As marketers, we face a difficult task. It is up to us to ensure that the company’s brand awareness increases, that leads are generated and turned into sales and customers understand the products and services that the company provides.

At the same time, we have less opportunity to gain the customers’ attention as the amount of information increases.

Twenty years ago, Microsoft conducted a study that showed a person’s attention span, on average, was about 12 seconds before becoming distracted. 5 years ago, this time span was down to 8 seconds.

A  study from DTU  concluded in 2019 that people’s attention span will continue to decrease as we are bombarded with more and more information.

We have become accustomed to the fact that there are always new things, stories, and updates that we need to keep an eye on. It goes beyond our ability to concentrate and our ability to stay focused on what is right in front of us.

And that does not make our task as marketers any easier.

 

Stand Out from the Crowd

It is all about standing out from the crowd and catching the customer’s attention quickly.

In a world filled with social media, breaking news and clickbait, the path to attention is to ensure communication is present, relevant, and interesting.

So, how is it done?

 

Personalized Communication

The first step to catching the customer’s attention is to speak directly to the customer. Personal, direct communication that gives the customer the feeling of being at the center.

It is about greeting the customer by name and writing at a level where the customer feels appreciated.

But it is just as much about ensuring that what the customer sees, and reads is relevant to them. If you run a web-shop, your communication should reflect the type of goods the customer has bought.

It is the smallest amount of dog owners who feel greeted by seeing advertisements for cat trays.

The communication must be personal and the best way to personalize the company’s communication is by collecting as much data as possible and segmenting it.

If you want to read more about personalization and how to best utilize segmentation, we have written an article about it in the resource section of our website.

Be Human With Your Communication

People trade with people. When we buy an item, we buy it after making a wide range of considerations that cover everything from price and shipping conditions to sellers’ credibility and ‘likeability’.

This means that it is important that the communication shows the face behind the text. Text should be written so that the sender’s personality shines through. Whether it is an email, or a blog post a photo of the sender also helps.

We want to see who we trade with. If the text is too streamlined and boring, it goes beyond ‘likeability’. This does not create an emotional contact between buyer and seller.

Another way to show personality is by using humor or, as we described in another blog post by using animated gifs.

Select the Nearby Channels

The closer you can get to the customer, the better. Therefore, one of the most effective marketing and sales strategies focuses on driving traffic away from corporate websites and social media and to where we can interact personally with the customer.

The email lists have long been where the eggs lay. With an effective email list, communication to your customers can be both personal and relevant.

Many who have found out the struggle for attention when emails are sent out.

If you follow the above advice, you are on the right path. However, it is possible to get even closer to the customer.

Email Marketing supplemented with SMS marketing takes personal communication to a whole new level.

Many receive hundreds of emails every day and have become accustomed to opening them ‘as needed’.

SMS is different.

Studies have shown that up to 95% open an SMS within 5 minutes of receiving it.

This means fantastic opportunities to hit customers at just the right time and combined with segmented data and effective emails, a combination of email and SMS marketing is an extremely effective way to get the customer’s attention.

This blog post has also appeared in a MarketingPlatform Newsletter.

Author: Alex Trajcevski

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Perfekt - Vi sender linket om et øjeblik

Udfyld venligst dit navn, eventuel firmanavn og emailadresse nedenfor. Linket vil blive fremsendt i en email, når du har bekræftet din emailadresse. Du vil samtidig blive tilmeldt vores nyhedsbrev, som du naturligvis kan afmelde når som helst.
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