5 Rules of Consumer Engagement
Tools for Your Marketing Toolbox
by
Dr. Sam Cohen
Sigal Kremer
Melinda Wooten
Cover and Inside Illustrations by
Ian Spence
Copyright 2011 by Dr. Sam Cohen, Sigal Kremer & Melinda Wooten
Smashwords Edition
Foreword
In a world where the average consumer walks past a long wall of flat screen TVs priced similarly and can’t tell the difference between one versus the other, how do you influence brand choice?
As marketers, advertisers and creatives, our job often involves crafting messages that hone preference and drive sales. Sometimes we get lucky and work on a brand with a discernible and important competitive advantage to consumers. But often we work in categories that are increasingly crowded and/or filled with products that have little perceptible difference from competition (at least in the consumer’s mind).
That’s when we dig deeper to uncover the reason our brand should be chosen above all others. We prioritize our messaging strategy, bring it to life and then try not to cringe when we expose it to consumers, holding our breath as they pick apart the communication for what seem small, inconsequential reasons, but add up to deal breakers.
Wouldn’t it be nice to refine your message before you get to the cringing stage by using a set of psychological principles translated into English?
Wait a minute. Psychology? That’s heavy stuff. But it doesn’t have to be if you have a psychology-to-marketing dictionary, which allows you to transition from high level psychological theory to in the trenches advice. For example:
Psychological Diagnosis: A brand that can uniquely assist individuals in negotiating powerful subconscious needs and wishes, while avoiding internal conflicts/pitfalls, will be much more successful in creating a meaningful connection with consumers.
Translation: A brand that strikes an emotional chord while communicating – without alienating – will fly off the shelves, while those that don’t can’t be given away.
Whether you’re selling automobiles or garden gloves, fast food or blood pressure medication, striking a deep emotional chord is essential to the success of your brand. Your challenge is to uncover these distinct, salient, subconscious consumer needs and wishes and use them to your advantage – in branding, packaging and advertising. The good news is you don’t have to get an advanced degree in psychology to do so.
The Psychological Origins of Our 5 Rules
By Dr. Samuel Cohen, psychotherapist
In the mid-1990s, I heard anecdotally about the application of psychological principles to the marketing realm and was intrigued. I routinely used a range of techniques in my practice based on relationship building, behavior, dialogue and communication changes designed to help the patient reach their full potential or cope with problems in life. And like any other American, I was in love with advertising! A combination of the two seemed a match made in heaven.
Not long after my interest was piqued, I was asked to view a set of advertising focus groups for Kiwi Shoe Polish and provide perspective on consumer reaction. In the TV ad, the Kiwi bird was playing the part of a drill sergeant, while the shoes were the soldiers. The ad begins with a Kiwi bird yelling at shoes that are at attention, telling them they don’t shine. He implies the shoes are a disgrace. The ad was not well received.
Psychological Diagnosis: The Kiwi bird’s aggression unintentionally crossed personal boundaries, triggering fears of violation and abuse. Viewers in the groups rejected the brand due to what is called identification with the aggressor – erecting staunch barriers against a perceived attack.
Translation: Although the ad was supposed to be humorous many felt it to be threatening. Think about it. Would you feel comfortable with a bird squawking at your feet?
This led to a call from an ad agency, asking me to uncover why a radio ad for Molson Beer was so successful. The ad involved a man and a woman involved in a flirtatious, yet humorous, conversation.
Psychological Diagnosis: Molson was able to unconsciously relieve men of the performance anxiety often associated (real or otherwise) with beer consumption by not resorting to stereotypical gender role behaviors.
Translation: Listeners wished to be the quick-witted man – drinking Molson beer and retaining control of themselves in all resulting situations.
As I worked in this emerging field, I began developing the 5 Rules of Engagement model that incorporated the critical subconscious needs, wishes and anxieties of what drives human behavior to the evaluation of communication. Consistently, I could point to one or more of these rules as a reason communication succeeded or failed, as well as use these principles to help refine messaging to improve its impact.
And as happens when any discipline blends with another, I saw a need for a translator fluent in both psychology and marketing.
Developing Communication that Connects on a Deeper Level
By Sigal Kremer and Melinda Wooten, marketing researchers
We were part of the consumer insight team working on a brand that had strong brand definition/awareness but lived in a crowded field with little brand differentiation recognized by users. We had identified functional, intellectual and emotional benefits. But when translated into television advertising, the campaign wasn’t moving sales (other than conservative bumps based on retailer promotion/display when we were on air). We needed to look at things on a deeper level if we wanted to make significant impact in the marketplace.
In partnership with Dr. Sam, using techniques very similar to the tools in this book, we dug further into the emotions we had previously identified to their subconscious roots – the needs, wishes and conflicts that were triggered (or not) by our brand and its messaging. This insight allowed our brand to jump past the competition because we could talk about it and show it in a different way, a deeper way, a way that made a more powerful connection with the consumer.
