суббота, 7 февраля 2015 г.
How neuroscience can help to build your brand
Understanding the implications of what scientists are teaching us about System 1 and System 2 thinking can help marketers implement more effective plans, writes Vickey Bullen, chief executive of Coley Porter Bell.
Over the past year or so, I have become increasingly interested in the latest learnings from neuroscience, in particular System 1 and System 2 thinking. Not only does it give a scientific basis to what many of us have instinctively felt about how people make decisions and choices about life and brands, but also, more importantly, that understanding can help us do our jobs better.
Rapid-response and logical
Neuroscience has shown that most of our decision-making is automatic, intuitive and instinctive – and it’s made in the System 1, ‘rapid-response’ part of our brains. After that initial ‘autopilot’ response, we then rationalise those decisions in the System 2 part of our brains – the reflective and logical section.
It’s why we desire the sleek minimalism of an Apple product or the elegant lines of a BMW first, then convince ourselves it’s because of the interface or engineering.
And so, as brand owners, brand strategists or brand designers, we need to create brands that connect with System 1 (that seduce the subconscious), while also talking to System 2 (convincing the conscious). That all makes a lot of sense, but the question is, how do you actually do it? As in the field of behavioural economics there are ‘rules’ that you can look to for guidance.
Here are three that you might consider as you define and create your brands:
Rule 1 System 1 learns by association.Throughout our lives we build association networks in our brains – we learn how to decode symbols and visuals and unlock mental concepts or meaning from them. For example, see a pair of people holding hands and we immediately understand that this is an image of protection and security – we learned that in childhood when our parents held our hands to keep us safe.
Understand cultural codes. For brand-owners and designers, this means a need to understand what cultural codes, symbols and visuals will unlock the right meaning. Take the design of upmarket conserve brand Bonne Maman. It unlocks the associations of homemade with its gingham lids and simple black-and-white labels. Similarly, our work for coffee brand Nescafé Azera aimed to create out-of-home coffee cues with an identity reminiscent of enamel-badged Italian coffee machines.
Associations can change over time. Keep up with evolving visual trends. The health category traditionally used a lot of pale blues and whites and a pared-back aesthetic – a visual language of deprivation. New attitudes toward a more positive, holistic approach to health have created a new set of visual codes – rich, vibrant colours, as seen in the likes of Waitrose’s Love Life range and the Ella’s Kitchen brand.
Rule 2 System 1 is goal-oriented. It directs our attention to that which looks most likely to fulfil our goals. So, we need to understand the design cues associated with that fulfilment of particular goals or needs – look at segmentation studies through a visual lens. What visual codes will appeal to that segment? Get it wrong and your visual identity will, at best, be at dissonance with other communications, or, at worst, repel your target audience.
Rule 3 Use the learnings from neuroscience in the execution of brands, but also consider it in the definition of them in the first place. Most strategic processes are inherently biased toward System 2. Lots of words, research, brand models – all ‘heavy lifting’ thinking for the brain.
Perhaps we need to embrace new ways of developing strategy that embrace the use of gut, intuition and our System 1, and force us to use it. One way to do that is by temporarily putting System 2 words to one side and working with visuals – the dominant language of System 1. Create strategy visually and maybe you will get to better words – better brand definitions that incorporate System 1 and System 2 cues.
These are just three ways of applying the lessons that neuroscience has taught us regarding decision-making, and there are many more. Just knowing about neuroscience doesn’t help us to do a better job – the key is how we apply it.
пятница, 6 февраля 2015 г.
Skip the Boring Business Plan. Focus on This Strategy Instead
The concept of starting a business without a plan would send anyone running -- and for good reason. Every great business begins with a plan that outlines measurable goals and the methods for achieving them. Plans, done correctly, can be a great roadmap.
The real question is how detailed does your plan have to be.
Business plans serve a very specific purpose: to demonstrate where you currently are and where you would like to be. In simple terms, how you will get from point A to point B. The problem is that as with any startup, you have very little information as to the best way to reach Point B. Startups don’t even know who their customers are or what their product should be.
“Planning and forecasting are only accurate when based on a long, stable operating history and a relatively static environment,” said Eric Ries in the introduction for The Lean Startup. “Startups have neither.”
