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What Is 'Preoccupation'?

In order to earn the Attention of a prospect, you must divert their attention from what they’re already doing. It's best to assume your prospects begin in a state of Preoccupation: they're doing something else.

The best way to break a potential prospect’s Preoccupation is to provoke a feeling of curiosity, surprise, or concern.

The stronger and more emotionally compelling the stimuli, the easier it is to attract attention.

Josh Kaufman Explains 'Preoccupation'

In order to earn the Attention of a prospect, you must divert their attention from what they’re already doing. That’s not an easy task.

Preoccupation is a fact of life for modern marketers: at the beginning of the marketing process, your prospects are paying attention to something else, not you. In order to attract Attention to your offer, what you’re doing must be more interesting than your prospect’s current subject of attention.

The best way to break a potential prospect’s Preoccupation is to provoke a feeling of curiosity, surprise, or concern. Our ancient brains pay close attention to opportunities and threats, scanning the environment for new stimuli that could help or harm us.

The stronger and more emotionally compelling the stimuli, the easier it is to attract attention. There’s a reason marketers use evocative imagery, words, and sounds: our brains are wired to stop what we’re doing to evaluate the.

That’s not to say that your marketing needs to be garish and loud: there are thousands of subtle ways to attract Attention that can work just as well. Depending on the prospect’s Environment or emotional state, the threshold of interest you need to generate may be low. If the prospect is bored, restless, or looking for entertainment or distraction, it’ll be easier to attract their attention.

It always pays to assume your prospects begin in a state of Preoccupation. Begin your marketing approach in a way that breaks their Preoccupation and earns their Attention.

Questions About 'Preoccupation'

• What are your prospects preoccupied with vs. paying attention to you?
• What attention-grabbing claim or evocative image or story can you create to break that preoccupation?

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"You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do."

Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States

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