Today is brought to you by the letter A. A is for Attention, have I got yours? Many powerful words that matter in Marketing just happen to start with this letter.
Attention
I'm going to begin with the most important A in my opinion which is Attention. You need to get the attention of your customer and keep it. But how? Consider how fractured your own is these days. Do you find your attention span much shorter due to smart phone use? Then keep this in mind yourself. Any Marketing you create has to cut through a tonne of noise now.
You can't move off first base if your Marketing doesn't capture attention. That's a post for another day (how to capture attention and keep it)
You catch attention first and work towards building a loyal and engaged fan base or audience if you prefer the term.
Kevin Kelly as quoted below believes that all a business really needs is 1,000 true fans, a concept Seth Godin echoes and calls Minimum Viable Audience. Once you have the attention of that group you are ready to grow even bigger and better.
Do you have 1,000 true fans?
Authentic
A, number two is Authentic. People know when you aren't being straight with them.
If you are one person building a personal brand company be sure to communicate as you. It creates intimacy and builds trust.
Think for a moment about voices you love the most. Why are you drawn to them?
What makes you feel they are offering you something genuinely theirs? When did you last feel a genuine connection to the content someone is offering you?
Anticipation
My final A is Anticipation. Whilst I don't suggest a Hollywood style cliff hanger at the end of everything you write or put out, you want to leave your audience wanting more.
Whatever your strongest trait is use it.
If you are incredibly warm and wonderful to listen to like Brene Brown then use more video content or audio to create that anticipation. People want to see Brene talking as well as hear her. I'd guess people want to see her way more than to read her work, which is also brilliant, however she now enjoys such a cult following for her recent Netflix documentaries and TED talks.
If you write amazing articles like Daniel Pink that enthral people ramp up your blog writing & other content marketing like newsletters & automate it so you have it appearing at the time your audience expects.
I've mentioned before that I love Laura Vanderkams Before Breakfast Podcast for me it is 5 minutes of my morning to listen to Lauras welcoming voice whilst she helps me with her latest productivity content. I also religiously open every email by Seth Godin as his daily blog & Akimbo podcasts are both excellent.
Conversely one person who I really enjoyed the content of on a guest podcast only ever sends me emails that contain videos. For me I don't like this as my inbox is a place for reading and not watching, so I just delete them. If I want to watch a video I'll go onto Youtube and find it, or I'll search out a podcast if I want to listen. This has just reminded me I should unsubscribe from this mailing list, thanks!
You will similarly get a feel for what your audience like and respond best to, and then you can hone that to create their anticipation of having a good time, a chance to take a breath for 5 mins in this busy landscape of ours, and just settle down and enjoy your content.
Let me know if you enjoyed this post in the comments below or why not sign up to my email list, where I promise not to send you videos :)
Shona
Would you like more help with your marketing? My new book is out now
If you would like a book of 100 Marketing Tips written just for small business owners then do have a look here. I wrote this book to be easy to read cover to cover or to be kept as a reference to dip in and out of!
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About Me
Shona Chambers Marketing is a Marketing Agency based in South East London.
Specialising in helping Small Business Owners and Freelancers with their Marketing.