How to Get ATTENTION

I want to start this post with a simple, yet profound question for you to ponder about your own business…

“What is the one thing and first thing you just do to get money in your business?”

The answers I hear when I ask this question from a live audience ranges from “Create a product” to “Make a sale.”

While these answers seem to make sense, the very first thing you must do in order to get money in your business is to GET THE ATTENTION OF YOUR TARGET MARKET.  It’s the critical first step to any marketing effort.

My mentor, Dan Kennedy, has this to say about this topic,

“It happens constantly and it is the hidden secret reason why so many marketing campaigns fall way short of their potential.  Not because the offer isn’t good or wouldn’t be welcomed by all the recipients; simply because many of the recipients never know about it because we fail to command their attention.”


Reread Dan’s statement.  It’s simple, yet profound.  Basically you can have the best product or service, yet if you are not getting the attention of your target market, you’re going to go broke.

Not too long ago I was visiting New York City.  While there, I strolled over to Times Square.  If you’ve ever been to Times Square you know it’s an overwhelming sensory experience.  There’s traffic noise, visual noise, people noise.  It’s a bombardment and if you stay there too long and your senses start to become numb.

Trying to market your product or services today is no different than standing in Times Square and yelling at the top of your lungs.  There’s no escape to all the marketing and advertising noise people face.  TV, radio, billboards, newspaper and magazines, direct mail, banner ads, pop-up ads, Google ads. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Your challenge is to cut through all the noise and clutter and create top-of-the-mind awareness with your target market.

Sadly… most marketing fails, because it is so “plain vanilla” and ordinary.  People are busy. They’re jaded, guarded, and skeptical. Some are cheap and down-right rude.

 Lots of folks have no time, no patience, and little interest in what you’re selling.  So how can you expect to get their attention by simply adding to the noise?

YOU GOTTA DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY!

One of the most effective techniques to grab the attention of your reader, either online or offline, is to use simulated handwritten notes and doodles.  In this day and age of computer-generated everything, the power of handwriting stands out.

You cannot help but see this technique used more and more.  It’s in the advertisements in your weekend paper; it’s on television commercials and in magazine ads. I’ve even seen it used effectively on book covers.  You are now starting to see its use on Web sites, blogs and squeeze pages.

The use of simulated handwriting goes back a long way in advertising, however, many copywriters and marketers give me credit for this most recent and widespread use of handwritten doodles with the creation of CopyDoodles®. 

As a matter of fact, marketing guru, Bill Glazer called CopyDoodles, “the biggest enhancement I have seen in the last 10 years for people that are writing copy for bumping the response and making the copy much more interesting.” 

Before CopyDoodles, the procedure to add handwritten doodles was both time-consuming and tedious.  Now you can add these powerful doodles to your marketing in mere seconds.

Over the years, my clients and I have done a number of split tests and across the boards the materials that contain handwritten notes and doodles always perform better than those without them.

Of course you have to know how and when to use them appropriately (just slapping a bunch of CopyDoodles on your materials without proper context can be counter-productive).

So why is simulated handwriting so effective?

Legendary direct marketer and author of Common Sense Direct Marketing, Drayton Bird, says, “The use of handwritten notes in the margins can add variety and interest to the eye and brain.”  Quite simply, the widespread use of computers, word processing and laser printers has created “homogenized marketing.” Meaning 95% of everything looks the same.  When you introduce a handwritten or hand-drawn element to the mix, it becomes very different in a simple, human-personality kind of way.

The effectiveness of a simple red handwritten note and doodle to a web page or direct mail piece can be huge and over time this type of copy cosmetic technique can add thousands of dollars to your bottom line.  Try it and see for yourself!

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Mike Capuzziis a marketing strategist, author, speaker and newsletter publisher.  Since 1998, he has been helping entrepreneurs and business owners improve their marketing and response rates.  He is the inventor of the wildly successful CopyDoodles, which allows anybody to quickly and easily add handwriting elements to their marketing.  For a FREE ebook on how to increase your marketing response and more information about CopyDoodles visit www.copydoodles.com.