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How do you feel about purple?
That’s a loaded question because our emotional reactions are automatic, and then our interpretation follows. People don’t plan their emotions, they just happen, and actions, thoughts and analysis follows. Great emotional design leads the unconscious emotions toward the desired conscious interpretations. And in the process, makes the experience more memorable.
The best artists, performers and directors understand this, and when we see it we know that it’s true and has been done well. But often we don’t expect to reach that same level of emotional design in our daily communications solutions. It requires greater intention and added work. But it can be the difference between delivering a message and delivering a memorable experience. Something that taps the emotional center of the mind and leaves traces of the resulting emotional effects and state of mind – essentially mapping these memories for easy retrieval.
Donald Norman wrote the popular book, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. And in it he explains that attractive things really do work better. But not because of how well they are made, but because they are beautifully designed, which makes us feel like they work better.
From the Interaction Design Foundation: What is Emotional Design?
Emotional design strives to create products that elicit appropriate emotions, in order to create a positive experience for the user. To do so, designers consider the connections that can form between users and the objects they use, and the emotions that can arise from them. The emotions a product elicits can strongly influence users’ perceptions of it.
Emotions play a central role in the human ability to understand and learn about the world. Positive experiences kindle our curiosity, and negative ones protect us from repeating mistakes. Humans form emotional connections with objects on three levels: the visceral, behavioral, and reflective levels. A designer should address the human cognitive ability at each level—to elicit appropriate emotions so as to provide a positive experience. A positive experience may include positive emotions (e.g., pleasure, trust) or negative ones (e.g., fear, anxiety), depending on the context (for example, a horror-themed computer game).
Visceral emotional design appeals to our first reactions when we encounter a product. It mainly deals with aesthetics and the perceived quality from mere look and feel, and the engagement of the senses. Here, we examine what inner or “gut” reactions tell us about an item.
Behavioral emotional design refers to the usability of the product, our assessment of how well it performs the desired functions, and how easily we can learn how to use it. By this stage, we will have formed a more justified opinion of the item.
Finally, reflective emotional design is concerned with our ability to project the product’s impact on our lives after we have used it—e.g., how it makes us feel when not holding it, or what values we find ourselves attaching to the product in retrospect. Here is where designers will want to maximize the users’ desire to own that item.
These three levels of emotional design can help to better assess and design toward a more deep and meaningful connection with the consumer. The “design” that we are talking about can be almost anything, and really should be everything – from the top of the brand all the way to the bottom – every aspect can be positively effected by better emotional design.
When designing with emotional methods, the key is to continue to recognize what’s going on in the emotional center of the mind, while we’re examining the physical layout and psychological meaning of the design. Along with our gut reactions, and the strategic criteria, we get a feeling with each design decision. This goes for the audience receiving the communication – and also for the creators of the material/content that is being communicated.
Another tool worth checking out is Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions. An interesting visual study on emotional evolution. It shows how the basic primary emotions lead to combinations (secondary emotions) that link and contrast the basic emotions to provide a better understanding of their relationships. He also attributed color to the emotional wheel to help create an emotional color palette that designers can utilize to help focus and create different levels of emotional response and intensity of that response. Of course his is one interpretation and the emotional responses to color will vary within cultures and among different people, so it is also important to look at different models and tools. Here is another that examines user conversion rates based on color usage.
Of course none of this is new and you’ve likely heard of the intentional designing of emotional and physiological responses – from likes, shares and comments, that make social media so addictive, to the game makers who have also long understood the emotional triggers of leaderboards, high-scores, levels and badges. The dark side of emotional design can be clearly seen in the socio-political rhetoric that leads many people to believe far-fetched lies and conspiracy theories.
An important point here is that emotional design should naturally evolve from and align with the core positioning of the brand. The core DNA of the brand should be clear and agreed upon by all the stakeholders, so that the design choices made will build upon and heighten the brand experience.
So it is with every power we possess, emotional design can be used for good or for bad. So let’s be more aware and use this power of emotional design for good. The good of our brands, the good of our audiences and the good of our hearts.
Check out the post, “What Love and Hate can teach us about brand strategy”
Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com
#emotionaldesign #strategy #marketingstrategy #brandstrategy #brandmarketing #marketingideas
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First, the story, straight from Bud Robbins, goes like this:
“Looking for the Capo d’astro bar.”
By Bud Robbins
Back in the sixties, I was hired by an ad agency to write copy on the Aeolian Piano Company account. My first assignment was for an ad to be placed in The New York Times for one of their grand pianos. The only background information I received was some previous ads and a few faded close-up shots…and of course, the due date.
The Account Executive was slightly put out by my request for additional information and his response to my suggestion that I sit down with the client was, ‘Don’t tell me you’re one of those? Can’t you just create something? We’re up against a closing date!’
I acknowledged his perception that I was one of those, which got us an immediate audience with the head of our agency.
I volunteered I couldn’t even play a piano let alone write about why anyone would spend $5,000 for this piano when they could purchase a Baldwin or Steinway for the same amount.
Both allowed the fact they would gladly resign the Aeolian business for either of the others; however, while waiting for the call, suppose we make our deadline.
I persisted and reluctantly, a tour of the Aeolian factory in Upstate New York was arranged. I was assured that ‘we don’t do this with all our clients’ and my knowledge as to the value of company time was greatly reinforced.
The tour lasted two days and although the care and construction appeared meticulous, $5,000 still seemed to be a lot of money.
Just before leaving, I was escorted into the showroom by the National Sales Manager. In an elegant setting sat their piano alongside the comparably priced Steinway and Baldwin.
‘They sure look alike,’ I commented.
‘They sure do. About the only real difference is the shipping weight—our is heavier.’
‘Heavier?’ I asked. ‘What makes ours heavier?’
