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Measured consumer behavior: an oxymoron

2009-06-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

Consumer behavior: six, neat little syllables that run the life of every market researcher. The statistical reports consist of a dehumanizing package of abstract measurements, urgently created to shorten the distance between a product going on the shelf and a product purchased. In spite of how we fight off those who want to categorize ‘us,’ we move with urgency and passion to fit all people into these concise, mental boxes. We write the description on a tag, in ink, seal it up quickly and deliver it to the advertising group to create our messaging and sales strategies.

“This person likes funny stories and family sitcoms. This person is college educated and serious about life. This person buys 40 iTunes each week. And so forth. It’s as though we believe that once we catch a potential consumer in a repetitive behavior, whether it’s sampled correctly or not, we are somehow Pavlovically bound to put that momentary rhythm into a static, scientific equation. Satisfied with our pronouncement, we eagerly fill in the line with a number two pencil as though we can freeze this subject matter into a glacial, economic compass to act as an inert tool of commerce.

We are not a product of these patterns. In fact, even by reaching back and asking respondents what they had for breakfast, or where they live is still ignorant of the rocky landscape we balance our lives on. Each of our experiences, like a dodge ball shot unexpectedly into our gut, causes us to change course and become new people in every instance of consciousness. Surprise and rigidity are our constant reactions, as we decide how to catalog the things that throw us off kilter. And…everything throws us off. So, it stands to reason that every moment must be an act of trying to return to balance.

In fact, new studies are confirming that are lives change with each sweep of the second hand no matter how we were educated, raised, abused or celebrated. When a consumer walks into your store today he or she will NOT be the same person tomorrow or even later that evening. On their way to see you a bad call could have come from the Principal’s office, PMS could be flaring up; an interview for a new job could have breathed new life into things, and so forth. Trying to target and hit people using static measurements is so impossible, there’s no metaphor to define its silliness. We are constantly changing and that is a good thing - but only to the extent of seeking equilibrium and of course, safety.

So really; consumer research as a science…hmmm. How and why did we ever start this punch-card like race? What has moved us, in all our intelligence to even conceive of such a Borg-like activity? Where is the final value in creating millions of small chips of non-conclusive giga-blurbs to populate spreadsheets, pie-charts and bar codes? Are we really finding patterns that repeat without fail? Are we exponentially developing success in gaining market share over the long haul? Are we becoming more profitable with less effort and waste? And really, have the results of these frozen moments of madness ever brought us to any kind of enlightenment in creating sustainable, organic, human connections? Has our statistical desire for output truly trumped the conscious mind and its ability to reach out? Or is that fear of showing up without a report too permanent. Is it so palpable so that we deny the fact that our buyers can never be labeled, only nurtured, encouraged and protected?

It’s easy to see the answer is no to many of the questions asked above. Perhaps this is a cultural question. Born in the synapses of early western settlers who were thrown together in a mix of blood and DNA, we found each other gathered together with the tools of modern civilization at our fingertips but we use a compass run by primitive, instinctive forces. Our ancestors, a mix of exiles, adventurers, criminals and dreamers, followed their hearts to conquer a new land and a continent. We ignored or it was bred out of us, that enlightenment is not something you own or achieve, it is a state of being. And soon, we forgot about this moment and focused only on the past and the future; two things that really never occur. We replaced much of our curiosity with impulsive abandon, our common sense with guilt, replaced our natural ability to believe in magic and love with the industrialized oil and grit of civilization.

Now, even though this appears to be a treatise of banishing modern industry, it’s not. It’s simply a debate on the idea that we are easily encouraged to lock ourselves into static progression, without admitting that the ebb and flow of our emotions, our circumstances and the Tao of Physics are the forces that will lead us to peace.

Sure, our western culture seeks equilibrium, but in a broken way as it relates to sensory balance and wellness in selling. I see metaphors all around us of how we repel fear, treating it like a leprous stranger, fraught with superstition as we ignore its benefits and companionship in learning how to stay balanced, in learning how to overcome a problem, in learning how to serve our fellow man.

We assume that if we come to close to madness one day or euphoria the next that we are coming dangerously close to eliminating ourselves from the normalcy of the human race. Our fears constantly revolve around the entanglements of ego that will be lost or stolen if we don’t act “normal.” We are galvanized by the idea of hiding our very humanity.

