Can You Keep a Goldfish Interested? The New Attention Span in the Age of the Internet

By Rose Strong

In a world bursting with new technologies, it has been said that humans now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish which has an attention span of about nine-seconds.

The New York Times op-ed by Timothy Egan, addresses the eight-second attention span. He says, “I can no longer wait in a grocery store line, or linger for a traffic light, or even pause long enough to let a bagel pop from the toaster, without reflexively reaching for my smartphone.” Does this sound familiar?

According to the website Statistic Brain, office workers check their email 30 times an hour, and the average attention span has dropped 3.75 seconds from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8.25 seconds in 2015. In addition, only 17 percent of website page views last four seconds or less.

When you are thinking about marketing and public relations in a world where people zoom by ads and content, it is a challenge to engage them successfully.

How, then, do you get and keep your clients’ attention?

Consider audience wants and needs. You first need to think about your target audience. What do they want? What do they need? When will they be paying attention? Often, businesses share content online about their accomplishments but it is important to connect those accomplishments to the prospective customers’ needs. For instance, if you are a lawyer who was named a Best Lawyer or Super Lawyer in the area of estate planning, it’s worth sharing that news and tying it into how your readers can safeguard their personal estates.

Go where the customers are. Understanding where people get their information is fundamental to a successful online content strategy that seizes the viewer’s attention immediately and keeps them. For instance, B2B businesses are more likely to engage their target audience on LinkedIn than Twitter while Facebook is a better platform, in general, for B2C.

Capture the micro-moment opportunities. Today most people are doing micro-moment searches on their mobile devices. According to an article by Rob Weatherhead of Media Network Blog for The Guardian, the micro-moment is a term coined by Google to define anytime a consumer uses an online platform to look something up, be it a store’s hours, a restaurant menu or where the closest gas station is located. Make sure your content is optimized for organic search in order to keeping the viewer’s eyes on the prize.

Create clear, concise and engaging content. In today’s tech world where immediate gratification is all around us, it is important to carefully manage content choices. For example, website images and their placement should take into consideration load time, size, placement, visual appeal and story-telling value. Those images should complement your content, which should be easy to read by using bullets or specific spacing. Less is often more.

In her interview with David Greene of NPR, Jessica Helfand, author of “Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media and Visual Culture,” says, "The impatience with which people have come to expect everything to be delivered to them is a terrifying prospect." In an age where people are “constantly engaged in multimedia multitasking — reading, working … and checking Facebook every 10 minutes,” Helfand says it is important to create “a better visual, more compelling experience— an experience tailored to shorter attention spans.”

With the rise of technology and its continuing advancements, we have turned into a society even more eager for information at light speed. We can embrace in marketing and public relations with shorter, more targeted, more visual information distributed through the many new tools, such as social media, that capture the minds moving at warp speed.

How Does Your Advertising Message Hit Their Screens?

By Kim Tarasiewicz
Advertising Message is the “meat” of advertising or a commercial that attempts to convey what the advertiser intends through words and/or pictures.

That definition would have seemed simple 10 years ago, but with today’s ever-changing technology, advertising message can get lost in the clutter of emails, text messages, and other “device” campaigns. In advertising, one size does not fit all and finding the right message is as important as finding the right mix of media. Many consumers will have several screens open at their office or home at any given time during the day, so it may take sending the right message several times to build on your impact.

Initially, it’s important to clearly define your customer or client and then determine how they receive their messages. It may take some research to get the correct information, but this time spent will benefit the advertising dollars you will spend during the year. Consider a different format when serving your message to suit the needs of your customer. For example, a webinar or seminar will provide educational opportunities for the customer while allowing additional time spent with them to get your marketing message out there. While creative ads are fun, some industries call for a more formal approach, so know your customers and be consistent when communicating with them.

