When: How to Maximize Attention with Timed Focus

It doesn’t matter that you’re an actual expert who’s trustworthy and genuine if your prospect believes otherwise.

What you do before you “sell” is more important than the selling.

And that includes the work you did with the Empowerment Marketing Framework. As you’ll see in this lesson, outlining your Mission in advance, along with understanding your ideal audience, will help you obtain credibility with your content  without squandering hard-earned attention.

That’s because effective digital marketing is all about understanding the conversation that’s happening inside your ideal prospect’s head to know what to say and how to say it.

You’re positioning yourself as a wise mentor who can guide your prospect to success. You’ve done that by:

• Expressing your beliefs and sense of purpose as a mission (why)

• Crafting a detailed profile of the people you want to join the movement (who) 

• Mapping the necessary steps that must be taken in the journey (what)

• Formulating the best way to communicate with your people (how)

But the prospect’s problem is not the only conversation going on in their head. A subjective evaluation of you also happens when people encounter your content, and you need to understand how it works to influence that perception in your favor.

In other words, your authority and authenticity either exist in the minds of the audience, or not. It doesn’t matter that you’re an actual expert who’s trustworthy and genuine if your prospect believes otherwise.

First and foremost, your objective is to create the perception of credibility, which is the intersection of expertise and trustworthiness. And when it comes down to doing that, we add the missing element from why, who, what, and how.

When.

The foundations of modern persuasion date back to ancient Greece with Aristotle's treatise, Rhetoric. Aristotle believed that the timing of persuasive proof (kairos) was crucial, along with understanding the psychological and emotional makeup of the audience and the ideal style of speaking.

Sales professionals know this to be true, and once again, we have social psychology experiments to back up the ancient wisdom. When you’re just starting out and attempting to attract an audience, you have to know how to overcome your initial lack of credibility at the right moment to increase your effectiveness and gain crucial traction.

Let’s explore what you should do and when to establish your authority and trustworthiness quickly. You’ll do this with three powerful influence elements and some fascinating byproducts of focused attention.