Take for instance the fact that a new drug store is rising out of the dirt on any random corner on any random day. We live for the drug or pill that keeps us centered on some middle point we consider to define our functionality, afraid to veer right or left and not knowing why. It’s as though these drug stores stand as our temples of hope against our fear of losing control. Unable to verbalize our pain, name our demons or find the insanity in the phrase, “real men don’t cry,” we pay the price by ignoring our own shut-off valve to stress and pressure.

Think of this abstract behavior and tell me we’re not a dichotomy of opposites: Although we are licensed to operate 2,000 pound, metal vehicles at speeds of 60 miles per hour, separated from death and chaos by only an agreement to obey the omniscient power of the yellow, dotted line, it seems our respect for ourselves and our understanding of our fragile humanity has skipped over our collective heads, like so many pebbles ricocheting off smooth water.

How strange our minds are that survival is a series of cooperative events, unattached and random. We encounter each other for only that split second that we pass within inches of carnage and death, thinking only of our shoes, our appointments, or our hair.

All of these explanations bring us again to one conclusion, and that is that safety is the only foundational and constant element that we can use as our diving rod in seeking commercial success.

Listen to my interview on BuilderRadio.com

2009-04-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Jerry Rouleau, New Home selling expert and host of BuilderRadio.com, interviews me on the Monday Morning Sales Meeting and we discuss the idea of Branding Therapy, core human behavior cues and their value in setting up a successful selling experience and most importantly, the 5 Senses of Marketing and how they can hurt you or help you.

Listen to the podcast, download the information and read the article Jerry has written about the interview. You'll find some hidden facts about what you may be overlooking with your prospects that will make a huge difference in creating connections, trust and solutions that will insure top of mind awareness and action with your buyer!

It's only 20 minutes, but it's time that could make the difference in learning how to success in this new world of home selling.

Wellness in New Home Sales

2009-03-24T17:14:00.000-07:00

Why is it so important to provide safety before I begin the sale?

Providing Safety First
It’s a unique concept, approaching the sale from the abstract angle of establishing a safe environment for the prospect, and one that’s not always taken seriously. But in essence, all successful marketing has resulted from that platform. Whether accidental or intentional, buyers are never pushed to us, they are attracted. And it’s that law of attraction that we must delve into to survive.

Let’s start with the reason I market myself as a therapist. We are an industry in need of healing. Outmoded systems and old ideas are choking us and keeping us from embracing the visceral side of what we do.

The visceral side is certainly connected to our core product. How marvelous that we’re in an industry where we sell a little piece of the planet to people. And then we place shelter on that knoll so that they can have a sense of place and connection for our journey through time.

Restoring wellness to the way companies communicate with their buyers and provide goods and services is my highest priority. You wouldn’t think it’s a system that’s broken, but it is. And we’re scared, shivering and yearning for warmth and a way into success.

To become our own healers again, we need to know how to create a toolbox of soothing and healing systems for the home building industry, by restoring health to the way salespeople deal with prospects, the way builders deal with their entire organizations, and the way they create homes for us to live and thrive in. By approaching the process from a more organic viewpoint, we see that creating safety and acknowledging the unique aspects of behavioral marketing is the key to attracting the buyers who are looking for us. Becoming a magnet for the human spirit energizes the company and the entire industry for the better.

The law of attraction is one that assumes you bring to yourself the things you think about, that energy and matter draw good results to us. I have a philosophy that there is a core of power in any idea, and the closer we are to it, the shorter our orbit is around it and the more warmth we receive. As we move away from this core of principles, we travel a longer distance, are separated from the light, and estranged from the simplicity of what makes us human. As we add cogs to the wheel out of our own desire to move faster, we overcomplicate our journey and inhibit progress.

By returning to and understanding that the shortest path will bring us the most reward, we find that there are others traveling that path with us. These are the people who are attracted to you because they’re attracted to comfort and safety. They are all yearning for simplicity as well. You are all equal.

It is with this ideal in mind that I find the law of attraction working for me and working for the people I have helped. When I’m on the right path and have an authentic mindset, I look around and all the things I desire are naturally authentic as well. In essence, when I put my “for sale” sign out, the buyers are already on my lawn just waiting for a hot bagel and some good coffee before they sign my contract and buy my home.

