Grab Your Audience’s Attention With Three Simple Steps

Public speaking (whether in person or online) is a nerve-wracking experience if you don’t quite know what to say. If you have a little familiarity with your audience, though, you can grab them early on. You just need to engage a few key steps.

Picture: Nan Palmero

As writing blog Copy Blogger explains, we tend to face huge competition for a captive audience in our sometimes over-connected society. To get people’s attention, you need to offer some distinct value. They break it down into three simple steps:

1. Empathise with your reader’s struggle.
2. Promise your reader a benefit.
3. Provide reassurance.

While the guide is designed for writers, it can work any time you need to catch someone’s attention. The goal is still the same: convince the person or people you’re communicating with that you have something to offer right off the bat, so you’re not wasting their time:

You need to sneak into the minds of your readers so you know exactly what they’re struggling with. You need to understand their feelings of frustration, worry, and despair.

Writing a good blog post means simply persuading a reader that this post is for him, that you’ll share your best advice to help him, guide him, and comfort him.

Of course, the first element to this strategy is actually having value to offer your readers/listeners in the first place. Once you know you do, it helps to be able to communicate that up front.

A 3-Step Formula for Captivating Your Audience With a Few Opening Lines [CopyBlogger]