Marketing is all about finding ways to grab your target audience's attention–whether through words or images. Unfortunately, we all have pretty short attention spans, which means you only have a few seconds to capture the eyes of the buyer. Capturing your audience's attention means finding ways to get up close and personal through the words and images you use to convey your messages.
You can either earn or pay for media to get your messages close to your audience. For example, a local business might purchase billboard space to boost brand awareness, while a national brand might earn recognition through public relations. Media is everywhere, including social media feeds, magazines, search results pages, and television, so your customers are used to seeing tons of promotions every single day.
Most people ignore advertisements because their brains have been trained to quickly figure out what they are. If something doesn't capture a person's attention or provide them with some sort of value, they'll quickly forget about the offer and move on. Marketers must continue to find new ways to capture the audience's attention. So here are tips to help you attract your target market's attention.
Don't Oversell
Modern consumers don't like to feel like they're being sold to. The harder you try to push your brand or products, the less likely consumers are to purchase them. Using overly prominent branding in your media can feel intrusive, and your customers have an instinctive reaction to ignore or even avoid these ads. While your logo might be an important part of your brand identity, seeing a logo can actually be off-putting to consumers. When watching video ads, consumers are more likely to stop watching once a logo appears on screen because it makes them feel like they're being sold to rather than being provided valuable information.
Ultimately, the idea that consumers avoid prominent branding is called branding avoidance, and it's strong in most individuals. Your customers may not even be aware that they avoid branding. Unfortunately, this puts marketers in a tough spot because branding elements, such as logos, are an important part of marketing.
We're not telling you to throw away your logo and stop using it, but there are ways you can use it more strategically. For example, you can put the logo in the bottom corner of an ad so it's not intrusive and doesn't block the more important visual elements.
Keeping your brand to the side makes the advertisement less about your company and more about the customer to help people continue to interact with your ads without avoiding any prominent branding because there isn't any.
Pushing your branding aside is easier in some channels than others. For example, you don't have to repeat your brand name in an SMS campaign. However, your brand name will have to appear on a billboard or other marketing materials that people haven't signed up to see so people know where the advertisement came from.
Create Feelings
Unless your target customers need your products and services, you must find a way to make your audience want them. One great way to build a connection with your customers and persuade them to make a purchase is by making them feel something. You can make them feel something about your brand as a whole or your products.
Your customers will have a feeling about your brand whether they realize it or not, which is why color psychology in web design is so important. So whether you're advertising promotion or trying to build awareness about a new product, you should be mindful of the emotions you evoke.
It's typically best for marketers to aim for campaigns that make people feel positive emotions, such as joy. However, the emotions you want your customers to feel may depend on your unique business and its purpose. For example, a dog product brand wants to make pet owners feel happy, just like their pets make them feel. However, a funeral home shouldn't aim for those same emotions.
Because you have so little time to capture your audience's attention, you must use copy and designs in your media that creates feelings quickly. If your ad does not immediately make someone feel something, they'll move on and forget about it.
Use a Custom GIF
Digital marketing is all about finding ways to enhance your relationship with your target audience and building customer loyalty. There are many ways to do both, but you can easily attract the eye by adding movement to the screen. For example, using a custom or funny GIF can sometimes be more impactful than telling someone why they should buy a product. GIFs are easy to create, but you can hire an animator to help make joyful animations for your email marketing campaigns and website.
Use Video
Videos can be more impactful and engaging for website visitors and social media followers when used appropriately. Of course, your website should have a balance of copy, images, animals and other graphics, and video. Having too much video can make it difficult to understand what the website is about, especially if someone can't listen to the video or doesn't feel like watching the video.
You can use videos throughout your marketing campaigns, including email marketing and social media advertisements.
Consider Your Messaging
While colors and design elements can majorly impact customers, your message is expressed in words, so you must write clear, concise copy for all of your marketing strategies. Depending on the type of media, you may only have a few words to get your message across clearly, or you'll have an entire press release. Therefore, it's always best to create a messaging framework to help you uncover your value proposition and develop short-form and long-form copy ideas that sell.
Final Thoughts
Grabbing your customers' attention is getting harder every year as competition heats up. Whether you've earned or paid for your media, ensure it makes an impact by experimenting with different ways you can attract customers.