Business Systems Architect

The Unbreakable Formula For Getting Attention

Visibility + Incongruence = Attention

There are only two ingredients that are required to acquire attention.

The first one is visibility. No matter what you do, do it in front of an audience. Pay for having an audience if you can’t attract it otherwise. But have an audience, or else whatever you do is meaningless.

The second one is incongruence. Saying the same thing that everyone else is saying is boring. Doing the same thing that everyone else is doing is boring. You need to do what others won’t dare. You need to say what others will shy away from. You need to broach subjects that others will never venture near.

Have both these ingredients in position, and fire away. Say something bashful. Do something extraordinary. And do it in front of an audience. That’s all you need. At least to get attention.

Now, if you think you have eternal immunity from having to seek attention, you couldn’t be further from the truth. No matter what you sell, the sale comes afterwards. First comes attention. First you command the attention of a prospect. It is only when a person pays attention to you that you can convert him or her into a client or customer.

Notice how we say “pay” attention.

Attention is a valuable resource. Marketers, advertisers and business owners happily trade dollars for their audience’s attention. You don’t just give attention to something or somebody. You pay attention.

There is no substitute for attention. Fail to command the attention of your audience, and you might as well have never shown up in the first place.

Far too often you’ll see excellent pieces of content strewn over the internet that get read by almost nobody.

What is the point?

What’s the point of writing an article if no one is going to read it? What is the point of creating, recording, editing and uploading a video if nobody’s ever going to watch it? What is the point of creating lucrative offers if nobody is ever going to know about them?

The idea behind writing an article is to get it read. The idea behind creating a video is to get it seen. The idea behind publishing a book is again to get it read. The idea behind an artist’s creation is to inspire feelings in the minds of those who set eyes upon the piece of art.

Anything that’s done in vacuum is essentially equal to not being done.

Out of sight truly is out of mind.

You won’t get someone’s money without first getting their attention.

You won’t get anybody’s attention if you don’t stand out from everyone else.

You won’t stand out if there’s nobody who’s watching you.

So get an audience somehow. Then say things that force them to pay attention. For attention opens the doors for all kinds of conversions. Be it a product, a service, a lifestyle or a philosophy… whatever you are selling will be sold only after you have attention.

So think about who your audience is.

Then think about how you can get in front of them.

Then think about what you can do differently from everyone else to make him or her pay attention to you.

And then, and only then, pay heed to conversion. For conversion comes later. And attention is a prerequisite for conversion.

    • Aarti Katyal
    • August 29, 2015
    Reply

    So how to grab attention in this world bombarded with data?

    • Reply

      Like I said… Incongruity.

      Doing the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing works well.

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