Ah, Kathy Sierra... What can I say. Kathy writes one of the most consistently great blogs dealing with business, marketing, and all things related to them. One of her latest entries on Creating Passionate Users deals with capturing and keeping someone's attention. For the purposes of this discussion, that would be... your customers, or potential customers, but the concept can definitely be applied to other parts of your life as well. (Students, cute girls, managers, parents, readers, etc.) In her own words:

"When you want to get--and especially keep--someone's attention, what's your competition? What else could they choose to focus on at any given moment? The belief that we have 100% conscious control over what we pay attention to is a myth. The belief that users can and will choose to pay attention to our message/ad/docs/product/lesson, etc. is a mistake. So what can we do to up the odds of getting and keeping attention?"

In true Kathy form, the answer is never far from the question. Here, she quotes David Lichman:

"The secret is to be more provocative and interesting than anything else in their environment."

Aha. Okay. Nothing new there. We've already heard about Seth Godin's "be remarkable" argument, and the value of being a "purple cow."

But you know what? It's worth revisiting frequently, and Kathy does a great job of reminding us of this essential strategic ingredient.

I'll be lazy here and quote Kathy again (and again and again and again...):

"If we want our users (members, guests, students, potential customers, kids, co-workers, etc.) to pay attention, we have to be provocative. We can moan all we want about how the responsible person should pay attention to what's important rather than what's compelling. But it's not about responsibility or maturity. It's not even about interest. It's about the brain."

Here are some of her suggestions on how to capture the interest of our customers:

1. Be Visual

Pictures are more important to the brain than words, and unless you've already got their attention and are a good enough writer to paint pictures in their head, you'll do better with visuals. The more stimulating the better. Even graphs and charts are a huge help.

2. Be Different--Break Patterns and Expectations

As long as we're doing what everyone else is doing (or what we have always done), the brain can relax and think, "Nothing new here... whew... what a relief, that means I can now go back to scanning for something that is". Ways to be different include doing the opposite of what you normally do, or doing something expected in a different domain, but which is wildly unique in yours.

3. Be Daring

You know the story on this one--being safe is often incompatible with being provocative.

4. Change Things Regularly

This is about continually breaking your own patterns. Consistently shaking things up whether it's look and feel of your website to the product itself. (Obviously the definition of "regularly" and "things" varies dramatically depending on the type of product or service. MySpace can change daily to the delight of its core audience, while a financial app better keep its UI stable for a much longer time and find something else to change regularly (like the website, tutorial style, or online forums).

5. Inspire Curiosity

Humans often find puzzles and even questions irresistible. Just try to walk by a TV playing a quiz show and not think about the answer to the question you heard walking by. How many times have you watched to the end of a movie you didn't particularly like, just because you had to find out how the story ends? Our legacy brains love curiosity because it usually means more learning.

6. Pose a Challenge

The level and nature of the challenge work only if they're within boundaries that work for your audience, of course.

7. Be Controversial and Committed

Take a stand. Mediocrity is not a formula for holding attention.

8. Be Fun

Remember, brains love fun because fun=play, and play=practicing-to-survive. (And as we've said many times here, fun does not have to mean funny.

9. Be Stimulating. Be Exciting. Be Seductive

Keep in mind that seduction does not have to mean sexual. A good storyteller can seduce me into sticking with the story. A good teacher can seduce me into learning. A good software app can seduce me into getting better and better.

10. Help them have Hi-Res Experiences

This gets back to the notion of being-better-is-better. The more your users know and can do, the higher resolution experience they have. Whatever you can do to give them more expertise will help keep them interested in wanting to know and do more. But they need to be up the skill curve a ways before this really kicks in, so we must do whatever we can to help get new users past the rough spots (i.e. the "suck threshold").

See? I told you she was good!

The theory of "attention share" ("wallet share's" right-brain twin) has been earning serious points with me for the better part of a year now. By the way, for a great little article on the shift from "mind share" to -and relationship with - "wallet share," click here. It's pretty basic, but that's okay.)