Google Analytics can be a great resource for determining how your customers read your text messages or which search engine they use most. When developing a campaign, add in a tracking mechanism such as unique phone numbers or website addresses and continue to check and re-check what is working and adjust for what is not. If using a software platform in your marketing, be sure it is one with the ability to adjust as you narrow down your customer focus. This will allow you to see what works for future decisions and advertising budgets.

How many Monday mornings do you open email and save it saying “I will read that later?” Your consumer is doing the same thing, which makes it important to get your message out quickly so as they scroll through messages during the day, your message stands out as most important. We found a great advertisement that captures the attention of everyone in the subway of Sweden. Now, while most companies won’t be able to go to these extremes; it shows the importance of an attention-grabbing campaign. When sending a message, quickly identify your company, be focused on the information you wish to portray, and give your customer something of value or make them feel special. If done properly, you have enticed them to visit your website, so be sure to keep current items on the site and be available to customers by checking your contact information regularly.

Whether using one of many new technologies, a billboard on the side of a highway, or a good old printed brochure, successful marketing relies on targeting your message by knowing your customer and their preferences and then giving them easy ways to contact you.

What has been your most creative way of finding your target audience?

Smile: They Can Hear You!

by Rose Strong

Furia Rubel Communications is all about getting a message out.  In our efforts to do this we use a combination of integrated marketing strategies and tactics including social media, website optimization, video sharing, public relations, business development and many electronic methods for getting a client’s point across to the right audience. However, the telephone is often the first line of interaction we or any business may have with their clients, prospects and partners.
 
Before the term arborist came into fashion, my father was a tree surgeon. While I was growing up, he had his own business. During my formative years we lived in a home where we had two telephones, a house line and a business line. This was before there were multiline phones for home use. Each phone had a different ring and to make sure answering was speedy, we had one of each on the two floors of our home and a business phone line in our barn.

From a very young age, I was taught proper phone etiquette and how to professionally answer a call. It was drilled into my sister and me that we were the gatekeepers for our father’s business, so there was no tolerance for being anything other than pleasant and courteous on the telephone. In drafting this post, I found a resource from Lehigh University’s Library & Technology Services which is a great reference and includes many of the same things I learned from my parents regarding proper phone etiquette . The resource also details proper decorum when using voice mail.

With an upbringing like this, I have little patience for someone at the other end of the phone to sound anything other than polite and interested. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need chipper or grossly over-the-top, sickeningly cheerful, but keep the monotone sound, sighing and irritation as if I’m a huge bother  for another time, perhaps when the boss calls.

This early training provided needed skills when I entered the ranks of the employed as a teenager and worked in a flower shop while studying floriculture and horticulture in high school. It was retail sales and just as this blog explains: every customer was your best customer, so make them feel that way.

In a career change about 15 years ago, I began working for a national health insurance company as a customer service professional. Notice the title doesn’t say representative. We were, of course representing the company whose phones we were answering, but they wanted us to see ourselves as professionals. The “we”’ I speak of is the class of 19 who participated in a three-month training program together before being set loose in the tank with the piranhas. Besides learning the details of health insurance, the company’s computer systems and how to actually work the telephones, our class was taught how to answer the phones properly.

Of course we had a script, but one of the things they strongly impressed upon us was to smile while talking, it could be heard by the caller and the simple act could make an otherwise difficult call turn into a pleasant experience. Dealing with health issues and money is volatile, so any trick to tame a dragon was worth it. And after seven years at the job, it was true. I’m not advocating a full-on open-face grin, but just upturned lips can help you sound happy, interested and helpful, which is what the person on the other end wants to hear after often going through a circle of automated menus. Knowing they’ve reached someone who cares often soothes the savage beast.

Marketing and communications often starts with the ring of a telephone. A company can market with all sorts of online promotions today with sites such as Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, website and branding campaigns and email marketing, but if you don’t give that old-fashioned customer service during the first few moments of that initial phone call, you’ve lost them. So, put a smile in your voice, callers can hear it and it really does make all the difference.