6 Ways to Win the Battle for Attention and Influence

Do you now find yourself skimming through headlines, preferring summaries and requesting soundbites? Guess what? Your customers and employees are not much different. Inattention is not just a personality quirk or source of irritation, it’s a business epidemic.

In today’s fast-paced world, every business competes in the battle to win customer, employee, subscriber, follower and investor attention. But attention is not only coveted, it’s heavily compromised. Attention spans are shrinking and attention fatigue setting in. The result? People concentrate less, miss what matters — and make worse decisions. 

How can you capture attention to build influence? New research suggests an alternative method to garner attention that’s rising in popularity — it’s not visual but aural. And tuning in is just the start.

Navigating the Attention Economy

Today’s attention economy stops leaders from making the best decisions. The daily tsunami of data hinders our ability to concentrate, interpret, process and prioritize information. Critical voices are tuned out, leading to miscalculations, missed projections and lost revenue opportunities. 

What’s more, attention is big business. Whether you’re a bank or tech start-up, a streaming service or app platform, brands clamor to capture, manipulate and monetize your attention.  In 2023, $853 billion was generated in global net advertising revenue. That’s a lot of attention dollars. 

Inattention starts young and impacts adult earnings.  Studies show children who don’t learn how to focus earn less as adults. Even one degree of extra attention could earn a man an estimated $3,077 extra in annual earnings and a woman $1,915. 

Six Ways to Gain Attention and Greater Influence

Businesses can address the rising threat of inattention with six behaviorally informed strategies that positively impact influence:

1.    Use Audio-based Techniques: It’s not just visuals that capture attention but podcasts, voice notes, and other audio methods. International media company Dentsu conducted research that found audio-based advertising yield higher attention than traditional types of visual media. Why? Because attentive listening shuts out the noise, facilitating concentration and emotional connection. Podcast ads garnered higher attention compared to other digital, social and TV media. That’s why firms like Brain.fm use neuroscience to create soundtracks that overcome distractions. 

2.    Invest in Sonic Branding: More firms now create a unique audio brand identity, proven to enhance emotional consumer connection and brand recognition. For instance, Intel, American Express, and Nokia incorporate jingles, sound logos, and anthems into their marketing strategy to create a memorable and immersive experience.

3.   Adopt the ‘SONIC’ Strategies: In my book, Tune In: How to Make Smarter Decisions in a Noisy World, I explain why we tune out what matters and explore how to refocus attention to prevent predictable mistakes – illustrated by 18 science-led techniques and summarized in the mnemonic ‘SONIC’ i.e. 

• Slow down; 
• Organize your attention;
• Navigate new perspectives;
• Interrupt yourself; then 
• Calibrate the situation and strategy.

4.    Gamify Where Possible: Implement leaderboards, rewards, quizzes with sonic elements to boost attention, add surprise and motivate users to engage with content. For example, McDonalds has run its Monopoly game since 1987 in 23 countries to keep customers excited.

5.    Respect Cognitive Limitations: Studies show that the average human attention span has dropped to 8 seconds. It’s no wonder most people feel overwhelmed by distraction. Know what your stakeholders are paying attention to – and how they digest information. Break stories into bite-sized chunks, leveraging appropriate levels of shock, awe and novelty.

6.    Repeat, Repeat, Repeat: It may seem odd, but science finds that customers develop brand or product preference because they’re familiar with them. It’s the mere exposure effect and the basis of successful advertising. Think Coca-Cola, Kit-Kat or Nike’s “Just Do It” campaigns. Regularly exposing audiences to your logo, brand or message builds loyalty. But do this ethically as it can generate a false sense of truth.

People are drawn to what’s new, novel, or naughty.  It’s easier to gravitate towards rumor, popularity and impulse rather than attend to the humdrum essentials – yet these often contain what matters most.  

By incorporating these strategies, you can navigate the attention economy and boost the concentration, retention and connection of stakeholders.  It’s a simple way to build influence. It’s time to tune in.