‘The Capo d’astro bar.’
‘What’s a Capo d’astro bar?’
‘Here, I’ll show you. Get down on your knees.’
Once under the piano, he pointed to a metallic bar fixed across the harp and bearing down on the highest octaves. ‘It takes 50 years before the harp in the piano warps. That’s when the Cap d’astro bar goes to work. It prevents warping.’
I left the National Sales Manager under his piano and dove under the Baldwin to find a Tinkertoy Capo d’astro bar at best. Same with the Steinway.
‘You mean the Capo d’astro bar really doesn’t go to work for 50 years?’ I asked.
‘Well, there’s got to be some reason why the Met uses it,’ he casually added.
I froze. ‘Are you telling me that the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City uses this piano?’
‘Sure. And their Capo d’astro bar should be working by now.’
Upstate New York looks nothing like the front of the Metropolitan Opera House where I met the legendary Carmen, Rise Stevens. She was now in charge of moving the Metropolitan Opera House to the Lincoln Center.
Ms. Stevens told me, ‘About the only thing the Met is taking with them is their piano.’
That quote was the headline of our first ad. And the result created a six-year wait between order and delivery.
So now you know the story of the Capo d’atro bar, a memorable tale of how and why the search for a key advantage is required to help a brand or product stand out in the minds of would-be customers.
There have been many versions of this approach, the competitive advantage, the preeminent benefit, the point of differentiation, or most famous might be the USP or Unique Selling Proposition.
Whatever it is called, the job of finding the unique, meaningful, valuable-to-the-user benefit is a critical task. One that most agencies and marketing executives don’t give adequate importance.
I like to frame it more from the customer’s perspective than from the product’s. Because of this, I like the idea of the benefit aligning with Deep Meaningful Value to the customer – so I call it the products DMV.
Once the DMV is defined, then it’s a joy to enter the creative ideation stages to come up with the best way to dramatize and make the the DMV memorable in context of the product and brand. But let’s be clear, that’s the easy part.
Every brand or product has a Capo d’astro bar of it’s own. It’s our job to find it and then connect it to the deep meaningful value (DMV) that will surprise and delight our ideal prospects as they journey along the customer path.
Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com
#capodastrobar #dmv #deepmeaningfulvalue #uniquesellingproposition #emotionalbranding #brandinginsights #branding #brandinsights #brandstrategy #brandmarketing #marketingideas #brandinnovation
]]>What binds the brand voice together is not seeing and hearing the brands message distributed across all media at the same time. What binds the brand voice is how every touch point delivers meaning. Notice I didn’t say value. Value is overrated and misunderstood. People assign value indiscriminately and in so many ways, and it is discussed and offered ubiquitously, so it has lost… well, it’s value. Meaning is also not always easy to to distinguish, but meaning is a more concrete concept and carries with it something that value often lacks – emotion.
Meaning goes deeper than value. Meaning uses a moral compass, but of course it doesn’t have to point North. Meaning can be dark for some, and light for others. It helps explain why things like the KKK, gangs, Nazi’s and extremists exist. It’s easy to attach meaning to hate, but not so easy to attach value. And it also explains why Meaning trumps Value – since any perceived value in those hate groups must be tied to deeply rooted beliefs and the meaningful thoughts and feelings that accompany those beliefs. Connecting with those meaningful thoughts and feelings is the most powerful way to persuade.
The same is true for love, and any other emotion in between. All people possess deeply rooted thoughts and feelings that can quickly assign meaning to what they see and hear. When the emotional message is clear, the meaningful value is understood, and a deeper connection is made.
To apply this strategically, you must look at what your audience expresses as meaningful thoughts and feelings. What they say and do, and how they say it and do it. Then work your way down to their beliefs and values, to be sure you understand the meaning they base their actions around. Then when you arrive at messaging, go back to those meaningful thoughts and feelings – and speak to them as they already speak to themselves.
EMOTIONAL STRATEGY
With meaning as a focus of strategy, you gain an emotional edge. Writers and storytellers have long understood this – an emotional strategy helps build the meaningful narrative or plot through your whole experience. If you are a writer, you find the common thread of the story and build your emotional plot (or strategy) from there. Every twist and turn creates a new possibility in the plot, but it is the emotional strategy behind the book that helps the author make good choices for the layout of the plot, the characters, the settings, the tone, the dialogue and every other aspect of a great story.
Every strategy does the same thing, it guides decisions toward a common meaningful theme that propels everything with synchronization around purpose.
Strategy makes things better by instilling more meaning in every action and reaction. Sure, you can overlook strategy for bold ideas, quick hits, and a lightning bolt of activity – a shot in the pan. And if gambling is your game, you’re in luck because there are a lot of companies doing that, and a lot of agencies providing it. But if you like to hedge your bets and invest in more of a sure thing versus a long shot, then good strategy is probably something you highly value – because you understand how meaningful it is to your success. Here’s more about brand strategy and positioning.
Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com
#emotionalbranding #brandinginsights #branding #brandinsights #brandstrategy #brandmarketing #marketingideas #brandinnovation
For many creative-types, this can be a hard pill to swallow. Your ideas are not new. Sorry, but it’s true, every idea is a combination of two or more previous ideas.
So except for the first couple ideas on the cave walls – like maybe self-preservation, shelter, fire and tools (and even those obviously came from some other event or thought), ideas are borrowed and mixed and it is only the limitless combinations and the ability of our mind to map experience and imagination together into endless mashups, that we perceive things as new or original. You may have heard this before, no artist or thinker in history has become the master before being the student and learning the ideas that existed before them.