How change and fear can overtake the sale
We are more afraid of change than death, evidenced by the fact that we keep smoking in the face of certain illness and death. Because change is the catalyst for all growth, and growth is the path to all wellness, change and wellness naturally go hand in hand.

Fear is a part of nearly every decision. It is the yang in our ying. The stop in our go. The down in our up. It is one of the most prevalent behaviors present in every sales encounter. If we can approach and eliminate fear, by traveling on the shortest path to healing that emotion, we can stay on our path of authenticity as we reinvent what it means to create the meaning of “home” for our buyers.

To quote Marilyn Ferguson on this idea of fear of change we read, “It’s It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear . . . . It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to.”

If you're looking for something to hold on to, a hand that will guide you as you leap to the next rock and discover that selling is about healing, and being whole is what makes life so euphoric!

Six Ways to Become Truly Authentic

2009-02-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

Every day the flood keeps getting closer to our front door. The waves lap at our kitchen table, taking our food and our way of life with it showing neither remorse or evil. It just "is."
While it's becoming harder and harder to imagine that we'll survive this without having to become greeters at our local hardware store to pay the rent, there is still something that the waters can't touch. And that is how you feel about yourself inside.

Our way of life here in the western world has been the subject of many criticisms. Mostly we are dubbed as a citizenship of mindless and selfish consumers, eating everything alive as we go and spitting out all but a small bit before engorging ourselves again. But what we're not asking is why do we feel so unsafe that the only path we choose is one of gluttony? Why in a country of wealth and opportunity are we falling like flies into a pit of acquiring?

Although we are told by certain scholars of human behavior, that's gluttony is a natural state of man, what can be uncovered by asking the deeper question may help us all find more peace and even some macro answers as well. How can we find enlightenment and, as the Yogi's say, become Buddha and find true peace?

I have created and sponsor a networking group for women called Networking, Women and Wine, here in Charlotte, NC. We meet once a month to help each other find solutions and friendships. Although the premise is to widen our sphere of influence as business owners or career women, we believe that the power of gathering with a higher ideal for creating solutions helps soothe and renew us all.

Wine has become our mascot for the simple fact that wine and wine making are such symbols of creativity, individuality and authenticity, let alone surviving hardship while growing and becoming more complex as time goes on.

Which leads us to the reason for this narrative; some advice on authentic living.

How many times have we heard this word and wondered, deep inside, if we can get in touch with this concept in a world that seems to be mired in deceit? Peeling off the layers of camouflage diligently applied to our business image, through a collective desire to be on top, follow the pack, and acquire the right things has caused us now to question our own intuition. As business women, we've followed all the rules, listened to the so called experts of business, sociology, and profit and wondered why it felt like we were having an out of body experience every time we marketed ourselves.

We hear a lot of people talking about getting back to basics. My opinion is, and you may share my thoughts, that the word "back" is inherently the problem. Looking to the past as a teacher is like asking a 5 year old how to handle a mid-life crisis. There is no perception of balance or wisdom, without experience. The past can indeed be a teacher (not a template!), but to reinstate old ideas is slow death and a movement away from being authentic in almost every language of success.

To follow the natural rhythm of life is to move forward and reinvent every day. There is only ‘now’ to listen to. And listen carefully you must. The basics we crave are in us already.

The following are some rules I see being obeyed by those moving forward in wellness, who are creating a life of positive success, no matter what the tide is bringing in or taking away. They’re concepts you can apply starting today, so that you can resuscitate your livelihood, your brand and your sense of self.

1. Isolate clearly the reason you’re doing what you’re doing.
Is there yearning in your heart each day to grow your business or career? Do you see ways it can integrate into the fabric of humanity and offer prosperity to others, not only to you? Does it burn with a passion and make you feel whole? Find that and you find success.

2. Locate someone who displays this kind of success and ask them to be a mentor.
Who are the people that stand for what you stand for? Whether you talk with them via a pod-cast from Bermuda or sit over a cup of coffee each week inside your house, create a structure for asking and recording their responses on a myriad of disciplines that are valuable to you. Then create a plan to implement them a little each day.

