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. :)

Thanks to an earlier post by Seth Godin, John Winsor points us to Archetypes today. (It's about time someone in the Marketing world caught on to the secret lens into human behavior that is Jungian psychology.)

Here's some of what Seth had to say on the subject:

"All the marketing theory, insight and blather that I've read fails to explain some obvious phenonema. For example, why do some products seem to market themselves while others struggle? Why are some consumer behaviors so ingrained, while others disappear almost overnight?

So I think it's time to talk about Karl Jung.

Here's what the wikipedia says about Jung's theory of archetypes:
...the collective unconscious is composed of archetypes. In contrast to the objective material world, the subjective realm of archetypes can not be adequately understood through quantitative modes of research. Instead it can only begin to be revealed through an examination of the symbolic communications of the human psyche—in art, dreams, religion, myth, and the themes of human relational/behavioral patterns. Devoting his life to the task of exploring and understanding the collective unconscious, Jung discovered that certain symbolic themes exist across all cultures, all epochs, and in every individual.

Folks, if you really want to get a competitive edge on your fellow marketers, do yourselves a favor and get your hands on "He," by Robert Johnson. Johnson uses the archetypes found in the myth of the Holy Grail to completely crack open male psychology. The insights in this book weren't meant to be specific to Marketing, but guess what? The book is genius. Give it a shot.

Also check out Grant McCracken's "G. C. Rapaille and his Dartboard", where the subject of archetypes comes up again, only from a completely different angle (instead of using them to define, understand and predict consumer behavior, archetypes are used by Rapaille as surrogates for brands and products). Unforunately, Rapaille kind of comes across as... well, less than the sum of his professional parts. (Read the post to find out what I mean.) My favorite part though, is this clever little bit of blog prose:

"There is no code. There is just good marketing. Listen carefully. Identify the cultural meanings,the market conditions, and the economic constraints and inducements in place. Spot the opportunity. Sell the opportunity back in to the corporation. No theater. No fancy language. No professional Frenchman charisma. No glittering phrases. Just very clear insights that can be put into practice straight away."

(Grant, can I get a pass for the whole Frenchman charisma thing? Mine may be a bit more subtle than the good Doctor's.) ;D

One of the topics also covered by Grant in his post is Market Research, and he has this to say about it:

"Good market research, especially these days is bound by 3 rules that seem specially germane in a case like this one.

1) Research has to be bespoke. It has to come from the interviews in a particular way. It has to speak to the problem in a particular way. It has to be custom made. No Jungian dart boards. No prefab archetypes.

2) Good research should not be parading around in grand declamations and charismatic presentation. We are not branding an idea. We are reporting our findings. Good research is thoughtful, grounded, nuanced, and precise. It is after all social science, of a kind, and not theatre, of any kind.

3) It's not about us. The Fast Company records Rapaille's eagerness to claim the success of the PT Cruiser has his own. "I discover the code, and--bingo!--the car sells like crazy." The article also notes the unhappiness of Chrysler employees when they hear of this. Good research delivers new insight but this insight will come from the corporation as much as it does the researcher. The research is working collaboratively with the consumer and the client."

Yep. See, the whole thing about understanding archetypes is that it gives you the kind of insight into human behavior that borders on superpowers. (And as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility.) Jungian dartboards are never a good idea, and using archetypes to interpret market research should absolutely never, ever be attempted by anyone... under any circumstances. (Insight is not a quantitative tool.)

Also read what John Winsor has to say about G.C. Rapaille's work here.

Speaking of Market research, Bruce Fryer also has some pretty insightful things to share in his latest post:

"There are two types of market research. The first is environmental scanning. This is an ongoing process as part of the marketing conversation. Feedback is always important to make sure you are aware of what is going on.

The second type is used to validate your hypothesis before building a new product. This involves secondary research (what has been written) and primary research (talking to people). When I was teaching graduate students, the question was "How much is enough?' Which is important to know."

Read the rest here. Good stuff.

Today's other great reads:

Branding: Mary Schmidt's "Ouch! Branding Hurts."

Marketing to Women: Micele Miller's "Holly Buchanan on Dodge."

Product Placement 2.0: Nick Peterson's "Beyond Product Placement."

Marketing Zen: The BrandBuilder's "Confidence - Part II."

New Tools: Chris Carfi's "MySpace For The Office" and Toby Bloomberg's "AiMA April Event - New Media Trends".

Have a great Thursday, everyone. :)