You see, something great happens once you accept there are no new ideas – you stop thinking you’re on the quest for something completely original. And you start to understand that you are a filter. A very complex filter, wired similar to others, but consisting of a unique combination of influences, experiences and perceptions that make you different than other filters. And so, your filter will mix previous ideas in ways that other filters might not. That is your originality. Your freedom to let all other ideas effect and change your ideas for the benefit of new ideas. It’s ok. There’s no other way to go about it. You must borrow from everything that has come before you.
We often think some individuals possess more genius or original ideas, but really those are simply mashups of all the same or similar experiences, interpretations and frameworks remixed, presented and perceived anew. Take for example, the talent of a young athlete, artist or student. They will each possess some limits created by our 99% shared DNA, added to that is their own experiences, which are then multiplied by interpretation and reformulated by framework. The result is the individuality or uniqueness reappearing as part of the process of perception. Both uniquely mashed up by each individual, but also uniquely perceived by others.
So take pride in your mash-ups. They are truly your only original creations. And although they are really combinations of other ideas, the world will see them as fresh and new.
And while embracing this view is liberating, there is more to take away from this than the fact that your mashups are your most original creations. There is also the counter-point that we are, beneath the unique filtering, all the same. And so our inherent understanding of what is meaningful and what is not, are much the same. We all do basically the same things each day of our lives. We sleep, eat, work, play and procreate. After that there is a endless list of experiences that we all share. From the colors of the spectrum, to the keys of music, to the smell of bacon or the sound of a baby crying. Then we share knowledge as widely as possible so that every individual uses many or most of the same references and subject matter to organize their thoughts and thinking framework.
There is no breaking out of the box – no escape from our sameness. Which means… and I know you’ve been waiting patiently – it means our work as communicators and persuaders relies on this shared sameness. It means you will know when that which your are communicating is powerful and universally true. It doesn’t require endless testing and surveys and focused-groups. No I’m not saying don’t test your work – there is value in getting perspectives and perceptions. But if you focus on the level where our most-shared experiences matter, it will lead to the core messages that make the deepest impact. And nearly anyone can tell you whether you’ve hit that mark – not just your ideal prospect. Usually you already know.
So trust your instincts and your shared experiences to help you find the universal truths that make us all react and respond. Then let your unique mashups reflect that universal truth in ways that will be perceived as big, original and new ideas.
Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com
#nonewideas #communicationstrategy #marketingstrategy #brandstrategy #brandmarketing #marketingideas
Uh-oh, did you get to this post thinking it might help you skip the boring, worthless, pain-in-your-assumptions, process of defining and getting agreement on a “positioning statement” or “strategic positioning”? Well, very sorry to disappoint, but maybe you’ll read on long enough to understand why there is no shortcut to great branding and marketing success, and what you can do about it.
Positioning has to be the most important thing you do as a brand, product, service or business. Why? Because as humans, context is all we have to delineate ideas and understand communications. It’s the reason that every letter of any languages alphabet has a different shape, mark or symbol for each letter or idea. We know that when those shapes are very similar it is hard to delineate them. But when they can be visually differentiated and come in certain patterns, like words, then it becomes much easier. The combinations are endless, but ultimately, each different letter has a role and when combined correctly they form larger ideas and when linked together into sentences and paragraphs they become more complex and communicate much more information than what is apparent from their more simple visual makeup.
With some similarities to these building block methods, communicating a positioning begins with creating the brand language and makeup. Defining each element along with its connection and meaning in relation to all the others. We like to call this the brand DNA. This process requires in-depth research and analysis of all those individual elements that make the brand unique. Obviously things like the customer benefits, product attributes, identity, location, culture, methodology, business model, mission/vision and many other factors must be considered and defined as part of the whole.
What makes a brand and a positioning unique is that its made up of a set of unique identifiers that can be easily understood and communicate a special message. And as those elements are combined they begin to represent something larger and more complex in the minds of those viewing, using, or experiencing the brand.
We know when brands get it right. We can just feel it. A sense that everything leads to the same place – a place we want to be included in – and a place where we want others to see us.
What makes a brand memorable is the same thing that makes people, places and things memorable. There is something special, that’s easy to sense, feel and understand. And when you have a good experience with that person, place or thing, you’re not likely to forget it, and you’ll want to have it again.
Certainly, it’s not rocket science, but it’s also not easy or simple to accomplish. Many executives and business owners don’t believe it’s important to officially define a comprehensive positioning for their brands. And it’s unlikely that you will find those companies and brands at the at the top of their categories, but probably somewhere closer to the middle or below. And that’s fine, there is a place for everybody and enough for everybody. Unless you believe in scarcity, which might lead you to also believe it’s better to be good than to be lucky.
It is critically important for the brand language and DNA to be defined clearly at the beginning. Because without the clear language and DNA, there is no clear brand representation that can be easily grasped and understood by the audience, while they are being bombarded with about 2000 to 5000 other messages every day.
If you haven’t got a clear, precise positioning for your brand, product or service, start now and make it happen. If you need help, check out some of our other blog posts about defining a position you can own and grow. Or get in touch for a FREE 30-Minute Brand Scrum and we’ll get you started on the right track.
Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com
#positioning #strategy #marketingstrategy #brandstrategy #brandmarketing #marketingideas
Analyzing results of a marketing campaign is one thing. Strategically breaking down what is working and what is not working, and why, is another.
Analyzing results of a marketing campaign is one thing. Strategically breaking down what is working and what is not working, and why, is another. The causality and logic associated with audience behaviors and consumers emotional buying behaviors are not effected or changed by data. They are changed by communication that is creative, relevant, thought-provoking and provides an easy path to a solution that offers something different than other similar solutions.
