I think there needs to be a new kind of “keep-in-touch” (KIT) marketing. KIT marketing involves means of keeping at the top of your client’s mind. The classic one for this on the web is an email newsletter. They work pretty well, but I think we need a new model, as well: almost-no-attention-drain KIT marketing.
I say this because I frequently have the following experience: I am surfing the web, and come across a potentially interesting resource. I sign up for the person’s email newsletter, or subscribe to their blog feed–I may or may not read their newsletter. I am “very busy,” like most people. Their information may be great, but I just cannot pay attention to it right now. In today’s world of attention management, this is the way it is.
But what I realize is this: I often sign up for newsletters or RSS feeds to keep someone in my mind, for if I need them later. It’s easy enough for me to file away, mentally, what they do. In other words, I am deliberately putting a “hook” out to their “feed,” to allow them to keep reminding me that they exist, and to inspire me that they exist.
As long as I am happy to receive their email or blog posts, and at least scan them occasionally, to inspire me to remember why I signed up in the first place, this function–planting the memory hook–occurs transparently, along with the more obvious functions of their marketing.
But occasionally, I have the experience of just becoming overloaded with information, e-zines, blog posts, etc., and realizing I don’t have enough attention left to pay attention to any of it! At this point, I’ll trim my subscriptions so that I can manage my attention better. But the problem is this: In this process, I often lose “hooks” into sites and people I don’t really want to lose. Often, I then go back and wish I could remember–who was that guy again? What was his URL? And if the field is too crowded, or the business’s name is too hard to remember, they may just fall right down the memory hole, and be lost.
What I wish I could do, in these cases, is say, “keep reminding me about you, but not in such a way that it overwhelms my attention.” This could take the form of:
- Instead of having to choose between (a) a weekly subscription, or daily blog posts, and (b) nothing, provide a third option–such as, a setting that allows me to get an email every three months?
- Mail me a colorful card that has their name on it?
Harry Palmer, author of the Avatar materials, came up with this image of attention particles. In this view, we only have so many attention particles, and various things start to use them up. In this sense, the approach I am looking for is: a way of receiving just enough attention particles–say, one or two–every so often–to allow me to call that person up into memory when I need to. Maybe it would be nice, in theory, for the person in question to be able to send me ten, or twenty attention particles every week. But maybe all I need to be able to call them into memory when I need them is, say, one or two a month. (The numbers here, are, obviously, totally arbitrary!)
The point is, because my only choice it to unsubscribe, I lose this person, even though I didn’t want to. Somehow, we need to come up with a way to allow people to keep their “hook” into our information, but allow them control over how much of their attention we take up.
