About flamethrowers and attention
Information, images, noise, news, advertising and music. Our brains are confronted with all this content and stimuli in just a few minutes on the internet. The world we live in today is like a flood of sensory impressions.
Our everyday lives are also characterized by a fast pace. Work, household chores, the cell phone ringing; appointments and commitments. This makes it increasingly difficult to concentrate on individual stimuli.
What are the effects of so many influences?
With so many stimuli, our perception begins to select. Our brain is not able to process all impressions at the same time. Some are consciously absorbed, others unconsciously. Our eyes are constantly gliding from one shop window to the next, we click from one website to the next.
Attention, as focusing on one specific thing, has become rare in this day and age.
The media revolution
The age of modern media is increasingly reinforcing this phenomenon. Just as industrialization led to the mass production of goods back then, the information and communication sector is now becoming a mass industry.
Information is freely accessible, which also means that everyone is able to disseminate information and attract attention. Doesn’t sound bad at first, does it?
More opportunities, more competition?
If everyone uses the opportunity to draw attention to themselves, what does this mean for the competitive situation?
As we are operating in a significantly larger market, we have more competitors who are trying to capture the attention of potential customers, users and buyers. At the same time: a whole new kind of reach. The Internet enables cross-regional relationships, the development of international networks and social media are used by millions of users every day.
The web is an attention economy in which the user's time is the ultimate currency.
User attention and time as the new currency
Scarce goods are in high demand and fiercely contested. In today’s (media) society, our time is scarce. Attention is considered the “new currency” of the digitalized economic world. The direct relationship between money and attention is undeniable. Whoever is known, sells. It is not for nothing that billions of euros are invested in advertising. The goal: attention, awareness.
The purpose of traditional advertising was to promote a specific product. Today, this purpose is becoming increasingly intertwined with the goal of attracting attention.
Is it only important that people know our names?
A flamethrower for your home - for 500 dollars!
In this case, it almost seems that way:
Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal, SpaceX and CEO of car manufacturer Tesla, recently managed to sell thousands of flamethrowers – as “party fun” – at 500 euros each. Sounds weird? The whole idea was actually originally meant as a joke. Nevertheless, such crazy ideas from a well-known entrepreneur generate … ? That’s right: attention! And obviously: buyers.
Just a few weeks earlier, Musk sent one of his Teslas into space in a rocket from his space company. And what couldn’t be missing? A camera that continuously transmits images of the car in space, of course.
We see: 20,000 flamethrowers have been sold for 500 dollars each. A “toy” that probably none of the buyers necessarily need and yet someone (or rather: many people) are prepared to pay such a sum.
Why is this example interesting for us?
You may be thinking: Of course, once you reach a certain level of awareness, you reach significantly more people, and they are prepared to spend a lot of money on joke articles. That’s true! But that should spur you on rather than discourage you! Psychological evidence shows that our attention is focused on something that captivates us. That’s what stays in our minds: something that stands out amidst all the information that reaches us every day.
What exactly is "attention"?
Be noticed! Stay in people’s minds – stand out!
According to studies, we are bombarded with 3,000 to 6,000 advertising messages a day, sometimes even more. The result: a kind of “advertising blindness”, a fading out of certain content. So your goal should be to ensure that your advertising continues to be noticed. How do you achieve this?
(Media) presence
Unlike money, attention is a fleeting resource. A Z-list celebrity who attracted attention several years ago due to a scandal, but who is not heard from again for a long time, is forgotten. Someone who is on everyone’s lips is not so easily overlooked. Take Britney Spears: although she hasn’t written a hit song for some time, everyone remembers her. We intuitively associate the singer not only with her musical achievements, but also with a number of escapades. So it’s not just about content, but about being noticed.
Do you remember the legendary campaigns sponsored by Red Bull, for example? Of course you do! Extreme sport at its best: the man who jumped out of the stratosphere with a parachute. That’s attention!
It’s about being present. It doesn’t always have to be a big bang, we don’t have to shout out into the world with trumpets and fanfares every day, but if we are constantly there, then we will be noticed.
Enthusiasm and scandal
Of course, there are different ways and possibilities of perception. We have a company in mind because it inspires us with new innovations: higher, faster, further. Or because we are convinced of its unique quality. That would be a form of positive attention. True fan groups form around companies. “Apple” or “non-Apple”? The company polarizes the masses: Users are enthusiastic about the products and are prepared to defend this point of view against others. Discussions, points of contention or a kind of “fan culture” help to keep people talking.
But there is another way. Just recently at H&M: a picture of a colored boy in a sweater with the inscription “Coolest monkey in the jungle” in the online store. This caused a strong reaction. The accusations: it’s racist and serves a prejudice! Coincidence or not? In any case, the fashion chain’s “marketing fail” is attracting a lot of attention – in this case negative.
Being respected, recognized, appreciated or simply noticed are all forms of attention.
Your goal: to win as much of users’ scarce time as possible for yourself.
Your goal:
Win as much of the users' scarce time as possible for yourself.
So if our currency is users' time and attention, where can we achieve the greatest possible impact?
Which media can we use to reach many people with our messages?
Billions of people use social networks such as Facebook every day to create or share posts. Every sender is a potential recipient and vice versa. It is precisely this social network phenomenon that can be used for marketing purposes. This means that anyone who notices you can also pass this on to others. The more people “know” you on social networks, the greater your potential reach.
The high number of users in social networks makes them the ideal tool for drawing attention to you through targeted campaigns.
How can we do this? In contrast to previous forms of communication, contact between business and customer is much less personal in the digital age. It is therefore important to offer users something. Psychologists show: We want attention from those to whom we give our attention. So it’s a matter of give and take!
People’s time is short and their attention span is only around 8 seconds. After that, most people’s thoughts wander. The average time spent on a website is around 10 to 20 seconds. On appealing pages it is several minutes. It is therefore important to retain the user’s attention.
An example of this implementation: Short videos can contain funny, informative or unusual content and thus inspire the viewer. They spend more time on your site and engage with it.
So in order to attract attention, we must always remember to give something back. Acknowledge and recognize your users, provide them with a benefit. You can tell stories, break rules, do extraordinary things – get creative.
Conclusion
In a world of a veritable flood of information and knowledge, it is important to view attention as a kind of currency. Users’ time is valuable, so we want to try and claim as much of this time as possible for ourselves.
This can be achieved using various marketing strategies that evolve and change as technology progresses.
It’s about being present and giving something back to users in order to reach them. Their time and attention is our currency.
This is what we strive for and what brings us a step closer to our goal in the battle for attention.