3. Balance your life in every way by keeping track of the basic needs in your life: Nutrition, movement, fulfillment, and safety.
Make sure you’re not sabotaging your body and your mind by eating poorly. You don’t have to become someone who eats only leaves and herbs, but watch nutrition by monitoring sugar intake, plenty of fruits and vegetables, and overly large portions, and learn about the effects certain prescription drugs may be having on your body that you need to compensate for.

Movement is life, because it helps with circulation and clarifying the body of toxins. Movement is also a way to indulge in self expression and of course some kind of exercise is the key to everything. Then, when it’s time NOT to move, make sure sleeping is done in an environment that allows restfulness and peace...and enough of it.

Fulfillment is the balance of your sense of self. Are you communicating properly with the people in your life? Are you saying what you mean? Are you in touch with what is hurting you or helping you? Do you need to work on that part?

Safety, a basic human instinct, rules most all other behaviors in our life. If we don’t feel safe we react sharply in a primal ways that throws us off balance and certainly wreak havoc with those around us.

4. Share some time with those you love and ask them if they see you being true to yourself. They’ll have surprisingly valuable answers.
Mirrors are great. But the reflection staring back is still seen through your eyes, your value system, your lens of life. Truth exists from inside you and you overlay those value systems to everything sometimes clouding your path. Good friends and people you respect for having balance can make excellent sounding boards for true self discovery. We’re not talking about gabbing and sharing all your woes with people, we’re talking about self awareness. Ask them if you seem happy, and if you are easy to be around. Ask them if they have any thoughts about whether or not you’re being true to yourself. Make it fun and you’ll find out some wonderful things about yourself. You’ll find most of these people have some insights that are positive and wise, and give you good direction for the future.

5. Evaluate what YOU can do to make the world around you a better place and incorporate that into your business plan.
This is easier said than done, but still possible. If the results of your product and your dream do not eventually help the world around you, your imagination and resources will diminish. We must look to create connections and success through products, services and behaviors that create lasting impact. That is the way to finding a path that is real, to a prosperity that is rewarding and to authenticity in every way.

6. Finally, simply let the tide in.
You cannot hold back the waters of change or correction. Often the crop is washed away with the weeks. But we can all find new endeavors waiting on the wake of it's perceived destruction. I always say, any day you're breathing in and out is a good day! Make good on the inside and you'll find life is still full of wonderful lessons, opportunities and connections.

Are Growth Issues Causing You To Lose your Marbles? That’s Okay.

2008-08-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Because business development issues can be brimming with emotion, and positive change is often insulated with unchecked fear, finding a simple illustration that brings it all together is a good way to begin visualizing a common ground.

Take for example the child’s game that consists of a small, horizontal box, with 3 miniature metal marbles, or bee-bees inside, that roll around. The object of the game, with a little help from gravity, is to gently roll all three of the marbles until they come to rest in one of three indentations…all at the same time. The trouble is once you get one or even two of them secure, you have to keep moving the box, ever so slightly, to maneuver the third marble in. And for most of us, one or both of the first marbles dislodges which causes us to reconsider whether this game is even fair.

At the risk of oversimplifying a complex problem, community growth and development can be likened to this simple but sobering game. Each element of the process involves so many different variables that just when one object is secure and everyone is happy, it’s time to work on the next one. This can cause the first to bump out of its resting spot. What seems easy now changes without warning. And, unless you’re patient and willing to keep working on the goal, you’re in for an interesting ride.

Sure. We’re comfortable with how things are. Our little marbles are all set in the holes we like, and we don’t want anyone shuffling things around and dislodging our lives. But the landscape has and will continue to change because our communities are living, breathing things.

To keep our communities vibrant and the value of our homes and businesses thriving, most of our civic leaders are actively and responsibly working to attract new business and talent alike. This will bring people who need space and resources to grow in a positive way. Those new residents often discover that some are uncomfortable the game of marbles shifting. Emotional roadblocks are set up, fear permeates our ability to find answers, and people may shut their minds and their front gates to change or adjustment.

Growth is commonly an issue of enormous emotion, opinion and upheaval and with it comes the natural reaction to pull back and stop the shaking to make sure we’re all doing the right thing for everyone. Or in essence, to make sure every marble gets in the right holes, all at the same time.

