A baby's giggle is the most addictive sound in the world -- or so author and neuromarketer Martin Lindstrom would have us believe. And based on what the science is telling us, it would be wise to do so. Lindstrom, author of the worldwide bestseller Buyology has released his second book Brand Sense and he's tackling the world of sound and how our brains just can't help but override our rational thinking when it comes to certain sounds. The 10 most addictive sounds in the world:

• A baby's giggle
• Intel's chime
• A vibrating phone
• ATM/cash register sounds
• National Geographic
• MTV
• T-Mobile
• McDonald's
• Star Spangled Banner
• State Farm

Please note, 7 of the top ten are human-manufactured sounds. What you're not finding in this list are birds chirping, the ocean surf, or a babbling brook. And what is staggering is that most of these sounds are linked to branded products -- addictive sounds that tend to make us think of these products and/or feel emotionally attached to them. I asked Lindstrom what made a sound addictive. He noted three qualities:

1. emotional engagement
2. remembrance/stickyness
3. the ability to continue to listen to the sound over and over

It occurred to me that these same standards of addictiveness apply across all levels of marketing and communications. Three critical elements we should always be striving toward achieving. Lindstrom just happens to point out that the integration of sounds -- the most powerful of the senses -- into our marketing could very well be a significant turning point in the near future of what makes a marketing message/icon pull better than the competition. So what does this mean for the average, every-day marketer? First, listen to my podcast interview with Martin to get the full picture for yourself. You can buy his book as well: Brand Sense, or his first book Buyology. You can read, listen, and develop your own plan. But I suggest you start with some simple steps:Identify what makes you unique.

1. Brainstorm ways you can appeal to all the senses of your audience. Don't just work on the visual -- because your logo has oh-s0-little impact in the broader scheme of things.
2. Create multi-sense experiences at all stages of your marketing stream -- upstream awareness and downstream sales (Buyology has great research in it identifying how Coke rules American Idol brand awareness without even running commercials during the broadcast).
3. Pilot, test, and improve.

I'd love your feedback on Lindstrom's research and the impact to your marketing -- or the ethics of this as well.

-- David Kinard, PCM

Tough Times Marketing: 3 Things to Do Now

I ran across some notes from my interview with Martin Lindstrom, author of the fascinating book Buy*ology. Martin did some breakthrough work in studying how the brain reacts to marketing messages and how some messages bypass our filters and directly influence what we do, and what we believe. You can listen to the interview here.

I remember asking Martin what a marketer could do TODAY to get frugal buyers to let loose of their purse strings. Whether you’re a local supermarket, non profit shelter feeding the homeless, or a retail store in the mall, Martin’s advice applies.

Link to Something.

Our brains are desperate to make meaning out of the world. It’s hard to store independent information, and nearly everything our brain does has an emotional component to it. Thus, linking your message or marketing event to something already going on creates meaning to the recipient. The most common links are to holidays, anniversaries, or seasonal events. But you don’t have to be so obvious. The goal is to add a meaningful link to the marketing message, so while you’re being creative in your efforts, just keep in mind that obscure links won’t help.

Be provocative.

Let me be candid here. Way too much of what marketing produces is bland, vanilla, and wordsmithed so as not to offend anyone. If that describes you, then you’ve lost your ability to competitively position your product or service. Being provocative doesn’t mean you have to sell skin, sex, and the naughty – it does mean you have to take a stand and be willing to make a claim. In a study done by Doug Hall, he found that messages which were overt and obvious had a 75% increase in their success rate. So, what can you say or do that will make your message stand out (again, with meaning) and cause someone to undoubtedly know what your point is?

Create a semantic marker.

Linking the prior two items together, semantic markers indicate the relationship between statements. Think of it as a mental pivot point: in contrast, thus, because, however, as a result, and furthermore are all common examples of semantic markers. So, in your messaging semantic markers force you to not only make your statement, but think of the outcome or result. I like to think of this as asking what is the outcome of the outcome. Sure your product does X, but what does X get me? If your product saves time, then what can I do with that extra time? Just make sure your semantic markers are about me, not you or your product. I don’t care that your service is faster than the competition – I care about what your fast service means to me AND AS A RESULT what that outcome is.

Again, whether you’re for profit, non profit, B:B, B:C, or anywhere in between, these three simple steps are going to help you increase the power and potency of your messaging. For more information, be sure to listen to my free podcast interview with Martin.

-- David Kinard, PCM

(image credit: National Archives and Records Administration)

From Garbage to Great – Advertising Rating Metric

I am one of those people who actually likes to watch the commercials. I enjoy advertising and always have. Um, well, I should qualify that a bit. I enjoy good advertising.

