Doing business is essentially about making connections in the real world, but making connections online is becoming even more important every day. And the good news for you, if you’re a business owner or marketing professional who wants to grow your business, is that humans are hard-wired to connect with each other and have evolved to value connections at a deep psychological level.
Of course demographic, social and cultural factors play a big part in how we connect with each other online as well as in the real world and, as I mentioned in my recent post, I recommend you read Nathalie Nahai’s book, Webs Of Influence – The Psychology Of Online Persuasion, for more detail on the cultural factors involved in the psychology of online decision-making.
From a branding perspective, it helps to understand that storytelling is hard-wired into our consciousness when it comes to communication and connecting with your users. Why do many billions of us read books, or iPads and watch TV if not to consume real or invented stories on a daily basis.
‘The story is one of the oldest and most powerful forms of communication known to man’ (See Nathalie Nahai as above page 109)
Think Arthurian tale in Le Mort d’Arthur, think the wanderings of Ulysses in The Odyssey, think overlapping narratives of Game of Thrones, or Mad Men, or the latest invented blockbuster myth. Humans connect with stories and it helps your brand and your online business communication if you understand the importance of storytelling and the benefits for you and your business when you get it right.
What is your brand story and how are you delivering it? That’s a question that business owners and marketers don’t get asked often enough.
‘We’ve long known that storytelling is an incredibly powerful, primal medium through which we connect as a species, but the extraordinary fact that our brains are hard-wired to understand each other in this way has huge implications for the manner in which we deliver information.’ (As above page 110)
What is your brand story and how are you delivering it? That’s a question that business owners and marketers don’t get asked often enough.
‘Our success as a species has depended on our ability to form and maintain social groups, so it is no surprise that we have evolved to value reciprocal exchanges at a very deep level.’
Then there’s the role interactivity and social media play in your online story and in connecting with your customers. If we’re all hard-wired to respond to connections then reciprocity – the give and take of online transactions – is an important part of doing business in the twenty-first century. Online transactions are becoming more of a social activity.
Social media too has been evolving. Social media is no longer social media it quite simply is the media and everything you in your business communication – your Twitter feed, your Facebook page, or your LinkedIn profile – plays an important part in your total brand and product experience. Simply put, social media is one of the primary ways users today experience you business and your brand.
‘Our success as a species has depended on our ability to form and maintain social groups, so it is no surprise that we have evolved to value reciprocal exchanges at a very deep level.’ (As above page 138)
The message is, no matter what your business or the sector and countries in which you operate, you ignore the interactive, social aspects of your brand communication at your peril, and leave the door open for your competitors to talk to your customers if you turn a deaf ear to what they’re saying. Social media should be part of your brand experience and an intrinsic part of your business activities.
Talk to your clients. Listen to what they have to say and you’ll soon find out what they’re looking for and maybe even begin to anticipate their needs. Easy to say, I know, but we can all get there if we stop broadcasting and listen between the silences.
The Holy Grail for any business is to be loved by your customers. And in this week of yet another iPhone launch, Apple gives us the perfect example.
Of course the Holy Grail for any business is to be loved by your customers. And in this week of yet another iPhone launch, Apple gives us the perfect example.
‘Areas of the brain that light up when believers look at religious imagery, also light up when Apple fans view their favourite brand’s logo and products.’ (As above page 208)
So if you want people to buy your products or your services, offer them something they’ll fall in love with. Easy isn’t it?