You can pile all the data you want in front of a room full of numbers people and look at trends and patterns, anomalies and exceptions – but that will leave you knowing only what happened – not what needs to happen next. The answers you need are the ones that tell you “what do we do now?” or “what do we do next?” And those answers don’t come directly from the data. Those answers come from the interpretation of the data. Sure some will say that is analysis, and it is. But analysis alone gets you more data. Interpretation gets you the associations that cause the data and lead to directions that will cause the data to be different.
Kellogg’s is one of the best at collecting data, but also understands the importance of mining strategic insights from that data to support and improve their marketing results. From the Google Double Click article, Jim Kiszka, senior manager, digital strategy, Kellogg North America says,
“It’s not enough just to capture all that data. We also want to be able to glean insights from it. As we put all of these pieces together, we’re finding that we really can move the needle.”
When you begin to deal with the associations and emotional effects caused by the data, then it’s important to have a framework from which to measure those effects. Criteria for what emotional effects and associations will lead to the different results that you want. Only with good criteria can you truly analyze, assess and interpret data with meaningful change built into the process.
What is that criteria? Ah, the key question. The simple answer is Positioning and Strategy. If you’ve read any of my posts, you’ll likely say, “again with the positioning?” Yes, again with the positioning! And again with the well developed and focused positioning, not just the formulaic statement where you plug in some words because it will check the box and get the creative types on the clock.
“A well-positioned company will beat the competition that has a comparable offering. The company that clearly articulates what it does, why it’s relevant and how it’s different helps customers make better and faster buying decisions.” -from ChiefOutsiders.com
What you are missing is the justifiable reasoning that gives your brand an advantage. And an understanding of how that advantage relates to the needs and desires of a specific type of person for whom the advantage and reasoning are particularly well matched. A specific benefit for a specific customer. Which leads to more creative that is strategically on point. And with more creative you give yourself the opportunity to test and get better data, not just more data.
Creativity is critically important and must never be abandoned in favor of data. But you don’t need to be more “creative” or “visionary” or “out-of-the-box”. No, those things are judged after the fact. We can come up with insightful, bold, and deeply meaningful ideas. Which, if executed well and viewed widely can be described as out-of-the-box later. But at the time they emerge, they inevitably have to be inside-the-box or in-the-box – meaning they have to come directly from the brand DNA and a thoughtful and emotional positioning that can be fulfilled upon. If that is done correctly, then every idea has the potential to find it’s way out-of-the-box. Because it will come across as fresh, needed, interesting, desired and worth talking about to others. Which makes it viral, without trying to be.
Data can inform and support the creative and ultimately make it more effective. But beware of vanity metrics and unactionable data. Without solid strategy and success criteria, data alone may leave you chasing your tail, rather than leading you toward the growth and sustained success you are after.
Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com
#positioning #strategy #marketingstrategy #brandstrategy #brandmarketing #marketingideas
And don’t blame me if you can’t quit.
I adopted this :15 minute-a-day productivity habit and I am addicted to it. Sit in a sunny place (cloudy is fine too), set your computer in your lap. Open your favorite writing app. Tilt your head back and write.
If your typing skills are decent, you don’t need to stare at the screen of blue light. Don’t wear sunglasses and don’t close your eyes either (more about that later).
Sometimes you’ll know what you are going to write, sometimes you won’t. Don’t look at it until you’re done. You can go back and edit later. Don’t worry about mistakes and misspellings. Just glance up once in a while to see if the words are appearing. I’ve accidentally hit the track pad and found out a few minutes later that I had been typing into the ether. Sometimes starting out is tough and nothing comes quickly. Other times it flows and you’ll have to stop or risk over-exposure.
The interesting thing about this habit is how easy it is to do. The activation energy is minimal. It is the first thing I do as part of my work day. Ok, I’ll admit I check email as I have coffee and do my morning routine. But once everyone is off to school, work, whatever, and I’m ready to be productive, this is the first thing. If you can’t do it first thing, then take an early break and go outside. It clears the way for other things to happen. And it keeps a creative flow going. Creating good content is a chore no matter who you are or who you have working for you, you’ll always need more good content.
This writing time has been incredibly valuable in many ways. You’ll find out how when you try it. Set your expectations for a reasonable outcome, and don’t be hard on yourself or judge too much. Shoot for a few short paragraphs or just a couple of thoughts. You will likely open the flood gates and find you have more to say than you may have imagined.
Start that blog, that book, that journal, that story. Or just collect thoughts about the things you’ve been contemplating. Putting it down in words and reading it back can affect powerful effects.
There are other reasons this habit can become addicting. The sun provides all the energy necessary for life. All of the energy produced in our body comes from the sun. Nothing lives without it, because without it nothing lives. At least on a cellular level. Ok, I’m not the expert on the science. Check out Dr. Jack Kruse for that. But what is undeniable is that our cells require sunlight and the effects of sunlight to function optimally. I’m not suggesting you over-expose, but just getting :15 to :20 minutes a day, while it may not sound like much, could make a difference to your productivity, your happiness and your health.
On the flip-side, we are relentlessly exposed to all the EMF’s (electro-magnetic fields) and damaging blue light from screens, transmitters and devices, which are having profound effects on our health and psychological well-being. While that discussion is best left for another time, the simple fact is that sunlight can counteract and even reverse some of the negative effects of EMF’s.
But this post is about productivity. So if you’ve been wanting to write more or create more content, give this habit a try. After you’ve done it for a month or two, step back and see what you’ve produced. You’ll be astounded, and further addicted.
Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com
Photo: Warren Wong @ unsplash.com
#contentmarketing #creativity #marketingideas #brandinnovation #creativeinspiration
- 3 Levels of Emotional Design
- Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this before.
- What love and hate teach us about brand strategy
- There are no new ideas. Embrace it.
- Positioning? Who cares… just get some results!
- Big data alone, won’t get results (without strategy)
- Warning: This Habit Can Become Addictive
- 67 Branding Insights
- Is your audience invited to the party?