The consequences of stopping growth, even for a short time, carries an abstract theory that sways some to say no growth will offer time to breathe and plan. That may be like stopping AFTER you see the avalanche start, so you can build faster skis. Once you stop, there’s no way out of its path. The ideal solution brings checks and balances into play during growth, so as not to bring the entire engine to a halt, damaging the moving parts. These solutions involve many facets but all involve moving forward in a responsible fashion.

Development is the machinery of our cities, counties and states. The ability to attract good teachers, experienced civic leaders, and competent administrators, and even securing the value of our homes is all tied to positive, managed, consistent growth. Intersections, roads, schools, off ramps, parks, etc. are all constructed and often paid for fully by a builder as a part of an overall city plan.

So how do we create positive solutions? How do we plan and anticipate the future instead of shun it? How do we make sure our city leaders have put desirable city plans in place for the builders to adhere to? The same way we prepare our children for life: Knowledge and involvement.

Get involved. This is an important election year. Huge initiatives are on the ballet. Passionate leaders are running for office. Economies are resting precariously on issues that must be addressed. Seek out the opportunity to learn about development when you can and learn to understand the machinery of government. Organize positive local groups to keep development and your community leaders responsible and accountable. Encourage city planners and support building proposals that offer new, intelligent zoning and transportation solutions, and celebrate the adoption of community overlays that create imaginative, aesthetic and cost effective development. We all want community plans that nurture and innovate. You can help make it possible.

(c) 2008 Community Growth and Development
Camine Pappas
C and Company

*** Are you a home builder seeking a new way of thinking - a paradigm shift, that will take your business to the next level, even in times of recession? Contact Camine to set up a consultation, or write a comment below. ***

How quickly can brand marketing save me?

2008-07-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Sadly, in today's fear based economy, especially the home building industry, many of us hesitate to open the curtains in the morning. Shivering with negative anticipation, we shrink at the thought of hearing about one more failure among our peers, a reduced buyer base, or worse yet, finding our coffers empty and our lenders on their way to Timbuktu. We feel powerless, like we're spinning our wheels trying to grow and survive. At the same time there's an eerie and profound fear that we don't quite know if we're doing the right thing.

For those of you who are reaching out for help, who have heard about the solid principals brand marketing can bring to your company and want to drink the lemonade, a common question is circling. "So how long will it take before I will see results?" Or to translate, "How long before you save me?"

For decades, traditional new-home marketing practices have been about throwing out your nets to a calculated number of prospects, with hooks, speed-bumps and giveaways as your bait, which some call advertisements or mailing campaigns. We hover over our prospects like vultures with name tags, waiting for our prey to stop at a sign, call us or walk-in to our models. And then we pounce, filling in a customer card, and proudly scratch a check-mark onto our list of things to "do" today. People showed up? Didn't the strategy work?

First, let's define what we mean by results. One of the first things I do with my clients is clarify language. I make sure we're all speaking the same one before we start. It's key to positioning our strategy. Then when we know what the real question is, the answers come.

Results can come in many forms. It's a sliding scale of episodic measurements whose elements are more about what direction you're moving than just movement. For instance, efficiency within your organization, increased morale, lower costs, higher conversion rates, employee retention and increased referral rates are all results, per Se. And, so are sales. Solid, wet-ink, check-clearing sales. So, it stands to reason that if sales is your ultimate result then all behaviors, processes, measurements and initiatives should be moving you toward that end with mind-blowing precision.

The truth is by simply aligning the look of all your image materials, mapping and controlling your systems and learning what your customer needs and how he buys can all offer you immediate results. Reigning in and controlling how everyone is talking to one another and your customer can also help you emerge from anonymity. But to see yourself buckled in at the top of the brand race-car requires a two way commitment between you and all your employees. Your brand marketing specialist can be your guide but the vehicle of your success is you.

The reason brand marketing is so compelling and so elusive at the same time is it only begins to breath and move when a symphony of events, which have been carefully choreographed, are set in motion through total goal clarity.

It starts with understanding exactly who you are and what you do, and forming a plan of action based on your resources, business plan, and the talent you have. From there you put a marketing message strategy in place that gives you a voice that's real. The impact of a simple and real message (advertising) is more evident when it's backed by the entire organization's karma because then it draws customers to you. Yes, to you. No more throwing out impersonal and desperate nets. Now you can predict your success because you're actually presenting solutions that work, reaching out with messages that follow the way people are really looking for products, and following through with the customer experience you promised in the first place. It is the only way to be heard above the roar of messages that are already out there. It's the only way to true results.

