The following article by Ken and Robyn is the feature article in the January/February issue of
SPEAKER Magazine, the official publication of the National Speakers Association. You can view the PDF version by linking to "http://www.nsaspeaker-magazine.org/nsaspeaker/20100102#pg22"
Missed Opportunities? Brain Branding™ Creates the Best Brand Strategy
for Your Business!
By Ken Banks and Robyn Winters
Oprah. Jack Welch. Peyton Manning. Martha Stewart.
All of the above are not only successful individuals; they are successful brands as well. There are many good reasons for their successes, and there are many reasons why they have had such an impact on their fans and their companies. It goes beyond celebrity and it goes beyond media. It has to do with branding—and having a brand that has appeal to many different types of customers with different types of motivation.
At a recent Chicago conference for marketing and advertising professionals, several industry experts shared creative ideas and case studies with the attendees, comprised of people from retail organizations consumer goods manufacturers, and industry consultants.
These experts focused on the current trend in targeting clients and customers: be even more specific than ever before. Why? Because, thanks to innovations in technology and the availability of extensive databases, today’s professionals can pinpoint exactly who they want to receive their message. And, they can easily include an array of specifics to qualify every message that is generated. The Strategy? The narrower the focus, the greater your success.
There was a great deal of enthusiasm throughout the conference hall, because people (mostly retail executives) learned they could justify the dollars and time invested in zeroing in on their most likely prospects. However, despite all the innovative programs and strategies, not much has seemed to work to increase the bottom line. Could it be that we have limited our reach by being so specific about who gets our marketing message?
As branding and communication consultants, we’ve developed a groundbreaking system for companies and entrepreneurs to broaden their reach and appeal by understanding (1) what truly engages audiences (2) what motivates clients to buy; and (3) that by being too narrowly focused, you may be missing the opportunity to increase both share of market and share of mind.
What Strategy?The rationale behind our system, Brain Branding, is that companies with consumer products and services, as well as individual entrepreneurs, need to take a Whole Brain approach to a branding strategy, to ensure that your message resonates more effectively with more people.
Robyn, a Whole Brain™ Thinking and communication expert, says that it’s simply a matter of using your head: people are strongly influenced by the one, two, three or four areas of their brain – called quadrants - that determine their thinking style. In other words, the part(s) of the brain they prefer to use when processing information, solving a business problem, or making a decision. Everyone has a thinking style, and every thinking style is unique. As a marketer of a product or service, how do you know which part of anyone’s brain to target?
The reality? The more specific and narrow your focus, the more likely it is that your Brand is missing opportunities to grab the interest of people who you might not have considered in your target market before. And, the same logic holds true when you’re speaking or presenting: the most effective way to get your message to resonate more successfully with every potential customer or client, is to use the whole brain approach, and engage all four quadrants of everyone’s brain. The odds are, you’ll get a hit, every time.
Winters says, “We’ve all heard about right and left brain thinking, but there’s more to it than that. Based on the results of Ned Herrmann’s scientifically validated brain research, we now know that the four parts of your brain are really unique processing areas, ranging from detail orientation to emotional/social preferences, from analytical problem solving to visionary strategies. And all four come into play, in different ways, when listening to your advertising messages or selecting your brand. And it’s not in the same for every person.”
Ken Banks, an expert marketing strategist with companies such as Circuit City and PetSmart, says that even well-known brands must appeal to a broader spectrum of thinkers in order to build the relationship necessary for success. “Too often, we focus our marketing on one key component, and forget that an individual may also be interested in other components. For example, take Lexus.
Lexus has been the #1 selling luxury car for the last 10 years. However, luxury isn’t its only appeal. Some people are more drawn to the fact that it has the best automotive repair record. Or that it’s rated “Superior” in customer service. Oh, and let’s not forget that it’s a leader in innovative engineering (it's hot!). If Lexus’ marketing strategy had focused on only one, or even two of those elements, they might have missed out on a huge piece of their customer base. Instead, they implemented a whole brain branding strategy. Smart move!
What is Brain Branding?
So what is Brain Branding and how is it different from all the other branding and marketing systems? To understand it, we need to examine its two combined disciplines: (1) Brand Strategy Development, and (2) Whole Brain Thinking.
