Tag Archives: attention getting devices

Read This Now!

If you don’t read this entire article now that you’ve started, you will miss valuable information about how to get someone’s attention.  Yes!  That’s the purpose of the headline and this blog – getting people’s attention.  And yes, we’re revisiting the topic.

Headlines are attention getting devices (AGDs) in print ads or newspaper and magazine articles.  So is an opening scene or theme in a TV commercial or video and the initial sounds in a radio spot, TV commercial, and video.  With the average person being bombarded by more than 2,000 advertising messages every day, it is imperative that any advertising you do for your business stands out from all the rest.

You also have to realize that the more targeted your ad messages are to your desired audience, the greater your chances of inspiring a positive purchase decision.

Some commercials are so horrible they stand out because they’re atrocious.  Others are fabulous in that they grab a consumer’s attention and keep it until the end.  If the commercial has the intended impact, it creates a sense of urgency with the consumer to go and make a purchase.  That’s the intent of an AGD and the commercial, is it not?

Think about a majority of the drug commercials on television today.  They try to get your attention by highlighting an illness or symptom, using 10 seconds out of 30 to explain what their product can do to resolve the concern.  Then, based on the federal regulations, they spend the remaining 20 seconds telling you the potential side effects.  Do these spots keep your attention after they get it, if they get it?

Knowing your target market segment is critical to developing an effective advertising and marketing budget.  You are likely to waste money if you advertise to potential consumers outside of your target demographic.  That’s another blog, though, and often unavoidable since advertising channels (newspaper, magazines, radio, TV) have to lump people (potential buyers) together to get you to buy their space or time.

Let’s consider a relatively new commercial campaign for a fast food restaurant that has decided to launch a breakfast menu, Mexican style.  The belief is that their target audience is consumers who like to eat breakfast at the dominant player in the fast food breakfast market.  The attention getting device showcases men claiming to be Ronald McDonald who love breakfast at Taco Bell.  We asked consumers who were discussing the commercial which fast food company paid for the ads.  In shades of Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” faux pas, the majority were unable to identify that it was Taco Bell.

Think McDonald’s is going to complain about the commercials?  Hardly!  When you study the 30-second commercial,  Taco Bell is mentioned once outside of the actors’ lines and the logo appears twice … but Ronald McDonald is mentioned over and over.  One might think it’s a commercial for the golden arches.

In other words, be careful about your attention getting device.  Take the time to think things through.  We noticed Taco Bell now has some different commercials focused more on their breakfast entrees than on their competition.  Agencies don’t always have the right answers, and mistakes can be costly.  Know your market segment!

Brand Your Work – Work Your Brand  

AGD’s – Attention Getting Devices

How long does it take you to check your smart phone when you hear the familiar “ding” that you’ve received a text message?  If the phone is in your hand already, only a few seconds.  If you have to find the phone, perhaps 30 seconds.  And who knows how long if you have it on vibrate or can’t remember where you put it?

The point is that little “ding” is a very poignant and effective attention getting device, or an AGD for those of you into types of acronyms, like F2F for meeting someone face-to-face.  That “ding-y” AGD is part of the reason text messaging is growing in popularity for business owners, and why texting has such a phenomenal response rate.  Unless a text correspondence has ended, the sender or receiver is likely to continue responding until it does.  And the end result is likely to stir one of the parties to action.  Hence the effectiveness of flash mob.

Jamie's Baby

This banner from www.greenbayfloorrestore.com’s website is an example of an Internet attention getter; the client wanted more carpet cleaning business.

In more traditional methods of advertising, AGDs are as important, if not more so, than a strong call to action.  Think of a direct mail piece that blends in.  It looks like all the other direct mail correspondence in your mailbox and, most likely, gets recycled before it hits the countertop.  We could spend an entire blog on direct mail, but as it relates to getting someone’s attention, that piece must stand out from everything else, be delivered at the right time, and pique the receiver’s curiosity enough to get them to open it and see what it’s all about.  The odds are still in favor of it getting recycled, but if the offer is strong enough, it may survive.

Watch some television commercials, if only to see what grabs your attention.  This can be important to you as a marketer and business owner if your target demographic matches your profile to some extent.  Is the AGD a recognizable celebrity?  A cute pet?  Someone doing something silly or scary?  Does the AGD tug at your heart strings, make you cry, or cause you to salivate for some reason?  Most TV commercials, while they may seem longer, are only 30 seconds.  That’s a short time to get a viewer’s attention, pitch the product, and call the observer to do something about it.

Music and humor can be attention getting devices for advertising your product or service.  Beautiful images and sexual innuendo can also work, but the key to your success is using AGDs that reflect your image and convey your unique selling proposition to the targeted audience as clearly and succinctly as possible to GRAB THEIR ATTENTION … like yelling in an E-mail.

The fun part is that you’ll know yours when you discover it.