Everything begins with attention

I came across a nice blog on creativity (creativecreativity.com). It has some nice posts, but it was the first post that caught my attention - fully.

Isn’t that strange that I became totally hooked after: it caught my attention and then I was motivated to see some more and then some more and then realize it is a very good site and then book marked it and then writing a post inspired by the original post. What would have happened if it was not able to get my attention? Obvious thing is I wouldn’t have written this post and may be I would have never come across this site in my life.

That brings me to the point that I have been thinking on for quite sometime - attention. A thought process that was originally started by Seth Godin's post that brought the concept to my attention. (If Seth had not written that, may be I would not have thought about it)

Attention is a very important commodity. We all want attention at various point in life, from mundane activities to important events. From the attention of your friend you are gossiping with to the attention of your client you want to pitch. From getting attention of the girl you want to date to getting attention when you pop the question. We need others' attention - all the time. Interesting isn't it - we need Others' attention for matters that us most.

Everybody needs attention. And everything needs attention. A product needs an attention in the crowded shelf space, just like a resume needs an attention in the applicants' pile or just like model's profile needs an attention in the crowded audition room.

Grabbing the attention is the most important and critical step in creating anything. I would dare day, nothing in the world was ever created/ realized/ invented/ acted-upon without creating an attention first. Simplifying this is an exercise of limiting opportunities. So let me just end with the quote that first got my attention in first place. CreativeCreativity quotes John Caples:

Don’t make ads simple because you think people are low in intelligence. Some are smart and some are not smart. The point is that people are thinking about other things when they see your ad. Your ad does not get their full attention or intelligence. Your ad gets only a fraction of their intelligence . . . . People won’t study your ad carefully. They can’t be bothered. And so you have to make your ads simple.

Ok agreed, this quote is not directly about attention. But it is about attention. Ads are all about attention. There are hundreds of ads in newspaper today, which I have not seen. They have not got my attention yet. The posts on this blog have not got the attention of millions of surfers. The true opposite of attention is - obscurity. And obscurity is death of opportunities.

There are many ways of grabbing attention, a slick-elegant way with high impact or it could be carpet bomb-spam way. I do not think spam way works well, though it has more chances of getting attention. The spam or too much advertisement would turn itself into a 'bore' very soon and loose all the attention. The propagandists of course may differ, but not every body has the media reach and staying ability of these propagandists.

Ok, so, this brings me to simplicity. Necessity of simplicity in our communication for attention is aptly summed in John Caples quote. That should leave no room for doubt, that whatever little attention that we may get by our presence for that infinitesimally small moment has to utilized to maximum in reaching out and conveying the message. If we miss that mind-space, we have lost the attention and we are back to zero. Simplicity is a huge lever in grabbing attention.

Having said that lets add a twist. Simplicity, is not remarkable. Again, this idea is of Seth Godins and I am merely parroting his simple idea that got my attention. A interaction with the one we desire to interact has to carry a message that is simple for to grab attention from peripheral vision, so to speak, but must be remarkable enough to hold that attention.

A great entry sequence of films hero will not change the box-office fate if the rest of the movie does not hold the viewers attention. A great presentation will not convince the client to purchase if the subsequent content or product experience is bad. People tend to notice things about the ‘message’ and they tend to talk about it. It can be as enthusiastic appraisal of your outfit or as simple as body odor.

This brings us to need to something remarkable in the product/ content/ presentation that can be discussed about. Unless you give something for the other person to talk about there is nothing much interaction that will happen. So, simple, give them something to talk about. Leave a open hook. Give the 99% of the presentation, knowing fully well the client will notice the lack of 1% and “ask” for it. Make the client make a remark, on something that you have to offer. If you have

If your product requires floppy disk, then that is remarkable and client will laugh you off. If you need state of art transmission device, the costs may put off the customer. But, if your product does not need anything, that would be remarkable for the customer. It is the “wow” factor. Unless, customer has something to “wow” at, you are not remarkable and you may soon loose the attention you earned so hard.

Conclusion

In the flash of opportunity that we have our message must be able to attract* attention with a simple^ yet clear message, a message so remarkable in itself that it creates a conversation between intended recipient and us. A good interaction has more chances or fructifying into a deal.

*much better than grab, but both are ok as long as deal comes through.

^which people can understand in their sleep.