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I recently did a program on How to GRAB the Attention of Clients and Prospects. Here are a few points from that talk. According to the top advertising agencies in the world you’ve got 3 seconds to grab their attention. You scroll through your… Emails, Facebook feed, Today’s news, Tweets, Pins, Ads, Pics, and Videos … drowning in a sea of soundbites and thumbnails and headline after headline, page after page of information and ideas, until… suddenly, YOU stop scrolling. WHY! You hit that headline, that image, that quote that really speaks to YOU. You’re drawn into this piece of content and before you know it, you've consumed an entire email, article, blog, or post.
But how many great bits of information did you pass up? Think about it. There may have been 30 articles you scrolled by without a second thought. WHY? Because nothing in particular stood out to you - nothing in particular spoke to you. Your content might be awesome, but if no one is engaging, it’s not doing you any good. Time: You Don’t Have Any. REMEMBER - you likely have less than 3 seconds to really stand out and gain that precious click. Your attention grabber has got to pull in your reader in a snap.
DON’T ASSUME: Understand who you are marketing to. WHO are your customers? What do they like and need? What are their biggest problems today? How can you help them with those problems? Be specific. Write it down. What motivates that customer to buy? Understanding your target audience is crucial to strategically planning your content production. Everything about “how you frame your content” and how you plan to grab attention is rooted in first discovering your buyer’s interests and state of mind. Once you know who you’re after, it’s time to grab ‘em.
There is much more pressure surrounding the headline than any other parts of the content. If you don’t get the headline right, your target audience will not go any further. Talk to your customers, find out the #1 thing that attracted them to do business with you and come up with 25 ways to express that reason in a headline. David Mackenzie Ogilvy CBE, was a British advertising tycoon, founder of Ogilvy & Mather, and known as the "Father of Advertising" pointed this out about the headline – “On average, 5 times as many people ONLY read headlines. Simply put - You need an irresistible headline.
It’s no secret that communicating with your customers is an essential step to retaining them. 59% of people say that email marketing impacts their purchase decisions - it is the most effective long-term method of marketing communication. At first, I would concentrate on the 20% of customers who bring you 80% of your business. To get that reader to your website or to call you ... you need GREAT content. But great content is nothing without a hook.
Use videos and images frequently. Images and videos can greatly improve your online communication skills. Images may include things like: GIFs - Emojis - Memes - Screenshots.
Here is a depressing fact: Research has demonstrated people only read about 20% of the text; 80% of information is being overlooked. Readers spend more time looking at the images than they do reading text on the page. Create relevant images to catch their eye. AND always remember this: DON’T - Waste their time … Send out poorly designed materials … Assume you understand their situation … Send something out just to send something out.
I must credit author Ben Parr who provided a great deal of the data in this article. He wrote a fascinating book, Captivology - The science of Capturing People’s Attention. Ben conducted interviews with experts in the field to isolate “7 captivation triggers.” I highly recommend his book.