To find our how you can experience predictable and fast results, contact us today. Let us help you grow.

How do I get people to join my brand?

2008-07-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

If we could do anything to help you, we’d wail on you until you understand that you don’t sell a commodity, you sell an experience. That’s the only way to be remembered and it’s the essence of brand marketing. Few are better at executing that idea than Starbucks which is why the news of Howard Schultz, CEO of this coffee empire, adding movies and more to his menu of mild, medium and bold is simply the next letter in the alphabet of the language of brand success.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Mr. Schultz doesn’t really market coffee. He peddles a cup of warmth that displays a logo announcing to others you have taste and sensibility. He gives you a little plastic card that says, “You’re one of us”. He invites you to soothe yourself by a roaring fire in torn Levis and a skull cap, or sip tea, wearing an Armani suit reading classic literature. And everyone can become a philanthropist by taking home a fragrant heap of beans to help third world countries teach kids to read. So, attaching comparable music, DVD’s and other items to this genre fits in the brand of ‘belonging’ so neatly you hardly recognize it was a stroke of genius and not just an accidental cross commerce add-on.

We talk about Starbucks because they’ve asked the questions you need to ask yourself. Stop thinking about selling houses and start thinking about gathering places and connections and symbols. What can you do to create the unique feel of home so thoroughly that people want to pick their own spot in your community? How does your model home feel, smell, sound? What subliminal messages are on your walls? What do you stand for? What do you solve? What do you recommend? What kind of iconic takeaway can you begin to provide that screams to others that you have taste and sensibility? Ask yourself if you’re trying to author bland cross marketing add-ons or if you’re bundling intelligent solutions and creating a club everyone wants to join.

If you feel yourself warming up to this idea, contact C and Company to help you with the process of turning the daily grind into grounds for success. If Howard can do it with coffee just think what you can do with a whole neighborhood!!

(c) 2008 Advice for Builders: Brand
Camine Pappas
C and Company

How Do I Get My Signs Seen?

2008-07-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

When I drive down the country lane near my home, I can’t help but notice that more and more bootleg directional signs are beginning to take the place of the usual expanses of green pastures, cedar fences and newly mowed fields. Perhaps, like most people in growing suburban areas, I am struck by the sense that the authors of these sign campaigns are desperate to capture, lure and shout their way into my subconscious. I’m not listening but they’re sure telling. I am, after this short drive, overwhelmed by their monologue of desperation that screams, “look at us!” I’m always hoping to see if any of the messages offer something that’s about me. I think I’m going to be driving for a long time.

Remember the line in the Pixar Movie, The Incredibles “When everyone is super then no one is.” It kinda of makes you stop and realize that one good idea, copied a million times is suddenly a bad idea. If you can’t be different you can’t be noticed. Saying it by adding more and more signs each week is not a solution, it’s just more signs.

Here’s a new idea. Think about the whole process of finding a community, then find the solution to the problem that everyone ignores. Let’s say you couldn't use a sign at all. All you could use is your website. The thought process you might employ would certainly include a plan for success, based on the “brand” you wanted to be known for. Say, “The builder who doesn’t clutter the landscape but still gets everyone to their sites with efficiency”.

At C and Company we have helped countless companies use their websites, and their inventiveness to this advantage, helping establish systems and processes that give them a heightened awareness in the marketplace. In this scenario, helping a customer locate and easily drive to a new community without signs, as well offering a more friendly experience from happy, motivated staff implementing a unique initiative is news that travels fast. We can help you discover new solutions to replace what used be a “super” idea and just isn't working any more.

Bold, yes. Get rid of signs? Innovative thought. More than 90% of prospective home buyers visit a website before venturing out in their cars. We challenge you to look for innovative, brand based answers and start creating a new kind of brand buzz!

(c) 2008 Signs, Buzz and Building your Brand
Camine Pappas
C and Company

Why is Emotional Selling Pivotal to Brand Success?

2008-07-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Whenever I sit down with a new customer and prepare them for their ‘brand creation’ journey, the first thing I assess is whether or not they have ever considered how pivotal creative processes are to their organizational success and not just their marketing success.