As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve come to appreciate the unpredictability of running a startup. It’s a fascinating ride to watch different iterations of your product strike new chords with an expanding audience, and I’ve come away from these experiences with a few insights into what should go into the planning phase of starting a business.
Business plans are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
Customers have never cared about your business plans, and nowadays, investors are increasingly becoming less fond of them.
Take Y Combinator, for example. Y Combinator is a Silicon Valley-based accelerator that has helped fund over 500 companies in its nine-year history. Their portfolio includes giants like Airbnb, Reddit and Dropbox. Getting into the Y Combinator is a competitive process, but one thing you absolutely don’t need to get in is a business plan. They don’t ever read them.
Sam Altman, the president at Y Combinator, explained this logic in an interview with Russell Roberts on the EconTalk podcast.
“At the stage that we are operating at, (a business plan) is irrelevant,” Altman said. “We would rather them spend the time working on their product, talking to users. What we care about is: Have you built a product? Have you spoken to users? Can we see that?”
Map out your business model with a 'Lean Canvas.'
Written business plans take a lot of time to create and don’t allow the flexibility you need as your business grows. However, it’s still important to map out your business model and document your hypotheses, which you can do effectively with a "Lean Canvas."
Created by Ash Maurya and adabted by Alexander Osterwalder, a lean canvas is an actionable and entrepreneur-focused business plan. It focuses on problems, solutions, key metrics and competitive advantages. With hundreds of different things you could be doing, a Lean Canvas helps you hone in on the one or two things that should take top priority.
Here is a sample of a Lean Canvas:
This model captures the same level of information as a traditional business plan, but in a single page. It also gives you much more flexibility to switch to a plan B if plan A doesn’t work out, allowing you to transition to a new approach without running out of resources.
Being able to boil down the essentials of your business model onto a single page can pay huge dividends. When you meet with customers or potential investors, you won’t have much time to describe your entire vision. If you can describe your customer's problems clearly and succinctly, you can get to the heart of why your solution fits.
So how do you start?
Start by setting a timer for 15 minutes and filling out the sample Lean Canvas with as much information as you can. This will help you identify what you know and don’t know about your business. Don’t be afraid to be brutally honest with yourself, and you can even leave certain areas blank.
After you complete the canvas, you can quickly identify the riskiest parts of your business. At this point, you can begin to build experiments to gather data about those areas to test your assumptions. These experiments will test the waters of some of the most fundamental aspects of your plan. For example, let’s say you identified social media as the optimal channel for reaching and converting your customers. After a few weeks of test runs, however, you may learn that your audience is not as socially active as you originally projected. Considering this was your main plan-of-action for reaching your customer base, you’ll have to reassess your understanding of who your market is and where they can be reached.
After about a month of experimenting, you will hopefully have learned enough to be able to return to your Lean Canvas and update it based on your new findings. And, if you’re like most startups, you won’t get it right the first, second, or probably even third time. Reevaluating the main components of a given business model is not uncommon in the early years of many major corporations.
As a startup, you are in a race to deliver customer value. Sinking time into writing out a business plan -- a plan that you probably won’t be able to stick to -- can be a tremendous waste of time. You can get all of the benefits of a business plan on one page, and this will help you discover the two or three things that matter most today.
CACHE MERRILL
CONTRIBUTOR
10 Mindsets That Will Radically Improve Your Business
Success is something all career-driven individuals desire yet it eludes many people -- at least at the levels desired. Why are some businesspeople successful and others not?
It has everything to do with habits, beliefs, passion, flexibility and attitude.
Often there's nothing really different between one entrepreneur and another in terms of ability, as each person can do whatever he or she wants. What it all comes down to is having the frame of mind to set practical habits and keep a balance between attachment and commitment and letting things happen.
Here are 10 mindsets for success:
1. Choose courage over fear.
To be successful, you have to have courage. And to become courageous, do courageous things. Much of being successful is about going beyond what you think you're capable of -- venturing into the unknown. Whether you fail or succeed, you will learn and grow.
Growth, in and of itself, means attaining a level of success whether it came from success or failure.
2. Believe in yourself.
Attitude is everything. A negative attitude decreases success and a positive attitude creates success. Without that belief in yourself, you'll lack a path to success.
