Over the last series of posts, I’ve discussed the subtleties of messaging in relation to how we think and how the brain works.  I have a strong conviction that most B2B messaging is still stuck in the facts and figures mode, and most companies are trying to use reason and logic alone to persuade prospects to buy their products.  As a result, they are missing huge marketing and sales opportunities, especially when positioning for market growth.  This doesn’t mean that facts and logic aren’t valuable, simply that they are not sufficient in themselves.

For those sales and marketing organizations that take the time, the discipline, and the effort to invest in messaging, the rewards are shorter sales cycles, greater market share and improved financials.  Creating and implementing effective messaging is really hard work and requires thinking differently.

Here is a summary of key points from my last set of posts on messaging.

1. A good understanding of segmentation must proceed effective messaging.  How can we sell or market if we don’t understand who our clients are, how they behave, and how they think?  There are four common levels of segmentation.  To this list, I add an additional one, that of narrative segmentation which translates persona into action through response to familiar stories which are etched into our unconscious.

• Demographics
• Buyer
• Persona
• Behavioral
• Narrative

2.  95% of all thought is unconscious. If we only use reason, and logic, and facts, we are not addressing a big influence in communications.

3. We think metaphorically.  Metaphors are created in the brain as a result of learning and provide a basis for thinking.  (Again, most of this thinking is unconscious.)  They can be expressed by language.  I am not endorsing the use of common language metaphors, such as sports metaphors, in market messaging or sales except as an occasional way to capture attention.  Rather understanding how we think using metaphors will allow you to use language that is much more powerful in crafting your message.

4.  The most powerful metaphor is the frame

• Frames limit the discussion or debate
• They tie the debate to an emotion
• They do this using a readily available story or narrative
• They can be either positive or negative
• Their effect is related to how neurons connect and brain chemistry
• Positive frames are better than negative frames, but the two can be used together

5.  Narratives are built upon metaphors and are universal in their nature.  They transcend culture and language.  Narratives and stories resonant on an unconscious level.  They are the next level of messaging.

In my next post, I’ll give an example of how to put these together in action.  Meanwhile, what is your story?

Lee Stocking
Prairie Sky Group
Driving Sales Through Customer Focused Marketing
lee.stocking@gmail.com
651-357-0110 (24×7)

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I have a marketing colleague who plays basketball.  He likes to say, “When I shoot baskets, they either go in or they don’t.”  This existential philosophy might work well on the court for him, but it doesn’t work in marketing, especially for market segmentation.

Market segmentation is a key concept in economics and marketing. A market segment is a sub-set of a market made up of people or organizations sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar product and/or services based on qualities of those products such as price or function.  It helps guide ‘who’ and ‘how’ we sell and market to those prospects.  In previous posts, I’ve indicated 90% of marketers use only demographics such as company size or SIC code for segmentation.  They do this because other forms of segmentation are more difficult.  The result is that they have to take a lot more shots to make one basket.

I believe there is a hierarchy to levels of segmentation, and there are levels that are much more productive than demographics.  The hierarchy from less productive to more productive levels of segmentation and from easy to difficult is:

• Demographic
• Buyer
• Persona
• Behavioral
• Narrative

Buyer segmentation provides the function and role for who is being sold.  Are you selling to the VP of Finance or to a tax accountant, a decision maker or an influencer? At this level of segmentation you know the team you are playing and their record.

Persona segmentation provides a personal profile of the prospect.  Is the prospect male or female?  Are they analytical or creative?  Are they successful and ambitious, or content and amiable?  The persona creates a picture of the typical prospect.  Knowing a prospect’s persona helps marketing tailor specific messages to that prospect.  For example, if you sell to HR it might be helpful to know that the typical VP of HR executive is female (73%), is between 35 and 45, has two children, drives a crossover and also volunteers at school.  This is the equivalent of knowing the style of the team you are playing on the court.

Behavioral segmentation is based either on the actions a prospect takes or how they behave.  For example, behavioral segmentation could be based on those that buy on quality and those that buy based on price.  Or with today’s email systems, it could be based on the frequency with which a prospect downloads information, the type of information in which they are interested, or which web pages they hit.  At this level you know the typical moves of the individual players you are playing against.

What you don’t know at this point is what the opposing players are thinking.  In this case, thinking means what they are thinking unconsciously, because no athlete stops to consciously think, “I will drive to the left, then stop and fake right, but continue left.”  As close as we can come is determining the narrative they are playing out in their heads.  Is it one of victory or one of trying not to lose?  At this level you are inside your opponent’s (or prospect’s) head.  You know things that they don’t know because you understand their particular story and the stories that form their culture and their history.

Lee Stocking
Prairie Sky Group
Driving Sales Through Customer Focused Marketing
lee.stocking@gmail
651-357-0110

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