Kathy's post also echoes John Moore's post this week about the Ann Taylor brand, which introduces us to Ann Taylor's Kay Krill, and her five tips on reviving a fashion brand:

1: Know your client—not only what she wears, but how she lives. 2: Have an action plan, and have total agreement from the senior leaders who need to execute the plan. 3: Evolve. Retail is not a static business; there’s great danger in staying still. 4: Constantly communicate with employees at all levels. 5: Stay positive and optimistic.

Compared to Kathy's fresh and energy-infused list, Kay's fabulous five list may seem a little... sober, but it is equally important. Kathy's tips deal with being remarkable. Kay's tips deal with not only staying relevant, but also making your organization get from the strategy phase to the execution phase. The two go hand in hand. Being remarkable without being relevant basically equates to just grabbing people's attention. Likewise, being relevant without being remarkable is just boring. I may be stating the obvious here, but... hey, that's not always a bad thing: When looking for potent ingredients to add to your brand's magic recipe, equal doses of remarkable and relevant work best when used together... and preferably in large quantities.

Have a great Friday, everyone. :)

I seem to be finding a common thread in the various conversations going on around the Marketing though leaders' blogs lately. One that my wife echoes every time she goes online to find out information about a product... or a movie... or a service. The democratizaton of global communications technology and the growth of social networks in the digital world have extended the close-knit word-of-mouth networks we once relied on. Instead of asking your neighbor or colleague family member or salesman about a product, people can now prowl the dozens of forums that discuss the pros and cons of everything from rechargeable batteries to $100,000 sportscars.

This isn't to say that advertising doesn't work or that companies should jump on the blog bandwaggon. Quite the contrary. What it does mean is that people have a voice now, and if companies want to thrive in the new people-powered economy, they must learn how to get in-tune with the reality that is created every day by a very vocal army of users who can be their best allies... or their worst enemies.

Spin and pretty marketing don't cut it anymore.

Instead of getting pulled into a long, boring diatribe about all of this, I am going to share a few tidbits I found in some of my favorite blogs today, and let you connect the dots. Enjoy:

"14%: Proportion of people who trust advertising information. 95%: The failure rate for new product introductions."

From Connected Marketing, via the Brains on Fire blog.

"Companies whose marketing includes dialogues with customers increasingly have an advantage over companies whose marketing messages are expressed in monologues. Consumers are tired of being told what’s best for them. They want to decide for themselves what’s best. With the information advantage (over company propaganda) the Internet gives them, they no longer have to depend on marketers for information to decide what’s best. Almost anything they want to know can be found on the Internet from sources they trust more than companies selling products they are interested in."

David Wolfe - Ageless Marketing

"For consumers, online review sites offer a valuable storehouse of information to help with daily tasks such as choosing an electrician or a dinner venue. For small businesses, these sites have the potential to revolutionize marketing and promotion -- creating unprecedented opportunities but also (...) some unfamiliar risks.

"(...) In this day and age, there's nowhere to hide," said Melinda Lucas, owner of Paneless Window Cleaning, a Seattle business that has attracted a significant number of customers through positive reviews on sites like Judy's Book and Angie's List. "Anyone can give you a review that can totally make or break your business. It's made it so you have to be A+ on the ball all the time."

"(...) Other business owners agree that online reviews can be an invaluable tool for customer feedback and improvement. Most small businesses can't afford consultants to analyze their service, but they can get immediate feedback for free from reviews. "The bad reviews helped us get better, because we listened," Fars said. "

Ilana DeBare - The San Francisco Chronicle

This is great news. Companies choosing not to listen to their customers will find themselves at a distinct disadvantage. Companies that choose to cut corners when it comes to design, quality, user-friendliness, relevance and customer service will be replaced by companies that choose not to make wrong decisions.

Some shifts are bad. This one is good.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone. ;)