Thursday, December 15, 2005

Faster and Faster

This was originally the introduction to another post, but it got so long, I decided it deserved its own article. Later, I’ll post the article I originally intended to write.

The fact that I wrote a long introduction is a bit ironic, because what I want to discuss is the ever-quickening pace of life, our ebbing attention spans, and what it all means for marketers.

In today’s marketing environment, time is of the essence. Our target prospects simply don’t have the time to read a lot of copy. If you can’t make your point and hold a prospect’s interest in just a few seconds or less, you’ve lost the battle.

There was a time long ago when TV commercials ran for a few minutes or more. Then came 60-second spots. Then 30-seconds. Now, commercials are often only 10 or 15 seconds.

Speaking of television, remember when you could actually watch the credits at the end of a program? True, there was often a voice-over promo, but you had enough time to go to the bathroom or get a snack before the next program.

Now, shows end by running promos while unreadable credits run in tiny boxes. Ever watched reruns of “Law & Order” on TNT? They actually start the next episode while the credits from the previous episode run in a small box at the bottom of the screen. TNT knows all too well that our attention may drift. A delay might result in a click of the remote to watch something else.

I think the Web (and the internet in general) is one of the main reasons why the pace of life has changed so much in the last decade. On the Web, if you don’t like what you’re looking at, you’re just one click and a second or two away from bailing out and looking at something else.

Here’s an example: I recently ordered some gift baskets online. I was availing myself of the “Back” button to go back and forth between the Red Envelope and the Harry and David Web sites. But if I’d been looking at an actual printed Harry and David catalog, it would have held my attention.

So marketing on the Web means realizing that we have maybe a second or two to give a prospect a reason to stick around.

Email marketing is similar. With so many messages arriving daily (not even counting the spam), we quickly scan whole groups of subject and “from” lines—making quick decisions about what to read, what to delete, and what to save for later.

If we do happen to open a promotional email, it better rapidly get to the point. We quickly scan the headline and maybe the first portion of the copy. If we don’t see relevance in just a few milliseconds, well, that “Delete” button beckons.

This quickening pace of life has also impacted print media.

Take direct mail, for example. A decade or two ago, a magazine subscription mailings would regularly include an 8- to 12-page letter and a brochure that opened into multiple panels. Now, you’re lucky if you get a double postcard. Some of this may be because of ever increasing printing and postage costs, but a lot of it is the result of too much to read in too little time.

Today’s young people have grown up in an era of IM and text messaging. Words are just a few letters, sentences just a few words. The emergence of language such as “R U there?” means a lack patience for long-winded copy.

This ebbing attention span we’re facing with today revives a perennial debate that has raged in the marketing and copywriting world for decades: “Which is better – short copy or long copy?”

And that will be the subject of my next post.

I truly wish this post were shorter, but in Mark Twain’s words, “If I’d had more time, I would have written less.”

Posted by Richard Bloch

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