Brandishing a Red Hot Poker: Getting Attention in Hyper-Distracted Markets

Doesn’t matter what market you’re in, you’ll always be competing for the attention of your prospects and customers.

They’ve got a million things going on… oh, and they just got distracted by thing number million and one. (Was it a new email, a text message, an IM on Skype, an incoming tweet? Whatever it was, they’re probably not paying attention to you!)

But imagine for a moment the prospect of witnessing a man brandishing a red hot poker in the middle of a mall. You’d ignore everything else — for a few minutes, at least — to focus all your attention on him. You’d be compelled to find out, “What’s going on here?”

On Saturday, I published a post that got a lot of attention. I even rewrote the post (prior to publishing it) to get less attention, if you can believe it. And still, it’s quickly become one of the Top 5 most popular posts I’ve written on this blog.

And that got me to thinking. What made it stand out? Why was that one post so popular when many others I’ve written haven’t been popular at all?

With that in mind, here are three keys for getting people’s attention in hyper-distracted markets.

Red Hot Poker #1: Controversy

Hardly anybody can stay away from a good controversy. That’s one reason my post was so popular: It speculated about Perry Belcher’s real reason for retiring from Internet marketing.

Is there a controversy among your prospects? Or is there a subject most people consider controversial? (It will probably be different in every market.)

For instance, if I were a doctor, I might publish my thoughts on the recent universal health care legislation. And if I were a dentist, I’d be all over the fluoride controversy. Just the mention of it — for anybody who is “in the know” — can raise the temperature of people’s emotions like boiling water in a tea kettle.

This is the power of controversy if you are willing to step up and put yourself in the middle of it. A good controversy is like the proverbial train wreck: It’s hard to look away.

Red Hot Poker #2: Challenge Tradition (or, Tip a Few Sacred Cows)

It’s time to go cow tipping!

Is there something in your market that’s always been done a certain way — but you feel could be done better? Or is there an accepted dogma that you could challenge and perhaps even overturn?

If so, you may have a ripe opportunity for getting people’s attention.

And right now, I can think of no better example than the JK wedding dance. For years, wedding parties and brides-to-be have solemnly marched down the aisle to the alter of holy matrimony.

Then, one day, a couple decided to do it differently.

They danced.

And they got the entire nation’s attention. (If you haven’t seen the JK wedding dance, go watch it. I tear up every time.)

Red Hot Poker #3: Piggyback on Popular News

Probably the most familiar form of “piggybacking” is holiday sales. Everybody in the U.S. knows when Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas happen. It’s an easy way to piggyback on what’s already on everybody’s minds.

But you can piggyback on other news events, too.

For instance, tax day on April 15. The Superbowl. July 4th. These are all predictable events that you can bank on.

But there are also unpredictable events as well. Many times you can get better results from piggybacking on a big news item that pops up unexpectedly.

For instance, when the movie Dark Knight was suddenly popular, lots of smart marketers piggybacked on its success. Same thing when Barack Obama beat John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.

The key here is twofold: You not only want to capitalize on what your market is already thinking about… you also want to be entertaining. By combining these together, you have the perfect recipe for getting — and keeping — your prospects’ and customers’ attention.

(Hint: Any news items that show up on Saturday Night Live or become jokes on the late-night shows are usually things you can piggyback on to get your market’s attention.)

And with that, you now have three ways to get your market’s attention as if you were brandishing a red hot poker. Of course, what you do what that attention once you have it is up to you. ;-)

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. What techniques do you use to get your prospects’ and customers’ attention? Share by leaving a comment below.