Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it’s giving new life to make marketing more effective. Have you ever given it a try? It is a great way to make things happen. Quizzes, GIFs and odd, unexpected stories are taking over the Web and its social media feeds. Increasingly, these “curiosities” are attracting the interest of content marketers and bloggers who are looking to find better ways to attract and connect with audiences online.

For a long time, marketing was driven by taglines—short, evocative slogans that captured the essence of a brand’s message. Nike encouraged us to “Just Do It,” while Apple inspired us to “Think Different.” Miller Lite simply had to say, “Tastes great, less filling” and product flew off the shelves.

Taglines worked because they cut through the clutter and stood out in a sea of brands vying for our attention. Marketers needed to project images that were compact, but meaningful or risk getting lost in the mix. Yet it is no longer enough to merely grab attention. Marketers now need to hold attention.

If you want to stimulate your audience’s curiosity, as a marketing technique, make them aware of something they don’t know. Find the information you can use to tease their perceptions.

If you want more attention for your content, learn to excite curiosity.

Curiosity is one of the growing levers successful content marketers use to sell products, services, and ideas in this increasingly noisy world.

Let’s take a look at the research.

What creates curiosity?

According to research by Carnegie Mellon’s George Loewenstein, curiosity occurs when there is a gap between what we know and what we want to know. Curiosity is a kind of cognitive thirst that wants to be quenched.

But that’s only half of the story. Equally important is this follow-up study from Caltech which shows that curiosity increases (to a point) as knowledge increases and then drops off.

The important thing to note is that a lack of information will, in general, create curiosity. At the same time, once a sufficient amount of information is received, curiosity decreases.

Related: 14 Jaw-Dropping Guerilla Marketing Lessons and Examples

Here are two important principles of curiosity to consider:

To make a person curious create a gap between what they know and what they want to know.

To maintain curiosity we must “leak” our knowledge a bit at a time without giving away too much.

use curiosity — Use curiosity for more leads.

For marketers, using the curiosity gap generally means:

Introducing something new that existing knowledge or previous experiences can’t explain

Starting a story, pausing at a climactic moment, and delaying the conclusion of it

Introducing an idea or concept and connecting it with an unexpected outcome or subject

Withholding key information for a manageable period of time (not too long)

We receive many questions on whether using curiosity in marketing is a ‘new age’ type of marketing. In our opinion, it is not. Why may you be wondering? Well, in our opinion good marketing has had curiosity as a marketing technique since the beginning. The only thing new is the expanded reach and usage that a business has in our new age of the internet, digital happenings.

I love finding brilliant utilization of curiosity in marketing creative that makes me wish I thought of it. And I especially love it, when it’s for a client that’s trying to make the audience think and imagine a little more. That’s what curiosity in marketing is all about. It can be powerful when done well.

Chances are, you’re either withholding all the specific information or giving it all away. To get attention and engage the curiosity, look for ways to turn information into a quest.

A few ideas:

Strive to make the information personally relevant

Make your missing information tease interesting

Offer the promise of something worthwhile

Use visuals to suggest or create the perception of mystery

Avoid using material that is given away freely elsewhere.

Maybe you need to consider creating some curiosity in your content. Consider these 5 points that will convince you:

Make marketing more effective … Without curiosity

… there is less imagination.

Without imagination

… there is limited creativity.

Curiosity leaves open

… the possibility of surprise, newness, and the desire to explore.

Offering something unanticipated

… provides drama, excitement, and anticipation.

Creative curiosity

… can be the secret to improving your social media engagement.

Here are three examples to illustrate this technique:

The first is an interesting promotion from California Pizza Kitchen, one where creating curiosity was used to engage consumers. At the end of my dinner, I was given the bill and a CPK ‘Don’t Open’ Thank You Card.

It’s a coupon with an interesting twist: you bring this card with you the next time you come to CPK. You’ve already won something, from a free appetizer up to $50 dollars (or more). But you won’t know what you’ve won until your next visit.

The instructions are pretty clear: whatever you do, do not open the card or your prize is null and void! A manager has to open the card for you when you return.

You are guaranteed to get something worthwhile, and this is a critical part of arousing curiosity.

Now I’m curious: which prize have I won?

A second example is from Steve Jobs during his time at Apple. He was the master of exploiting natural curiosity to the company’s advantage. Jobs would hint at a product demo, would leak a product prototype and then Apple would embargo all official information between the demo and the release.

By the time the product was released the world would be abuzz with bloggers and Apple loyalists interpreting and speculating as to the latest features and design. This practice consistently helped Apple receive expressions to buy, reaching far into the millions before their products were even released.

The third and final example was from the final episode of the HBO hit series The Sopranos. David Chase, the creator of the Sopranos, used curiosity to achieve what many critics now hail as the most innovative hour of viewing in recent episodic television history. Fans of the show waited with anticipation to find out the fate of Mafioso Tony Soprano, the main character and from whose viewpoint the story is told. Would he or wouldn’t he be “whacked?”

Debates had been raging for the 22 months since Chase had announced the final airdate. But instead of a concrete finale, television screens suddenly went black seemingly in mid-scene during the final seconds. Credits rolled within a few more seconds, and The Sopranos series came to an end.

What is so fascinating about the abrupt ending is not the decision itself, although it was unprecedented and broke new ground artistically. Rather, it is the aftermath that was most interesting.

No fully-developed conclusion would have engaged viewers with nearly the same lingering depth and intensity. The ending had little to do with the storyline. What is interesting here is not the reaction itself, for that might have been predictable in this age of satellite and cable TV, but that everyone had the same reaction in that no one saw it for what it was, as the ending. They saw it as something gone wrong.

And that made viewers stop and think. So it’s what occurred over the course of the next 48 hours or so that is worth noting.

Realizing that every frame was carefully crafted by Chase, who both wrote and directed the episode, viewers re-examined scene after scene, noting both blatant and subtle visual clues, soundtrack hints, veiled dialogue, and post-show references.

Theory after theory popped up in both online and traditional media. The debate took on a life of its own. Viewers crafted their own endings, filling in the missing piece with the trail of code Chase had provided.

David Chase did what many of the best innovators are doing in many different domains: creatively engaging people’s imaginations by leaving out the right things.

What information can you eliminate that arouses maximum curiosity and creates the best imagination of your audience?

Key takeaways

In this article, we’ve explored a multitude of creative ways to use curiosity in marketing to increase engagement and build customer imagination. The key takeaway is to know your audience and what they’re most likely to respond to. Give them more of that.

Here’s the thing, curiosity isn’t just a new way of marketing, it’s really a new way of building intrigue with your messages. The best marketers certainly have figured this out and are using the technique to rapidly grow their business.

If you are looking for additional resources in marketing strategy, one of my favorite experts is Ken Burbary. You’ll find lots of good stories and examples to learn from his blog.

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of word of mouth marketing created by remarkable customer service. And put it to good use.

It’s up to you to keep improving your creative marketing strategies. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy to improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?

Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.

Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.