Alchemy

Thinking logically to solve a problems seems like the right thing to do but when you’re communicating a message you can’t communicate the way everyone else does. You must signal in a way that attracts the attention of your target audience.

“Niels Bohr* apparently once told Einstein, ‘You are not thinking; you are merely being logical.’”

When trying to grow a customer base it could seem logical to advertise to people to get more business. But the smart marketers are doing the things that the big successful firms do once they become big. The sponsor golf tournaments, they donate to charity’s, they sometimes buy billboards (but lets not get hung-up on this, it’s still social signalling). They do the things that get attention but in a smart way.

“Perception may map neatly on to behaviour, but reality does not map neatly onto perception.”

You may think you buy products because of the quality, the craftsmanship, the extended warranty, but really we buy for the most irrational reasons. We want to look like “one of them”. Other’s opinions and own choices tend to affect us subconsciously much more than we realize.

Why would you choose brand A over brand B?

This is a fascinating realization. It’s almost that we must try to gain the trust of potential customer again and again

“50-year-old theory concerning brand preference. The idea, most simply expressed, is this: ‘People do not choose Brand A over Brand B because they think Brand A is better, but because they are more certain that it is good.’*”