3 Ways to Get Attention – Buy, Earn, or Steal

Posted by Colin Clark on Feb 6th, 2010 | Comments

If you distill your job as a marketer down far enough, you really only have to do 2 things.  First you have to create and define your message, and then you have to get that message in front of people.

When you start talking about getting your message in front of the right audience, you’re really talking about attention, which is essentially the most valuable commodity in the modern world.

3 Ways to Get Attention

1. You can earn it.

This is the kind of attention you get through permission marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing, etc.  It takes time, but attention earned is extremely valuable.

Any time you build a following through word of mouth you’re earning attention.  You can also earn attention by creating amazing products worth talking about or by creating ideas that are so good they spread.

2. You can buy it.

You can buy advertising on TV, Radio, the web, billboards, magazines, or pretty much anywhere else.  This kind of attention is great as long as the message matches the audience.

It is critical that you match your marketing message to the media outlet or much of your marketing spending will be wasted.

Examples…

• Advertising a cooking tool on the Food Network.
• Advertising email marketing software on a web design blog.
• Advertising earbuds for runners in Runners World magazine
• the list goes on and on…

You can steal it.

You steal attention when you send you enewsletter to people who didn’t ask for it.  You steal attention when you put a popup on your website that the user didn’t expect.  You steal attention when you buy a list from someone and spam the recipients.

Stealing is wrong.  Stealing attention WILL damage your brand in the long run and is not a good investment.