Can I Have Your Attention Please?

How To Win The Battle For Attention
[Editor's Addendum - This is the second in our series over-viewing the marketing acronym AIDA

If I say “What’s In Your Wallet”, how many of us can just hear Samuel L. Jackson’s voice? Or how many of you picture William Shatner if I say “Priceline Negotiator” (in addition to hearing the exact jingle).  . . although I will give bonus points if you recalled Kaley Cuoco instead. Or one of my new favorites: “we are literally putting our money where our mouth is”.  

What does this picture have to do with this blog post? Well, it got your attention didn't it?

Celebrity endorsements have long been used as a way to grab your attention. You’re able to recognize the endorsers, and as such, are more likely to listen to the rest of their message. 

That is the first hook. If a company can get you to pay attention, then they have a chance to convert you to a customer. But we’ll get more into that later. For now, here are some ways that you can stand-out in the battle for attention: 

• Target Marketing – First and foremost, make sure you are placing your ads where your target market can see them. If the ads aren’t relevant, then the audience won’t pay attention. (You can check out our post on target marketing here as a refresher).
  
  
• Repetition – Head on, apply directly to the forehead. Head on, apply directly to the forehead. Head on, apply directly to the forehead. Just typing that gives me a headache. However, it was effective in grabbing attention. While you don’t have to be that implicit, your customers are more likely to react to your business name each time they hear it.
  
  [Editor’s Note: You know what’s great for repetition? Cidewalk! You can get as many as 50,000 views in just one month. Start promoting with us today]
  
  
• Social Media – Social media is not only great for creating content and building relationships you’re your customers, but it can also be used as a prospecting tool. I’m a fan of using twitter hashtags that directly speak to your company / content / audience. For example, we did a series called ‘5 Ways For Restaurants To Use Cidewalk’ with the hashtag #RestaurantMarketing and #RestaurantSales.
  
  
• Advertising Medium – In the battle for attention, you may have to get creative and place ads where your audience isn’t expecting to see them. I mean, who doesn’t read sky-writing every time they see it? There is a long list of “non-traditional” ways to get your name in front of people ranging from car wraps to sponsorships to expos to movie previews – I’ve even seen ads on pizza boxes. While cost may be an issue, remember that if it really, really, (really,) creative you could gain some additional PR. 
  
  
• Controversy – GoDaddy.com became the master of this. At the very least, this will grab attention and (depending on how controversial) will get people talking about you. Know that this is risky as it has a chance to back fire . . . . but if you’re an ‘All PR is Good PR’ person than this may be right up your alley.
  
  [Editor's Note: No hyperlinks were even allowed to be attempted in the prior section :) ]
  
  
• Buzz words – The obvious one here is ‘Free’; everybody likes getting something for nothing. However, there are a myriad of other words you can use to attract attention such as: ‘Now’, ‘Guaranteed’, ‘Ultimate’, ‘Exclusive’, and ‘New’. There are also industry-dependent words that could greatly affect your sales. For example, Grandma’s Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies sound a lot tastier than Chocolate Chip Cookies That Don’t Suck. 
  
  This can also impact the perception of your quality. Check out this study that compared the impact of serving people “California” wine vs. “North Dakota” wine. 
  
  
• Sensory Ads – Using unexpected / different senses can gain attention (since there are fewer stimuli competing for attention).  If you’re in the food industry, make sure you take advantage of smell. Can people who walk-by smell your delicious dishes? Use bright colors and large imagery if you want sight to be your main attention-grabber. I’ve even seen companies that make soap have a sink near the sales register so people can feel the soap on their hands. 
  
  Bonus Tip: In addition to overloading one sense, absence can also grab attention. If people are expecting to see / smell / touch / taste / hear one thing and they don’t, there are likely to notice. Think about how many times you look around whenever there is silence (and as any parent will tell you, silence is very suspicious and definitely calls for looking around). 

One final note . . . .  make sure you don’t spend so much time on your marketing that your product quality suffers. Word of mouth marketing is still the most reputable and attention-grabbing form of marketing!

Hopefully we’ll still have your attention next time when we cover Interest!

Related Posts

First AIDA - An introduction to the all-defining acronym

I Guarantee You're Going To Hear About This Again - Why repetition is key in marketing according to the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

That Picture Is Going To Cost Me How Many Words?? - Images vs. Text - which is more likely to improve my advertising?