Intrigued by the process, we founded KW Strategems, a full service research firm that specializes in consumer research identifying deep emotional drivers and incorporating that into strategic implications. Soon after its launch, Dr. Sam approached us about operating as a translator for the 5 Rules of Engagement.
About This Book
The goal of this book is to help marketers maximize their brand communications by achieving a deeper emotional bond with their consumer. It’s a handy quick guide of five rules that will help you use the binoculars of a psychologist without obtaining a psychology degree.
Introduction
Consumer Behavior Refresher
Before we dive deeper into translations, there are a few terms you’ll need to be familiar with to successfully use this book.
Consumer purchase decisions are made up of two components: the intellectual component (the mind) and the emotional component (the heart). Can you market to only one and be successful? Rarely.
Think of it this way. We sometimes refer to people as being “right brained” or “left brained.” That’s not possible. The two work in nearly seamless tandem, because together they more fully address a person’s needs (conscious and subconscious). It’s just that one may be more dominant than the other.
The same applies to the purchase decision process. Our intellectual component operates simultaneously with the emotional component, but they are influenced differently.
The intellectual component, our mind, is operating in reality. Psychologists often refer to it as conscious, secondary process thinking or our outer reality. Intellectual components are things the consumer is fully aware of and can rationally judge/compare (i.e., performance I can see, features I can compare, etc.).
The emotional component, our heart, operates in reality combined with illusion/fantasy or wish fulfillment. Psychologists often refer to it as subconscious, primary process thinking or our inner reality. These are unvoiced and/or subconscious needs/wishes (i.e., how does this product/brand help fulfill my hopes/wishes or reduce my fears/anxieties?).
An emotional connection is essential to the success of any brand. A brand that can meet intellectual needs and uniquely assist individuals in negotiating powerful subconscious needs/wishes – while avoiding internal conflicts/pitfalls – will be much more successful in creating a meaningful connection with consumers.
Chart of Emotional and Intellectual Components
Chapter 1
Getting into Empathic Attunement
“People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how you made them feel.” Bonnie Jean Wasmund
In this Chapter
What is Empathic Attunement?
Breaking down the concept
Examples
How to put your idea to the test
We’ve all felt empathy for someone else at one time or another:
We wince when someone hits their finger with a hammer.
We feel joy when the athlete we’re rooting for wins a race.
We feel fear of the unknown when someone is diagnosed with cancer.
Today, a fast-paced lifestyle leads to less time for traditional relationships. Luckily, personal connections to people, places and things can be made through a variety of sources, not just through face-to-face interaction or through traditional advertising.
Regardless of how your message is conveyed, if a consumer feels that a brand understands them on some level, the brand has connected. The door is open to establishing interest, trust, preference and, ultimately, loyalty.
What is Empathic Attunement?
In Psychological Terms
Psychological principle: the capacity to think and feel oneself into the inner life of another person (Kohut 1984).
Empathic Attunement is the psychological construct that says you identify with someone else emotionally. Achieving Empathic Attunement with the consumer can subconsciously trigger brand trust.
Empathy is developed during the early phase of our toddler years (Mahler , 1975). A baby or toddler who cannot verbalize their needs/wants tries to communicate with their parents through other means (facial expressions, body language, primal noises). We learn early that with multiple avenues of expression we can establish a connection and be understood. Therefore, we look for cues beyond the verbal as we decipher stimuli. As marketers, we must manage and control multiple, complex or confusing messages/stimuli so that we don’t block the emotional connection.
Just like accurately dialing into a radio station’s frequency, the connection consumers have with your brand can greatly deepen if the brand is Empathically Attuned to their emotional frequency. This leads to a sense of trust and affinity toward the brand and a deeper brand meaning, which may, in turn, lead to brand purchase and increased loyalty. Essentially:
If Brand X knows me, I trust them to solve my problems.
If Brand X knows me, I believe they can enhance me in some way.
Have you explored your consumers’ emotional frequency? Do you know what their aspirations are? Do you know what triggers their anxiety?
What is Empathic Attunement?
Translation in Everyday Terms
Definition of Empathy: being aware of/sensitive to, under-standing and/or having vicariously lived the feelings, thoughts and experiences of another without them explicitly being communicated (Webster Dictionary, 2009).
Empathic Attunement is about connections. If you connect with someone or something you feel that you aren’t alone, that someone understands what you’ve gone through or what you fear or aspire to. We see empathic attunement at work, for example, when a soldier reenlists in order to remain connected to his army buddies. It’s also why many people desire a friend or family member be with them when seeing a doctor about a diagnosis – in order to feel emotionally supported.
Look at the popularity of the book and subsequent movie “Marley & Me”. Millions identified with the joys and tribulations of having a dog. Observe the public’s fascination with tragedies that could occur in their own backyard and how that leads to increased news coverage. Note the way Barak Obama’s campaign and election captured the hopes and imagination of a nation, validating the belief that you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it.