Est. reading time: 6 minutes

The war for attention is real and fierce. But what if? What if your brand could be the one that stops people in their tracks, makes them stare, earns their attention, and refuses to let go?

But wait, before we embark on this journey of how your brand can stand out and earn attention, let’s examine why this struggle is getting harder.

Why is Getting People’s Attention Becoming Difficult?

It is as clear as crystal that our world has become intensely noisy. The advancement in technology has opened doors for several channels to access endless information as well as online businesses. But the world wasn’t always like this. 

Let’s go back ten years. Did you know that the popular TikTok was not in existence ten years ago? TikTok recently became a part of us in 2016, but as of 2024, it was the most downloaded app worldwide with 773 million downloads. That was just last year. Coupled with increased access to smartphones, all of these have contributed to an alarming decline in man’s attention span and have made it worse for brands to earn attention from the audience.

Yes, the struggle is real, but it is not impossible—that we want you to know. Even with a crowded marketplace and declining attention span, your brand can still earn the attention it desires. Let’s show you.

8 Tips on How your Brand can earn Attention from the Audience

As a brand, if you want to stay afloat in this noisy world, have your voice be heard and grab the priceless attention of the audience, you need to be ready to put in the work, and this includes;

1. Put your brand where it should be

Where should your brand be? It’s simple. Your brand should be where the audience is. The first tip you should do to earn attention is to put yourself out in the crowd. To stand out in a noisy world, you have to be in the noisy world first. You can’t be in an empty room and yearn for attention. It doesn’t matter if you place your head on the floor, roll your eyes, do acrobats, or even shout at the top of your voice. You will never get it. No presence, no attention. 

So, where is the audience? You can reach them on digital platforms like search engines, email, and social media. Social media, especially, has many benefits to it, and with these tips, you can step up your social media game. 

2. Look for the appropriate audience [to get attention]

Now your brand is out there in the crowded marketplace. Good job. However, you just took one step out of many others. So, let’s continue.

One mistake you should avoid earning attention is wanting to be everything to everybody and speaking to the wrong audience. Regardless of how versatile your brand may be, it can’t serve everybody. Hence, you should figure out the people who need the value you offer in the pool of an unlimited audience.

Imagine a real estate entrepreneur addressing undergraduate students to invest in a multimillion-dollar deal. You would concur that no matter how fascinating and mouth-watering the deal is, he probably wouldn’t succeed in getting the student’s attention. Although he has the audience, they are not the right audience for his business. The wrong audience will not give your brand a second look; talk more about paying attention. 

How can you know the right audience? For example, let’s assume your brand offers fitness training sessions. Your target audience would be athletes, fitness enthusiasts, people who want to lose weight, etc.

The way out is to know what your brand offers, and with that, you will be able to come up with a list of suitable target audiences.

3. Know your Target Audience [to retain attention]

If you want your audience’s attention, you should at least give something in return as well. To earn attention, you need to give attention. Give attention to your audience. Get to know them. Know what makes them tick. Your target audience is humans too, and it is in man’s nature to want to feel valued. How else can you prove this?

It is a win-win situation. Your audience feels valued, and you get to know what to say and how best to communicate your message.

Aside from this, you can build a buyer persona (an in-depth profile of your customer) from the data you have gathered. 

Find out about their age, location, income, education, gender, family status, values, where they get information from, the type of content they consume, and most importantly, their pain points. Why? Humans tend to be more concerned about their problems and are always looking for solutions to these problems.

4. You should define your Unique Selling Point [USP]

There are over 1.1 billion pieces of content posted on social media alone per day.

Shocked? Let that sink in first.

You probably weren’t expecting that figure. Again, the war for attention is real. So you should know why it is so easy for a brand without a unique selling point to be lost and never be found.

Seth Godin, a marketing expert, said that “marketing is a contest for attention.”. If you want to win in this contest, be different. Your uniqueness and originality will stand for you, speak for you, make the target audience stop in their tracks, and turn their heads to give your brand a closer look. And yes, there you have it. You have successfully gained their attention.

5. Position your brand as an authority

When you position yourself as an expert in your field, the audience will see your brand as worthy of their attention. 

Follow these tips to position yourself as an expert.

1. Since you already know their pain points, then equip them with information that will add value to their lives and ease their pain.

2. You can collaborate with other brands to organise webinars that address their challenges. Whether you are a big brand or not, you can achieve this. 

4. Another way to present your brand as an expert is to show results. People love to see results. They want to know other parties who have benefitted from your brand. So, show it to them by using testimonials and reviews. Note that the reviews should include the contact details of the recipient for it to be worth it. This adds to your brand’s credibility, makes the customers trust you, and in turn, earns their attention.
5. High-quality customer service is key. Use it.

6. Leverage the power of Storytelling 

This is vital. Storytelling is that hook you can adopt to instantly grab your customer’s attention in a crowded marketplace. The art of storytelling is a weapon that sells all the time if you use it right because not all stories sell. How you tell your story and the kind of story you tell play a role in whether your story will sell or not. These brand storytelling ideas will guide you on what kind of stories you can tell that will resonate with the audience.

7. Explore the use of content marketing

We are now in the world of content. And as they say, content is king. At the time we are currently, a brand that cannot invest in creating content may not get the attention it desires. You cannot but do content if you want your brand to be a cynosure enough for it to earn the customer’s attention. 

Below are tips you should use when creating content.

1. Create snackable content: As the name implies, this is content that is produced in bite-size, visually appealing, quick to consume, and can be easily shared from one person/platform to another. They can be seen in social media posts, short videos like Instagram Stories, Facebook and TikTok reels, infographics, quotes and inspirational messages, quick tips, etc.

3. Interactive content: Create engaging content to build a relationship with your target audience. For every ideal relationship, both parties [brand and customers] should be active. If you are the only active element in your business, your audience will get bored and can reduce the level of their attention. You can do this by organizing quizzes, polls, surveys, games, and even contests.
4. Trendy topics: Create content around topics that people are already talking about.

8. Influencer Marketing

Brands can collaborate with influencers who already have the audience’s trust to earn their attention. However, to get maximum results from this, it should be with influencers whose interests align with the brand.

Final Thoughts

Without mincing words, even though brands can influence attention through ads and sponsored content, they still have to show the audience that they are worthy of attention. Attention is not a commodity that can be bought. Attention is earned, so you have to work for it and continuously show your audience that their time is worth it. It will take time, but if you are dedicated and consistent, your brand will eventually get the attention it deserves. Follow the tips in this article, for we can’t wait to see you win.