A Conflict of Interest

What do all these have in common (besides the instant ability to give you a heart attack)? They were some of the most outrageous and interesting foods served at state fairs around the country (not that I’m bitter that New England has to wait until Sept 18th for our fair to even start. . . nope, not jealous or bitter at all).  

You have to admit that there is something on that list that you are interested trying (and I didn’t even include the Italian Dessert Nachos, which are totally going on my date night dessert list). Some of you probably even googled one or two just to get an idea of what they looked like. 

Being unique in the marketplace is a great way to gain attention. Going above and behind to solve a problem (in this case: hunger, satisfying your sweet tooth, trying something new, and/or making sure I force myself to the gym) is a great way to build interest. I could very easily get a regular, melt all over my clothes ice cream. . . . .or I could get BBQ Pickle Ice Cream.

Outside of over-solving a problem, here are some other common tactics we use to create strong interest:

• Buyer Persona – Before you run your ad, build a buyer persona. Completely build the life of someone in your target audience. This can lead to key insights that change how you market and help you truly understand their problems. For example, in the past I’ve built these for nurses. Although they thought my product to be essential, it was a very small part of their job. Additionally because of their busy schedule, they would check their all of their emails in one sitting. These insights changed how we marketed to them across all of our marketing channels.  

• Solve The Problem / Talk About Features – Retaining interest is all about solving your customers’ problems. If you tell me how you can make my life easier / better / sexier / cheaper, then not only have you piqued my curiosity, but you also have my attention. Prominently feature. . .well your best features.  

• Show Benefits – Tell them about your features; show them your benefits. The more visual you can be with benefits, the better. Everyone wants to see themselves move up to living a better life. This will help customers relate and get them imagining using your product.
  
  [Bonus Tip: You know a good way to show benefits? Link to your website, youtube video, or image gallery when you design your Cidewalk ad.]

• Engage & Interact – Creating engagement and interaction is the perfect way to give yourself more time with customers and gather more information (so again you can figure out best how to solve their problems). Asking questions during face-to-face interactions, showing product demonstrations (or getting them involved), and/or entertaining and witty text are all great ways to engage with your audience. 

• Ethos, Pathos, Logos – Ethos is appealing to ethics; pathos is appealing to emotions; and logos is appealing to logic. Hone in on one of these to truly explain to your customer how you plan to help them. This will also better resonate with certain people and could help you attract the right type of customer. 

Have we kept your attention? Good! You’ll be interested then in our next post about Desire.

First AIDA - An introduction to the all-defining marketing acronym

Can I Have Your Attention Please? – How to win the battle for attention

Your Treasure Map to Future Marketing Campaigns - 5 Steps you should always take when planning a marketing campaign