Success is something that's created. It's not something that merely "happens.”
When you firmly believe in yourself, you can achieve virtually anything: It's within this belief that you'll find the power to create the resilience and fortitude needed to keep going when things get tough.
3. Choose good company.
Whom you surround yourself with is among the most important choices you'll make as you climb up the business ladder. Negativity is contagious and if work groups, especially bosses, are negative, there will be a ceiling to your success.
To reach the goals you desire, be willing to change bosses if necessary. Or if you're the boss, rid your team of toxic people immediately.
It only takes one toxic person to destroy the morale of an entire campaign. Further, when you surround yourself with other successful, goal-oriented individuals, you can learn from them and take on some of their habits to add to your own as you proceed along your road to success.
4. Adopt self-chosen goals.
Knowing and being clear about where you're headed in business is something that must come from within. When your goals selected by you, you're more motivated to achieve them.
That's because by achieving these goals, you attain a new desired piece of yourself. When your goals arise from your instigation, they carry a deeper meaning and confer a greater impact on your identity.
Each self-selected goal realized adds a depth and an internal expansion to you as a person. Personal expansion is just one of the great gifts to come from succeeding in your business goals.
5. Have a purpose and a vision.
Visualization is powerful because actions follow thoughts. A great technique for nurturing your vision and purpose is to make your goals visual. Some people use vision boards; others opt for treasure maps. And still others set goals identifying specific dates for their achievement.
Whatever works best is a matter for the individual to figure out.
I believe that anything that's written down is more likely to be achieved than visions kept only in the head. When you make your purpose visual, you make it real. When you keep them in your mind, they remain wishes.
6. Accept the challenge.
There are few easy paths up a mountain and often they're hard to find. Challenge will be an essential piece in any type of success in business.
And challenge is what creates your growth along the journey. Each challenge obstructing your path provides you with the chance to create a more defined direction toward attaining your dream vendors, customers, managers, employees -- and numbers. For this reason, bless each challenge. Each one is a compass directing you toward new business leads, circumstances and opportunities.
7. Be discerning.
Selectivity creates success. You must think deeply and intelligently about the bigger picture and what it is you need for each step along the way to continue articulating and executing your business goals.
Mindfulness means being aware of all angles and staying sharply in touch with the present so that you do not have to clean up mistakes in the future.
Be discerning of group dynamics: which person is the best at what job, which customers or deals will take you the furthest and what it is that each moment is calling on you to do or change to be the most efficient.
That's how selectivity offers you the pursuit of success.
8. Be willing to take risks.
There are no guarantees on any path to success in life or business. The unknown is always looming. Therefore, risk and education are often the mechanisms necessary for knowing more clearly if you're on the right path.
If you're afraid to risk, you will put limits on your success and stay where you're comfortable. You cannot get what you want if you don't risk rejection and go for what you desire.
9. Do what you love.
You're more likely to succeed in business when you're invested in your passion and making your career fit your personality. There is a way to find passion about anything and everything you do in life.
You may not love every part of your job but tolerating discomforts by looking at the bigger picture makes your investment of time and energy worthwhile.
Be willing to love and find purpose in all aspects of what your business requires, commit to it and see what you're doing as being a benefit to others. When you love the business you're in, there is nothing that can keep you from wanting to work at it, nurture it and make it grow.
10. Gratitude.
When you see life and career in terms of the lack in what you have achieved, you cannot drive your business up the ladder of success. Then negativity is impeding your progress.
You must look at all you have and realize how great what you have is as compared to the situation of many others.
When you have this attitude, you stop suffering and complaining about the small stuff. On each receipt you pay out, write thank you. That's not only to thank the person, event, vendor or customer for what's provided you but also to give a private thanks acknowledging that you have the abundance necessary to pay for the service, product or event.
Habits coupled with flexibility provide you with a path to success. Success is fluid and so rigidity will stand in its way.
Developing these mindsets give you a compass to navigate the ever-changing tides on the way to business and financial goals. These mindsets allow openness and flexibility while also providing you precise direction.
понедельник, 2 февраля 2015 г.
Подписаться на:
Сообщения (Atom)