With today’s digital technology, marketers face a monumental challenge. Consumers can only absorb so much information, making the modern attention span inescapably limited. Today’s marketers must compete against smart devices, geo-targeted advertising and a plethora of brand messages, in effect making consumer attention a limited and invaluable resource. Because of this, successful contemporary business leaders use technology and innovative practices to engage the right consumers at the right time.
As the information universe expands, the value of consumer attention rises. Today’s marketers capture the attention of consumers using every available touchpoint, especially consumer mobile devices. This is especially challenging, as consumer attention is even more fragmented when using personal devices. Researchers estimate that the amount of effort required to attract consumer attention has risen nearly tenfold over the last three decades. Also, marketers must attract consumer attention in the most cost-effective way possible.
The following sections highlight five tactics that marketers can deploy to influence consumers in the highly competitive business marketplace.
1. Be Specific in Who You Target
The most difficult part of marketing is targeting consumers who are most likely to buy. The whole point of marketing is to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time, and – of course – do so cost-effectively. This makes it vitally important to first identify a target audience and then determine how to reach them. Once this is accomplished, marketers can create targeted campaigns that speak directly to the audience. These campaigns must create a strong connection between consumer needs and enterprise offerings.
2. Highlight Diversity
To compete in today’s diverse business environment, marketers must create diverse brand messages that represent modern reality. A recent survey conducted by NewsCred, Inc. Internet marketing consultancy revealed that 91-per cent of marketers believe that there is still room for growth in diversity for brand messaging.
Most United States companies overlook diversity opportunities, missing out on many potential prospects. Despite this circumstance, the nation is growing more diverse. Resultantly, marketers must do a better job of understanding their audience. Diversity and inclusion, however, is more than catering to a specific ethnicity. The American population is composed of people of all ages, socio-economic classes, and genders.
3. Use Technology and Media Intelligently
Marketing leaders recommend a scientific approach to capturing consumer attention. For instance, Harvard Business School researchers conducted eye-tracking technology studies which revealed that consumers do not want to be persuaded. During the study, when brands attempted to sway consumers, they instinctively put up a defensive wall. The researchers noticed that the study participants consistently started ignoring advertisements once brand logos appeared prominently on their displays. The more the enterprises displayed their brand logo, the less time that consumers spent viewing advertisements. Using this intel, the researchers helped marketers overcome a consumer phenomenon called brand avoidance.
4. Consider Cultural Beliefs
People have different traditions, celebrations, and rituals that shape the fabric of their being. Cultural backgrounds are built on a foundation of childhood memories, family experiences and every prominent memory extending from these early years. For some, these experiences are gathered in different countries of origin.
Marketers must know what appeals to audiences as well as what experiences and beliefs shape their current sentiments. Effective marketers are sensitive to cultural and ethnic distinctions and can create marketing messages that resonate with diverse consumers, and in the business arena, these professionals must maintain an ongoing awareness of changing cultural differences.
5. Tap Into Consumer Emotions
Marketers must do more than capture consumer attention – they must make potential buyers care about what they are offering. Competent marketers do their best to make consumers feel as though their brand understands their strongest needs. To do this, marketers directly address what is called consumer pain points. Pain points are strongly emotional and behavioral influences that are often established by local culture and significantly impact peoples’ lives. For example, a pain point can be frustration, stress, anxiety, fear or other strong emotions.
Once a marketer attracts a consumer’s attention, they must convince that individual to take the desired action, such as purchasing a product. Effective advertising that impacts consumers on an emotional level sets the stage for persuasion. If an advertiser can attract and retain a potential buyer’s attention, more than likely, a sale will ensue.
Marketers must understand life from consumers’ points of view. Effective advertisements attract consumers, evoke emotion and – in fact – become a part of peoples’ cultural experiences. By taking a scientific approach to the understanding of human emotion, modern marketers can create successful branding campaigns and propel their organizations toward prosperity.
Source Credit: Ryan Ayers, CEO, Ryan Ayers Communication
PHI-MIT Press Book The Marketplace of Attention: How Audiences takes Shape in a Digital Age by Webster explains how audiences take shape in the digital age and how digital media finds the audiences they need in an era of infinite choice?
He incorporated the factors that create audiences, including the preferences and habits of media users, the role of social networks, the resources and strategies of media providers, and the growing impact of media measures—from ratings to user recommendations — into one comprehensive framework and calls it the marketplace of attention.
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