Capture Attention By Being Unexpected
Posted on December 1, 2007 by
Adie 
General 
4 Comments
I’ve started a series about capturing attention in the overcrowded internet. I’m basing the series on the book Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Thrive and Others Die written by Chip and Dan Heath. This book has 6 great principles that will help your site stick in people’s minds. Today we’ll talk about the 2nd principle, Unexpected.
Out of all the 6 principles, Unexpected is my favorite. It’s the most enjoyable to implement. There’s nothing like doing something that catches everyone by surprise. Unexpected is powerful because people remember what you did even after time has passed.
In this audio interview, Dan Heath gives the example of a Volvo commercial. This commercial starts out like many other family-oriented car commercials. There is a good looking car, smooth roads, great scenery, and laughing kids. The mood is perfect. However, the happy scene is rudely interrupted by another car crashing into the Volvo.
Totally unexpected.
Volvo used this unexpected moment to capture our attention. Then they pointed us to the safety features of their car.
How to Be Unexpected
Being unexpected doesn’t have to be a complicated thing. I see it as a simple two-step process.
- Know the expectations of your niche.
- Shatter those expectations.
Step 1 is crucial. I still don’t think most online business people know their niches very well. Therefore, there is a huge opportunity for those who are willing to research and immerse themselves in their niche.
Once you know your niche well, it’s relatively easy to come up with something unexpected. I feel like I’m familiar with these niches: blogging, SEO, online business, and internet marketing. With my knowledge of these niches, I tried to write posts that were unexpected. Here are 2 examples:
Onpage SEO: 7 Tips That Are Easy to Implement
This article was written on a blog about blogging. I felt this would be unexpected because bloggers, in my experience and research, think SEO is difficult and time consuming. Therefore, I picked a couple easy-to-implement but effective SEO tips. Someone submitted it to StumbleUpon and it got 24 stumbles.
Why Building One Site is Better Than Building Multiple Sites
Many internet marketers think the the best way to earn money is to build multiple sites. In this article, I gave a couple reasons why building just one site is better. It went viral on StumbleUpon and got a couple of links.
Feedback
When was the last time you did something unexpected?
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Wow, another great post! Good thing I’m subscribed. :)
The last time I did something unexpected was get drunk and I rarely get drunk. You asked, you got it! Very useful information here! Thanks!
Great post. I’ve been meaning to read the Made to Stick
Finding your niche (in my opinion) is easier said then done. Personally, I try to focus on a niche market for a new start-up or business concept, but find myself envisioning an elaborate scheme that eventually makes me not want to start.
How do you balance finding your niche without alienating yourself to a larger audience?
Thanks for the positive feedback.
I don’t worry too much if my niche audience is small as long as the audience spends a lot of money. The thing to look at is not the size of the audience but its market value.
In business the key to long term success is not so much about getting a bunch of new customers every year but getting repeat customers to spend more money with you every year. It takes more work to get a new customer to buy than to get a repeat customer to buy again. Also, repeat customers will promote your site freely as long as you treat them well.