If you give me attention I'll give you my custom!
From our earliest memories we seek attention.
We are bombarded with information, advertising and other various stimuli. All of these act on our conscious and sub-conscious trying to get our attention.
An airline pilot must be able to multitask, speak to air traffic control, take in the visual environment, operate and fly the plane and make a rational priority list of what is most important to them at a particular time, and then react accordingly to emergency warning signals.
Each individual does this on a day to day basis subconsciously, Companies are vying for our attention all the time, so what makes us give it to them?
Are we becoming immune to advertising?
Do we seek more from the companies that want our business?
Traditional media advertisers followed a model that suggested consumers went through a linear process they called 'AIDA' - Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. Attention is therefore a major and the first stage in the process of converting non-consumers. Since the cost to transmit advertising to consumers is now sufficiently low that more ads can be transmitted to a consumer than the consumer can process, the consumer's attention becomes the scarce resource to be allocated.
With the advent of integration media such as Facebook and Twitter we are seeking greater engagement from brands that once just fed us what they wanted us to hear. The traditional model has changed for many businesses and agencies are seeking ways in which to make their ads more interactive.
The buzz word for the past 2 years has been all about Social Media, i.e Twitter, facebook, Bebo, Myspace, YouTube, but these platforms really serve as being part of a social media strategy and are not the stand alone business tools that is claimed by many Social Media Gurus.
What I want from a brand/company maybe very different from what you personally want, we all want different things at different times. So what can a brand do to placate all of these variables?
Well for a start they can engage with the audience, long gone are the days when the company knew best. Democracy has arrived and it's called New Media. If I get bad customer service or don't like a product of yours then I can tell the world. I can shout it from the roof tops, only if I have an audience that is willing to listen.
This is not only my chance to tell people what I do and don't like, about your brand, but also your chance to listen to my concerns and engage with me. Don't take offense, merely take pleasure that I am talking about your brand and am ready for your attention and engagement.
If you're not going to give myself your attention I'm going to seek it somewhere else, I'm going to shift my potential loyalty to your competitor. Perhaps I'll stay with my new found brand, perhaps I won't. If they are willing to listen and interact with me then at least I feel I'm getting the attention that I want and most companies want to have with me.
My attention needn't be bought, isn't necessarily captured on Facebook, Twitter, nor YouTube, my attention is where you seek it and I seek yours. Social Media isn't the be all and end all of advertising/marketing but sure does help get my attention and upwards of 650 millions others.
So come on what have you got to say to me?
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