I find that even the mention of “right-brained thinking” conjures up visions of couches and graying men with beards who ask about your childhood. While I have them with their jaws gaping I also ask them if they realize that every member of their team will need to embrace a collective, emotional idea in order to deliver on the brand promise.

Most often I meet with resistance. “Just design a great logo and collateral. Sales can handle the rest. We don’t need to worry about that side of our business.” Here’s why that answer spells disaster.

Our phobias toward intuitive strategies in a world where an emotional, impulsive and informed consumer rules, need to be dealt with. Understanding why people buy requires an aptitude geared toward the emotions that link marketing to the actual act of buying. It requires that company owners agree on and create a consistent language. Owners must instill a common vision so that each person feels personally connected to the emotional value the buying experience gives to the consumer. And to really succeed with brand marketing, you need to have the courage to be innovative and not follow the pack.

Don’t panic yet. Even if your company is more ‘engineer’ and than 'imagineer’, you can still create solid branding solutions. First, think simple. We tend to over complicate what should be a very natural relationship between buyer and seller by either using or creating strategies that separate us emotionally from our buyer. Strategies that cut off the very blood supply that will make sales happen.

What are those bad habits? Things like making our customers stand behind the counter, take a number, or telling them, “We can’t open up that section because our waitress is overloaded”, “Returns not allowed after 7 days without a receipt”, “Park only in designated spaces”, and my personal favorite, “That’s just our policy”. Real grease for the wheel, eh? Oh, and by the way, will you please fill out this little card and tell us all about yourself? You know the answer to that one.

Are you beginning to see why learning how to sell with emotion can offer hope instead of hype? In short, people have to believe that you will meet their expectations. If you’re doing it right you’ll be more aware of your customer’s needs and remove barriers to your success. In fact, when these things begin to happen in sync you’ll begin to save money on advertising, become more efficient when developing new product lines, and you may even discover you’re creating a trend instead of following one. Approaching marketing with this angle will also make it easier to attract and retain talent because everyone has an emotional stake in your success.

Now, don’t stop reading early, here’s when the real fun starts. When your customer becomes the vehicle in which the message you tell is carried to other potential customers, you have the ultimate brand success. She tells others about you, and she says it with a believability that you could never achieve even if you had Proctor and Gamble’s marketing budget. Right brains are on the right track after all.

(c) 2008 Brand Creation by Camine Pappas

Camine Pappas
C and Company, Marketing Strategy and Branding Experts
Charlotte, NC

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Change Is The Fire That Helps Ideas Emerge

2008-07-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

When fires ravaged Yellowstone National Park in 1988, great minds from all over the science and environmental communities were ignited with concern. We had, according to them witness one of the greatest natural disasters in history. An event that had blotted out thousands of years of nature’s most perfect trophies and laid them waste with only an eerie billow of smoke to mark their black graves.

Not long after they dried their tears, these experts began to take notice of the smaller events emerging. Suddenly the real truth began to manifest itself in the ashes. There, beneath the warm, soft layer of charred monoliths they discovered tiny plants pushing eagerly through to the light. What was so amazing about these sprouts is that they came from seeds dormant for eons. In fact, the heat of the fire as well as the opportunity to reach the sun was the reason for their emergence. Finally, these small voices found their solo opportunity in a symphony that had never experienced a pause, until now.

During many of my training seminars and subsequent round table discussion I talk a lot about perceived limitations and old ideas we can’t let go of. We agreed that our belief window limits our sights, no matter how sophisticated our processes. I also find, when confronted with change that FEAR seems to permeate our common sense. We use it as a reason to feel disconnected from the very people we are there to advise. But if we take a lesson from nature we see that when we eliminate the clutter of our old beliefs, (our old trees if you will) that there are new, fresh, strong ideas and events that can bring new life to our business.

An even higher concept is the idea that a brand strategy can be the fire to clear away the clutter. With a clear message to guide you the sun can reach those customers who are looking for the light and a clear path to your door. This is another reason the concepts of connecting, solving, learning, advising and fulfilling are more congruent with the human element you’re hoping to nurture.

So when you feel you don’t want to let go of the old ways, just remember that soon you’ll see your seedlings, that have been dormant, come to life and you will have your moment in the sun.

Camine Pappas on Brand Strategy
C & Company