10 Ways To Get Attention

 10 Ways To Get AttentionThese attention-getters are useful for creating adheadlines, article titles, envelope teasers, and, oh yeah,interest in you and your product. They are not the only tenways to get attention, maybe not even the top ten, but theydo work. I didn't make these up. I just collected them, fromyears of experience in business.1. Make A List With A Number In It.7 Swedish Cookie Recipes. 12 Best Ways To Reduce WeedingTime. 4 Christmas Stories.Why does this work? Because it is very Real. It is a KnownItem. It is an Exact Expectation. Many people appreciatethis. They like to know what they're getting.2. Say Something Controversial.Internet Marketing Is A Con Game. Men Buy Smarter ThanWomen. Not All Nicotine Is Bad.You can be controversial without being offensive. It can bea fine line, but very painful to step over, so be careful.3. Ask A Mystery Question.How Did This Poor Man Become So Rich? What Is More ImportantThan Your Time?Everyone loves a mystery a as long as it has a solution.Don't ask the question if you don't have a very believableanswer.4. Ask A Silly Question.When Is A Duck Bigger Than Purple? Do You Kerflamp?There's a difference between a Silly Question and a StupidQuestion. A Silly Question has no real answer. A StupidQuestion (Do You Like Money?) has a stupid answer. If aStupid Question gets attention at all, it is not the kind ofattention you want.5. Give A Multiple Choice Quiz.Which Medium Gives The Best Return On Investment?A. Newspaper B. Radio C. TVThe question has to be interesting to your audience for thisto work. A question like, "Which Is The Longest River? A.Mississippi B. Amazon C. Yellow" will not hold many people'sattention. Some, but not many. Oh, and be sure to tell themthe answer, or send them to a website where they can get theanswer AND THIS FREE GIFTa.6. Make A Startling Announcement.Cure Found For Gullibility! Christmas Postponed! ComputersCause Cancer!This is an outright bid for attention, like a supermarkettabloid, but hey, it works. The problem with this techniqueis it demands extremely clever writing to hold thatattention after the initial startlement wears off.7. Play On Emotions.Crippled Mother Builds Business From Bed. Starving ChildrenSaved By Internet.Okay, you might have to reach a little here, first to find astory, and then to squeeze some emotional juice out of it.Read a story in the paper about some humanitarian effort,and the story notes that one worker has a laptop, and yougot it: Starving Children Saved By Internet. Yes, theinternet affects everyone nowadays,aetc.8. Make A Realistic But Attractive Promise.You CAN Build A Good-Looking Website. Your Hard Work WillPay Off Sooner With Our Help.This approach is not for your everyday internet guru or scamartist. Back up your words with details of exactly what youoffer and how the prospect will benefit in a measurable way.This is the most powerful of all combinations: Truth andQuality.9. Press The Help Button.10% Of All Profits Go To Save Cats. Help Orphans Go ToCollege. Save The Snails.It works, and it really is good for everybody to help needycauses. Just be sure you do, or some authority figure willbegin to haunt your dreams a and then knock on your door.10. Compliment The Prospect.You're Looking Good Today. Self-Starters Only Need Apply.Build On Your Success.This ad or article will almost write itself, as youalternate between telling the prospect how clever he hasbeen and how clever he is to understand the benefits of yourproduct or service.What all of these attention-getting suggestions have incommon is that they are different from the thousands of"Drive 20,000 Visitors To Your Website" headlines. That kindof headline only works on the gullible masses, so loses alarge part of the potential customer base. Smart,attention-getting headlines appeal to everyone.***********Don Dewsnap is the author of Principles of Quality(soon-to-be-published), and epublisher of The Basic Glossaryof Grammar.