Danielle Morgan Marketing

Capturing Attention The Right Way

Attracting attention is fundamental to success in every business. If no one knew you were there, you’d have no customers and everyone would go to your competitor. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Not so long ago, a shop selling some sort of commercial item would have had a physical premises. If it was in the centre of a city, the sign on the shop front told people what they were there for. You may have had a ‘Grand Opening’ to create buzz. If it were in a smaller town or in a lesser known area, traditional print advertising may have helped attract enough attention. The competition was the shop in the next town over and layers of marketing techniques ensured you had your customers and kept them. Times have changed. People no longer have to step outside their house to find a range of businesses all offering the same services and you now have competition all over the world. The science of grabbing the attention of the right person is now based in digital marketing.

Attention Triggers

There is theory behind attracting attention and it’s not just about who can shout the loudest. Think for a minute about a brand of any type that can be set apart from the competition on the basis that they have ‘class’, ‘gravitas’ or or some similar luxury status. They attract attention specifically without raising their voice. The marketing efforts of any organisation are based on who the customer is and after putting together the appropriate ‘persona’, setting out to attract their attention using these triggers is the first step to any interaction with them:

1. Automaticity. The automatic response a person has to sensory cues such as colour and music.
2. Reward. Receiving a reward makes people feel good. A reward can be tailored to the specific market being targeted.
3. Framing. Can you change a person’s view to convince them that you are the solution?
4. Disruption. Challenging expectations and shattering myths.
5. Reputation. Whom does your customer take advice from? Does the average young woman take advice on skincare from an influencer over a top dermatologist?
6. Mystery. When people are unsure about what will happen, their attention is heightened. Can a series of stories be created to keep people coming back?
7. Acknowledgment. People freely give their attention to those who support them, where they feel valued and listened to.

First Impression, Lasting Impact

Once you have captured the attention of your target, it needs to be retained. Here we are talking about good old fashioned ‘first impressions’. How content is presented is paramount to attracting attention and transforming that into a relationship. Even large, established organisations make mistakes when it comes to the most basic design choices.

Have you seen in recent years a number of websites that have text in this colour? Are you straining to see it? Off-putting isn’t it? Want to click away, feeling almost angry?

The font used, it’s colour, a picture that speaks a thousand words- all have an effect on the first impression. I admit, I’m a little disappointed that my big book doesn’t do more than touch on the design aspect of marketing. Maybe that’s just because I love design and loved studying it, and this focuses on digital marketing. Maybe there’s another fat book out there, but I imagine it’s a book for the design department!

My own interpretation is that a first impression should satisfy these from the viewer’s perspective:

• Have I come to the right place?
• Where is the information I wanted?
• Can I see that I can navigate the content with ease?

The way content is viewed is different to the way a person reads a novel. Eyes scan quickly, snap decisions are made about how long the information is going to take to ingest. The viewer makes a choice about whether they want to carry on at that moment, and whether they think it’ll be worth it. Getting to the point is important when only 27% of the content will actually be taken in. Bite-sized morsels of content are a lot easier to consume- there’s a higher chance of those titbits making it through to the 27% and visually, text looks less off-putting.

What it boils down to is this: A scan of a page, resulting in 73% of your carefully crafted content being ignored, is your window.