- 6 reasons your target is too big
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This article is an ongoing series of posts. Feel free to add your own insights in the comments and we may include them in the list. The list appears with most recent posts first. Find more about branding and marketing strategy at Brand67
15 – USE EMOTIONAL DESIGN to connect more deeply with ideal prospects. Emotions play a central role in the human ability to understand and learn about the world. Positive experiences kindle our curiosity, and negative ones protect us from repeating mistakes. Humans form emotional connections with objects on three levels: the visceral, behavioral, and reflective levels. A designer should address the human cognitive ability at each level—to elicit appropriate emotions so as to provide a positive experience. A positive experience may include positive emotions (e.g., pleasure, trust) or negative ones (e.g., fear, anxiety), depending on the context (for example, a horror-themed computer game). These three levels of emotional design can help to better assess and design toward a more deep and meaningful connection with the consumer. The “design” that we are talking about can be almost anything, and really should be everything – from the top of the brand all the way to the bottom – every aspect can be positively effected by better emotional design. Read more about it here. 14 – FOCUS ON STRATEGY – A great strategy feeds into (and align things to) your strengths. It’s not a new way of looking at things or some big idea that nobody else comes up with. We all have a lot of the same similar great ideas. Some shitty ideas too – but it’s your job to know and judge the difference. Strategy simply helps build a narrative or a plot through the whole experience. If you are a writer, and you are writing a book, you do the same thing. You find the common thread of the story and build your strategy from there. Every twist and turn creates a new possibility in the plot, but it is the strategy behind the book that helps the author make good choices for the layout of the plot, the characters, the settings, the tone, the dialogue and every other aspect of a great story. Every strategy does the same thing, it guides decisions toward a common theme that propels everything with synchronization around purpose. Strategy makes things better by instilling more meaning in every action and reaction. Sure you can overlook strategy for good ideas, quick hits, and a lightning bolt of activity. A shot in the pan. And if gambling is your game, you’re in luck because there are a lot of companies doing that, so there are a lot of agencies providing it. If you like to hedge your bets and take more of a sure thing versus a long shot, then strategy is probably something you’ll value. 13 – DON’T FORGET THE SECRET INGREDIENT – what is the secret ingredient? That’s for you to find out, and for all your ideal prospects to know. It’s the benefit they get or feel when they join your brand. It’s the reasoning in their minds that talks them into being a part of your brand instead of others. It’s the conversation you have aided, but cannot control, that determines how you are perceived, and then how reality matches that perception (or fails to match it – or exceeds it). And in that reaction to perception is your brand’s value created for those who buy-in. Now, being that your secret ingredient is created, and lives within the minds of your prospects, it is crucial that you understand how that secret ingredient is made. Which means you must understand how your ideal prospects view the world, and how they think and feel and act, in order to understand the recipe needed to foster the right perceptions that will aid their internal conversation and match (or exceed) the reality they experience with your brand. The secret ingredient starts with one thing… the benefit. Not the brand mission, or vision, or product feature, or faster, better, cheaper. Those are attributes, not benefits. Benefits are emotional. That’s where the word “emote” comes from, which means to express emotion. It is the expression of emotion brought about by attributes, that must be clearly communicated. For example, “look what this does!” communicates attributes, but “wow, that’s amazing!” communicates benefits and also creates the secret ingredient. Here’s more about finding the capo d’ astro bar. 12 – SYNCHRONIZE YOUR MARKETING – one of the most popular marketing buzzwords of the last 15 years has been “integration”, as in Integrated Marketing Communications. Integration has been about taking one message and slathering it across the landscape of digital and traditional channels, hitting prospects with the same message at each touch point. The idea of one message coming from all your communications is a nice idea, but with the increasing complexity of channels, niche categories and splintered audiences, the integration of a singular message is much more difficult to apply well. A better concept for applying a singular brand message or positioning across the marketing landscape, as well as up and down the sales funnel, is synchronization. Synchronizing your marketing means having each piece, channel, level, platform and experience working in concert. It’s more than speaking the same language and repeating the benefit mantra at every touch point. It’s knowing what attitudinal changes happen when prospects move from awareness to interest to consideration to conversion. As a principle, one message or voice of the brand is extremely important. It is necessary to sharpen the focus of all communications with a singular point of view. But it is also dangerous to assume that a singular selling point, headline or call to action will be as impactful at every step of the customer journey and on every platform or channel in your marketing mix. While integration is typically more of a tactical approach to aligning marketing communications, from the initial reception message to the sale confirmation email, synchronized marketing is a strategic approach to studying and applying the subtle changes in audience attitude and behavior that affect the the product/service development, packaging, distribution, sales and marketing processes. It’s understanding deeper insights that might show how a packaging change can convert online sales better, or how a sales tactic performs between warm leads and qualified leads, or how thoughtful split-testing can improve retargeting results. Ok, yes, synchronized marketing is harder than integrated marketing communications. It takes more effort, more thought, more cross-discipline collaboration and better leadership. And I’m sorry to break the news, but it’s a dog eat dog world out there and it’s not getting any nicer 11 – EXECUTE YOUR IDEAS – Ideas are a dime a dozen. Great ideas are more valuable than gold. And truly innovative ideas can be priceless. But unless they are executed, and executed well, they are worthless. Great brands, and the leaders of those brands, have figured out how to execute their ideas extremely well. It starts with setting the table and making a place where ideas are welcome. Strategy and objectives provide a playing field and criteria for determining which ideas have more value. You must capture ideas in a repository that can be analyzed and brainstormed to sift the best ideas to the top. Once ripe ideas are identified, tasks are assigned to move it into development and testing. And then, with measured risk, you must launch the idea into the world. Get your ideas on paper – Whether it’s on the back of a napkin or in a mobile app, write down every single idea you get when they come. Evaluate and expand – At some point sit down and evaluate your ideas. Sift the good ideas from the bad. At this point, “executing” your ideas takes on a different meaning – with brutal honesty as the gauge, only the best ideas should survive. Match your idea to your business objectives – Your next step is to see which ideas mesh with what you are trying to accomplish as a company. If the idea doesn’t fit with your mission and vision…it’s dead. It is not worth your time. Use SWOT – Next, analyze the ideas that have survived this far using the SWOT. Is it possible to convert a weakness into an opportunity? What strengths can be leveraged? Compare the latest trends – Before development of an idea, look to see what is already in the market. Is your competitor providing a similar product? How can you differentiate? Brainstorm with trusted people – Gather a group of strategic and creative people you trust to drum up ideas on what needs to be done, who needs to do it and when it needs to happen. Assign tasks – Finally, hand out the assignments to getting this idea from paper into reality. 