Marketing 101: 3 Ways to Create More Mental Space
December 16, 2014
Marketing 101: 3 Ways to create more Mental Space:
Each person has the capacity of remembering and absorbing only so much information. Even though the human brain is said to have the capacity of 2.5 petabytes (one million gigabytes!), we have a much smaller capacity to recall short term, fast-paced promotional material. Not only that but according to the NY Times, every week, the average person sees upwards of 20,000 marketing messages. So how do you create more mental space inside of the brain of the people you want to do business with? We each have our own unique filters by which we experience the world. Here are some commonalities and ways to generate more Mental Space and make your message stick with your potential customer:
1) An Unforgettable Benefit.
A person will rarely forget something that has never been offered before. This reminds me of a local jeweler in the Chicago-area that offered a full refund to any jewelry purchased during the Christmas holiday if it snowed more than a foot on New Years Day. His offer made me consider an unplanned purchase just for the chance that I might get my money back if the impossible happened. What can you offer that no-one else can or will?
2) Evoke Emotion.
Emotion coupled with information is a very strong tool in creating “stickiness” for your message in the consumers brain. Try to use emotions such as excitement, passion or even fear. Can you bring tears to someone’s eyes? If you can, they will not forget. This reminds me of a current Duracell commercial featuring the NFL’s first totally deaf player, Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks. At the end of this article, take a moment to watch this commercial. It brings tears to my eyes every time! It worked and it evoked strong emotion!
3) Paradigm Shift.
The majority of the American public has been taught in public schools, read public textbooks, and experienced the same media culture. What that tells me is that there are very few individually unique thoughts that exist. If you want to create more mental space you must create new ways of thinking. The book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” comes to mind. It goes against the grain of the traditional way of thinking. If you are going to contribute to “more of the same,” then get used to being placed on the mental shelf of the persons brain who you want to do business with. The example of a true paradigm shift is when light enters into a prism and reflects in a different direction. Because of your marketing the mental processes of the consumer should be affected and forced to think differently!
