OK, so we figured out last week why your marketing doesn’t work. Now, how do we make it work?Solution: The Marketing Equation

Human nature demands that buyers always want to make the best decision possible. Marketing and advertising should get the attention of the target market, facilitate their decision making process, and lower the risk of taking the next step in the selling process. The process for accomplishing this is exactly the same every single time for every kind of business. Just like 2 + 2 always equals 4, the marketing equation always produces the right answer.

Interrupt + Engage + Educate + Offer = RESULTS

Interrupt:

Get qualified prospects to pay attention to your marketing. Accomplished by
identifying and hitting your prospects’ hot buttons.

Engage:

Give prospects the promise that information is forthcoming that will facilitate their decision making process.

Educate:

Identify the important and relevant issues prospects need to be aware of, then
demonstrate how you stack up against those issues. Build a case for your business.

Offer:

Give prospects a low-risk way to take the next step in the buying process…put more information in their hands and allow them to feel in total control of the decision.

RESULT: The Right Answer Every Single Time

Marketing Equation Components 1&2: Interrupt & Engage “How John Smith’s Brain Works” 3 Major concepts: Reticular Activator, Alpha Mode and Beta Mode

Alpha Mode is when you automatically run patterns that allow your brain to habitually perform tasks without any conscious effort. Have you ever driven to work and realized when you got there you hadn’t consciously seen a thing along the way? That’s Alpha Mode. You can talk on the cell phone, listen to the radio, shave, put on makeup, whatever. But meanwhile, your brain can drive you to work without any conscious thought. Think of Alpha Mode as “Sleep Mode.”

Beta Mode is the brain’s state of active engagement. It’s like when you drive to work in a heavy thunderstorm and your hands are firmly gripped at 10 and 2 o’clock. Your eyes are wide open and you’re sensitive to everything. You’re in Beta Mode when you’re watching a movie and the music is building to a crescendo in anticipation of something scary happening. The music puts you on the edge of our seat. Think of Beta Mode as “Alert Mode.”

The Reticular Activator is the part of the brain that is on the lookout 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for things that are 1) familiar, 2) unusual, or 3) problematic. When your brain detects any of these things on a subconscious level, it sends a message to the conscious side of the brain that says, “Hey, wake up! There’s something you need to pay attention to!” Have you ever bought a new car only to realize afterward that everyone in town seems to have the exact make, model, and color? That’s your reticular activator at work.

Activators & Hot Buttons

Activators

An activator is anything that snaps a person out of Alpha Mode and into Beta. Anytime something familiar, unusual, or problematic enters the Reticular Activator, the brain becomes “activated,” hence the name. Traditional “C&R” advertising likes to use unusual and familiar activators to interrupt people.

Beware! Just because an Activator has interrupt value does not mean it has engage value. Activators that are not relevant or important to people must be constantly changed to keep people stimulated and therefore require huge
advertising budgets to support.

Hot Buttons

What Your Brain Does When It Finds An Activator:

– Immediately and subconsciously searches for additional, clarifying info.

– Gauges importance/relevance

– If important/relevant: Conscious bandwidth will be allocated and the brain will be Engaged. This means the Activator is also a Hot Button.

– If NOT important/relevant: Brain will immediately revert to Alpha Mode and NOT be Engaged. This means the Activator is NOT a Hot Button–-it’s a False Beta.

False Betas

If the prospect is interrupted but not engaged, that’s a False Beta. For example, in a crowded airport, you hear a voice from behind you call out your name. You turn and realize that the person calling your name was actually calling to someone else who apparently has your same name. What do you do? Do
you still engage that person in conversation? Do you ask them what they want? Of course not. In this case you are interrupted but not engaged–-a False Beta.

Celebrities are used in advertising because they are familiar and therefore register in many people’s reticular activators. But since the celebrity often does not connect with the product it’s a false beta.

A False Beta is an Activator that is strange, shocking, creative, or unusual and will interrupt the prospect. But when the brain cannot immediately find additional, clarifying information, it quickly reverts to Alpha Mode. Result: False Beta

Headlines

Headlines must be full of hot buttons that will interrupt the prospect. Use hot buttons based on problems, annoyances or fears your prospects have. This triggers an emotional response and prepares them to become engaged.

Headlines must be full of hot buttons that will interrupt the prospect. Use hot buttons based on problems, annoyances or fears your prospects have. This triggers an emotional response and prepares them to become engaged.

Headlines should be used in all marketing pieces, not just advertisements. Even your brochures, websites, signs, and follow-up pieces should contain hot-button-loaded headlines.

Company names are NOT hot buttons, and therefore, not appropriate headlines.

Next Week – The Marketing Equation part 2 and the Educational Spectrum