There is a tremendous amount of garbage being thrown at us that amounts to nothing more than noisy wallpaper. We as consumers screen and filter out this noise pretty well, too. So, with the power of the remote to skip over what we see, and the power of our own filters to screen out the advertorial noise, it’s no wonder that companies are finding it very hard to see any return on their advertising investment.

Though the current situation is bleak in terms of advertising effectiveness, it doesn’t have to be so. There is a lot of great advertising being done today, and in this week’s Metric Monday I thought I’d give you some pointers on how to evaluate your own advertising to ensure it is in the great category, not the garbage.

When it comes to developing and measuring your advertising, there are five key elements to keep in mind: Attention, Read-through, Cognitive, Affective, Behavior. Each is described in more detail below.

Attention: How well does your ad catch the attention of the target audience? Contrary to popular practice, key to getting attention is not to be obnoxious or blaringly loud. Rather, getting the attention of your target audience relates to one thing – are you pertinent?

Read-through: How well does your advertisement lead the target to go further into the ad itself? In other words, once you’ve got their attention what are you going to do with it? This is where most ads fail. In short, they’re boring and lack interesting qualities that deepen interest.

Cognitive: This has to do with the clarity of the central benefit of your message. What are you offering and is it clear to the target audience? How clear? Are you being overt or is your benefit-laden message hidden amongst jargon? (I like to ask my kids (ages 8 and 12) if they can pick this out. If not, it’s back to the drawing board!)

Affective: This relates to the appeal of your message and its overall emotional impact. My friend Martin Lindstrom noted in his groundbreaking book Buy-ology that every decision we make has an emotional component to it. So, you need to ensure you have an emotional (affective) appeal in your ads.

Behavior: It’s often said the number one failure of sales people is that they forget to ask for the sale. What is your ad specifically telling the target audience to do, think, or feel? What behavior are you hoping for and does your ad support that goal?

So here is the easy way of putting this together. Each element is worth 20 points. Begin to rate each element and add up your score. I’ve included a rating sheet for your use. Of course, this is a subjective tool and should be used in conjunction with a financial metric, but it will help you to ensure that what you put out has the greatest chance of achieving your goals.


Bottom line: Whether you are placing print ads, radio spots, or banner ads on Web sites, your job as a marketer is to fully understand your target audience so that your whole message (visuals and words) is relevant and important to them. Remember, advertising is NOT about you, but about what your target needs, wants, and demands. Take the ad rating sheet I’ve provided and have a group of customers rate your ads on a regular basis. This will keep you on track and effectively stewarding your marketing dollars.

-- David Kinard, PCM

[image credit: riptheskull]

Let’s Date First Before You Grab My Wallet

This is the time of year I get a lot of mail from very worthy organizations. Some I’ve heard of before, most I haven’t; some I remember from prior years at this same time. All share a story of deep need teetering on the verge of crisis and the opportunity for me to make a difference. All have no problem asking me for money. Unfortunately, this same experience is being played out across the country, likely in your mailbox as well.

I would like to think that if I had unlimited funds, I would be more than happy to send checks to all these organizations. I could feed the hungry, house the homeless, provide educational kits to children in far away places, and even pay for medical supplies to ease those who needlessly suffer. But I have limited funds and I can’t help everyone. So I make a choice which organization I support. And the decision is pretty easy: those organizations that sought to first understand the motivations I have for giving and created and nurtured a relationship with me over time – they get my money, time, and energy. Every year. The others are like those people in the movies at nightclubs who use bad pick-up lines trying to go from hello to breakfast all in one cheesy opening line.

In his book buyology, author Martin Lindstrom suggests that the noise of advertising and promotion has become just like wallpaper to our brains. We see it but the message doesn’t really register. That exact same thing happens with these requests for help – genuine and important as they may be, they fall on deaf ears because there is no prior relationship to base the request on. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Whether you’re a non profit or for-profit, I have a new year’s resolution I want you to make. Start in January to establish and build a relationship with your constituents and community. Make regular and non-request contacts with them throughout the year. Keep in touch, tell success stories, treat them like you’re going on a date and are s-l-o-w-l-y falling in love. Woo your community. Then, at the right time, make a small request. Then, once you’ve demonstrated to that participant what you’ve done with their gift to you, say thanks and be quiet. After a period of time – when you’ve been dialoging and sharing – building a deeper relationship, then you can ask for something bigger. Go ahead, pop the question!

Sending me a letter during the holiday season telling me that you’re in need and want money just isn’t going to cut it anymore. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that it is poor stewardship of the funds you do have. Sure, you’re likely getting a series of donations from that campaign, but I’ll bet your not getting the donations you could if you’d ask people out on a date first.

-- David Kinard, PCM

P.S. If you want to hear more about and from Martin Lindstrom and his book buyology, be sure to listen to Marketing News Radio on February 25, 09. I'll be interviewing him about his book.