If there’s one thing modern-day living has shortened more than anything else it’s got to be the human attention span. Wouldn’t you agree?…
…Hey! wake up!! 
Seriously though – as marketers and business owners we can be pretty slow to catch on to some of the most important factors in human psychology when it comes to generating sales, and working with the attention span of potential customers is a big one…
The ability for today’s brain to make an instant switch to the next distraction (especially online) means it’s increasingly important to work at maintaining that attention on YOU and YOUR products.
So how best to do that?…
Well first of all, you get back to basics and try to understand what it is that gains the attention of the brain of your ideal customer.
Let’s keep things nice and simple: because if we do that you can sum up the essential ingredients to maintaining attention in one word -
ENTERTAINMENT!
It really doesn’t matter what your product or service is, or who your ideal customer is, entertainment is the key to focusing their time, attention and hopefully their action on what you’re doing rather than your competitor.
Think about it – do you know anyone looks forward to their favourite TV program, their next night out, or spending their next hour glued to their favourite hobby at least 10 times less than they look forward to getting back to their job?
In fact, let’s take the blockbuster film angle. Pretty much everyone can name a film that entertained them so much that they’ll watch it at least one more time, just for the emotions it triggers. You can think of at least one of those, right?
So – are you marketing your product to become the blockbuster film of choice to your target customers?
Are you entertaining your ideal visitor and drawing them through the required emotions towards the ideal happy ending? (a new customer)…
…or is your marketing and sales process helping them to ’switch channel’ to a competitor?
By the way – like many of the best films, it’s not necessarily the special effects and eye-candy that provide the most entertaining moments is it? It’s often the underlying story, the character development, the rhythm, plus expert direction and editing that make the big difference.
The best directors have a habit of bringing out the best entertainment value in the productions they work on…
…And as a director of your business (whether self-employed, part-time, or fully company-fied – that’s your goal should be too (if you want that attention turned into dollars).
In the next post we’ll stick to a film theme and bring in some big buckets of popcorn…
