destroy in a day, what someone has built for a decade.
The result of that is that, that company and its employees would become broke.
The media has power to make you rich directly too.
In the year 2000, Oprah Winfrey took Robert Kiyosaki to her show, just for an hour.
Kiyosaki confessed later that that simple one hour show is what made him known to the world.
His book sold over 50 MILLION DOLLARS after then.
You cannot imagine that, can you?
Those are the direct ways by which media can make you poor or rich.
But wait!
There is more to that.
Media can also, slowly make you poor or rich.
Because they have earned our attention, devotion and love, they can easily tell us anything and we’ll believe them.
Take for instance, media will report 9 bad happenings, before they report one good news.
Why is this so and what is the implication on you?
Media (from experience) has discovered that bad news sells 10 times faster than good news.
That’s why they will rather write an headline that says; “The 17 year old Nigerian president’s son caught stealing”, than to write; “20 years old Nigerian lawyer became the best lawyer in Africa”
Even if they have the two stories too publish, the bad one will appear at the front page and the good one anywhere else.
Now listen, that bad news sells doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
What bad news actually does to you is to make you become a pessimist .
Because media report extensively about how Nigerian economy is bad, most people have believed that.
As a result, they have lost hope and energy requires to achieve something with their lives.
I have a secret to reveal to you.
I have made more money in this “bad” economy than ever before in my life.
So, if for any reason you believe the economy is bad, it might be because you’ve been “deceived” by the media.
Stop allowing media to make you poor!
But, there’s a good news.
Media can make you rich too.
Let me explain.
For some reasons (not known to me), media once in a while creates trends.
Trends is a business and money, for an entrepreneur.
What is a trend?
A trend happens when media suddenly starts talking about certain thing, either as being the latest or being the newest or being the best way to go.
It doesn’t have to make any sense to you.
As media talks about it, often, be sure there’s a ready made market for it.
A ready market means you can sell without much effort or marketing.
The reason is simple; people believe the media.
I’m creating a company around a trend as I write this.
I may not reveal the details here in public (because I’m not prepared to have competitors yet) but soon I may share the details in on this blog.
For now, let me charge you to not allow the media to make you poor.
Instead, use the media to make yourself rich.
If you cannot sight a trend created my media, you can use media editorial to create a market for your products or services.
I love you!