Your Attention Please

“Hear-Yee, Hear-Yee!”  “Can I have your attention please?”  “Ahem – Attention please!”

There are a lot of ways to capture someone, or a group’s attention, including words, sounds, and gestures.

In advertising, capturing one’s attention is the first step in effective advertising. If you fail at capturing their attention upfront, all is wasted. The first step is the most critical.

Since the beginning of time, it’s been known that you only have one opportunity to make a good first impression. The debate is …. how long do you have to make that impression?

Studies vary, but if you are applying for a job, a story in Psychological Science suggests it’s as little as 1/10 of a second.  Other studies indicate that you have up to 7 seconds.  Regardless of whose opinion you trust, the answer is still …not very long!

Your advertising message faces the same challenge. What your ads say and how they are delivered in the first few seconds dictates whether you grab the attention of your potential prospects and whether they will tune in or tune out to your message.

Reporters and authors have long known that the headline and the first sentence are what dictate whether the reader tunes in and continues with the rest of the story or tunes out. In an effort to develop the all-important “creative hook” at the top of your ads on websites, many headlines end up with more “creative” than “hook”. 

Regardless of what advertising medium you use, paying special attention to the headline or first words of an ad, and getting them right, will pay huge dividends when it comes to response to that ad.

Here’s a bonus tip. Often, you will find that the best line of an ad or letter, or the best words/sentence, is in the middle.  When you find it, move it to the first line, or use it as the headline.

To create more powerful headlines, click here to see the Eight Power Openings you can use to help capture more attention to your advertising.