Standing out in the Attention Economy

Attention is a finite resource. On average, people are exposed to between 6,000 and 10,000 advertisements a day. The average human brain is simply incapable of processing such a bombardment of content, which means the vast majority of ads seen are only ignored or forgotten about within seconds.
Attention is a true currency in digital marketing and business.
But why? Grabbing one’s attention means getting one’s time, and we can all agree that time is money. People constantly invest their time and attention with hope that their instincts will drive them into a positive direction. We all live in the overstimulated world. Brands should be extremely cautious with advertising and respect people’s time in the digital space.
Cutting through the clutter.
Building awareness is the first stage of the sales funnel in every organization, while the first stage of building awareness is catching someone’s attention. You have a few seconds to make your first impression and prove that you are worth it or simply waste yours and someone’s time (and money). To cut through the noise, you have to stand out. There are no shortcuts. People are naturally driven by emotions, so you have to be a breath of fresh air to activate them.
Stop selling at every occasion.
Not every online marketing campaign is about performance and sales. In fact, in OG® we believe that brand awareness campaigns are much more important in the long run. They build trust, desire and relationship with consumers and focus on creating content that helps them rather than sells to them. After all, who likes people who beg for money? The ultimate goal is to provide so much value and entertainment for you audience, so the money will follow.
It’s like a first date.
Building relationship with customers has a lot in common with building attraction on the first date. As soon as you start talking to each other, you don’t want to be specific about your intentions and what you have to offer, revealing your intentions as soon as possible. Above all, you want to get to know this person and enjoy quality time so that they feel entertained and well taken care of, not taken advantage of. Seed positive emotions, so you’ll be picked for the next date before anyone else without even asking for it. This requires a lot of patience and selfless service, but that’s how you build attention and long term trust in your brand.
Forget your competition.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that you should give up on staying up to date with their current endeavours. It means that you should give up on putting them as a constant benchmark for what you are doing, because in that way you limit yourself and your brand lose the chance to truly stand out.
Its not only about the money.
You don’t need tremendous amounts of cash to make your content stand out. Have you seen latest Kanye West’s Super Bowl ad? It was by far the most successful ad on that event driving over 19 million USD in sales for his brand Yeezy. And why? Because it was the exact opposite of an ad you could expect during the Super Bowl. In this case, it was pure entertainment. It stood out, gained attention and worked like crazy.
Don’t be afraid to stand out.
If brands want their audience to engage with them, they need to start paying attention to their audience’s attention! After all, consumer attention is the most valuable asset a brand can have. That’s why it’s vital to plan and execute branding and awareness campaigns in your own meaningful way.