9 seconds

That’s the average attention span of a goldfish.

The attention span of a consumer today is less than that.

Turns out, a new 2015 Microsoft Corp. study revealed that our attention span impairment is now an all-time low of 8 seconds. This is one second less than the average goldfish. That’s how it is! A goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds, 1 second longer than you and me.

In theory, this means that we actually have a better chance of interacting with a goldfish than we do with visitors from the human species.

Of all the movies about animal species trying to outdo humanity, none considered the goldfish. Goldfish is planning to take over the world, surpassing us with his superior attention span.

As a result, your business has 8 real seconds in a customer.

That’s 8 seconds of full concentration and processing power before your brain moves on to the next task. Unless you’re in the business of making fish food, your audience isn’t made up of cute little goldfish.

Today, attention has become a rare commodity for businesses, especially among Millennials. When people have such short attention spans, getting their attention is a challenge. There are plenty of other fish in the sea, like a constant stream of ads and conversations in the form of emojis. It is very easy for your message to be washed out to sea.

East “gold fish effectaffects every business decision being made today and one yet to be made. So how can you appeal to consumers? Relax, marketing to attention-getting “goldfish” is relatively easy!

Time to go fishing: Here are three tips for baiting your hook and attracting an engaged audience:

1. Tell a story – Nothing draws the viewer’s attention more than seeing something out of the ordinary. Make the “hook” of your story unique and people will pay attention to it. Create ads that induce an emotion.
2. be smart – When you write content for a website or a flyer, you want to grab people’s attention quickly. You want to spark curiosity and keep them interested in those first few seconds. This is where you really let the creativity bubble to the top and come up with something that will engage your audience and get them to your CTA quickly. Which brings us to…
3. keep it short – Very short. The less familiar the viewer is with your brand, the lower their attention span will be. Will your product or service help them? Talk to it. If you can’t quickly answer that simple question…they’re gone. (Tip: Animated GIFs can grab attention, without the viewer thinking it’s taking too long.)

It’s okay if some consumers slip off your hook and swim away. It’s natural. Not all consumers will be interested in what you are trying to say or offer. However, visitors who are interested will stay engaged and entertained until they decide to stay in your pond.

Now you can congratulate yourself for concentrating enough to finish this article.