Overcoming Shorter Attention Spans: Getting Through to Today's Distracted Consumers

Photo: ChatGPT (2025)

Slightly fatigued after doing my third and final set of concentration curls, as I often do in-between sets at the gym during a workout, I slowly scanned the room to see what activities my fellow gym-goers were conducting. Expecting to see people crushing their workout routines—what I witnessed instead, left me totally stunned. 

Nearly half! That is how many of the fifty or so people I noticed throughout the gym on this August morning whose undivided attention was focused entirely on their smartphones. 

Contrary to the intense atmosphere that you'd expect to see in a gym occupied mostly by Gen Zers and Millennials, what many of my gym-mates exuded on this morning was a total sense of apathy. Primarily due to a magnetic force which seemed to have an overwhelming affect on their ability to concentrate on their workout.

From those on the lat pull machines, to the bench press, and even some folks on the treadmills and stair climber! If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that almost half of the people in the building were under hypnosis and were ordered to give their undivided attention to their smartphones.  

Ponder this, if people cannot keep their attention on the task at hand for an extended period of time in a place like the gym (which is literally designed to keep people actively focused), just imagine how cooked consumers’ attention spans are in far less intense environments. 

With attention spans now at an all-time low, companies must now adapt their marketing strategies to a new reality in order to breakthrough to today’s distracted consumers. These are a few effective ways that your company could do just that. 

Keep it concise

For decades, goldfish were used as a model for specimens with short attention spans. But my, how things have changed. According to a Microsoft study, the average human now has an attention span of 8.25 seconds. In comparison, the attention span of a goldfish is nine seconds.

As a result of consumers’ attention spans now at an alarming low, brands face a binary choice—either adapt or expire.

To effectively adapt to this new normal, brands must be brief in their marketing communications with consumers. That means embracing what many call, ‘The TikTok approach.’

What initially made TikTok so appealing to millions of people, was that their videos were all short-form. Realizing that most people lose their focus quickly, the maximum video length for a TikTok video was 15 seconds when the platform launched.

You could take the TikTok approach with your marketing communications by keeping your marketing messaging as concise as possible. To do that, simply convey these three things to consumers as concisely as possible:

• What you’re offering them.

• Why should they care?

• Where they could purchase it.

Shock and awe your audience

Your brand is in a battle of epic proportions. And no, it isn’t a battle of attrition. It’s a battle for attention. Because of the endless distractions smartphones have on our attention spans, in order to capture consumers’ undivided attention today, brands must stand out from the crowd. 

In other words, your brand must be shockingly different. 

Many brands play it safe and blend in with the crowd. Which is the absolute last thing you want to do if your brand’s objective is getting through to distracted consumers. Keep in mind that you’re not just competing against your brand’s competitors.

You’re also competing against things like: celebrity gossip, pet clips, sports news, and other clickbait that comes across their social media timelines.

By going against the grain in your marketing copy, you’ll shock people. And when people are shocked by something—not only do they pay attention to it—they're far more likely to go on and share it with others.

Whether it's controversial content marketing headlines, humorous social media posts, or perhaps an abstract advertisement—whatever it is, as long as it stands out from the norm—you’ll victoriously break through the noise. 

Prime takeaways

These days, it's hard to tell if smartphones are distracting us from the activities in our daily lives, or if the activities in our daily lives are what's distracting us from our smartphones.

Nonetheless, consumers being addicted to their smartphones could work in your brand's favor—if you're willing to take the above-mentioned marketing actions required to cut through the noise.

If you'd like a marketing firm to help you execute these actions, reach out to us at Decryption today and we'll devise a customized marketing strategy that'll help your company stand out and connect with its target customers!