Every morning I arrive back to my house from my daily exercise I peel off my sweaty clothes and look forward to a refreshing, soothing shower.
I thought this morning wouldn't be any different.
I turned on the water stream, disrobed and stepped into what I thought would be just another ordinary Friday. And then I let out a scream!
Staring me right in the eyes was a gruesome creature ready to tear my naked body to shreds.
Okay, so I exaggerated just a tad. My surprise visit came in the form of a harmless spider hanging from the shower head.
After greeting my new friend with a blush [I usually don't make first impressions in the buff] I went about my business. While mind ran through my daily agenda after a minute or two I found myself humming the tune 'Lullaby' by The Cure.
This came as no surprise to me as The Cure are one of my favorite bands, but then it hit me what had happened. For those of you not familiar with the song here's a sampling of the lyrics...
"On candystripe legs the spiderman comes
Softly through the shadow of the evening sun."
...
"When I realise with fright
That the spiderman is having me for dinner tonight!"
...
"And the spiderman is always hungry..."
Robert Smith sings about a bad dream he had of a half-man/half-spider [not Spiderman] in his room.
What I began to realize is that I made an association much like we make all the time in our daily lives. It's here where the essence of marketing [and thankfully this blog post!] really shows it's power.
I told you I found myself humming the tune. What I didn't do is consciously go through my head and say to myself 'I feel like singing a song, let's pick the spider one'. My mind automatically switched to the first trigger it found associated to the subject of spiders. The amazing brain.
NERD STUFF
From Dr. Gene Van Tassell's article on neural pathway development.
"As a child learns to associate symbols in the environment, certain pathways within the brain are reinforced. These pathways within the brain are developed before birth and are composed of electrochemical messages between neurons. As a child begins to associate images with words, these electrochemical messages between neurons become routine."
CONCLUSION:
As we learn or collect new information our brains form mental grooves [kind of like a record] and in a fraction of a second we access these grooves to make sense of our world. This mental ability is essential for survival. Once you see that an association is effective your mind creates that 'mental groove' and you know what bugs to eat or berries to pick in the wilderness.
Have you had your bug taco today?
Not everybody needs these associations to survive but suburbanites crossing the street do. Picture yourself strolling across a busy intersection and see a sports car speeding towards you. You better have some way of interpreting that information - and quickly!
Now let's get on to what we can do with it to help your marketing. You need to start thinking about how you can trigger these types of associations for your business. The first place to create these triggers is in logos/artwork, taglines/slogans, TV and radio jingles, etc.
Some ideas to consider would be to look at the vehicle that you are using to get your messaging across. Promotional products make up a lot of ground here. There are a ton of powerful options for your business. Get online and see what you can do to tie your business name to a particular approach. The golden key here is to step into your customers shoes and walk their path. What do they care about? What are their pains?
Most customers are looking for at least one or more of the following features in your product or service: Fast, Cheap, Convenient, Friendly, Effective [Quality]. Try picking just one and start associating. Keep it simple. What you want to answer is 'When I think of [association] I think of [your company]'. For example, when I think of web search, I think of Google'.
What associations have you made with your marketing? What areas can you begin to focus on?
