Blog #107 The Ecosystem of Attention - Effective Communication

Attention: to become aware of or give attention to something or someone: to observe or treat something or someone with special attention – Merriam-Webster

Attention, clearly what’s required for any kind of communication to be effective, simple, no?

What is the point of reaching out to someone, or many, think emails, texts, ads, notifications, social posts and so on if you never achieve the intended goal, which of course, is securing someone’s attention?

In any business-to-business world, professionals are in constant pursuit of an audience or individuals’ attention. We send messages, publish update reports, send invitations to subscribe to posts, and more. We believe, because we are told by myriad technology offerings, that they have the magic sauce. Just set it up, point, click, and voilà! Sit back and wait for the responses to cascade in.

If you’re a business with thousands or more targets, like Coke or Ford, then well executed mass media (or point and click) communication campaigns can be effective. A 2 to 3% response rate can yield sufficiently significant attention and revenue because 2 to 3% of hundreds of millions is significant.

Conversely, if you seek the attention of a vastly smaller audience, like the “C” suite or other senior decision makers or influencers, the experienced are all too aware of how enormously difficult that can be. More often than not, an exercise in futility.

Notoriously jaded, this group is besieged by the above-mentioned media and more. They are continually bombarded by those they know, those they don’t, and everyone else (or thing) in-between. The loftier the target, the more voluminous the attempts for their attention that lack efficacy.

Conclusion? Securing someone’s attention using common, mass, or predictable tactics is ineffective. It just plain doesn’t work most of the time. If you seek to communicate with a select and therefore smaller group of individuals which almost all B2B professionals target, your approach needs to differentiate. It should set itself apart from the commotion of common, feckless, and futile attempts to break through the clutter and noise the predictable creates. If you want to actually reach someone, then you are best to attempt contact using uncommon methods.

Email: Need to get the attention of a smaller but important group of people with an important message, perhaps 50+-, why send an email? Why expose yourself to the certain risk that your email will be lost in an inbox of hundreds? One only need look in the mirror and ask the question; how many emails do you even look at, let alone open that come from a source deemed potential spam?

$1.42 CDN in Canada, and $0.78 US in the United States to mail a letter, yes, a letter. An envelope that clearly has been addressed to them personally (i.e., not generated in masse) with an actual stamp (not a mail machine) and letter inside that has been personally signed. When was the last time you received this kind of letter? Did you open it?

Holiday season gifts: Most obvious case in point, Christmas holiday season or year end. Recognizing and/or acknowledging how much you value a client is smart business. So again, why do what everyone else is doing? Wine or gift baskets; why the obvious same old same old? Wine is predictable, gift baskets are predictable, and in this gift environment, bland and indistinguishable. Most likely outcome? Your bottle or basket will sit on the console behind your clients desk along with all the others. Maybe more importantly, how long will it be before they can’t remember who gave what?

How about a gingerbread house kit, especially if they have children, or maybe nieces or nephews they will be spending time with over the holidays? Affordable; gingerbread house kits can range in price from $25 and up, how much would you spend on a bottle of wine? And when your client is helping their brood assemble it, well, who will they be thinking of, and more importantly, who will they remember?

And on it goes. Planning ahead (Valentines Day, Thanksgiving, civic holidays, local traditions or events, concerts or seasons that offer a unique point of difference) allows time to imagine creative approaches that differentiate and gain attention by breaking through all the other noise that competes for recognition.

If you want your message to be heard, to resonate and register, then employ communication strategies that break through and stand out, and when responses begin, you will be glad you did.

And for those who might recognize the irony in using this media to deliver a message that might be deemed antithetical to its method of delivery … point taken. : )

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Blog #107 The Ecosystem of Attention - Effective Communication

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