Many people believe that Brand Strategy Development simply means to redesign their logo, their website, or their marketing materials. Then they develop a fresh, catchy slogan to drive their marketing messages. That’s good, but it’s not enough.
Branding needs to tell a story: the reason for the product or service to exist, and what differentiates it from all of the other similar brands. Your brand is, in fact, your DNA, one which becomes the cornerstone for an enduring relationship with your clients. If there is no relationship - meaning both positive and negative feelings toward the brand - then there is no brand. Your brand has to answer the question, “What are you famous for?” That, in fact, is what people expect you to deliver. Remember: Oprah, Jack Welch, Tiger Woods, and Martha Stewart.
How Do You Get There From Here?In using the Whole Brain ™ Model, Robyn has worked with hundreds of people to help them better understand a simple concept: you want to reach more people, use the language, symbols, and visuals from all four parts of the brain. The more engaged their brain is, the more likely it is that you’ll reach your business goals. Remember: better thinking, better results.
Here are the quadrant descriptions that comprise your thinking style (based on the Whole Brain ™ Model):
1. Analyze: This quadrant of your brain is looking for facts, logic, statistics and data. The information will answer the question, “What?”, and provide the rationale for listening, taking action, or buying.
Example: Lexus, the #1 selling luxury car in the last decade.
2. Organize: This part of your brain wants details, and ones that are arranged in a systematic way (preferably linear and sequential). It also is concerned with reliability and history. It looks for answers to the question, “How?”
Example: Lexus, best automotive repair record.
3. Personalize: Here, your brain is searching for an emotional connection. As speakers, we use stories and anecdotes to cross the bridge to our audiences. The emotional component is a strong motivating factor, and it needs you to answer the question, “Who?”
Example: Lexus, rated superior in the customer service experience.
4. Strategize: The fourth quadrant looks for the big picture, a vision of the future. It likes to set long-term goals and explore possibilities. Can you answer its question of “Why?”
Example: Lexus is the leader in innovative automotive engineering.
So, if these four brain quadrants ultimately provide the motivators that affect listening, understanding, and decision-making, then it stands to reason that they should play a role in developing a brand strategy.
Four Steps to an Effective Brand StrategyWe’ve developed a four-step approach to creating a successful brand strategy. (A fifth step – implementation - comes later in the process.) It’s not coincidental that these four steps mirror the four quadrants of the brain, the motivators that influence people to remember what you’re famous for, and to select Your Brand.
Step One ~ Develop a Vision. Your product or service must identify a need that isn’t being met, and that need comes from your vision. It’s here that many brands fail, because they want to be like emulate other successful brands on the market. To succeed, you must understand your brand’s unique reason for being – and then satisfy that need. [Strategize]
Step Two ~ Research. You need to amass all the facts about your market, your clients, the competition, and the trends. In short, you need to conduct research before making the decisions necessary to creating a successful brand. Gathering all the facts and information is the first step to clarifying and distinguishing your brand. [Analyze]
Step Three ~ Create Emotional Value: Remember, audiences want a relationship with your brand. If there is no emotional involvement, there is no brand. While cost may be a factor, it’s the connection that motivates people and will ultimately win them over to your brand. [Personalize]
Step Four ~ Formulate an Action Plan. Unfortunately, many companies and entrepreneurs use this step as the starting place and skip the other steps (and quadrants), often with disappointing results. Why? Because the plan was not well organized, researched or integrated before it was rolled out into the marketplace. [Organize]
Brain Branding works for any business: whether you’re a sole proprietor, entrepreneur, or larger company. By using a whole brain strategy in developing your brand, you can not only reach new clients who haven’t necessarily fit into your target market before, but you can also motivate the clients you already have to be more loyal, and increase your profitability.
By merging these two disciplines, a brand can be more successful and enduring, unlimited by type, market, or scope. It’s not just the Brand, and it’s not just the Brain. It’s Brain Branding.
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Ken Banks and Robyn Winters have over thirty years of combined branding and Whole Brain™ communication experience. They developed Brain Branding after realizing that this innovative combination would give Brands more recognition and staying power. For additional information, visit www.brainbranding4.com; or e-mail info@brainbranding4.com.
