How Emotional Motivation Drives Brand Evolution with Kevin Perlmutter
Have you met Tracy Borrenson? She is fantastic, and we had a blast talking about some of the crazy and stupid things that happen in marketing on the Crazy, Stupid Marketing Show.
Tracy defines Crazy, Stupid Marketing tactics as “crazy” because you do them over and over again expecting a different result, and “stupid” because someone else told you to do them, but you don't know why.
Throughout our discussion, we revealed common brand strategy missteps and how to avoid them.
We talked about why brand evolution must be informed by customer insight and people’s emotional motivations. We revealed details about the power of our subconscious emotional instincts and how they guide what we feel and what we do next. We talked about how brand leaders can evolve their brands to have more successful marketing by talking with customers and asking the right questions to gain new insight into what motivates their behavior.
Here are some common challenges with traditional brand strategy that we discussed:
Relying on outdated information and ideas about what matters to customers to make brand and marketing decisions - what Tracy calls “crazy” and Kevin calls “trickle-down confirmation bias”
Rushing to marketing tactics while claiming there’s not enough time for brand strategy
Using outdated, persuasion-era marketing techniques rooted in language that’s all about selling – like the Unique Selling Proposition, Proof Points, and Reasons to Believe
Resorting to fear tactics and agitating pain points versus conveying emotional benefits to attract customers
Believing that customers are “Loyal” when they are more likely in a “Habit” that can easily be broken if a better alternative comes along
We also talked about ways that brand leaders can overcome these challenges using Limbic Sparks Brand Strategy:
Shifting brand messaging from “About Us” (the company) to “For You” (the customer)
Talking with customers to understand what motivates them and why they choose your brand, so you can use that insight to attract new customers who would appreciate the same benefits
Replacing outdated traditional brand strategy with language and approaches rooted in customer centricity, like what Kevin calls the “Shared Emotional Motivation”
Embracing a Limbic Sparks Mindset by prioritizing how people want to feel
Here are some soundbites from the discussion:
“Brands can no longer hide bad customer experiences behind good advertising.”
“It is kind of crazy and stupid that most of the industry does not put emotional insight at the center of how brands engage with people… Traditional brand strategy is lacking emotional insight.”
“This is not about your brand having feelings; this is about you understanding the feelings and emotional drivers of the people whom you're trying to reach.”
“I believe completely that customer insights is a brand leader's tool for bringing people together… When you embrace customer centricity, you have the opportunity to help both your internal team and your customers be successful.”
“You can't keep using old, outdated insights. Brand strategy is an evolutionary process… as new insights emerge, you need to take them on board.”
“There’s a need for discipline in organizations to have some faith in the idea that if you do right by the customer, the business will grow successfully.”
I encourage you to listen to the full interview here.
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