10 – FOSTER A MASH-UP CULTURE – Sure, you’ve heard it before – there are no new ideas. And it’s true, every idea is simply a combination of two previous ideas. So with the exception of that very first idea, or two, there really has been no originally new ideas, ever. No artist or thinker in history has become the master before being the student and learning the ideas that existed before them. But something great happens once you accept this – you stop thinking you’re on the quest for something completely original. And you start to understand that we are all filters. Very complex filters, wired similar to, but different than other filters. And so, every filter or group of filters will mix previous ideas in ways that other filters might not. That is originality. And it often leads to innovation. Your freedom to let all other ideas effect and change your ideas for the benefit of new ideas. It’s ok. There’s no other way to go about it. You must borrow from everything that has come before you. So take pride in your mash-ups. They are truly your own original creations. And although they are really combinations of other ideas, the world will see them as fresh and new. 09 – TEEMING WITH TEAMWORK – You’ll likely agree that how the world works is rapidly changing. And teamwork is taking on a new importance in how solutions are rapidly discovered and deployed. What began as faster ways to develop projects, such as agile, scrum, stand-up or lean, have led to the ways that businesses and governments will have to conduct business and deliver solutions in a highly connected, information saturated and mostly virtual work environment. In order to keep pace and innovate, teams must utilize a teeming, or swarming approach instead of the same old formation and lock-step tactics. Take the example of an emergency room triage team that functions to quickly address and solve issues with the rapid assessment of needs, collaboration with the right specialists, action to complete the task, transfer of responsibilities, then disbanding and regrouping as necessary to address more cases. Today’s most productive work environments will function in a similar way to bring expertise and experience together in a precise mix of talents and skills, at the precise time when the need has risen, for just as long as it takes, and with a structured leadership that can deal with the inherent challenges of short-term workforce dynamics. Those include difference of opinion, culture, processes and perspective. All are reasons that make teamwork the effective tool for finding new opportunities and innovative solutions. But balancing and resolving these dynamics effectively is critical to success. One key aspect to building short-term trust and dependability into teams is to establish core shared goal(s). A singular purpose has been proven to improve both performance and satisfaction of work forces. It is one of the reasons that cause-related organizations have a high level of worker satisfaction, and a high level of trust in other employees – who they know are contributing in support of, and for the success of the same goals they are themselves. This alignment of goals does not have to be a humanitarian or philanthropic in nature, but should be a simple and significant goal for which everyone on the team can agree to aim. Cross-discipline achievements and alignment will continue to be more and more important to business success. That is simply because the global marketplace will be more competitive and more complex tomorrow, than it is today. 08 – AUDIT YOUR MARKETING PLANS AND VEHICLES REGULARLY – all functioning mechanisms are prone to wear, degradation and eventual failure if they are not maintained and serviced well. And even the best and brightest minds need unbiased feedback in order to improve their performance. Good planning, strategy and tactics can go awry when they are not continually adjusted and reviewed against a constantly changing digital marketplace. Of course that’s an expected responsibility of every account leadership team, but more times than not, they are too deep in the weeds dealing with day to day demands, and too vested in the work, to be objective. It is valuable to obtain expert, yet unbiased analysis which can bring needed balance to internal assessment processes and provide valuable corrective recommendations to keep your marketing vehicles performing their best. 07 – EMBRACE YOUR NICHE – Decide on what you do best and attract only those prospects who are an ideal match for what you provide, and repel (or at least, don’t waste money attracting) those that are not your ideal prospect. When you have specialized knowledge and skills, it is imperative that you use that specialization to differentiate your brand from all the others that do similar (but not as specialized) services. When your ideal prospects find that you know and do exactly what they need, they will instantly know you are “right for me” and they will act. And when you get connected to that ideal prospect, your effort to close the deal will be a whole lot easier. Because you really do know their challenges, their desires and the way they want to work. You’ll deliver more focused solutions that will get them the results for which they are happy to invest. And ultimately you will be competing in a much smaller arena where you can become a leader. 06 – EMPOWER TEAMS BY ASKING “WHAT”, NOT “WHY” – At every step of the way, where data and ideas meet, there is the opportunity to see results and ask “Why” did that happen? But the better question is always “What” is happening? And “What” do we do? When we start with “Why” we immediately create a negative perspective where the answers identify blame, fault, guilt and trappings of the past. Asking “What” questions opens the path to potential solutions and a positive and empowering dialogue about moving forward. “What” questions can be similar to “Why” questions, but the thinking and outcomes will very different. Consider being faced with a failed task or solution, we often ask, “Why did this fail?” and “Why didn’t it work?” But the better questions are, “What went wrong” and “What can be done?” So focus on the questions and answers that will lead you to new solutions rather than the ones that tell you how you arrived at where you are at now. So, what do you think? 