You’ve got a brand-spanking-new tech solution with the potential to greatly improve lives and the planet, alike. And now you want to shift it to the centre of general consciousness. You want to get investors, prospective clients, the media and the general public to adopt your new concept. The only problem is, they can’t seem to grasp your paradigm because it sits beyond their current comprehension. How can you communicate your vision and the potential behind your new solution to unimaginative people? Or rather… how can you get people to engage their imagination, ‘see’ your wonderful vision and be brave enough to buy into it?
In technology marketing, nearly every message is directed to the rational, analytical mind (‘This is a cost-effective solution to an objective problem’). And in today’s B2B world especially, we are inundated with flaccid marketing messaging – so much so that our fatigued minds have learned to block out the blah blah. But when you begin to consider and understand how people cognitively receive your information, you can iterate your messaging to stimulate the mind in new, wonderful ways.
Rory Sutherland sums this up so well in his ‘The Objectivity Trap’ report for Linkedin;
‘It’s a convenient fiction that it’s always better to win on product and price. The reality is that there’s power in the psychological monopoly unlocked by embracing a marketing mindset […] while a technological advantage can be copied in months, the injection of a marketing mentality (particularly outside the marketing departments) can help companies to innovate and grow by suggesting new psychological forms of differentiation.’
I’m no behavioural scientist by any stretch of the imagination, but before embarking on a novel positioning project, I generally try to mull over the following three elements before getting down to messaging development.
How can we riff with personal construct?
George Kelly, a forefather of cognitive psychology, suggested that people develop personal constructs about how the world works. According to his theory, we predict and interpret events in the world around us in order to organise ongoing experiences and anticipate future events. Accordingly, different people will construe the same scenarios in very different ways.
So, basically, as human beings, we process the world narratively. We think in plots, narratives, and goals. And these stories we construct help us to discuss and process the major sources of existential concern (Some of the Literary Greats have crystallised these mechanisms to produce timeless classics. Just cast your mind over Shakespeare’s tragedies for starters!). Stories help us to process, understand, articulate and communicate a pathway through a challenge. They provide a frame of reference through which we can perceive the world and act within it.
So, a story is like a map. We have a mental picture of the goal. And if the story is vivid enough, our imagination becomes free-flowing and takes us on a journey. We feel positive emotion when we feel our actions are moving us towards the conceptualized goal. If we see obstacles in the way, it produces negative emotions.
The human brain is also veeeeery interested in other people (whether they are our adversaries or our allies). We have an instinct for mimicry, for understanding where we stand within our social circles, and we naturally seek personal growth and social mobility. A great story taps into these elements in our unconscious brains – If we see a possibility on the horizon, we’re willing to suspend disbelief and pursue it.
In short, it’s important therefore to remember that as humans, we respond to meaning first and object second. Knowing this, we can use narratives to influence people and their decision-making.
In short, it’s important therefore to remember that as humans, we respond to meaning first and object second. Knowing this, we can use narratives to influence people and their decision-making. Apple’s edge against its competitors has always been psychological. As Sutherland maintains… It’s less about “what can this mobile phone handset do,” but, “how does it feel while you are doing it.” Likewise, with SpaceX, people buy into the narrative as propagated by Elon Musk himself, because it brings on all the feels and activates our personal triggers. He famously says;
“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great – and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”
How can we give power to the people?
How can we engender a sense of belongingness? Is there a bigger truth that we could own? Can we grow trust through community actions?
It’s no longer as simple as telling your target audience what your product is. You need to be driving a human-to-human connection. Literary stories about rallying togetherness make us feel braver and stronger. Think Spartacus! This dude leads a snowballing slave rebellion!
Most people like to feel like they’re part of a larger voice – So, this is arguably one of the hardiest and most authentic messaging strategies there are. This approach to narrative is all about ‘us’ being in this, together.
Showing what you are against sends a strong signal to like-minded folks. Communities have greatly expanded through social media to become densely networked and substantially influential. You can now get your message out there amongst all the relevant subcultures and eventually the cause will take on a life of its own as evangelists and brand missionaries outnumber the mercenaries.
It’s also worth noting that leads developed through employee social marketing convert 7x more frequently than other leads (source: Fast Company) and 84% of consumers value recommendations (ahem… stories) over all forms of advertising.
Real-talk messaging that cuts to the core needs to be deployed when the narrative is all about ‘us’. You can’t be faking this stuff.
How can we derisk the fiction?
In essence, your vision is a work of fiction. Once you’ve introduced your vision to the world, it’s important to de-risk the fiction by openly talking about and proving that you are tackling your riskiest assumptions first (Check out this great talk on the topic delivered by Martin Eriksson, Product Partner at EQT Ventures). It’s important to articulate how you’re going to get there, including coherent actions, all the while humbly acknowledging that the future is not predictable and that the pathway to success will not likely be linear.
Again, Musk is an advocate for failure. He believes it’s necessary along the road to success and that if you aren’t failing, you aren’t likely innovating enough. The caveat, however, according to this genius, is that ‘You should take the approach that you’re wrong. Your goal is to be less wrong.’
So, at this stage, I would consider how to communicate the execution of your vision and how you can best deliver (and prove) the value proposition as fast as possible. This will involve explaining the tech spec… But always making sure this ladders up to the bigger role the product plays in people’s lives and the future of the planet.
Of the less poetic tech brands out there, I personally enjoy Heliogen‘s messaging. Heliogen is a renewable energy technology company unlocking the power of sunlight to replace fossil fuels. Their reason for existing: Replacing Fossil Fuels. They’re inviting people to join their mission, and openly admit that they are only interested in building relationships with customers and partners who understand and value their technology’s importance in solving climate change. Their solution uses advanced computer vision software to precisely align an array of mirrors, reflecting sunlight to a target on the top of a tower, which is all powered by artificial intelligence.
If the vast majority of your target audience will likely struggle to grasp the nitty-gritties of your technological solution, weave details into the universal story to keep them engaged and with you along the journey. With Heliogen, they had me at ‘Replacing Fossil Fuels’.
Here’s another one… Skaler offers ‘technologies that enable automating routine information processing tasks across different IT systems, interfaces and applications’. Their principle message: PEOPLE ARE NOT ROBOTS.
As Einstein famously said ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world’.
Need help articulating your vision, mission and strategy?
