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There only are a finite number of ways to sell something. Your job is
to persuade someone to part with their money. In some cases they don't
want to part with the money. In other cases they feel favorably about
it, but don't think they can part with the money right now.
In almost all instances, people buy things because of their emotions.
If people acted on their intellect, analysis, and logic, we'd likely
have a better organized society. But that's not how people behave. They
mostly act on their emotions.
Remembered Images + Words = Emotions
Emotions are multimedia mind-movies. They connect remembered images of
life experiences, with words and language we learn as we go through
life. The intellect assigns words and meaning, the body and feelings
supply the video. Emotions join the two. When we hear a word, it calls
up the movie.
We only store memories in images. We don't store memories in words.
When there's no movie associated with a word, it becomes an
intellectual exercise without any attached emotions. So the bottom line
is that emotions are visuals connected with words.
To best formulate an emotional connection, you can use two fundamental ideas:
- Create a Character icon -- a character with a history, story, adventures, and life
- Form a Location icon -- a place, real or fantasy, that evokes common images of dream places across a cultural demographic.
Examples of character icons would be Josephine the Plumber, Mr.
Whipple, the "beef" lady, Colonel Sanders, the Un-Cola man, Mr. Clean,
Mrs. Butterworth, Mr. Goodwrench, The Michelin Man, and then explicit
brands like Mickey Mouse, Kermit the Frog, and Harry Potter.
Examples of location icons would be a tropical island, a castle,
romantic table for two, a suburban house, swimming pools, and any other
location where an "adventure" often takes place.
Location icons are harder to formulate than character icons. Not only
that, but character icons can usually be attached to a simple logo. But
the purpose of a location icon is to evoke images of good times,
romance, dreams, wishes, vacations, happiness, and most of all
adventure.
Take your product (this is harder to do with services), and consider a
character whose life is entirely involved with that product. Mr.
Whipple spends his entire career surveilling Charmin toilet paper,
never getting promoted, never taking a vacation, always and forever
watching out for the all-precious Charmin.
Another option is to place the Charmin in a special place, maybe
Charmin Island. There, similar to Santa and the North Pole, wonderfully
happy peasants, elves and perky animals whistle while they work on
gluing together each individual sheet of a roll of toilet paper. At the
end of the day, they go home to a house full of singing, cake and ice
cream, and talk about the wonders of making Charmin.
One way or another, an emotional "connection point" works. The only
other option is fear. "If you don't buy this, your life will explode."
Edited by: CraigL - Nov. 17 2008 at 11:19 PMCraig Landes
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Defining the undefinable. "There are 10 kinds of people in the world---those who understand binary numbers and those who don't." - Unknown
International Society of Curmudgeons
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