Attention Economics: A Guide to Retail Marketing

September 18, 2019

With the rise in digital marketing, more companies are chasing to put out mass content that appeals to multiple demographics at one time. What this does is destroy the attention of consumers when the goal should be to retain and preserve it.

Attention economics is coined as the concept of treating human attention as a scarcity. In a digital world where companies are fighting for the attention of consumers, it is necessary to have content that is memorable and stands out from your competition. Not only that, but retailers can now integrate media to give customers a personalised shopping experience.

Here’s how:

Treating your digital and traditional marketing tools as one entity

The two can be used to market different things but how about using the one to feed information to the other? Digital is good for collecting data and tracking your customer’s behaviour and habits. For instance, if a person has recently visited your website looking for a product, found it but instead of purchasing it online, they decide to buy it in-store. Your job as a marketer doesn’t stop because they’ve entered your store. You can use WiFi marketing to track your customer’s movements in the store and communicate messages and promotions that may be taking place.

Say my name

For customers to have a personalised shopping experience, they want to feel like companies care. Window screens have been modernised and are now digitised to give you the opportunity to display a variety of content which will enable you to cater to more segmented target audiences as they interact with your store. Furthermore, advertising to specific people has its advantages. Research has shown that human brains become more ecstatic when they hear or see their names and we know that consumers are prone to build loyalty to a brand that they can identify with and can trust. Your instore media should be used as a medium to form a stronger bond with your customer. Digital screens and digital shelf strips along with the concept of WiFi marketing can be programmed to say or display your customer’s name and/or promotions that they may be interested in.

Critics have labelled digital media as part of the distraction economy because they believe it averts consumers attention to the digital aspects of advertising rather than attracting the customer to the product or service being sold. While digital media is a component in communication that can increase the negative aspects of traditional media, with the correct strategy and in-store solutions one can use it to successfully enhance your brand messaging.

Contact our team to find out how to optimise your messaging across various in-store media.