05 – EXAMINE YOUR FUNNEL FOR LEAKS – in this digital marketing ecosystem where the customer journey can become a long and winding road, there are more opportunities to lose customers along the way. And as customers continue to be less and less loyal to brands, there is a real danger your marketing efforts can be hijacked by competitors with similar offerings. My friend Bill Threlkeld, of Threlkeld Communications, makes this fine point in his recent article, “If your awareness efforts are random, scattered and disconnected, you stand the chance of building awareness for the whole category your brand fits in. And, when that happens, the brand with the strongest presence in the marketplace (whether it be through paid, owned, shared or earned media) will win.“ That is, unless you broaden your messaging footprint and test your funnel for leaks. This means reviewing and aligning messages at each stage of the customer journey, from the awareness stage, into consideration and especially evaluation, and all the way through the sales pipeline – testing each stage. An awareness campaign should not be launched without synchronizing (not integrating one message, but synchronizing the right messages) across platforms, channels and subsequent stages of the customer journey. Amazon probably leads the way on this, but who else is doing a great job? What is your experience showing you? 04 – AUDIENCE INSIGHTS – Most brand insights are usually within plain sight. But often we are looking at the wrong things. We tend to see the brands POV as more critical than the audience POV. So we are looking for insights about the brand, when true insights are about the audience, and how they think and feel about experiences that might involve our brand. Insights won’t change the product or services as much as they will change the way you relate to your audience. It is critically important to also find the core attributes that are shared among your audience, to hone in on the most valuable attributes that are shared among you most valuable prospects. If you are trying to speak to everyone, you will be heard by no one. Are you focused on the right brand insights? Here is more about focusing your target audience. 03 – NAMING AND NAMING SYSTEMS ANALYSIS – Names, labels, nicknames, handles and acronyms surround us daily. They can be obstacles in the mind, or they can be beacons amid the din. Whether it’s sub-brands, line extensions, versions or systems, naming is a crucial (and sometimes grueling) process that most companies neglect. Usually because they believe it will cost too much to make changes. But what is it costing if a name is not remembered or is sending the wrong message? Are you periodically analyzing your names and naming systems, doing competitive research and testing alternatives? 02 – IDEATION FOR NEW PRODUCTS/SERVICES – Change is the only constant and keeping fresh ideas pumping through an organization or brand is crucial to staying competitive and gaining ground on the segment leaders. Focused ideation in an on-going setting can create new revenue streams, improve products and services incrementally and continually add value to a brand. One or two focused sessions a year can be enough to identify innovative directions. There are lots of ways to do this. Create a brainstorming or innovation lab where interested associates gather regularly to practice the art of focused ideation. Put together an internal idea bank where ideas from any staff member can be gathered and assessed – and rewarded. Are you doing it? Who’s doing it well? Who needs help? 01 – BRAND POSITIONING – Companies cannot be everything to everyone, they must find what they stand for and own it. It must be authentic, honest and rewarding, just to gain acceptance. It must have clear benefits and awesome value. It must also have a great personality – usually requiring some charm. And it must be human. “It” is your brand. And getting a brand to be all these things is not easy. It’s not quick. And it’s not painless. But it is necessary and it should be rewarding. And it starts with the hard work of defining a position that is true to the brand, desired by the audience and unoccupied by the competition. Do you have all your stakeholders in agreement? Does everyone from the CEO to the intern know it by heart? Here’s more on positioning. Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com #brandinginsights #branding #brandinsights #brandstrategy #brandmarketing #marketingideas #brandinnovation
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But setting aside those things you may actually need (or desperately want), how does your mind choose what to ignore or what to engage?
Well, let’s give engagement a quick review. Engagement is defined as, “an arrangement to do something or go somewhere at a fixed time.” What’s required of that arrangement is a request by one party for the participation of another party. An invitation. And with any invitation, it’s assumed that the invited will receive a reward.
So any time you want engagement with an audience, you must put out an invitation for participation. In essence, you must say, please come and play with us, there’s something fun in it for you. Unlike a real party, this one is thrown in the audience’s mind. A real party has party favors as a reward. At this party, the reward is problem solving and game-winning satisfaction. Connecting the dots, putting together the puzzle, solving the mystery… why do you think the most successful long-running shows on TV are about solving problems (crime, mystery, science, relationships, etc.)? We love it.
So, invite your audience into your work. Let them do part of the work to bring resolution to the messages – resolution in feeling and resolution in focus – both can be gained by creating space for the audience to participate.
This means letting questions be unanswered. Or using open ended scenarios that need subjective resolve. Or painting a picture without the main subject, so the audience can take that role. It’s leaving something out of a design or adding space to a layout, so that it causes further questions or thought, and communicates reaching deeper cerebral activity.
Who are you inviting to the party? What will get them excited about coming? Are you expecting them to bring something to help complete the party? Did you plan something fun, interesting, daring or meaningful for your party – expecting each person who comes to get something from the experience?
Do you do all those things with the communications you craft? You should.
Human’s are programmed for cognitive problem-solving. We do it automatically and almost constantly on many levels. Whether deciding which route to take to work, or how to solve poverty. As our mind gets engaged with an idea, we improve our ability to recall and access those connections when needed. Think about something more, and it’s easier to remember and make further connections. Making connections is like an extension of any idea that makes it easier to trace back. Like leaving popcorn in your path. When an idea spurs many connections, there are more points of reference back to that idea. Making it easier to find in the vast number of messages roaming our minds.
So back to the party. If your communication is the party, make it inviting. Give the audience reason to come and enjoy the challenge of resolving the concept with you. And when they do, make sure they take away something rewarding. Even if it’s just a satisfied smile.
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Even if your target was everyone on the planet. Unless you are Coke, I can tell you that everyone will not be your customer. So Coke, you are dismissed from this conversation. The rest of you might want to continue.
