Dunno about you… but my attention span is almost non-existent.
Like all “Gen-X’ers”, I was raised on MTV and action movies.
And these days, I have a hard time sitting still for even a few seconds.
Cripes… I can’t even finish a movie anymore unless there’s hobbits, super heroes or light saber fights in it.
My mind starts wandering “to and fro” real fast.
And it takes an enormous amount of effort to focus on anything I am not 100% fascinated, interested or entertained by.
Anyway, why am I telling you this?
Why should you care about my mental state?
Because what I just described does NOT just apply to guyz like me.
It’s how a HUGE portion of the population behaves.
Including people who read YOUR ads.
And it pays BIG TIME to assume all your readers are as flaky as me.
In fact, try this:
Next time you write an ad, assume your readers are ADD-riddled teenagers looking for ANY excuse to bail on you.
To escape back to the mindless, attention-gobbling vortex of Twitter, FaceBook, instant messages, YouTube videos…
… and all the other cool online devices created for those of us with “gnat-like” attention spanz.
Bottom line?
Paranoia is your friend when writing ads 😉
Treat this friend with respect, and you’ll make much more moolah.
Ben Settle
P.S. In chapter 3 of The Copywriting Grab Bag I reveal how the late, great copywriter Eugene Schwartz solved this attention span problem (which has gotten even WORSE since Gene walked the earth) to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.
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