I’ve come up with 6 reasons (I’m sure there’s more) why marketers should re-examine their broad, poorly defined target audiences and stop wasting their money trying to convert everyone.
1. Fear of Focus
Shotgun targeting is an oxymoron. Who takes a sawed-off shotgun to target shooting contest? I’d take a rifle and preferably, a scope. Targeting, whether it’s done on shooting range or in a boardroom, involves focus. And while most marketers will deny using a shotgun approach, they quietly expand the demographic profiles, adding a few extra years to the age group and a larger range of incomes to the demographics. Even savvy marketers who know that behavior profiles are more important than demographics can make the logical mistake of merging profiles, thus widening the net to include more potential prospects.
What these good meaning actions really do is to homogenize the target, making it so big that you can’t possibly miss. This wider target may be bigger, but it has many different wants and needs which means you’ll either need a lot of different messages (can you say big $$$$?), or you’ll decide to be economical and use one generic message to speak to all those different prospects.
Either way, all you will likely achieve is a message that is less meaningful, less appropriate, less memorable, and less effective to your MOST important prospects.
2. Consuming Consumers Consume
Even in tough times, we are a society consumed with consuming. In our search for what we lack, we’ve become little information bees pollinating society with the nectar we believe is the sweetest – just look at facebook and twitter.
These days consumers do a large portion of the communications work for themselves. They are searching and surfing and reviewing and blogging and discussing, creating ripples of messaging like a drop of water spreading across a pond. This means that your message, if it’s meaningful, will be spread beyond your control. It will find the farthest reaches of the target, to the most unlikely of prospects, who you would have never dreamed of talking to directly – so don’t waste time and money trying.
Or you could pursue that generic message, riddled with bullet points and copy that speaks to everyone? Yeah, I share those on social media all the time.
3. Shared Aspirations
Everyone aspires. And everyone doesn’t aspire to just one thing. No, everyone aspires to many things. Humans are not cookie cutter consumers. We are all uniquely programmed with subtle differences in our mental processes that make us more than the sum of our demographics.
My demographics would show that I’m a middle aged (ouch!) male, a marketing communication professional making a living in Los Angeles, married with a child.
These facts would tell you little or nothing about my aspirations or the things that make me tick. And while some of those things are related to middle age (ouch!), most are not. The point is that I will pay attention to messages aimed at the 20-something, recent college grad who doesn’t have a mortgage and spends his hard earned cash to obtain the latest, hottest stuff on the market. I won’t tune out because the message sounds “younger” than me, or “hipper” than me, or “more serious” than me. I aspire to many of the same things as that target. Yet if that message were altered to be sure it spoke to 40-somethings and 50-somethings, it certainly wouldn’t sound younger and hipper.
The result of the more focused message is a bleed factor that means anyone with even a sliver of shared aspirations with the well defined target will get it. You don’t have to talk to everyone. Talk to THE target and let others connect via shared aspirations.
4. Attribute Morphing
Consumers will also morph the attributes of a product to fit their needs. I bought a Honda Element a few years ago. Honda was targeting a young, fun-loving, active lifestyle with messages that were sometimes quirky and odd – a lot like the car itself. While set to extreme outdoor activities, the attributes of the Element were dramatized with shots of the open-air design packed with everything from mountain bikes to kayaks.
I don’t mountain bike and I’ve been in a kayak once, but the attributes of space and a modular design were perfectly clear to me. And soon I had morphed those attributes into my own vision of how the Element would fit perfectly into my busy-dad, dog-chauffeuring, equipment-lugging lifestyle.
Stick with what your well-defined target wants and needs. Everyone else will see what they need.
5. Consumer Morphing
Similar to the attribute morphing, consumers can themselves morph from one behavioral aspect to another. Today I’m a green consumer looking for a car that will save the planet, tomorrow I am a cancer cure advocate looking for viable treatments for my recently diagnosed family member – and the next day I am a traveler searching for the best deal on airfares to Hawaii.
Consumers are constantly in motion. But you don’t have to try to hit a moving target. On the contrary, you aim at the right place and stay on your message, and morphing consumers will enter your line of fire.
We’ve all experienced this, like when you decide to buy a new car, and you’re considering a couple choices. Then suddenly you begin to see those cars everywhere. But there aren’t suddenly more of them than yesterday. You’re perception has changed (morphed) and you are now a specific type of car consumer. More tuned in, open to messages and on a deliberate information search to find the car that fits your self image – which is a unique mix of values and attributes that may also be shared by many others.
So how do you make a brand, product or service easy to find in the vast expanse of the marketplace?
6. Location. Location. Location. (in the mind)
The old real estate adage could be altered here to “position, position, position”. The key to a clear and focused target is a clear and focused positioning. For only when you sacrifice being everything to everyone will you find the one thing that is the most memorable and irresistible to the one person who is your best customer, and who at any given time could be anyone (but not everyone).
A positioning that clearly differentiates is like an address in google maps. The more specific it is, the more likely you are to get accurate and effective directions and the easier it will be to navigate your way to where you want to go.
So when your target can truly be anyone, then you had better be easy to recognize, easy to remember, and easy to locate in the jungle of brands and promises that fill the minds of each and every consumer.
The Takeaway
When you are defining your target audience, a more specific and focused approach will help clarify the message and the channels where that message will be most impactful. Resist the urge to increase the size of the target in an attempt to capture more leads, since in reality that costs more and delivers less qualified leads. Instead, attempt to narrow the audience until you know exactly who they are and what will engage, interest and motivate your perfect customer. And when you talk clearly to that perfect customer, everyone who cares will hear you.
Do you have other reasons or ways to refine your target audience? Let’s hear it.
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